Brooklyn Nets: Examining the progress of Caris LeVert

The NBA season may very well be over. If it is, how should Brooklyn Nets fans feel about the progress (or lack thereof) of Caris LeVert?

Slotted as the seventh seed when the season was postponed, and with a six-game lead over the 9th-ranked Washington Wizards, the Brooklyn Nets were bound for playoff basketball. But as all Nets fans know, it was never about this season. The team was never going to compete at a high level without Kevin Durant on the floor.

There were already plenty of questions surrounding the franchise heading into next season, and the head coaching search adds one more. But as the organization hopes to become a championship contender, one question tends to repeatedly arise: can Caris LeVert become the third star the team needs? In signing him to a three-year, $52.5 million deal prior to the season, the front office bet on this to some degree. 2019-20 was expected to provide a lot of insight into LeVert’s progress. What did we learn?

3 Keys

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While steady improvement across the board was obviously the best case scenario, there were three areas where LeVert’s improvement was arguably the most important: staying healthy, improving as a shooter, and providing more playmaking.

Injuries

Injuries have plagued LeVert over the course of his career, and this past season was no different. A thumb injury he suffered in November held him out of 25 of the team’s 64 games. The fact it wasn’t another foot injury was surely encouraging for the organization, but missed games are missed games. There’s some reason to think he could be largely healthy next season, but it’s still a significant question mark.

Stats

LeVert saw career highs in minutes per game (29.0) and usage rate (28.8 percent), and he translated this into other career highs in points (17.7), rebounds (4.1), assists (4.1) and 3-point percentage (38.1 percent).

With an effective field percentage of only 47.3 percent this past season, LeVert still isn’t super efficient as a scorer, but perhaps this should have been expected with his increased usage rate. And although his 2-point percentage (42.9 percent) hindered his efficiency, his improvement in long-range shooting (38.1 percent) is very encouraging.

LeVert’s 3-point percentage wasn’t simply a product of wide-open jumpers either. Interestingly, he only shot 31.9 percent on the 1.8 catch-and-shoot threes he attempted per game. His solid percentage was actually driven by elite 41.5 percent shooting on pull-up attempts (3.0 per contest).

In fact, LeVert was the ONLY player this past season to make at least 41.5 percent of their pull-up threes on at least 3.0 attempts per game (per NBA.com). Only four other players hit at least 40.0 percent on at least 2.0 attempts: Damian Lillard, Eric Gordon, J.J. Redick and Marcus Smart.

If LeVert can hit catch-and-shoot threes at a rate closer to his typically more difficult off-the-dribble shots, the Brooklyn Nets might have a great shooter on their hands.

Ceiling

LeVert still has room to grow as a playmaker for others, but with Durant and Kyrie Irving expected to do a lot of the ball-handling, this is perhaps less of a necessity for him right now. If he can simply get buckets at a “third banana on a championship team” rate, then that should be good enough. On occasional nights, however, the Nets will need him to perform at an even higher level (for example, the occasional 25-plus point game, something he did in 8/39 games).

LeVert demonstrated his upside in phenomenal fashion in a March 2rd road win at the Boston Celtics. He put up a career-high 51 points on 17-of-26 shooting (5-of-10 from three), carrying Brooklyn down the stretch. It’s a shame LeVert wasn’t able to play out the remainder of the season; in some ways, he was really hitting his stride down the stretch.

Conclusion

Overall, Brooklyn Nets fans should be cautiously optimistic about LeVert moving forward. The injuries continue to be a significant cause of concern, but he showed signs of being a very capable third scorer (and even more on certain nights). This is what the organization needs him to be, and if he can stay healthy, there’s plenty of reason to believe he can fit this role.