In Defense of Starling

[Niastri]

I have been increasingly frustrated by certain posters who are constantly downplaying JJ Starling in this board. I found myself ranting about it in a recruiting thread, so decided to move it here instead.

JJ Starling was stuck as the only viable offensive threat last season on a team decimated by injuries and lack of talent. Red’s best, sometimes only, offensive play call was Starling Isolation. There was nothing else.

On top of that, Starling was our de facto point guard, playing away from his strengths.

JJ Starling was put in am extremely difficult position last season, and all he did was score 18 points, pull pull down 4 rebounds and dish out 3 assists per game, while maintaining a positive assist to turnover ratio. His scoring wasn’t as efficient as you would like, mostly because he was dribbling into the teeth of the defense every possession with nobody to pass to, and he shot too many threes at the end of the shot clock. But he shot 48% on two point shots on the season, despite being the guy that every team knew they had to stop.

Even Starling’s defense isn’t as bad as his detractors suggest. He has improved each year, and this past season, Starling was a -.4 DBPM… Win Shares had him a positive dWS, also by a hair, this time positive. A hair under average, by those two rate stats that break out defense. All while playing a blistering 35 minutes a game as the team’s only offensive threat. If Starling had gotten a rest, even by not having to bring up the ball, do you think he might have been a little quicker in stopping defensive penetration? Probably. Oh, by the way, starling was second in steals and fourth in blocks on last years endemic defensive squad. The kid busts his butt, playing for his hometown team.

Can we stop complaining about Starling? The dude could have gone anywhere, and probably made more money doing it. Yet he’s here, a McDonald’s All American that is going to finish his career in Syracuse! Somehow half the posters here act like we are saddled with him.

I’m thrilled Starling chose to stick around, and I think he’s going to be great.

Edit: I’m going to cross post this, because I just spent a few minutes researching a rant, and it isn’t even in the right thread. Dang it.

JJ Starling was stuck as the only viable offensive threat last season on a team decimated by injuries and lack of talent. Red’s best, sometimes only, offensive play call was Starling Isolation. There was nothing else.

On top of that, Starling was our de facto point guard, playing away from his strengths.

JJ Starling was put in am extremely difficult position last season, and all he did was score 28 points, pull pull down 4 rebounds and dish out 3 assists per game, while maintaining a positive assist to turnover ratio. His scoring wasn’t as efficient as you would like, mostly because he was dribbling into the teeth of the defense every possession with nobody to pass to, and he shot too many threes at the end of the shot clock. But he shot.480 on two point shots on the season, despite being the guy that every team knew they had to stop.

Even Starling’s defense isn’t as bad as his detractors suggest. He has improved each year, and this past season, Starling was a -.4 DBPM… Win Shares had him a positive dWS, also by a hair, this time positive. A hair under average, by those two rate stats that break out defense. All while playing a blistering 35 minutes a game as the team’s only offensive threat. If Starling had gotten a rest, even by not having to bring up the ball, do you think he might have been a little quicker in stopping defensive penetration? Probably. Oh, by the way, starling was second in steals and fourth in blocks on last years endemic defensive squad. The kid busts his butt, playing for his hometown team.

Can we stop complaining about Starling? The dude could have gone anywhere, and probably made more money doing it. Yet he’s here, a McDonald’s All American that is going to finish his career in Syracuse!

Somehow half the posters here act like we are saddled with him. It makes me a little angry.

JJ Starling College Stats | College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com

JJ Starling - Stats, Game Logs, Splits, and much more

www.sports-reference.com

 

[sufan59]

I’m cautiously extremely optimistic. We finally appear to have the roster that should set up Starling for success! The pieces around him should finally be able to allow him to play to his strengths consistently.

 

[Niastri]

I’m cautiously extremely optimistic. We finally appear to have the roster that should set up Starling for success! The pieces around him should finally be able to allow him to play to his strengths consistently.

Good point, he’s arguably never had that in his career.

Maybe you could count his year playing with Mintz? At least Starling didn’t have to play point guard that year.

 

[grepal]

I have been increasingly frustrated by certain posters who are constantly downplaying JJ Starling in this board. I found myself ranting about it in a recruiting thread, so decided to move it here instead.

JJ Starling was stuck as the only viable offensive threat last season on a team decimated by injuries and lack of talent. Red’s best, sometimes only, offensive play call was Starling Isolation. There was nothing else.

