In the tide of history, everyone tries their best and can only go with the flow
Patrick Patterson (born 1989) is a 2.06m tall, power forward who was drafted by the Rockets with the 14th pick in the first round in 2010 and currently plays for the Los Angeles Clippers.
Chinese fans are familiar with Patterson because he was Yao Ming's teammate for a short time and had excellent performances. After Patterson left the Rockets, he passed through the Kings, Raptors, Thunder and other teams, and the style of play also changed dramatically. Patterson is now a space-type number four, whose main role on the court is to complete the three-point finish, and is a role player with characteristics.
Patrick Patterson
The first entry into the NBA, mainly in the inner line
In the 2010-11 season, when Patrick Patterson first entered the league, the NBA had not yet entered the era of small ball, or mainly attacked from the inside. Yao Ming played only 5 regular season games that season, Patterson, as an inside rookie, got more playing time, patterson also seized the opportunity, had a 20-point performance in a single game. Patterson's offense in his rookie season was dominated by the interior, shooting only two three-pointers in his entire season, and he missed any shots. In the 2011-12 season, Patterson also only shot three three-pointers, all of which were missed; it can be seen that Patterson was not good at three-pointers in the first two seasons, and did not belong to the space type four position.
Patterson's two-season shooting heat map contrasts, and the number of three-point shots is a strong contrast
Start shooting three-pointers
In the 2012-13 season, James Harden came to the Rockets, and the Rockets began to play magic balls, averaging 28.9 shots on the three-point court, 8.7 more than last season. In order to give Harden the space to break through and match the team's three-point tactics, Patterson could only pull to the outside to shoot three points. Patterson was traded to the Kings throughout the 12-13 season, Patterson shot 132 three-pointers, shooting 38.6 percent, arguably Patterson became a three-point shooter in just one season, and this season was also the peak of Patterson's career.
Patterson's career statistics, the 2012-13 season was Patterson's peak season
Gradually become a pure pitcher
In the 2014-15 season, Patterson came to the Raptors, averaging 3.5 three-point shots per game, while the total number of shots per game was 6.6, and the proportion of three-point shots was 53%, indicating that Patterson began to project three-pointers; in the 2015-16 season, Patterson averaged 3.9 three-point shots per game, averaging 5.9 shots per game, and 66.1% of three-point shots; in the 2016-17 season, Patterson came to the Thunder. He averaged 3.2 shots per game, including 2.1 three-point shots and 65.6 percent of three-point shots; this season, Patterson still mainly shot three-pointers, averaging 3.7 shots per game, 2.8 three-point shots, and 75.7% of three-point shooting.
Patterson's role now is very single, that is, a high battery of the team, a spatial number four, and the role on the court is to pull away the inside defender, let the teammate have the opportunity to break the inside line, or ambush the bottom line, wait for the teammate to pass the ball, and then receive the ball and shoot three points.
Patterson's career shooting situation
Overall hit rate decreases
Patterson's three-point shots are not particularly accurate, much worse than players such as Bertans this season, and the number of three-point shots is more, and the overall shooting rate will naturally decline. In the 2010-11 season, Patterson's shooting rate was 55.8%, which was very good; at the beginning of the 2012-13 season, with the increase in the number of three-point shots, the overall shooting rate declined year by year, and the three-point shooting rate remained at about 37%, although it was not excellent, but there was a certain tactical threat.
Patterson's career three-point shooting percentage and overall shooting percentage
Appearances are decreasing year by year
In recent seasons, Patterson has been a thorough role player, starting to move between teams, but his tactical position has declined year by year, and his playing time has decreased year by year. At the Clippers this season, Patterson averaged 11.9 minutes per game, and after the Clippers traded to Morris, Patterson played less time due to the conflicting positions between the two.
Patterson's career average of playing time per game
Career shots
Patterson has made 2408 two-point shots so far in his career, accounting for 61% of the total number of shots, and 1567 three-point shots, accounting for 39% of the total number of shots, and I believe that the proportion of three-point shots will increase year by year.
Patterson's career shot percentage
Patterson has a three-point range, which is very suitable for the current basketball development, but whether in the Raptors, Thunder or Clippers, Patterson has not been reused, the reason is still Patterson's defensive problems. Patterson's height is not high, the speed is not a loss, and it should work hard to 3D players, after all, good 3D players are a scarce resource now, such as the Rockets' pj tucker.
pj Tucker vs Patterson
Tucker's height in the No. 4 position is very bad, but Tucker plays very hard, the defensive end gives the Rockets a lot of help, and the offensive end Tucker also mainly shoots the bottom three-point shot. Let's compare patterson and Tucker's defensive data, see the chart below:
Tucker vs Patterson's game contribution and defensive data comparison
Through comparison, it can be seen that there is still a certain gap between Patterson and Tucker in terms of defense, which also determines the different status of the two today; in addition, Patterson's net efficiency and contribution value of the game are higher than Tucker's, indicating that patterson may play a greater role than Tucker if he can strengthen the defense.
The picture below shows pj Tucker comparing the advanced data of Patterson, and the two are almost on par, proving that Patterson's performance is actually very good, but he has not been able to get enough playing time.
Pj Tucker compared with Patterson advanced data
This season's Clippers are strong and promising to break out of the West and reach the Finals. The Clippers have a lot of good defensive players, such as Leonard, Paul George, Beverley, maybe don't need Patterson to play too much on the defensive end, but as far as Patterson is concerned, he still has to strengthen the defense, after all, he is only a small role, and doing a good job of defense can make him stand in the NBA.
That's how Patrick Patterson became a pure pitcher, space-type number four.
With the development of the small-ball era, every team has paid more and more attention to three-point shooting, and also requires interior players to have three-point range. So many players are also like Patterson, slowly shifting to the space four position, among which the more representative is Blake Griffin, Griffin averaged less than one three-point shot per game in the first six seasons, and averaged 6.2 three-point shots per game this season, but the three-point shooting rate is actually not impressive.
Personally, I am not very willing to see such a situation, thinking about how good Griffin played in the first place, flying in the sky, all kinds of dunks, more than the Yuanlang Zion. Now playing more and more outward, the ornamentation has become a lot worse, the personal value has also been much lower, and even become a burden to the team.
In fact, whether it is Patterson or Griffin, the change of style is excusable, who can play a lifetime of ball by body? Moreover, throwing three points is the trend of the times, and with the ability of the two of them, they are not enough to turn the tide, they are just people who follow the tide of the times.
Why shouldn't you and me?