The majority of us were caught up in the Ricky Rubio hype. Many people are caught up in Anthony Randolph hype until they actually watch him have to make a basketball decision. And we all cashed in our chips with LeBron James before he actually even did anything on an NBA court.
But there’s a difference in losing out to someone with hype and flat out being disrespected and ignored. And that’s what I feel Tyreke Evans is being right now – disrespected and ignored.
This was the headline on ESPN.com’s NBA page tonight for their Daily Dime chat:
Am I the only one that found something insulting there?
It’s not that I blame ESPN.com either. They’re promoting the matchup between Derrick Rose and Brandon Jennings, two phenomenal point guard talents. But the thing is that it’s not just this one site overlooking what Tyreke Evans has done in his first 15 games on the court (remember, he sat one out). It’s EVERYBODY outside of Sacramento seeing Brandon Jennings dollar signs in their eyes while throwing out exasperating accusations that Evans isn’t a point guard.
Not only that but he’s also being flat out ignored for Rookie of the Year honors during the early part of this season and that’s wrong.
Tyreke Evans has been the better player between the two so far this year. Is it close? Absolutely. But is it in question either? I don’t think so.
Jennings gets more highlights for sure and sometimes that’s what it takes to win this award. It happened in 2001 when Mike Miller beat out Marc Jackson 2003 when Amare Stoudemire beat out Yao Ming for the award. And yes, his 55-point game is still the best performance of the year if you forget the fact that the majority of his points in the second half came off of open jump shots from the nonexistent Warriors defense or Mikki Moore. It was the equivalent of putting up good scoring numbers at a shoot around.
But when you look at the numbers, the impact of the records for each team, and the overall play, Tyreke Evans is more the favorite when you put it all together (or at least he should be).
Looking at the numbers, here are the statistical advantages that Jennings has over ‘Reke:
- 21.8 points per game to Evans’ 18.8 per contest.
- 5.7 assists per game to Evans’ 4.7 passes for scores every game.
- 50% three-point shooting to Evans’ 32.3%.
Now, here are the areas that Evans excels over Jennings:
- 44.6% from the field compared to Jennings’ 42.8%.
- 46.5% on two-point shots compared to 41.5% for Jennings.
- 5.0 rebounds per game to Jennings’ 4.0 per contest.
- 1.33 steals per game to Jennings’ 1.18 thefts per night.
- 79% from the free throw line to Jennings’ 77.4%.
- Evans gets to the line 5.4 times per game with Jennings getting there 4.4 times per game.
- 3.2 turnovers per game compared to Jennings’ 3.31.
- And Tyreke Evans actually plays pretty good defense against multiple positions while Jennings plays adequate at best defense while gambling in the passing lanes and reaching more than Monta Ellis.
As for the overall play on offense (because there shouldn’t be a debate that Evans is by far the superior defender), I think the Tyreke Evans style of attacking a defense is much more valuable in the long-term than what Jennings does.
Jennings relies on making a lot of jump shots. According to Hoopdata.com, BJ has 26.4% of his field goal attempts at the rim (he’s making 45% of them). That means that three quarters of his shots are primarily jumpers. 154 of his 284 shots have come from 16 feet or farther out. He doesn’t mind settling for the jumper because his shot is falling at a very impressive rate so far. Actually, let me rephrase that – his three-point shot is falling. The 50% from threes is very incredible but the 40% he’s making on his long two-point jumpers is not so impressive. Neither is the 33% he’s making on his shots from 10-15 feet.
When you compare that with Tyreke Evans, Evans seems to be putting more pressure on the defense. 50.8% of Evans’ shots come at the rim and he’s making 55% of those shots at the rim. When you factor in his struggles with finishing in the first five games, he’s been extremely efficient in finishing around the basket since the team started winning. He’s also shooting better on his long range two-pointers 44%.
Now, I’m no basketball expert but I pretend to be one when I coach junior varsity high school basketball. If you’re taking the majority of your shots around the rim then you’re putting more pressure on the defense. You’re heightening the chances that their bigs get in foul trouble rather than letting them off the hook with long-range jumpers. Now, even though Jennings scoring has been better, I don’t think a measly three points per game means more than the way Evans is scoring.