On top of that, Starling was our de facto point guard, playing away from his strengths.

JJ Starling was put in am extremely difficult position last season, and all he did was score 28 points, pull pull down 4 rebounds and dish out 3 assists per game, while maintaining a positive assist to turnover ratio. His scoring wasn’t as efficient as you would like, mostly because he was dribbling into the teeth of the defense every possession with nobody to pass to, and he shot too many threes at the end of the shot clock. But he shot.480 on two point shots on the season, despite being the guy that every team knew they had to stop.

Even Starling’s defense isn’t as bad as his detractors suggest. He has improved each year, and this past season, Starling was a -.4 DBPM… Win Shares had him a positive dWS, also by a hair, this time positive. A hair under average, by those two rate stats that break out defense. All while playing a blistering 35 minutes a game as the team’s only offensive threat. If Starling had gotten a rest, even by not having to bring up the ball, do you think he might have been a little quicker in stopping defensive penetration? Probably. Oh, by the way, starling was second in steals and fourth in blocks on last years endemic defensive squad. The kid busts his butt, playing for his hometown team.

Can we stop complaining about Starling? The dude could have gone anywhere, and probably made more money doing it. Yet he’s here, a McDonald’s All American that is going to finish his career in Syracuse! Somehow half the posters here act like we are saddled with him.

I’m thrilled Starling chose to stick around, and I think he’s going to be great.

Edit: I’m going to cross post this, because I just spent a few minutes researching a rant, and it isn’t even in the right thread. Dang it.

JJ Starling was stuck as the only viable offensive threat last season on a team decimated by injuries and lack of talent. Red’s best, sometimes only, offensive play call was Starling Isolation. There was nothing else.

On top of that, Starling was our de facto point guard, playing away from his strengths.

JJ Starling was put in am extremely difficult position last season, and all he did was score 28 points, pull pull down 4 rebounds and dish out 3 assists per game, while maintaining a positive assist to turnover ratio. His scoring wasn’t as efficient as you would like, mostly because he was dribbling into the teeth of the defense every possession with nobody to pass to, and he shot too many threes at the end of the shot clock. But he shot.480 on two point shots on the season, despite being the guy that every team knew they had to stop.

Even Starling’s defense isn’t as bad as his detractors suggest. He has improved each year, and this past season, Starling was a -.4 DBPM… Win Shares had him a positive dWS, also by a hair, this time positive. A hair under average, by those two rate stats that break out defense. All while playing a blistering 35 minutes a game as the team’s only offensive threat. If Starling had gotten a rest, even by not having to bring up the ball, do you think he might have been a little quicker in stopping defensive penetration? Probably. Oh, by the way, starling was second in steals and fourth in blocks on last years endemic defensive squad. The kid busts his butt, playing for his hometown team.

Can we stop complaining about Starling? The dude could have gone anywhere, and probably made more money doing it. Yet he’s here, a McDonald’s All American that is going to finish his career in Syracuse!

Somehow half the posters here act like we are saddled with him. It makes me a little angry.

JJ Starling College Stats | College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com

JJ Starling - Stats, Game Logs, Splits, and much more

www.sports-reference.com

You are not wrong. Local boy makes good. So, he is not a first team All American. Can you imagine what last year would have been without him. Of course, I recall posters complaining that GMAC was not athletic enough. Too many critics concentrate on a players' weaknesses and are not grateful for their strengths. Who is the last gu who played at SU that somebody did not bitch about???

 

[Niastri]

You are not wrong. Local boy makes good. So, he is not a first team All American. Can you imagine what last year would have been without him. Of course, I recall posters complaining that GMAC was not athletic enough. Too many critics concentrate on a players' weaknesses and are not grateful for their strengths. Who is the last gu who played at SU that somebody did not bitch about???

Everybody seemed to like Carmelo Anthony.

 

[cusefan88]

Having George and Kingz should help JJ. Not enough offensive threats made it easy to defend him.

Hopefully he has more space to operate and trusts his teammates.

 

[Niastri]

Having George and Kingz should help JJ. Not enough offensive threats made it easy to defend him.

Hopefully he has more space to operate and trusts his teammates.

A guard who shoots 48% from two and scores 18 points per game isn’t “easy to defend.”

 

[cusefan88]

A guard who shoots 48% from two and scores 18 points per game isn’t “easy to defend.”

Predictable is maybe a better word. I'm just saying I think he'll have a nice year playing with better teammates.

