he is doing so much more than that, though. He moves without the ball, he is conscientious about his spacing, he tirelessly sets picks (often several times on a single possession), he doesn't drive very often but he handles the ball on the perimeter, he looks for open teammates (he had three very nice assists last night; I really wish JB would use him more at the high post, I think he would be a terrific weapon there); most important for a designated shooter, he is not a ball stopper. He takes the shots when they are available and takes them within the flow of the offense.
Most of that is true, but the bigger point I was getting at is that I think his offensive rating overstates his contribution, mainly because he never turns it over, which is mainly a function of the fact that he isn't asked to do much with the ball. (Though it is also fair to point out that it's not much of an insult to say that his offensive rating is overstated, because it's ridiculously high).
And I still stand by my point that guys who play that role are hard to evaluate. He's using fewer than 20% of possessions when he is on the court. His ft rate, while improved, is still pretty low. He doesn't get a lot of assists, he doesn't get a lot of turnovers. At this point, his role is primarily that of a floor space. He's putting the ball on the floor more this year than last (including a drive last night), but for the most part, he's setting screens and rolling to the 3 point line. Which is fine, you need guys to fill that role, and he does it exceptionally well. But those guys almost always have very high offensive ratings. And that also isn't to say that he isn't capable of more. As I allude to below, the sample sizes are small. but he has seemingly made great strides from this year to last year.
He did have those 3 nice assists last night, but those were his first assists in over a month. (Literally, he hadn't gotten an assist since the second game of the season.) So I can't give him too much credit for his passing.
I think it is a fluke. The games at MSG were relatively early in the season and, for whatever reason, JB tightened his rotation and didn't really give James any run. Against Marshall and Florida, true he didn't score, but he played very well all around in both games, especially on the defensive end. His combined numbers for those games were 5 boards, 4 blocks and 3 steals in 29 minutes. Those are very good energy numbers for a guy off the bench. Given that James has a history of going into a shell when his shot hasn't fallen, the fact that he also went a combined 1-6 from three in those games really speaks to his development. He is not just a one dimensional player.
It's probably a fluke. I shouldn't really hold it against him.
And I do agree that he has developed. As bad as his assist rate is this year, it's better than it was last year. His blocks are up, his steals are up, he's taking more 2's than he did before, which is resulting in his free throws being up, his offensive rebounding is up, his defensive rebounding is (slightly) up. And all of that is combined with the fact that his role in the offense is up.
