Zar Struggling

[StillWarriors]

I always check the box scores to see what the MU guys are doing in the NBA games. I noticed another 0fer out of Lazar last night. Checking his season stats, he's shooting 11.5% on 3-26 shooting for the season. Tough way to start the career. Fortunately, being a first rd pick buys him time to get it going, which I'm sure he will, but that has to be tough on the confidence.

Wes, on the other hand, is still lighting it up. 25, 26 and 23 in his last 3 games!

[Steve Buscemi]

I'll bet Wes is in his ear helping him through the slump though.

[warriors1991]

I always check the box scores to see what the MU guys are doing in the NBA games. I noticed another 0fer out of Lazar last night. Checking his season stats, he's shooting 11.5% on 3-26 shooting for the season. Tough way to start the career. Fortunately, being a first rd pick buys him time to get it going, which I'm sure he will, but that has to be tough on the confidence.

Wes, on the other hand, is still lighting it up. 25, 26 and 23 in his last 3 games!

I've noticed the same thing. Too bad for him; I don't get to see any Wolves games, who knows if he's even getting much of a chance to get in the right situation to get to succeed.
Same thing with Novak, hardly plays for the Mavs.
Wes, though......wow great for him. I could make a comment here about Crean never seeing Wes's potential and Wes needing a year with Buzz to really catapult him to the pro's but I'll keep that to myself. Oops too late. 

[#MUBB]

Still early days for him. I've noticed over half of his shots have been 3-pointers. Hopefully he can get a little something going but he needs to take his game inside the arc to make a better impact imo.

[Nukem2]

He has played very few minutes.  Hard to judge when you get in for a minute in garbage time.

[BurlIvesSnapper]

Wes must thank Sweet Jesus above every day for giving him the gift of Buzz Williams. I wonder if Wes ever wakes up at night in a cold sweat muttering, "Crean...Crean...Crean..."

[PBRme]

I've noticed the same thing. Too bad for him; I don't get to see any Wolves games, who knows if he's even getting much of a chance to get in the right situation to get to succeed.
Same thing with Novak, hardly plays for the Mavs.
Wes, though......wow great for him. I could make a comment here about Crean never seeing Wes's potential and Wes needing a year with Buzz to really catapult him to the pro's but I'll keep that to myself. Oops too late. 

Chicos in 3...2...1

[MUBurrow]

while trying to stay away from the constant devolution on this one, I will say that I think Wes likely owes as much to Jerry Sloan for his one year with him as he does to his year with Buzz.

[Henry Sugar]

Wes improved every single year at Marquette at about the same rate.  Ortg of 99 -> 106 -> 111 -> 117 through his first four years.

Under Buzz, Wes went from 20% of possessions to 25% of possessions.  Buzz gets credit for moving Wes from option #4 to option #2.

However, there's this myth perpetuated that Wesley made the NBA because Buzz helped utilize him better in the offense.  That does a disservice to Crean's role in helping him develop (which happened).  More importantly, it does a disservice to Wesley's own natural talents and hard work.

If Crean were the head coach Wesley's senior year, Wesley still would have made the NBA.

[drbchilds]

Not so sure about that Henry.   Wes was quoted saying something to the effect that under Crean he felt as though he was playing with a blanket over his head..........

[TallTitan34]

The Timberwolves just sent Jonny Flynn to the d-league.

[Henry Sugar]

Not so sure about that Henry.   Wes was quoted saying something to the effect that under Crean he felt as though he was playing with a blanket over his head..........

I said, "Buzz gets credit for moving Wes from option #4 to option #2."  I'll bet that Wes was happy about that. 

Doesn't change that Wesley has an NBA body and improved every single year in the program.  He basically improved at the same rate every year, including under Crean.  It's not like Wes magically got better his final year thanks to Buzz's special coaching.

If Crean is still the coach, Wesley's senior year is less fun, but he's still getting the same invites, the same tryout opportunities, and falls into the same lucky situation.  And he's also still 6'5 and 230#.

[w0bbie]

Wes improved every single year at Marquette at about the same rate.  Ortg of 99 -> 106 -> 111 -> 117 through his first four years.

Under Buzz, Wes went from 20% of possessions to 25% of possessions.  Buzz gets credit for moving Wes from option #4 to option #2.

However, there's this myth perpetuated that Wesley made the NBA because Buzz helped utilize him better in the offense.  That does a disservice to Crean's role in helping him develop (which happened).  More importantly, it does a disservice to Wesley's own natural talents and hard work.
If Crean were the head coach Wesley's senior year, Wesley still would have made the NBA.

Another factor that helped him was the Jazz's injury situation going into the season.  Korver and and another SG/SF were injured (CJ Miles?) so they needed the extra body at this position on their roster.  Without that, he may not have made the final roster.  Injuries also increased his PT.

Despite these different factors going his way (Crean helping him develop, Buzz keying on him more, Jazz injuries, Sloan liking his style of play) Wes wouldn't be in the situation he's in without putting in the work, as Henry pointed out.  A lot of other guys may have missed this opportunity in a similar situation, but Wes put everything he had into the goal and got what he deserved.  I think it's an inspirational story and Wes (and Zar too) is an outstanding representative for MU and what we're all about.

[mugrad99]

Wes improved every single year at Marquette at about the same rate.  Ortg of 99 -> 106 -> 111 -> 117 through his first four years.