 

[Red Holzman]

Glad JJ stayed -hope the new roster and playing to his strengths = great results this coming season.

 

[kuethstheman]

JJ is not all that we wish he was but he's still very good.

That being said, his defense is that bad, despite what any metrics might say. I think most of the problems with his defense are correctable, with the right coaching. Hope springs eternal.

 

[ar inj]

I have been increasingly frustrated by certain posters who are constantly downplaying JJ Starling in this board. I found myself ranting about it in a recruiting thread, so decided to move it here instead.

JJ Starling was stuck as the only viable offensive threat last season on a team decimated by injuries and lack of talent. Red’s best, sometimes only, offensive play call was Starling Isolation. There was nothing else.

On top of that, Starling was our de facto point guard, playing away from his strengths.

JJ Starling was put in am extremely difficult position last season, and all he did was score 28 points, pull pull down 4 rebounds and dish out 3 assists per game, while maintaining a positive assist to turnover ratio. His scoring wasn’t as efficient as you would like, mostly because he was dribbling into the teeth of the defense every possession with nobody to pass to, and he shot too many threes at the end of the shot clock. But he shot.480 on two point shots on the season, despite being the guy that every team knew they had to stop.

Even Starling’s defense isn’t as bad as his detractors suggest. He has improved each year, and this past season, Starling was a -.4 DBPM… Win Shares had him a positive dWS, also by a hair, this time positive. A hair under average, by those two rate stats that break out defense. All while playing a blistering 35 minutes a game as the team’s only offensive threat. If Starling had gotten a rest, even by not having to bring up the ball, do you think he might have been a little quicker in stopping defensive penetration? Probably. Oh, by the way, starling was second in steals and fourth in blocks on last years endemic defensive squad. The kid busts his butt, playing for his hometown team.

Can we stop complaining about Starling? The dude could have gone anywhere, and probably made more money doing it. Yet he’s here, a McDonald’s All American that is going to finish his career in Syracuse! Somehow half the posters here act like we are saddled with him.

I’m thrilled Starling chose to stick around, and I think he’s going to be great.

Edit: I’m going to cross post this, because I just spent a few minutes researching a rant, and it isn’t even in the right thread. Dang it.

JJ Starling was stuck as the only viable offensive threat last season on a team decimated by injuries and lack of talent. Red’s best, sometimes only, offensive play call was Starling Isolation. There was nothing else.

On top of that, Starling was our de facto point guard, playing away from his strengths.

JJ Starling was put in am extremely difficult position last season, and all he did was score 28 points, pull pull down 4 rebounds and dish out 3 assists per game, while maintaining a positive assist to turnover ratio. His scoring wasn’t as efficient as you would like, mostly because he was dribbling into the teeth of the defense every possession with nobody to pass to, and he shot too many threes at the end of the shot clock. But he shot.480 on two point shots on the season, despite being the guy that every team knew they had to stop.

Even Starling’s defense isn’t as bad as his detractors suggest. He has improved each year, and this past season, Starling was a -.4 DBPM… Win Shares had him a positive dWS, also by a hair, this time positive. A hair under average, by those two rate stats that break out defense. All while playing a blistering 35 minutes a game as the team’s only offensive threat. If Starling had gotten a rest, even by not having to bring up the ball, do you think he might have been a little quicker in stopping defensive penetration? Probably. Oh, by the way, starling was second in steals and fourth in blocks on last years endemic defensive squad. The kid busts his butt, playing for his hometown team.

Can we stop complaining about Starling? The dude could have gone anywhere, and probably made more money doing it. Yet he’s here, a McDonald’s All American that is going to finish his career in Syracuse!

Somehow half the posters here act like we are saddled with him. It makes me a little angry.

JJ Starling College Stats | College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com

JJ Starling - Stats, Game Logs, Splits, and much more

www.sports-reference.com

Actually, he scored 17.8 ppg and had 3.8 rebounds, 2.8 assists, and 2.3 turnovers per game and he did shoot .479 on 2-pointers. I agree he did it on a poorly constructed and poorly performing team.

That said, he was not the de facto point guard because Carlos is still the only one who could dribble and he had 61 more assists than Starling. Indeed, I submit that too many times JJ bogged down the offense because he caused a lot of other players to watch JJ and stop playing offense. Why? Because they knew he was going to wind himself up, not look at others, and go to the basket no matter what.

