Lauri Markkanen Hype & Appreciation Thread

[Handlogten's Heros]

I would for sure take PG and Sabonis over Markkanen right now, if Markkanen becomes a more consistent second half player, then I’d rethink those rankings.

Lauri has missed 3 games... PG has missed 8... that is 20 quarters where PG disappeared. Sabonis prolly deserves it as much... but I think Lauri should be a shoe in as of right now. Especially if January looks anything like the December he just had. He'd be at like 25/8 and no one would be near his efficiency... and solid defense.

 

[Thee Idiotic Minivan K]

Lauri has missed 3 games... PG has missed 8... that is 20 quarters where PG disappeared. Sabonis prolly deserves it as much... but I think Lauri should be a shoe in as of right now. Especially if January looks anything like the December he just had. He'd be at like 25/8 and no one would be near his efficiency... and solid defense.

I forgot PG missed games. I’d take Lauri over all of them if he plays better in the second half. For me he’s disappeared too often in the second half of games after going nuts in the first quarter.

 

[Jingled]

View: https://twitter.com/BensHoops/status/1610005006606020609

 

[Tremendous Upside]

Another good one.

My fave photo is this one.


It's from his rookie season, so I think we need to drug test him

 

[Step-Back Hook]

My fave photo is this one.
View attachment 13624

It's from his rookie season, so I think we need to drug test him

LOL.

It is from 2013

 

[Barf]

My fave photo is this one.
View attachment 13624

It's from his rookie season, so I think we need to drug test him

Maybe just a big Caillou fan growing up?

 

[Elizah Huge]

View: https://mobile.twitter.com/Coast2CoastNBA/status/1609986752113942531

 

[Step-Back Hook]

I know me and some others have wanted us to get even more out of Lauri... More shots.
But considering how new most of the players are to each other and how well Lauri is doing in almost all scoring stats I think we have done almost as good job as possible.

To think that I have no idea where is Lauri's ceiling if we get even more out of him towards the end of the season and in the future.
So in short: he is NOW in the middle of the season one of the best ISO scorers, three point shooters, one of the most effective shooters overall, one of the most efficient scoring per touch...
If he gets in the future 5 shots more per game he could average almost 30 a night even if his efficiency would come down ten percents.

 

[Jingled]

View: https://twitter.com/utahjazz/status/1610384526211186688

 

[Elizah Huge]

Lauri’s last 21 games:

25.9 PPG and 8.5 RPG

177/332 from the field (53.3%)
100/167 from 2 (59.9%)
77/165 from 3 (46.7%)
112/126 from FT (88.9%)

 

[HermanG]

Last few games he hasnt hit the money ball well but I'm very happy to see him draw those fouls and get to the FT line like a star. Also absolute money FT accuracy lately.

 

[Release the Kraken]

Last few games he hasnt hit the money ball well but I'm very happy to see him draw those fouls and get to the FT line like a star. Also absolute money FT accuracy lately.

Second straight game where he’s delivered three consecutive free throws to tie a game in the closing seconds. Definitely the most clutch free throw shooter on the team.

Regarding the missed threes, I blame Hardy who keeps calling that play when we should have been posting him up or utilizing him in the pick and roll. Same thing in the Miami game where he was shooting threes even when he had the mismatch with Lowery.

 

[Tremendous Upside]

Regarding the missed threes, I blame Hardy who keeps calling that play when we should have been posting him up or utilizing him in the pick and roll.

I'm not sure that's all Hardy. Lauri has a definite tendency to settle for tough 3pt shots.

I agree that it's totally mystifying why we've again gone away from using him as the screener in pick and rolls. That's exactly the type of action that leads to Lauri getting a slight advantage, and he can work from there in many ways.

 

[HermanG]

Channing Frye and Greg Anthony both put Markkanen pretty high on the reserves list (#2 and #3). Thats nice to see.

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Predictions for All-Star selections in Western Conference

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If that last bucket in the last game would have counted, that highlight reel would have been all over the media and probably would have helped Lauri's case tremendously. Damn for those 0.2 seconds they stole from us.

 

[Release the Kraken]

I'm not sure that's all Hardy. Lauri has a definite tendency to settle for tough 3pt shots.

I agree that it's totally mystifying why we've again gone away from using him as the screener in pick and rolls. That's exactly the type of action that leads to Lauri getting a slight advantage, and he can work from there in many ways.

Interesting observation and you may be right in that it’s mostly a player tendency. And like you say, it’s not always uncontested threes either. If that’s the case though, Hardy could do something certainly to change the action. Like you say, implementing more pick and roll action with the guards would be a good place to start.

 

[Step-Back Hook]

Interesting observation and you may be right in that it’s mostly a player tendency. And like you say, it’s not always uncontested threes either. If that’s the case though, Hardy could do something certainly to change the action. Like you say, implementing more pick and roll action with the guards would be a good place to start.

If it is the left corner where he shoots 70% - sometimes there is a good reason. if others are doing well in offense it glues the defender in him and allows more room as his defender has no chance to be in time to go help. It becomes a problem when offense is not producing or it becomes too much of a habit. Earlier into season we/he did it more but the balance is becoming better now.

 

[Release the Kraken]

If it is the left corner where he shoots 70% - sometimes there is a good reason. if others are doing well in offense it glues the defender in him and allows more room as his defender has no chance to be in time to go help. It becomes a problem when offense is not producing or it becomes too much of a habit. Earlier into season we/he did it more but the balance is becoming better now.

Yeah, we rely far too heavily on the three ball for my liking. We really need a slasher type player similar to Fox and a low post threat similar to Sabonis to keep the defense honest imo. I thought we had a slasher in Sexton that could help us but since a few amazing performances including Phoenix and Golden State, he seems stuck in first gear (probably hammy related). Kessler obviously shows promise of being that interior scoring threat but he needs to pack some more muscle and work on that aspect of his game to make it more automatic imo.

 

[HermanG]

Yeah, we rely far too heavily on the three ball for my liking. We really need a slasher type player similar to Fox and a low post threat similar to Sabonis to keep the defense honest imo. I thought we had a slasher in Sexton that could help us but since a few amazing performances including Phoenix and Golden State, he seems stuck in first gear (probably hammy related). Kessler obviously shows promise of being that interior scoring threat but he needs to pack some more muscle and work on that aspect of his game to make it more automatic imo.

So we need Wemby and Scoot you saying?

 

[Release the Kraken]

Yeah, we rely far too heavily on the three ball for my liking. We really need a slasher type player similar to Fox and a low post threat similar to Sabonis to keep the defense honest imo. I thought we had a slasher in Sexton that could help us but since a few amazing performances including Phoenix and Golden State, he seems stuck in first gear (probably hammy related). Kessler obviously shows promise of being that interior scoring threat but he needs to pack some more muscle and work on that aspect of his game to make it more automatic imo.

As I’ve said before, Markkanen also shows a lot of promise on the block and we really need to pull him in from beyond the three stripe every so often, where his inside moves, rebounding and free throw shooting could benefit us.

 

[sip]

As I’ve said before, Markkanen also shows a lot of promise on the block and we really need to pull him in from beyond the three stripe every so often, where his inside moves, rebounding and free throw shooting could benefit us.

At the very least we need to give him more of an opportunity to work in the post even if he struggles. There is only one goal this year and that is player development.