When it comes to the impact on their team and the way they’ve played, Evans is also the winner in this category. The Bucks were a 34-win team last year in a season in which they missed a lot of Michael Redd and a lot of Andrew Bogut (missed a combined 95 games). The Kings were a 17-win team in which they missed Kevin Martin for 31 games. Clearly, the Bucks were a better situation heading into this season. Sure, they’ve already battled the injury bug with Andrew Bogut missing six games and Michael Redd missing 11 of them. But I don’t think that’s any worse than the Kings missing Kevin Martin for 11 and Francisco Garcia for all 16.
So far this season the Kings are 8-8 despite their injuries and the Bucks are 9-7 despite their injuries. The Kings have wins over Memphis, Utah (road), Golden State, OKC, Houston, New York, New Jersey and New Orleans. The Bucks wins have come against Detroit, Minnesota (road), New York, Denver, Golden State, New Jersey, Charlotte, Memphis (road) and Chicago. There isn’t much of a difference in the quality of wins. So you can’t really say that the Bucks wins are more impressive than the Kings wins.
Now, I realize that a lot of this sounds petty and it probably is. Is there anything wrong with people loving Brandon Jennings and wanting to shower him with celebratory hardware? Absolutely not. I love Brandon Jennings as well. I think he’s really fun to watch when he doesn’t need to be bailed out by Luke Ridnour off the bench (okay that definitely WAS petty of me). But I also have watched Tyreke Evans every night too and can safely say he’s been just as good on offense as Jennings and a lot better on defense.
You also can’t ignore the free-styling multimedia spectacular that ‘Reke showed as well:
I’m not asking you to give the hardware to Tyreke Evans today. Nobody deserves it yet. But don’t give it to Brandon Jennings now because of a hot start, ignore his cool off period against tougher defensive competition and close this award race for the rest of a long season. Tyreke Evans has been just as special and just as fun to watch.
Not to mention we haven’t seen Blake Griffin yet either.
Still, I think the RoY race ends up going to ‘Reke, especially after the Kings play Milwaukee. The fact of the matter is, teams are gearing their defense to stop Evans penetration already, 15 games into his career. His defense is superb for a rookie, and will only get better. He has the versatility to play 3 positions, and can be trusted to make pretty good decisions with the ball in his hands (although he needs to watch his traveling).
Thank Heaven for Tyreke Evans.
http://www.kingstalk.com Joe the Crow
Tyreke isn’t being ignored, he’s been getting plenty of attention as there are news columnists making pilgramages to watch him play…even against crappy teams.
It really doesn’t matter the antention Jennings is getting now, I would rather he get it than Tyreke and give that young kid a distraction in this early stage of his career. I will tell you something right now, I’d rather have Tyreke keep on keepin on with what he’s doing, because as he gets better, when he does get attention, it may be too late for other teams.
Rookie of the year race in December is kinda a little silly.
Zach Harper
@Joe the Crow
First of all, I completely agree that ANY award race in December is essentially silly and I’ll go as far to say completely asinine. My concern is this:
I think an award race can be decided fairly early in the NBA. An example of this is the 2006 MVP award. It went to Steve Nash and that was probably deservedly so. But (assuming my recollection is correct, which it easily could not), there was a very deserving person who got shafted in the voting because everyone had formed their opinion in December and January and that was Chauncey Billups. Billups deserved just as much consideration as anyone, still got some first place votes, but ultimately, finished 5th in the voting. Personally, it seemed like it was either his or Nash’s to win but he got forgotten in all of the LeBron and Kobe hype in the middle part of that season.
Maybe I’m being too sensitive here but voters for awards are often lazy and if everyone gets it in their minds now that Jennings is the winner, it could bite Tyreke in the ass later.
But I agree with your rationale with this. That’s what SHOULD benefit Evans in the end.