If he played less he would not have been quicker stopping the ball because he has displayed very little aptitude for defense, does not fight through screens, and regularly watches guys he is guarding go right by him.

Did he "win" some games last year? Absolutely. Did he "lose" some games last year? Absolutely. He certainly has some skills but I am not sure he regularly demonstrates the clutch gene or game awareness.

The construction of next year's team looks like it may allow him to highlight his skills and hopefully stop trying to do what he cannot do. If next year's team is better it will be because JJ is one player among many and not the player.

I wish him well and I hope he plays about 17 minutes a game next year.

 

[Red2003]

Actually, he scored 17.8 ppg and had 3.8 rebounds, 2.8 assists, and 2.3 turnovers per game and he did shoot .479 on 2-pointers. I agree he did it on a poorly constructed and poorly performing team.

That said, he was not the de facto point guard because Carlos is still the only one who could dribble and he had 61 more assists than Starling. Indeed, I submit that too many times JJ bogged down the offense because he caused a lot of other players to watch JJ and stop playing offense. Why? Because they knew he was going to wind himself up, not look at others, and go to the basket no matter what.

If he played less he would not have been quicker stopping the ball because he has displayed very little aptitude for defense, does not fight through screens, and regularly watches guys he is guarding go right by him.

Did he "win" some games last year? Absolutely. Did he "lose" some games last year? Absolutely. He certainly has some skills but I am not sure he regularly demonstrates the clutch gene or game awareness.

The construction of next year's team looks like it may allow him to highlight his skills and hopefully stop trying to do what he cannot do. If next year's team is better it will be because JJ is one player among many and not the player.

I wish him well and I hope he plays about 17 minutes a game next year.

Needs to be said that Carlos was benched midseason. We ran a true freshman starting in the backcourt near JJ that was nowhere near ready because Carlos was that bad.

 

[newmexicuse]

IMHO opinion JJ is a good college level player. He is far from a great or even a very good college level player. His strength is as a slasher. He is a mediocre two point shooter and a sub-par three point shooter for a guard. Hopefully on a team that has better players around him and better ball movement he can be more selective with shots and his percentages will improve.

That being said, I am certainly glad that he is returning. We need his experience and leadership.

 

[upperdeck]

I would bet he would pass the ball better if guys actually moved better to pass it to as well.

Even if he is only a downhill guy that doesn't mean you don't move to good spots which forces the D to move which helps rebounding.

Sure he went 1-1 a ton. On a team that can't shoot he had some idea on how to score.

 

[Red2003]

One thing that I think is overlooked a great deal is the multiple injuries JJ has had. His freshman year in ND he was banged up later in the year with a shoulder injury. We all know what happened last year with his hand. We also saw him take alot of hard fouls and went airborne on a few defensive possessions as well. 1 or 2 times landed pretty much on his head.

It's really hard to know with JJ some games. One thing I do know is that everyone on the defense needs to be better this year.

 

[baggerbob]

I have been increasingly frustrated by certain posters who are constantly downplaying JJ Starling in this board. I found myself ranting about it in a recruiting thread, so decided to move it here instead.

JJ Starling was stuck as the only viable offensive threat last season on a team decimated by injuries and lack of talent. Red’s best, sometimes only, offensive play call was Starling Isolation. There was nothing else.

On top of that, Starling was our de facto point guard, playing away from his strengths.

JJ Starling was put in am extremely difficult position last season, and all he did was score 28 points, pull pull down 4 rebounds and dish out 3 assists per game, while maintaining a positive assist to turnover ratio. His scoring wasn’t as efficient as you would like, mostly because he was dribbling into the teeth of the defense every possession with nobody to pass to, and he shot too many threes at the end of the shot clock. But he shot.480 on two point shots on the season, despite being the guy that every team knew they had to stop.

Even Starling’s defense isn’t as bad as his detractors suggest. He has improved each year, and this past season, Starling was a -.4 DBPM… Win Shares had him a positive dWS, also by a hair, this time positive. A hair under average, by those two rate stats that break out defense. All while playing a blistering 35 minutes a game as the team’s only offensive threat. If Starling had gotten a rest, even by not having to bring up the ball, do you think he might have been a little quicker in stopping defensive penetration? Probably. Oh, by the way, starling was second in steals and fourth in blocks on last years endemic defensive squad. The kid busts his butt, playing for his hometown team.

