Jeremy Lin And The Pick 'N Roll

Sebastian Pruiti has a nice post up at Grantland about Jeremy Lin and Kyle Lowry and how each of them just loves to use the pick and roll, basically as often as I call "Da Bomb" whenever I play NFL Blitz (anyone?). Here's a handy link and an excerpt:

Is Lin an upgrade from Lowry [in the pick and roll game]? It's tough to say. According to the numbers, Lowry was one of the best scorers in pick-and-roll situations, posting a PPP of 0.969, placing him in the top 10 percent of all NBA players. Lin's PPP? 0.797. Still above average, that PPP places him in the 63rd percentile, but not as good. However, when you look at each player's use of all ball screens, including pass-out situations, things get a lot closer. Lowry's total pick-and-roll PPP (including both scoring and pass-out situations) was 0.919, placing him in the 63rd percentile. Lin's was 0.893, placing him in the 53rd percentile.

The Synergy numbers go on to show striking similarities between Lowry and Lin when using the PnR. They use the play from similar areas on the floor and do similar things when it's decision time. Luckily for Kevin McHale, a new point guard shouldn't mean too many new changes to the offense, even though I suspect McHale will make a few changes on his own given that A) Rick Adelman's players are mostly gone, and B) He finally has a full offseason to implement them.