jgisland
Club Member
There has been a lot of talk about Askia lately not only on allbuffs but in articles like this one on ESPN.
Basketball Prospectus' John Gasaway states somewhat correctly the following.
Last season as a freshman, Booker came off the bench and functioned as a high-volume shooter. He didn't connect on many of those shots, but he was a freshman and did provide the proverbial jolt of energy when he came in the game.
What's strange, though, is that Booker has now made the leap to being a high-volume shooter as a starter who leads his team in minutes -- even though his shooting accuracy is still very much a work in progress. Mind you, Booker has fared well from the perimeter, hitting 38 percent of his 3s. But in his career to date, most of his shots have been 2s, and the results there have been meager at best. (In the Buffs' controversial overtime loss at Arizona last week, Booker was 1-of-10 from inside the arc.) On a team with proven, effective quantities on offense like Andre Roberson and Spencer Dinwiddie, it's not entirely clear why Booker is on pace to launch something like 260 2-point shots this season. History suggests he may make only about 100 of those.
What Gasaway needs to look at more is not only his two's but what kind of two's he is taking. Booker last year shot 34% of his shots at the rim, 33% were 2pt jumpers and 33% were 3's. This year the issue is that only 20% of his shots are at the rim and 45% of his shots are 2 point jumpers and 35% of his shots are 3's. So he is shooting less at what he is best at (getting to the rim and either making it or getting to the line) and more of what he is worst at (2 pt jumpers) where he is only shooting 32% year over year. Not going to the hoop has dramatically dropped his free throw rate. Last year he was getting to the line .4 times per FGA, this year he is only getting to the line .22 times per FGA.
As Gasaway correctly states a lot of what Booker did last year was ok because he was a reserve coming off the bench and CU could live with his high volume and poor efficiency in short spurts. But this year he is taking 30% of the shots when he is on the floor where he only took 26% of the shots when he was on the floor last year. So his minutes have increased and his volume has increased but what is the worst is that he has increased the volume of shots where he is worst at, the 2 point jumper.
Askia, please start taking the ball to the rack and get rid of the two point jumper......
Basketball Prospectus' John Gasaway states somewhat correctly the following.
Last season as a freshman, Booker came off the bench and functioned as a high-volume shooter. He didn't connect on many of those shots, but he was a freshman and did provide the proverbial jolt of energy when he came in the game.
What's strange, though, is that Booker has now made the leap to being a high-volume shooter as a starter who leads his team in minutes -- even though his shooting accuracy is still very much a work in progress. Mind you, Booker has fared well from the perimeter, hitting 38 percent of his 3s. But in his career to date, most of his shots have been 2s, and the results there have been meager at best. (In the Buffs' controversial overtime loss at Arizona last week, Booker was 1-of-10 from inside the arc.) On a team with proven, effective quantities on offense like Andre Roberson and Spencer Dinwiddie, it's not entirely clear why Booker is on pace to launch something like 260 2-point shots this season. History suggests he may make only about 100 of those.
What Gasaway needs to look at more is not only his two's but what kind of two's he is taking. Booker last year shot 34% of his shots at the rim, 33% were 2pt jumpers and 33% were 3's. This year the issue is that only 20% of his shots are at the rim and 45% of his shots are 2 point jumpers and 35% of his shots are 3's. So he is shooting less at what he is best at (getting to the rim and either making it or getting to the line) and more of what he is worst at (2 pt jumpers) where he is only shooting 32% year over year. Not going to the hoop has dramatically dropped his free throw rate. Last year he was getting to the line .4 times per FGA, this year he is only getting to the line .22 times per FGA.
| Player | FGA | TS% | %Shots at Rim | FG% at Rim | %Assisted at Rim | %Shots 2pt Jumpers | FG% 2pt Jumpers | %Assisted 2pt Jumpers | %Shots 3pt | FG% 3pt | %assisted 3pt | FTA/FGA | FT% |
| Askia Booker 2013 | 209 | 0.479 | 20% | 63% | 38% | 45% | 32% | 0% | 35% | 36% | 65% | 0.2 | 71% |
| Askia Booker 2012 | 233 | 0.499 | 34% | 47% | 38% | 33% | 32% | 20% | 33% | 37% | 61% | 0.39 | 74% |
As Gasaway correctly states a lot of what Booker did last year was ok because he was a reserve coming off the bench and CU could live with his high volume and poor efficiency in short spurts. But this year he is taking 30% of the shots when he is on the floor where he only took 26% of the shots when he was on the floor last year. So his minutes have increased and his volume has increased but what is the worst is that he has increased the volume of shots where he is worst at, the 2 point jumper.
Askia, please start taking the ball to the rack and get rid of the two point jumper......
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