Can we stop complaining about Starling? The dude could have gone anywhere, and probably made more money doing it. Yet he’s here, a McDonald’s All American that is going to finish his career in Syracuse! Somehow half the posters here act like we are saddled with him.

I’m thrilled Starling chose to stick around, and I think he’s going to be great.

Edit: I’m going to cross post this, because I just spent a few minutes researching a rant, and it isn’t even in the right thread. Dang it.

JJ Starling was stuck as the only viable offensive threat last season on a team decimated by injuries and lack of talent. Red’s best, sometimes only, offensive play call was Starling Isolation. There was nothing else.

On top of that, Starling was our de facto point guard, playing away from his strengths.

JJ Starling was put in am extremely difficult position last season, and all he did was score 28 points, pull pull down 4 rebounds and dish out 3 assists per game, while maintaining a positive assist to turnover ratio. His scoring wasn’t as efficient as you would like, mostly because he was dribbling into the teeth of the defense every possession with nobody to pass to, and he shot too many threes at the end of the shot clock. But he shot.480 on two point shots on the season, despite being the guy that every team knew they had to stop.

Even Starling’s defense isn’t as bad as his detractors suggest. He has improved each year, and this past season, Starling was a -.4 DBPM… Win Shares had him a positive dWS, also by a hair, this time positive. A hair under average, by those two rate stats that break out defense. All while playing a blistering 35 minutes a game as the team’s only offensive threat. If Starling had gotten a rest, even by not having to bring up the ball, do you think he might have been a little quicker in stopping defensive penetration? Probably. Oh, by the way, starling was second in steals and fourth in blocks on last years endemic defensive squad. The kid busts his butt, playing for his hometown team.

Can we stop complaining about Starling? The dude could have gone anywhere, and probably made more money doing it. Yet he’s here, a McDonald’s All American that is going to finish his career in Syracuse!

Somehow half the posters here act like we are saddled with him. It makes me a little angry.

JJ Starling College Stats | College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com

JJ Starling - Stats, Game Logs, Splits, and much more

www.sports-reference.com

You need to go in and edit the 28 pts per game. That's Dave Bing territory and he may be a good player but no where near Dave.

 

[Niastri]

Actually, he scored 17.8 ppg and had 3.8 rebounds, 2.8 assists, and 2.3 turnovers per game and he did shoot .479 on 2-pointers. I agree he did it on a poorly constructed and poorly performing team.

That said, he was not the de facto point guard because Carlos is still the only one who could dribble and he had 61 more assists than Starling. Indeed, I submit that too many times JJ bogged down the offense because he caused a lot of other players to watch JJ and stop playing offense. Why? Because they knew he was going to wind himself up, not look at others, and go to the basket no matter what.

If he played less he would not have been quicker stopping the ball because he has displayed very little aptitude for defense, does not fight through screens, and regularly watches guys he is guarding go right by him.

Did he "win" some games last year? Absolutely. Did he "lose" some games last year? Absolutely. He certainly has some skills but I am not sure he regularly demonstrates the clutch gene or game awareness.

The construction of next year's team looks like it may allow him to highlight his skills and hopefully stop trying to do what he cannot do. If next year's team is better it will be because JJ is one player among many and not the player.

I wish him well and I hope he plays about 17 minutes a game next year.

I would like to submit that Carlos must have racked up assists because he would pass to Starling 25 feet from the basket, Starling would dribble through the entire defense, score on a runner (or something) and inexplicably they would give Carlos an assist. I remember very few times Carlos created offense for anybody last season, much less to the tune of 4.1 assists per game.

Carlos was unplayable, as Red2003 pointed out his getting benched mid year.

 

[Cusefan0307]

I'll tread lightly, but he facts are he shot 33% overall from February until the end of the season and had the worst efficiency in conference play of any player outside of Moore and Cuffe. It's difficult to win when your shooting guard can't make anything outside of a layup. I don't use the wrist as an excuse because the best month of shooting for him was right after he returned from injury. We have had more than enough data over three years that suggests this is who he is.

He needs to play defense this year or Red needs to go to other guys. We have 12 guys on the roster which include 2 freshmen with a lot of potential. I really think if Syracuse has a successful season it will be because JJ has bought into not being the focus of the team like he has been. If he's the third leading scorer we probably have had a very good year. If he leads us in scoring again that will be a problem. Freeman needs to be the focal point and Kingz needs shots too.

