As usual, "Hear me now...& believe me later". Herb Jones will be...

Especially if he gets better at putting the ball through the hoop from long distance ranges that would be super cool

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---the most-improved player on the Pels next year...and possibly even in the entire NBA. I could go ahead and give you his stats for next year...but I'd rather you all be surprised...so I'll just leave it at that.

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I don't think a bench player has ever won the award..

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bench

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Starts every single game this year.

If trey murphy of March-April is a thing, it's his award.

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Hopefully he does nothing but practice the corner 3

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Point taken...but actually, the #s say Herb shoots just as well, and just as often, on the "wing 3" as he does from the corner (or just as badly if you prefer).Teams like to save their "corner 3" specialist shot for somebody that greatly benefits by just shooting the corner 3. The #s say that, for the Pels...that would definitely be Nance & hopefully, a "future" big that can also hit the corner 3.

Believe it or not...Herb will (hopefully) end up being an all-around 3-pt shooter and leave the corner open for somebody else.

Plus...another reason Herb shouldn't be a "dedicated" corner 3-pt shooter that just stands in the corner & waits for open 3s...is because his overall offensive game will eventually develope to the point you don't want to waste his potential by making him ONLY a PJ Tucker type, very limited player. You save the corner 3 spot...for players that don't have much of anything to offer offensively if they're playing anywhere else. Once again...a perfect spot for Nance...as our small ball 5. Check Nance's corner 3 #s...

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What does that look like though? Obviously, his shooting can improve but I don't see his usage rate going up dramatically with the number of ball-handlers the team has that would drastically affect his scoring or assist numbers.

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I may have bit off more than I can chew on this one...but...might as well shoot high if I'm gonna shoot at all. I'm assuming Val (and his "usage") is traded to parts unknown and Nance evolves into our small ball 5 who camps out in the corner & only shoots 3s...at around a 38% clip, which he can do once he concentrates on just his corner 3s. This should free up everybody to go to the hoop, including Herb.

OK...better hold on to your hat for this part. Herb played 66 games last year and shot 27.77% from 3 for the first 33 games...then shot 40.25% for the 2nd half of his season in the last 33 games. Might just be an anomaly BUT I think his shot actually looked a bit "different" down the stretch & maybe he has turned the corner...so I'm goin' with Herb jumping up next year...to around 37-38% overall on his C&S 3s. With Zion getting him (& others) open looks from 3 & with the exit of Val opening up the inside game...I've got Herb bumping up to around 12-15 points per game...plus more assists with added ball handling, especially once we get CJ moved over to a shooting guard position, which obviously...is what he should be.

BTW: I saw where Herb finished 5th in the "NBA Hustle Award", which is some kind of award based on rating of actual #s of steals, deflections, screens, block outs, charges taken,...etc...Marcus Smart was #1 and Draymond Green was #2...so it's probably a legit rating system. Maybe Herb is starting to get some notice around the league.