Under Buzz, Wes went from 20% of possessions to 25% of possessions.  Buzz gets credit for moving Wes from option #4 to option #2.

However, there's this myth perpetuated that Wesley made the NBA because Buzz helped utilize him better in the offense.  That does a disservice to Crean's role in helping him develop (which happened).  More importantly, it does a disservice to Wesley's own natural talents and hard work.

If Crean were the head coach Wesley's senior year, Wesley still would have made the NBA.

But I thought he regressed from his sophomore to his junior year
His pts, rebounds, assists, steals and overall FG% decreased in his junior year as compared to his sophomore year.

I would argue that it was a combination of Wesleys' hard work and Buzz's unleashing him that landed him in the NBA. If he would have averaged 12 pts a game his senior year I think he is on the other side of the cut line for the Utah Jazz. Averaging over 18 ppg may have put in the Jazz ' head that he could score in the NBA as well.

[Boone]

Hope I'm wrong, but I see Lazar's career mirroring those of a couple other recent fringe first round picks: Joe Alexander and Alando Tucker, who had fleeting NBA careers.

[MUBurrow]

its also being conveniently omitted here that Wes was the lowest ranked prospect out of the big 3 coming out of HS - http://scouthoops.scout.com/a.z?s=75&p=9&c=4&pid=88&yr=2005

Its not like he was immediately ready to be 'unleashed.'  I think many of us saw him against the other two from day one and realized he had the most nba potential of the three due to his size, etc. But that shouldn't let us forget that coming out, he was held by many to be the longest shot.

[ChicosBailBonds]

Or was it that he played like a Senior his senior year....just as Novak did, Diener did, Crawford did, etc.

People love throwing that towel comment out there, but they almost never throw the quote he made a week later about Crean and the development of his game due to that coach.  Never understood why.

At any rate, good for Wes.  Glad Crean recruited him to MU.  Glad Buzz made him into a NBA player all by himself with no help from any other coaches, parents or, cough, Wes himself.

[bilsu]

While you can argue whether Buzz made Matthews a better player, I do not think that you can argue that Buzz's offense better suited Matthews. It did not help Matthews to get drafted, but may have had a lot to do with Utah giving him the chance.

[MUSF]

The NBA finds players with talent/physical tools regardless of how they are utilized in college or the size of the school they attend.

If Crean stayed at MU and Wes' numbers or role didn't increase, he still would have been looked at by NBA teams.  His NBA body, well rounded skill set, and professional work ethic got him looks, not his role in the MU offense.  The perfect storm in Utah (perfect coach, perfect team, ridiculous injuries in front of him) landed him in his current position.

[mviale]

Zar Struggling - PLease?

He has had 5 shots over the last 20 days

[StillWarriors]

Zar Struggling - PLease?

He has had 5 shots over the last 20 days

3-26 generally won't earn you a lot of playing time.

[GGGG]

its also being conveniently omitted here that Wes was the lowest ranked prospect out of the big 3 coming out of HS - http://scouthoops.scout.com/a.z?s=75&p=9&c=4&pid=88&yr=2005

Its not like he was immediately ready to be 'unleashed.'  I think many of us saw him against the other two from day one and realized he had the most nba potential of the three due to his size, etc. But that shouldn't let us forget that coming out, he was held by many to be the longest shot.

See, this is why these rankings need to be taken with a grain of salt.  Is there really that much difference between Matthews at 93 or McNeal (54) or James (40)?  Seriously, Joe Krabbenhoft was ranked above all three of them.  And anyone who saw Matthews face off against Marcus Landry in high school knew who the better player was.

[brewcity77]

As far as Lazar goes, I really think he ended up in one of the worst possible situations. Had Washington kept him, there would have been opportunities, but the T-Wolves? Ugh. Not only one of the worst teams in the league, but he's just not going to get chances. Just a few years after their ridiculous drafting of Flynn and Rubio led the Spanish starlet to stay home, they draft two small forwards in the first round in Johnson and Hayward, then compound Lazar's difficulties by adding Michael Beasley as well.

It's ironic...the Marquette player that seems to have the tougher road of being an undrafted free agent falls into the perfect situation and quickly develops into a hot commodity, while the Marquette player with the easier road of being a first-round draft pick ends up in the worst possible situation and is quickly becoming a forgotten man because of it.

[#MUBB]

Just curious... what was Wes's situation last year in early December with the Jazz? I don't exactly remember when he began to blossom but most of that took place in the 2nd half of the season, no?

Granted, I don't expect Zar to have anywhere near the success Wes had his rookie year but let's remember it's only December. It should also be pointed out Wes probably had a much better nurturing environment in Utah in his development as an NBA player. Sloan is the man.

[w0bbie]

Just curious... what was Wes's situation last year in early December with the Jazz? I don't exactly remember when he began to blossom but most of that took place in the 2nd half of the season, no?

Wes's average mpg/ppg by month from last season:

October(only 2 games): 3.5 / 0
November: 25.1 / 8.3
December: 26.3 / 9.1
January: 15.4 / 8.0
February: 23.9 / 9.1
March: 29.4 / 12.1
April: 36.7 / 11.8
Post-season: 37.1 / 13.2

For comparison's sake here are his averages for this season: 26.7 / 13.8