 

[Niastri]

Actually, he scored 17.8 ppg and had 3.8 rebounds, 2.8 assists, and 2.3 turnovers per game and he did shoot .479 on 2-pointers. I agree he did it on a poorly constructed and poorly performing team.

That said, he was not the de facto point guard because Carlos is still the only one who could dribble and he had 61 more assists than Starling. Indeed, I submit that too many times JJ bogged down the offense because he caused a lot of other players to watch JJ and stop playing offense. Why? Because they knew he was going to wind himself up, not look at others, and go to the basket no matter what.

If he played less he would not have been quicker stopping the ball because he has displayed very little aptitude for defense, does not fight through screens, and regularly watches guys he is guarding go right by him.

Did he "win" some games last year? Absolutely. Did he "lose" some games last year? Absolutely. He certainly has some skills but I am not sure he regularly demonstrates the clutch gene or game awareness.

The construction of next year's team looks like it may allow him to highlight his skills and hopefully stop trying to do what he cannot do. If next year's team is better it will be because JJ is one player among many and not the player.

I wish him well and I hope he plays about 17 minutes a game next year.

Correcting someone on how they chose to do their rounding as if you proved a point is an absolutely insufferable trait. You should stop that.

Edit: I had a typo of him scoring 28 per game. My bad. That said, the other stuff is designed to be annoying and not actually help the conversation go forward.

 

[Niastri]

You need to go in and edit the 28 pts per game. That's Dave Bing territory and he may be a good player but no where near Dave.

Thanks. Pretty bad to for me to not notice.

 

[CuseFan]

I'm also quite optimistic for JJ next year, with many more offensive threats around him to share the load especially with a real point guard. That should take heat off him and let be a scorer.

 

[MikeSU02]

His defense is not good. Granted, this team executed defense like they just found out about it at tip off, so maybe he can gain some grace there, but he's also not a first year player.

His TS% was under 50% and he took 16 FGA last year. His TS% for his career is right at 50%. He's below 43% FG% and 30% 3PT% for his career.

When healthy, Donnie and Eddie were both viable offensive threats, I would argue.

He is, at his peak, what I would consider an average player. But because of the lack of talent, the lack of coaching and the injuries we got hit with he took on a role that he is not suited for. However, I think he was going to be a volume shooter and high usage guy, no matter what.

He has now had two injuries in his career during two separate years.

If he is shooting 16 FGA/game next year, we will not be a good team. On offense, we have to get much more efficient.

On defense, we literally just need to be functional.

I don't dislike JJ and I'm glad he's coming back. Veteran players, even if average, are still valuable. He has an ability to attack downhill and get lift and understands angles to score from five or six feet or in really well. I would argue if he plays with guys that can hit threes and a center that can set a high screen and roll hard to the rim and catch a lob, he'd have more opportunity, just like anyone that has his attributes.

But in terms of JJ just being given the keys to shoot as much as he did, that can't happen. Efficiency is the name of the game and if JJ were really good, he would lift the players around him.

I'll root like all get out for him. I like him. I like that he's a local guy that is sticking around. But we have some other options on the team heading into the upcoming year and I think it would be wise of Red to explore all avenues at his disposal.

 

[Red2003]

I would like to submit that Carlos must have racked up assists because he would pass to Starling 25 feet from the basket, Starling would dribble through the entire defense, score on a runner (or something) and inexplicably they would give Carlos an assist. I remember very few times Carlos created offense for anybody last season, much less to the tune of 4.1 assists per game.

Carlos was unplayable, as Red2003 pointed out his getting benched mid year.

Exactly. Unplayable was an understatement too some games. Rarely do you find a guy so unequipped for both ends of the court. He was bad both on offense and defense. Typically with a player struggling they’re weak on one end or the other not both with Carlos.

 

[tbonezone]

game is 40 minutes long. not just last 2 minutes of garbage points.

 

[ar inj]

I would like to submit that Carlos must have racked up assists because he would pass to Starling 25 feet from the basket, Starling would dribble through the entire defense, score on a runner (or something) and inexplicably they would give Carlos an assist. I remember very few times Carlos created offense for anybody last season, much less to the tune of 4.1 assists per game.

Carlos was unplayable, as Red2003 pointed out his getting benched mid year.

Given that JJ almost never immediately went to the basket, the prerequisite for an assistant, it would have been hard for Carlos to rack up all those assists via passes only to Starling. The same guy who kept rack of assists added them up for Starling and Carlos.