Week 2 Analytics Report: Enemies

Nick Young

12-Year NBA veteran who made a career out of being a microwave scorer and human heat check. Reserve on the Golden State Warriors’ 2018 NBA Championship team. He scored nearly 8.2k points and made over 1k threes in his NBA career. His playing style is that of a pure jump shooter. 80% of his career shot attempts came from midrange or deeper — evenly split between 40% from 3PT range and 40% from long-2PT range. Rarely gets into the teeth of the defense — just 1 out of every 8 shots during his career came within 3-feet of the basket. During his 3-year BIG3 career, Young has struggled SIGNIFICANTLY shooting the ball. Across 12 career games as captain of the Enemies, he’s made just 22-of-75 total shot attempts (29.3%), including 13-of-49 three-point shot attempts (26.5%). Although he took just 2 shots in Week 1, so maybe he’s finally realizing that he shouldn’t be shooting so much? Aside from “scoring”, Young doesn’t provide any meaningful contributions. While in the NBA, he amassed an impressively negative AST-to-TOV ratio. And in his 12 career BIG3 games, he’s recorded just 8 total assists! But wait, there’s more... He’s failed to record an AST in his last 7 consecutive games played. This means that Young’s last BIG3 assist came way back during Week 4 of the 2021 season (695 days ago) — which for all we know could’ve been an accident.

Isaiah Austin

Drafted 1st overall by the Enemies in the 2021 BIG3 Draft. Averaging 12.1 ppg 5.1 reb 1.5 blk in 13 career games. Shooting a respectable 62-of-118 on 2PT attempts (53%), but an abysmal 2-of-21 on 3PT attempts (9.5%). Despite the lousy 3PT efficiency, he won’t shy away from outside shots. In Week 1, he attempted 11 shots and 4 of them came from three. His career 3PA rate is just under 25%, which means 1 out of every 4 shots comes from beyond the arc. In short, Austin is a big who really, really wants to be a guard. He does lots of perimeter ball-handling and takes a surprising amount of off-the-dribble threes. Settles for a TON of contested, fadeaway midrange jumpers. Doesn’t like to get physical or bang with the bigs down low. He only posted up ONCE in Week 1 despite being the tallest guy on the floor by 3 inches. If you get physical with him, he will shy away from contact and settle for difficult shots. Defensively, he’s more like a traditional big. He has incredible length and very strong instincts, but he doesn’t like to guard on the perimeter. When put in the pick-and-roll, he tries to hug the big and retreat into the paint as quickly as possible. So, when we run the PNR at him, the ball-handler should be ready to shoot the quick 3! Inside the arc, he tries to contest everything. If we pump fake, he will bite and we can get to the free throw line.

Elijah Stewart

Former USC Trojans’ standout who graduated in 2018 as the school’s all-time leader in made threes (245). Spent the majority of the past 4 seasons playing professionally in Europe, where he shot 40% 3PT and connected on 323-of-812 3PA. The kid can shoot. In the BIG3, he LOVES to catch teams by surprise by shooting quick 3PA after clearing the ball in transition! Per Synergy Analytics, Stewart averaged 1.17 points per shot (PPS) on jump shots this past season in Italy, which ranked in the 91st percentile amongst all International players. Furthermore, he ranked in the 93rd percentile on off-the-dribble jumpers (1.13 PPS) and 84th percentile on contested jumpers (1.19 PPS). Very effective as a ball-handler in the pick-and-roll, where he ranked in the 92nd percentile and cashed 44% of his 3PA. When he drives, he goes right 55-60% of the time. He rarely rejects screens. In the PNR he accepts the screen 85-90% of the time. If he has any weakness in his offensive game, it’s finishing around the basket, where he converted just 34-of-63 shots this past season (1.08 PPS) and ranked in just the 27th percentile. Just an average defender. Ranked in the 53rd percentile in half-court defense this past season. Will not shy away from contact, but due to his size Trilogy hunted mismatches against him in the post with big wings and had success.

Jordan Crawford

Former NCAA All-American at Xavier and 1st Round NBA Draft pick (27th overall) who had a relatively productive 6-year NBA career before heading overseas. Averaged 12.2 ppg 3.1 ast 2.5 reb in 281 NBA games. Scored a career-high 41 pts for Golden State back in April 2014. Crawford has been a prolific scorer everywhere he has played. In his 7 international seasons (primarily in Europe & China), his career scoring average is just under 26 PPG and topped out at a whopping 43 PPG in 2015-16 when he led the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) in scoring. Splashed 644-of-1921 career three-point attempts — good for a 33.5% 3PT efficiency. Crawford joined the Enemies last season as an alternate sub, but has become much more of a focal point on this summer’s squad. In fact in Week 1, he replaced Nick Young in the starting lineup and scored a team-high 22 points on 8-for-17 FG and 3-for-5 3PT shooting. In terms of play style tendencies, when Crawford drives he goes left more than 60% of the time. He possesses a lethal floater that consistently ranked in the 90th percentile or higher during his time in the NBA. Not the greatest finisher around the rim, so we must be ready for floaters when he gets into the lane. Very good “tough shot” maker. Served as the Enemies primary ball-handler in Week 1. Ball-stopper who likes to play 1-on-1.

Quincy Miller

Former Top 5 overall high school recruit who played one season at Baylor before being drafted in the 2nd Round (38th Overall) in the 2012 NBA Draft. Had a “cup of coffee” in the NBA before heading overseas where he earned All-EuroLeague 2nd Team in 2016 and won several championships in Serbia, Israel, and the ABA. Averaging 14.5 ppg 6.7 reb 1.2 blk in 146 career games overseas. Don’t let his 6’10” frame fool you. He wants to operate on the perimeter. 42% of his career shot attempts have come from 3PT range, where he’s connected on 235-of-664 3PA for a respectable 35.4% efficiency. Entering his 3rd summer with the Enemies where he’s shooting a blistering 14-of-25 (56%) from 3PT range in 8 career games. He may not play much, but when he does we should fully expect him to shoot plenty of 3’s. Unlike some of his teammates, Miller is an excellent finisher around the basket. This past year in Japan, he made 111-of-148 shots around the basket (75%), ranking in the 95th percentile in terms of efficiency. As for his shot profile, he plays a very analytically-sound version of basketball — lots of 3’s and shots at the rim. But other than that, he doesn’t do a whole lot. He doesn’t play with very much energy, and when he doesn’t have the ball he looks completely disinterested. Very lackadaisical on defense. We can back cut him to death off-ball.