Jennings is getting the love because of his 55 point game. He deserves it for his all-around play, but he has that one game that captured everyone’s attention.
http://EvilCowtownInc Pookeyguru
Personally, I think it’s not that big of a deal. Tyreke Evans hasn’t made the east coast rounds, and that’s where most national media is. Once the national media see’s Evans live, and Jennings has lost some luster in the stats category, Tyreke Evans will come into the national spotlight more.
The reality is that Tyreke & BJ3 are in a statistical dead heat, and Tyreke is a better dfeender, but this news hasn’t made the national rounds. It’ll be interesting to see what happens when this news does circulate though.
Truth be told, Rookie of the Year is mostly about PR and nothing else. All awards are.
Sam
You can bash the 55 point performance by saying Jennings was playing the Warriors and their woeful defense, but nobody else (including your beloved Tyreke) has scored that many against the Dubs(…yet). The statistical differences do not show Tyreke is better…no matter how you lay it out. Shooting a hot 50% from 3 point range should make it acceptable that Jennings’ shots come from the outside. And yes, Tyreke has a good chance of being better than Jennings in the long run, but don’t get mad Jennings is hotter than Evans right now.
http://www.cowbellkingdom.com Zach Harper
@Sam
Jennings has made 25 of his last 84 shots (29.7%). I wouldn’t say he’s “hotter” than Evans right now.
jenson
If the season was over today, I would give the award to jennings. But evans has crept up with consistent play while jennings has struggled. It’s getting closer and closer though that’s for sure
Nick
I agree that Jennings is getting most of his press because of his 55 pt game. And I’m sure he is a very good player. But I think it is also interesting to look at the individual game stats. Over the last 5 games, Jennings is down to 14ppg while Tyreke is up to 22. My guess is by the end of the year Jennigs will be a solid player averaging 15-16 ppg and Tyreke will be over 20. And ROY will still go to Blake Griffin when he comes back and averages 20/10!
C.S.
Love Tyreke, but I think someone needs to point out that the stats you use don’t really make that strong a case. Look at the categories in which Jennings leads Evans — and, more importantly, by how much:
3 more points per game
1 more assist per game
17.7% better at three-point shooting.
Those are pretty big margins, especially the three-pointers.
Now, there’s arguments you can make to equalize those numbers. For example, statisticians routinely toss out outliers, and what is Jennings’ 55-point game but an outlier? Better to toss it out and recalculate — now where’s that 3 point margin, Brandon? Or arguing that with only a few games in the books, a average one-assist margin isn’t all that big. Or maybe Tyreke doesn’t take as many threes, so the one game where he went 0-for-something skews his percentages. Something.
But you didn’t make those arguments. You tried a little sleight of hand. You called Jennings’ lead in those categories “statistical advantages.” Then you pointed to other categories where you said Evans “excels over Jennings.” Kinda tricky — “statistical advantage” vs. “excels over” — seeming to imply that Jennings’ numerical advantage is slim in those categories, while Evans’ advantage is much larger in each category. But it ain’t so, is it?
A 1.8% lead in field goal percentage? Come on.
A 5% statistical lead on two-point shots. I mean, I kinda see it, but they’re both in the same ballpark.
A 1 rebound-per-game difference, when Evans is 5 inches taller? Please.
A steals lead of 0.15 per game? Again, come on. That’s ticky-tack.
A 1.6% difference from the free throw line? One more times on the line on average? A 0.09 turnovers per game difference? That’s less than one tenth of 1 percent!
There’s a case to be made for Tyreke Evans, but this ain’t it.
GSW > Sacramento Kings
sacramento blog would trash on anthony randolph & the warriors…
http://deputygm.com Colin
@Pookeyguru
How do you figure that Evans is the better defender? The numbers suggest otherwise:
if the defensive numbers were close, I’d probably ignore this and yield to a scouting eye. But they’re not.
Alex
C.S. you need to look at per-48 min averages to get a better look at the distances between the two. Jennings has started all year, and Evans has had some bench time.
jon
GSW > Sacramento Kings :
sacramento blog would trash on anthony randolph & the warriors…
Trash > Warriors
http://www.cowbellkingdom.com Zach Harper
@Colin
Here’s the problem with the 82games.com stats: we don’t know how accurate they are. Now, I believe the numbers are accurate but are they just pulled from box scores and play-by-play or are they pulled from watching the actual game play?
