Post by Rog on Aug 25, 2018 16:37:26 GMT
The 123rd nominee for the NBN Hall of Fame, Lauri Markkanen, was a fantastic pick and pop pick who could score from anywhere on the court. He did have his issues in terms of being a traditional big, but he made up for it in his versatility scoring wise. Was he good enough to be remembered among the best of the best, or was he simply flawed enough to be a Hall of Famer? Lets take a look.
Career Stats
33.5 MPG, 19.4 PPG, 11.0 RPG, 2.4 APG, 1.3 BPG, 0.8 SPG, 1.8 TOPG on 43.2% from the field, 85.5% from the line, and 42.6% from the field
Best Season
Raptors(2027) - 23.7 PPG, 12.8 RPG, 1.7 BPG, 0.9 SPG, 2.2 TOPG on 41.6% from the field, 85.6% from the line, and 39.5% from three
Career Highs
Points: 61
Rebounds: 26
Assists: 10
Steals: 5
Blocks: 7
Achievements
Championships: 0
Player of the Game: 106
Player of the Week: 0
Player of the Month: 0
Double Doubles: 602
Triple Doubles: 1
Career Leaderboard Rankings
Rebounds - 68th
Awards
2020 - All-Star Rookie Game Participant
2021 - All-Star Rookie Game Participant
2026 - All-Star Game Participant
2027 - All-Star Game Participant
2030 - All-Star Game Participant
2030 - All-League Third Team
Arguments For Induction
- Despite FBB's determination on rewarding only bigs who block lot of shots, Lauri Markkanen was able to grab an All-League Third Team and three All-Star Game appearances in his career. Very impressive.
- More than any one distinguishing thing for Markkanen was his scoring. He averaged 19.4 points per game, but that includes two years at the end and one year at the beginning of his career where he wasn't in his prime. He had six seasons in his career where he averaged over 20 poiints per game including two where he averaged over 25 points and four where he averaged over 22 points. And even beyond his elite big scoring, he averaged 18 points over his middle 10 seasons in the league. He throws his hat in the ring for best scoring big ever(loses, but still is in the ring).
- Markkanen did a lot his damage from the outside, routinely hitting about a three a game for his career, and hit 1010 in his career for a career percentage of 42.6%. He was deadly if you left him open. While on the topic of percentages, most outside, volume scoring bigs trend around the 40% mark for FG%, and while his career percentage of 43.2% isn't elite, it still shows he was more effective than the average outside scoring big. Not to mention his 85.5% from the line where he took over 5400 free throws.
- Even though he spent the majority of his time on the perimeter scoring wise, he still was able to grab the 66th most rebounds in league history and average 11 per game. His average was over 12 for four seasons of his career and was closer to 11.5 than to 11 for most of his seasons as well.
- Overall its an easy case to make, though not one that is easy to make someone vote yes. The guy could give you 22 points, 12 rebounds, 2.5 assists, not turn it over, not hurt you on defense, and hit his shots at a good clip. That seems like a Hall of Fame power forward to me, does it to you?
Arguments Against Induction
- His three All-Star Appearances and single All-League Third team nomination aren't enough to overcome a total lack of awards. He only had 106 player of the games, no player of the week or months, and only had a double double in 61% of his games. Those are not good things. They aren't Hall of Fame numbers.
- There is no argument that he was a good, even great, hell maybe even elite at times scorer, but his percentages were not a benefit. Even if others do closer to 40% as scoring bigs, 43% is not a good number. Its not horrible, but it is not an argument for induction as used above.
- His rebounding was purely average. And average rebounding in FBB is a detriment, something that will find a way to hurt you in the end. You need a big who CONSISTENTLY averages over 12 rebounds a game for a season, not just 4 seasons out of 13. He racked up a decent amount of games played, hence his 66th ranking on the career leaderboards.
- He averaged 2.1 stocks. I'd give him crap here if he averaged 2.1 blocks per game, yet he averaged 1.3 blocks and 0.8 steals per game. That is hard to overcome when you place him in the lineup. You have to build around that and have the right center(14+ rebounds, 3.5+ blocks) to offset his deficiencies. If you need a Hall of Fame center to offset your weaknesses, you aren't a Hall of Fame power forward, period.
- Overall, you can see the attractiveness of his candidacy. He was a great scoring power forward who had a lot of success with a few teams. But he also played on five different teams, and had a lot of lost seasons. His numbers just weren't good enough to overcome a lack of awards or titles that sticks out on his case like a sore thumb as it stands.
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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