I’m sure everyone knew Steve Blake was going to be an important role player off of the bench for Los
Angeles; what with Steve Nash never having played more than 32 minutes a game
in his career. And with Nash out for what looks like a week (although other
reports have said a month), Blake was going to be instrumental in L.A’s plans
to start off well this season. Blake has been underwhelming in his first two
seasons with the team compared to how well he was doing with in his stint with
Portland.
With Mike Brown and
assistant Eddie Jordan implementing the Princeton Offense this summer, it
looked like Blake was going to have to work hard, or risk losing his job to
Darius Morris or Chris Duhon. So far, Blake has not disappointed. In just 4
games this season, Blake has managed to equal his Offensive Win Share from last
season, recording a good 0.2 to start the season. He had 0.2 OWS in 53 games
last year, which was one of the lowest in the league for players that
participated in 50+ games. At this pace, Blake will finish with a tremendous 4
OWS in 82 games. His offensive rating (an estimate of points produced by the
team per 100 possessions when the player is on the court) is a sky high 119.
His true shooting percentage (a tool used to measure shooting efficiency taking
into account 2-point field goals, 3-point field goals and free throws) is a
ridiculously high 62.2%.
The Princeton Offense
clearly agrees with Blake, as he keeps the offense running smoothly and
efficiently around star players Kobe Bryant and Dwight Howard. While his PER
rating is a below average 12 (mainly because he’s shooting 43.8% in total field
goal percentage), it’s still much higher than the past two seasons in Los
Angeles, which were 7.5 and 8.5 respectively. Blake has been everything the
Lakers have needed at the point guard position, more so than All-Star Steve
Nash has been so far this year, as he really seems to be working hard to keep
his job. It is a very small sample size, but he has been one of the only
players off the bench to actually do his job. If Blake can continue this pace
this season, the Lakers have a chance to go far into the playoffs.
In unrelated news, Steve Blake was fined 25,000 dollars by the league for some...lets go with colorful language directed at a fan during last Friday's game against the Clippers.
