Post by Rog on Feb 7, 2018 1:05:49 GMT
The 107th nominee for the NBN Hall of Fame, Kelly Oubre Jr., was a premier scorer at a premier position, who didn't do much else. Was he good enough of a scorer to make the cut, or do the other parts of his game let him down so much he falls short? Lets take a look.
Career Stats
35.6 MPG, 22.3 PPG, 7.1 RPG, 2.0 APG, 1.4 SPG, 0.2 BPG, 2.2 TOPG on 46.1% from the field, 71.2% from the line, and 39.7% from three
Best Season
Knicks(2020) - 27.3 PPG, 7.3 RPG, 2.2 APG, 1.8 SPG, 0.1 BPG, 2.4 TOPG on 47.3% from the field, 73.0% from the line, and 43.6% from three
Career Highs
Points: 60
Rebounds: 19
Assists: 11
Steals: 6
Blocks: 2
Career Leaderboard Rankings
Points - 48th
Awards
2015 - All-Star Rookie Game Participant
2015 - All-Rookie Second Team
Arguments For Induction
- Oubre played in a tough position to get awards with Kawhi Leonard, Kevin Durant, Andrew Wiggins, and others playing the SF position, among others. His stats don't reflect the awards he has.
- He was a dynamic scorer and no one can deny that, not even me a professed Kelly Oubre hater. For eight straight seasons from his second through his ninth, Kelly was able to get his team an elite 25 points or more a night. He fell off a cliff pretty fast, averaging 16 points, then 10.5 before his last season resurgence where he averaged 19 a game. But for those 8 seasons in a row, you knew you were getting top of the league like scoring from your small forward position.
- Not only was he absolutely an amazing volume scorer, he was crazy efficient too. For a guy who took 19 shots a game, he shot 46.1% from the field, and during those 25+ points per game years, was consistently over 47%. He didn't hurt you by taking too many shots, or taking bad ones. He knew where to get to and where he was good at scoring from. He also shot nearly 40% from three, despite a reputation for being poor from that area.
- He was a pretty solid rebounder for a small forward, averaging 7.1 a game, and having a few seasons over 7.5, including two over 8. That is solid, even if not spectacular, production from your small forward on the boards.
- Overall, Oubre was a nice small forward for the few teams he played for, getting to the hole at will, scoring well from mostly anywhere, boarding well, and flat out just being a good offensive player. He didn't turn it over that much and shot the ball well. Also, while never a great defender, he carried a decent B+ rating most of his career and did average 1.4 steals per game, so he wasn't horrible. His scoring alone boosts him up to the Hall of Fame status.
Arguments Against Induction
- Zero awards. Zero. His only claims of fame on that aspect were his rookie awards, which anyone who plays 20+ minutes a game gets at least a rookie team nomination. Its not hard, and Oubre just flat out didn't have any awards. No matter who he played against, that just shows you he is not a Hall of Famer.
- He has eight seasons, I repeat eight seasons, where you might consider him to be a top 5 small forward, if that. Those were those 8 seasons he averaged 25+ points a game, which is really nice but he did nothing else, even during those 8 seasons, even remotely well enough to be considered good. Not only is he not "good enough" he also wasn't good enough for even remotely long enough.
- His rebounding was not a detriment, but it absolutely is not a plus for his case, at all whatsoever. Seven boards is about the minimum you expect from a small forward, any less and it hurts the team. Oubre was a seven rebound a game guy. Average. On the same hand, he also was an average defender, not someone who hurt you, but a guy who didn't give you anything from that end of the court more than average on ball defense.
- Overall as a whole, Oubre was a solid player, but his flaws on defense, and non flaws but not pluses on the boards, plus a assist to turnover ration which is frankly negative, on top of a limited offensive game in a league where you really need a perimeter guy to shoot the ball 5 times from three, hitting just over 2 a game as well, Oubre was under both marks. Plus he had seasons under 70% from the line, and was very average from the line overall, his offensive game consisted of him beating his man and scoring inside, adding nothing on the possessions where he couldn't get by his man. Just as a total package, with nothing but scoring to show for it and zero awards, Oubre isn't a Hall of Famer. Too bad.
Vote carefully, and remember to throw out arguments regardless of which side you're on. This should be a discussion that eventually gets the league to the proper decision on him. Your vote can also be retracted after it's been cast if you feel like switching to the other side based on the arguments that have been made. To be inducted, a player needs 70% and to be considered in a later class they need 50%. Vote carefully.
***BONUS - Don't forget that everyone who votes gets $25 and the person that makes the best argument or contributes to the discussion the best will be awarded an extra $25***
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