I don’t know about Jennings because I haven’t charted his games but I’ve been charting the Kings with stuff like points given up. Although, I’m behind on doing so, I’ll have the numbers up to date within two weeks and we’ll go back to it then.
Jim
@Alex
Alex, you need to look at their average minutes per game. Even though Tyreke has come off the bench some he averages 36.1 mpg compared to 34.8 for Jennings.
http://evilcowtowninc.wordpress.com Pookeyguru
Okay fine Colin, Brandon Jennings is clearly better than Tyreke Evans defensively. 82games.com says so! And, while i have nothing against 82games, Jennings, I do feel that this data is a bit mis-construed somewhat.
Any data that says Tyreke Evans is clearly a SG is a bit off because I feel that data is based off whose guarding Reke, and not how he plays.
If you want to argue that Brandon Jennings has had a better season than Tyreke Evans, go ahead. But I feel you probably don’t know enough about either player to conclusively draw that opinion and make it stick.
Good luck with that hanging of yourself though.
Joe
“I think the Tyreke Evans style of attacking a defense is much more valuable in the long-term than what Jennings does.”
I liked some of your points, but I have to disagree with this. It’s not all about Jennings’ shooting – he’s also a speedster, capable of breaking down a defense and dishing out a ton of assists. He’s even a triple-double threat… everyone focuses on his 55 point game – but, don’t forget his first NBA game where he put up 17/9/9.
Overall I think Jennings will be the better player, partly because of his shooting, but also because I think he’ll average a lot more assists than Evans – especially when they get some decent players around him.
lllllllll
for a person to say jenning is better than tyreke is nuts
Let’s Not Decide the Rookie of the Year Race Just Yet…
19It’s easy to get caught up in hype.
Really easy.
The majority of us were caught up in the Ricky Rubio hype. Many people are caught up in Anthony Randolph hype until they actually watch him have to make a basketball decision. And we all cashed in our chips with LeBron James before he actually even did anything on an NBA court.
But there’s a difference in losing out to someone with hype and flat out being disrespected and ignored. And that’s what I feel Tyreke Evans is being right now – disrespected and ignored.
This was the headline on ESPN.com’s NBA page tonight for their Daily Dime chat:
Am I the only one that found something insulting there?
It’s not that I blame ESPN.com either. They’re promoting the matchup between Derrick Rose and Brandon Jennings, two phenomenal point guard talents. But the thing is that it’s not just this one site overlooking what Tyreke Evans has done in his first 15 games on the court (remember, he sat one out). It’s EVERYBODY outside of Sacramento seeing Brandon Jennings dollar signs in their eyes while throwing out exasperating accusations that Evans isn’t a point guard.
Not only that but he’s also being flat out ignored for Rookie of the Year honors during the early part of this season and that’s wrong.
Tyreke Evans has been the better player between the two so far this year. Is it close? Absolutely. But is it in question either? I don’t think so.
Jennings gets more highlights for sure and sometimes that’s what it takes to win this award. It happened in 2001 when Mike Miller beat out Marc Jackson 2003 when Amare Stoudemire beat out Yao Ming for the award. And yes, his 55-point game is still the best performance of the year if you forget the fact that the majority of his points in the second half came off of open jump shots from the nonexistent Warriors defense or Mikki Moore. It was the equivalent of putting up good scoring numbers at a shoot around.
But when you look at the numbers, the impact of the records for each team, and the overall play, Tyreke Evans is more the favorite when you put it all together (or at least he should be).
Looking at the numbers, here are the statistical advantages that Jennings has over ‘Reke:
- 21.8 points per game to Evans’ 18.8 per contest.
- 5.7 assists per game to Evans’ 4.7 passes for scores every game.
- 50% three-point shooting to Evans’ 32.3%.
Now, here are the areas that Evans excels over Jennings:
- 44.6% from the field compared to Jennings’ 42.8%.
