First, to the good news: Alabama Junior Guard and leading scorer Jaden Shackelford is coming back after a flirtation with the NBA Draft and then the Transfer Portal:
The Alabama Crimson Tide hoops team is one that is in transition this season, particularly when it comes to scorers. After his stellar combine, the Tide lost fast-rising PG Josh Primo to the NBA. Senior shooting guard John Petty and Senior all-everything Herb Jones have moved on, where both look to be second-round selections. That is going to leave a lot to the stellar recruiting class that features Jusuan Holt and JD Davison in the backcourt.
Jahvon Quinerly and his 14.5 PPG will return, but the rest of the backcourt and wing positions are big on potential and light on starting experience — Keon Ambrose-Hylton, Juwan Gary, Keon Ellis, and Darius Miles are also returning, with KAH and Gary having tons of potential and Ellis poised for a big year Still, losing a shooter would have been devastating, especially one with such a nice perimeter stroke.
Last season, Shack was impressive in many metrics. He was Alabama’s leading scorer, averaging 15 PPG, he shot 49% from the field, 35% from long range, improved his assists and steals, and his win contribution efficiency went from 3.8 to 7 for ‘Bama. Bart Tovik’s deep analytical dive has Shackelford as Alabama’s best returning player for 2021-2022.
That does not mean that there are not areas where he can improve. While Jaden was active on the defensive glass, in many areas he did see some slippage. His defensive efficiency dropped off, as did his adjusted rebounding across the board — in particular, his offensive rebounding has been singled out as needing work. (And, to point out the obvious, that is largely a function of needing to improve cleaning up around the net — so many missed layups.).
There were many rumors as to why Shackelford entered the portal, and we won’t dive into them here. But, if he ever wanted a chance to polish up his game for next year’s draft, as well as be the undisputed go-to shooter, this is his time to shine. Much of Alabama’s scheme — and its 2022 season — will rely on that improvement.
Roll Tide
Comments
Not sure I'm familiar with this metric
By PiperTJ on 07.21.21 4:41am
Good question, since most won’t know.
TL; DR — it’s the hoops version of WARV.
In 2021, with him on the court, Alabama won 7 games it would have not have done so versus baseline rest-of-the-roster. It’s calculated using his efficiency vs. the team efficiency in a given contest, and then aggregated across season. If you want to be granular, the efficiency portion can also be tracked by-game or by-quad or by-ranking etc.
For instance, in the UCLA game, his presence was actually a net negative, and efficiency numbers suggest that Alabama had a 50.3% better chance of winning with him on the bench. That number then goes to into the totals for an overall season win contribution efficiency as -.503.
By Erik Evans on 07.21.21 5:03am
Hope that helped / made sense.
And putting it together, his performances were good enough to swing seven games last year.
By Erik Evans on 07.21.21 5:07am
Ok, a bit clearer now
Prima facie, it seemed REALLY subjective until it appears you have enough data points.
By PiperTJ on 07.21.21 7:22am
Like any algorithm, GIGO.
By Erik Evans on 07.21.21 8:15am
Welcome back, Shack.
By Law Abiding Citizen on 07.21.21 6:49am
this incurable gossip
would love to hear at least one of the rumors.
By nobodysmom on 07.21.21 7:52am
One of the rumors I've seen is...
Shack’s dad didn’t like how Oats was using him and thought Oats wouldn’t be able to develop him into a high draft pick. That was more or less the gist.
By TUAMuchTuna on 07.21.21 8:00am
That's the one.
Maybe. Allegedly. Perhaps
By Erik Evans on 07.21.21 8:16am
thanks
that’s all i need to hear.
By nobodysmom on 07.21.21 9:44am
Rumor: NBA Scouts told him..
That they wanted to see him develop at the 1 spot to become a high first round pick. Only problem is We have JQ and the #1 PG in the country from last years recruiting class coming in. So he was looking for a top tier program that would let him play primarily at the 1.
By uatide4ever on 07.21.21 8:51am
Yup. His size is an obstacle at the 2 spot
So they need to see a lot more ballhandling and an improvement on the defensive end. He will get plenty of touches this year, but like you said there are two other point guards on the roster and that doesn’t even count Q.
I still think he could position himself as a nice R1 overall pick at the Two spot if he just cleans up his game all around: rebounding, minimizing turnovers, dropping dimes, and finishing around the glass.
But I don’t think there’s any situation where he would be a lottery pick
By Erik Evans on 07.21.21 9:05am
It will be good to see back in crimson jersey this year though.
He plays with a lot of energy. He does need to completely fix that cross load on his jumper. He cut it down a lot last year, but it was still there. At the next level you can’t have that type of thing.
By uatide4ever on 07.21.21 11:47am
What's cross load, Precious?
By krnxprs on 07.21.21 3:12pm
By PiperTJ on 07.21.21 3:28pm
He is left handed..
but as happens for many lefties, they get coached by righties, and so they do some things different. A normal right-handed person will naturally pick up his dribble when it is on his right side, then pull the ball the straight up to load for a jumper. Shack picks the ball up a lot (he used to do every time as a freshmen) when it is on his right side and crosses his body with the ball to load the for the jumper. If you watch him, it looks like he is doing the twist as he shoots. This ads a little time to his shot release and shows the ball to a defender.
By uatide4ever on 07.21.21 3:32pm
I would put it in the same category as Tim Tebow's wind up when he would throw the football.
It’s a small thing, but also kind of a really big thing.
By uatide4ever on 07.21.21 3:36pm
Thanks for the explanation.
By krnxprs on 07.21.21 9:15pm
And let’s be honest
There has never been a pretty left-handed shot — just like the most natural baseball swings are from lefies.
By Erik Evans on 07.22.21 3:37am
Never?*
*Okay, Conley’s move is prettier than the shot.
The shot is still pretty, though.**
**But his teammate’s celebration dance is even prettier than the move.
Look, there’s just a lot of pretty sh*t in this gif, m’kay?
By NiceLittleSaturday on 07.22.21 7:37am
No Doubt!!!
I mean Reggie Miller looked like he was trying to throw a greased pig!!
By uatide4ever on 07.22.21 8:41am
I meant jalen rose was the lefty with a bad shot..
and reggies shot looked so horrible, so ugly shots can make the nba. But Shack wants to be drafted in first round, he is going to have to get his Jumper form on par with the clay thompsons… imho.
I need Coffee!! It is too early.
By uatide4ever on 07.22.21 8:52am
Reggie Miller...
…was a bada$$…
By NiceLittleSaturday on 07.22.21 11:20am
By PiperTJ on 07.22.21 12:37pm
But it wasn’t pretty
By Erik Evans on 07.22.21 4:10pm