Is the Sacramento Kings’ Ben McLemore the NBA’s Most Improved Player?
Last season, Ben McLemore didn’t exactly live up to the hype for the Sacramento Kings.
Coming into the 2013 NBA draft, McLemore was billed as a potential Ray Allen-type three-point shooter and scoring threat on the perimeter, blessed with a sweet stroke and the killer athleticism to match.
Unfortunately, it was clear that McLemore had a lot of learning and practicing to do if he wanted to get anywhere close to his potential, as there were many times last year that he looked lost on both ends of the floor.
McLemore failed to really assert himself on offense during his rookie season, as he didn’t look to attack or look for his own shot enough, which instead led to hesitation with what to do with the basketball once it got in his hands.
McLemore too often would either make an unnecessary pass or pass up what could have been a clean look at the basket for a more difficult jump shot or drive into traffic. His inability to trust in himself and his true shooting ability got McLemore into a lot of turnover situations last year, and slowly led to a decrease in his minutes and his consistent spot in the rotation.
The Kings needed a shooting guard that could step up and hit perimeter shots without question. While McLemore certainly had the ability, his lack of confidence put him in coach Mike Malone’s dog house for a lot of the season.
Luckily, it seems that he has broken out of that dog house ferociously and has made great improvements to his game.
One of the biggest knocks on McLemore’s game coming out of college was that he didn’t have a tight enough handle on the basketball when trying to make plays for his teammates or create offense for himself.
Too many times at Kansas he relied upon others to set him up for shots or easy lay-up or dunk opportunities, which should not have to be the case given his crazy speed and jumping ability. Many scouts said that if he ever got a good handle on the ball that he could turn into a special scorer at the next level.
In his second season, we are beginning to see flashes of just that.
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McLemore has decided to be more aggressive with the basketball in his hands and has not backed down from any defensive stance. Whether it has been creating a pull-up shot or driving towards the basket in the half-court or transition, McLemore has looked like a completely different player from his earlier playing days.
His confidence is through the roof right now, something that will only help Sacramento going forward. The team already has a superstar big man in DeMarcus Cousins who can create his own offense down low and be a player the team can throw the ball into to get a bucket late in the game. The surest way to build around a big man is to surround him with great shooters, and that has been McLemore this season to a tee.
McLemore is currently shooting 48.4 percent from the field and 40.4 percent from behind the three-point line. His jumps in field goal percentages are a welcome sign of increased efficiency, something that also worried scouts in his rookie season.
Usually, shooting is a skill that can transition to the NBA rather quickly along with rebounding and defense. McLemore didn’t shoot the ball very well in his first year, and many wondered if he could ever be a truly great shooter in the league.
Even though McLemore is still getting a lot of his looks off of assists, he has shown this season that he can create his own offense in a pinch, and he will continue to look for his own shot more and more as he continues to grow and build confidence over the years.
Defensively, even though his defensive rating hasn’t changed from last season at 112, he has still looked like a different player in terms of how he is beginning to read offensive motion.
Getting through screens was a big problem for McLemore, as he simply did not read situations and player movement properly in his early playing career. Nowadays, McLemore is able to pick up on where the other opposing players are on the floor, not just his man, so he doesn’t get beat on a screen-and-roll opportunity as he did so many time during his first season in the NBA.
McLemore still needs to improve his one-on-one defensive abilities, but that is another thing that just comes with age and experience in the league.
The signs are currently pointing to McLemore potentially taking some hardware home with him after the season is over. Right now, McLemore is definitely among the candidates for Most Improved Player in the NBA, along with a handful of others. Even though his numbers may not be as flashy as others, McLemore has certainly taken his game to a new level and is proving to be the Kings’ long-term answer at shooting guard.
Naysayers will say that he doesn’t necessarily deserve the award because he is hitting the shots that he was always expected to hit, that he hasn’t done anything spectacular or made true progress in terms of honing his game.
I will argue that McLemore has improved as much as anyone because of what he has done to better prepare himself mentally. Playing in the NBA is never going to be an easy task, even for those players that are athletically gifted. McLemore has begun to soak in a lot of information regarding playing on the perimeter in the league, and his hard work behind the scenes is finally beginning to pay off.
Between his increased aggressiveness and shots made and improved motor and recognition on defense, McLemore deserves heavy consideration for Most Improved Player of the Year award.
Make no mistake: McLemore is on his way, and he isn’t going to stop getting better. This is a guy who could be a very scary two-way force in the near future, and he may prove that the Allen comparison is spot-on.
*Statistics courtesy of Basketball-Reference.