- 46.5% on two-point shots compared to 41.5% for Jennings.
- 5.0 rebounds per game to Jennings’ 4.0 per contest.
- 1.33 steals per game to Jennings’ 1.18 thefts per night.
- 79% from the free throw line to Jennings’ 77.4%.
- Evans gets to the line 5.4 times per game with Jennings getting there 4.4 times per game.
- 3.2 turnovers per game compared to Jennings’ 3.31.
- And Tyreke Evans actually plays pretty good defense against multiple positions while Jennings plays adequate at best defense while gambling in the passing lanes and reaching more than Monta Ellis.
As for the overall play on offense (because there shouldn’t be a debate that Evans is by far the superior defender), I think the Tyreke Evans style of attacking a defense is much more valuable in the long-term than what Jennings does.
Jennings relies on making a lot of jump shots. According to Hoopdata.com, BJ has 26.4% of his field goal attempts at the rim (he’s making 45% of them). That means that three quarters of his shots are primarily jumpers. 154 of his 284 shots have come from 16 feet or farther out. He doesn’t mind settling for the jumper because his shot is falling at a very impressive rate so far. Actually, let me rephrase that – his three-point shot is falling. The 50% from threes is very incredible but the 40% he’s making on his long two-point jumpers is not so impressive. Neither is the 33% he’s making on his shots from 10-15 feet.
When you compare that with Tyreke Evans, Evans seems to be putting more pressure on the defense. 50.8% of Evans’ shots come at the rim and he’s making 55% of those shots at the rim. When you factor in his struggles with finishing in the first five games, he’s been extremely efficient in finishing around the basket since the team started winning. He’s also shooting better on his long range two-pointers 44%.
Now, I’m no basketball expert but I pretend to be one when I coach junior varsity high school basketball. If you’re taking the majority of your shots around the rim then you’re putting more pressure on the defense. You’re heightening the chances that their bigs get in foul trouble rather than letting them off the hook with long-range jumpers. Now, even though Jennings scoring has been better, I don’t think a measly three points per game means more than the way Evans is scoring.
When it comes to the impact on their team and the way they’ve played, Evans is also the winner in this category. The Bucks were a 34-win team last year in a season in which they missed a lot of Michael Redd and a lot of Andrew Bogut (missed a combined 95 games). The Kings were a 17-win team in which they missed Kevin Martin for 31 games. Clearly, the Bucks were a better situation heading into this season. Sure, they’ve already battled the injury bug with Andrew Bogut missing six games and Michael Redd missing 11 of them. But I don’t think that’s any worse than the Kings missing Kevin Martin for 11 and Francisco Garcia for all 16.
So far this season the Kings are 8-8 despite their injuries and the Bucks are 9-7 despite their injuries. The Kings have wins over Memphis, Utah (road), Golden State, OKC, Houston, New York, New Jersey and New Orleans. The Bucks wins have come against Detroit, Minnesota (road), New York, Denver, Golden State, New Jersey, Charlotte, Memphis (road) and Chicago. There isn’t much of a difference in the quality of wins. So you can’t really say that the Bucks wins are more impressive than the Kings wins.
Now, I realize that a lot of this sounds petty and it probably is. Is there anything wrong with people loving Brandon Jennings and wanting to shower him with celebratory hardware? Absolutely not. I love Brandon Jennings as well. I think he’s really fun to watch when he doesn’t need to be bailed out by Luke Ridnour off the bench (okay that definitely WAS petty of me). But I also have watched Tyreke Evans every night too and can safely say he’s been just as good on offense as Jennings and a lot better on defense.
And finally, even though it’s hard to question Brandon Jennings superiority in multimedia fun with this picture…
You also can’t ignore the free-styling multimedia spectacular that ‘Reke showed as well:
I’m not asking you to give the hardware to Tyreke Evans today. Nobody deserves it yet. But don’t give it to Brandon Jennings now because of a hot start, ignore his cool off period against tougher defensive competition and close this award race for the rest of a long season. Tyreke Evans has been just as special and just as fun to watch.
About the Author
Related Posts