Mar 2, 2015; Brooklyn, NY, USA; Golden State Warriors guard Klay Thompson (11) controls the ball during the first quarter against the Brooklyn Nets at Barclays Center. Mandatory Credit: Anthony Gruppuso-USA TODAY Sports
This has been the year of Klay Thompson. From nearly being traded for Kevin Love this summer, to dropping 37-points in a quarter, perhaps no other player has taken such a dramatic leap in both performance and public perception as Thompson has.
One of the things that has been most striking about his season is the transformation from (mostly) spot-up shooter, to a more diverse offensive threat. The Warriors would occasionally use Thompson in the post last season, depending on the matchup, but a lot of his offensive possessions were spent running around screens on the baseline and hunting for space on the perimeter. This year he is doing a lot more with the ball in his hands.
The graph below shows the Drives per 36 minute totals for every player with at least 50 total drives[1. Defined by SportVU as any touch that starts at least 20 feet from the basket and is dribble to within 10 feet. Find all the fun numbers here.], this season and last season.
This stat has been very consistent between the two seasons we have data for, with an r^2 of 0.879. The black trend line represents that consistent relationship, so the farther a player is above that line, the more they have improved this year with regards to drives. The farther they are beneath that line, the more they have declined. I’ve taken the liberty of highlighting a few players whose numbers I found interesting, along with Thompson’s.
Although Thompson is closer to the middle of the pack in terms of Drives per 36 minutes, his improvement is noteworthy. He’s gone from 2.8 last season to 5.7 this season, doubling his output. He’s also been slightly more productive when driving—the Warriors are scoring 1.20 points per Thompson drive this season, up from 1.18 last year. What’s really interesting is to compare his new driving niche to his other offensive outcomes.
The graph below shows Thompson’s average touches per game, with touches that result in drives, catch-and-shoot jumpers and pull-ups delineated[2. These three things are mutually exclusive by SportVU’s definitions as a drive must result in the ball coming within 10 feet of the basket, and both catch-and-shoot and pull-up jumpers are, by definition, at least 10 feet from the basket. However, not all drives end in shot attempts for Thompson as his drive numbers include drives that ended in passes and turnovers as well.].
You can see that Thompson is touching the ball considerably more often this season. That has resulted in more drives and pull-up jumpers by volume. However, if we switch views to a table and look at these by percentage of touches we can see that Thompson’s new propensity for driving is not just about more opportunities.
What’s really interesting is that, as an overall share of his touches, drives, pull-ups and catch-and-shoot jumpers add up to the exact same total as last year. The mix has simply changed, with more off-the-dribble opportunities worked in. In a vacuum, one would be safe in assuming that this sort of change would decrease a player’s efficiency. Catch-and-shoot jumpers are, on average, a much more efficient option (particularly for a shooter like Thompson), reducing their share of offensive outcomes would usually lead to a decline. That hasn’t happened here—Thompson’s eFG% is 55.2 percent this season, compared to 53.3 percent last season[3. If you’re looking for more on Thompson as a shooter before this season, check out Jacob Rosen’s Profile of a Shooter piece on Thompson.]. His mix has made him more versatile but he’s also shooting better on pull-ups and drives, more than enough to cancel out the slight decrease in attempts and accuracy on catch-and-shoot attempts[3. We also haven’t even talked about drawing fouls, where Thompson has increased both his free throw rate and free throw percentage to career highs].
Often the barrier to a young player jumping a level is figuring out how to diversify without losing the essential quality of their efficiency. Klay Thompson certainly appears to have solved the puzzle.