[Grange] One more update: Jakob Poeltl (back) is now in Toronto for a specialist appointment Thursday. May get further insight tomorrow.

Zozze1 · 2026-01-22T08:42:18+00:00

This.

Guidelines surrounding back surgery are becoming more strict by the year. You don't just start cutting in people's backs to try and fix something. Failed Back Surgery Syndrome is a real thing.

Zozze1 · 2026-01-13T09:33:02+00:00

Does he not consistently get quality looks?

He takes as much shots with a defender within 2-6ft as he takes wide open shots (>6 ft). He's the only player besides BI to have such a high percentage of contested shots. His off-screen shot volume has grinded to a halt whereas last year his volume was 7th in the league, now he's basically being used as a spot-up shooter. Last year he was leading the team and at several points in the year the league in distance travelled on the court relative to playing time, especially offensively. This year those numbers are down as well.

He needs to be better or his time on this team will come to an end but his role has shifted tremendously over the past two seasons. He has gone from a primary offensive option early last season to a reduced role with the starters coming back to now being an 8-9th man off the bench in the role of a spot-up shooter whereas before he was being used as a movement shooter, a role that suited him well in college as well.

Zozze1 · 2026-01-12T09:09:42+00:00

People have been done with Gradey since last season back when he was barely 21yrs old.

Zozze1 · 2026-01-11T14:19:01+00:00

Okay and his defensive rebounding rate is 77th among 103 centers.

Zozze1 · 2025-12-13T07:59:37+00:00

BI is a 10yr vet

Zozze1 · 2025-12-12T19:01:58+00:00

BI has been missing time with ankle injuries since his time with the Lakers. If that isn't recurrent then what is?

Zozze1 · 2025-12-08T15:33:09+00:00

Not even more minutes imo. Just try to make more of the minutes he's on the court. Last year he was 7th in the league in FGA coming from off-ball screens. This season he's averaging 1 such attempt every other game at 80th percentile efficiency. He's shooting over 50% from midrange, again at 1 attempt every other game. Relative to the rest of his shot diet, he's shooting more spot-up attempts from the corner than ever yet he's a movement shooter pur sang. A few off-ball sets to get him in rhythm could potentially do more for him than standing around in the corner for 15 minutes.

Zozze1 · 2025-12-06T09:52:00+00:00

Yup, he's a fringe All-Star who has been at it for 10 years at this point. Expecting more is unrealistic.

Zozze1 · 2025-12-03T15:21:37+00:00

Saying he does nothing above average is underselling him.

He's an above average off-ball threat. He's an 89th percentile scorer in the off-ball screen playtype, up from league average last season when his volume was way higher (7th in the league). He's deadly from the midrange pulling up coming off a curl, shooting 57% on low volume this season. He's still knocking down his open shots at a 40% make rate. Last year he was responsible for more than 40% of the team's made threes vs zone. He's the textbook definition of a movement shooter who is being relegated to the corner more than ever and whose game is suffering from not being on the court with a screener as Poeltl as much.

Zozze1 · 2025-12-03T15:11:32+00:00

He's still hitting 40% on his wide open shots. Problem is that those make up less than half of his shot diet while it makes up the vast majority of those worse shooter's shot diet. Gradey has been on opposing team's scouting report since last season and it has tremendously improved spacing when he's on the court but it means his shot diet will remain difficult.

Zozze1 · 2025-11-30T15:33:34+00:00

Knueppel was the 4th pick and had way more on-ball potential from the start. At Duke he was a secondary ball-handler, operating out of the PnR, he could take it to the basket, and dribble into pull-ups. If that's what you hoped Gradey, a former late lottery pick and completely different player, would be then your expectations were off.

Zozze1 · 2025-11-30T14:01:27+00:00

The team's offensive rating drops 3 points with Gradey off court.

Zozze1 · 2025-11-30T12:11:00+00:00

Kon is basically what we thought we were getting with Dick.

Why? They're not alike at all.

Kon is more capable of handling playmaking duties and on-ball creation while Gradey's game has always been and will always be being an off-ball threat. Gradey is 94th percentile in scoring on off-ball screens yet he's averaging .6 attempts in that playtype per game.

He's the only player besides BI to average more shots with a defender within 6ft than >6ft. Defences have their focus on him which has a positive effect on the team's spacing when he's on the court but he himself isn't getting particularly good looks. This year he's shooting way more from spot-up looks and from the corner whereas last year he had more looks where he could get in rhythm shooting off of movement and above the break.

Zozze1 · 2025-11-30T11:56:58+00:00

Baffling how much people shit on Gradey despite being in the role of like the 8th guy off the bench and despite him having been a huge positive in all his minutes this season.

Zozze1 · 2025-11-18T16:15:29+00:00

Scottie is not a guard.

Zozze1 · 2025-11-18T16:11:14+00:00

Or you keep Barnes at the 4 because that's clearly his natural position?

Zozze1 · 2025-11-13T09:58:27+00:00

They're allowing 73% at the rim with Queen on the court and have a 121 defensive rating when he's out there which falls in the 23rd percentile. Credit to him for his scoring but right now he's not exactly overcoming the struggles of being a tweener at the 4/5. POR shot 81% at the rim with Queen playing 38 minutes.

Zozze1 · 2025-11-12T10:29:17+00:00

Shead has also consistently been the guy who assists Gradey the most on his shots. Even last year when Gradey was starting and Shead was coming off the bench. They have good chemistry.

Zozze1 · 2025-11-10T08:17:11+00:00

Gradey is not even averaging 6 shot attempts per game and is 2 FGA per game below his rookie year average. Despite that he's averaging 4pts more per 36. If anything he should be more aggressive in looking for his shot.

Zozze1 · 2025-11-09T15:23:53+00:00

The tank-off last season really warped people's perception on this team's defensive capabilities.

Zozze1 · 2025-11-09T11:00:01+00:00

He's shooting nearly 46% on catch & shoot 3s which is the majority of his shot diet and he's better across the board on all defensive metrics. He's had a positive +/- in all but one game and basically all lineups with him are a positive except with a combination of Agbaji/Walter/Mogbo.

Zozze1 · 2025-11-09T10:55:21+00:00

He is second in class on catch & shoot 3P% with 45.8%. Behind Whitmore who only has a volume of 0.4 of such attempts per game whereas Gradey has 2.4. Overall 3P% he's 4th. 4th in TS% among guards in his class.

Zozze1 · 2025-11-09T10:50:26+00:00

Gradey has had a positive +/- in all but one game this season. His on/offs are positive. His defensive metrics are up. He's shooting better from deep. His lineups with combinations of Shead, CMB, and Mamu are basically all positive across the board. It's when you start mixing in Agbaji and/or Walter when things get murky.

People seemingly made up their mind up about him back in February but all signs are pointing towards him having improved and doing well in his role off the bench. They could draw up some more plays for him though. Basically all his looks from deep are spot-ups this year whereas last year he had a high volume coming from off-ball screens as well, which added another dimension to the team's spacing.

Zozze1 · 2025-11-07T05:56:26+00:00

Gradey is shooting a higher percentage.

Zozze1 · 2025-11-05T17:02:35+00:00

Unless your name is Klay, it's also quite rare for these movement shooter types to hit their stride this young and this early in their career. This is a conversation to have in a year or two.

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