Trey Lyles Trying to do Too Much
I don’t want to fill this piece with disclaimers, but I also don’t want anyone to get the wrong idea. By no means am I just ragging on the Jazz or trying to say all is going wrong. In many, many ways, that is not even close to the case as there is a lot more good than bad going on with this Utah team.
The same can be said individually for Trey Lyles. I’ve been very happy with the second-year forward’s progress and he truly has a versatility that is rare for player his size. The six-foot-ten power forward possess the ability to stretch the floor, attack the basket and showcase a variety of guard-like moves when both handling and shooting the ball.
There’s a reason why he was the leading scorer at the Las Vegas Summer League this offseason as he was able to outmaneuver his opponents and score at will in a variety of ways. Unfortunately, at times in this early season, it has appeared that Lyles has forgotten that this is no longer the summer league.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s great to see him play aggressively and shoot with confidence, but at times when he keeps possession of the ball for much longer than he should or when he takes a contested three early in the shot clock, it can get a little frustrating.
Especially when there’s other teammates on the court that Lyles could share the ball with rather than taking a questionable shot himself, he has got to get better at moving the ball and looking to make the right play.
And while Lyles has shown in the past that he is indeed a formidable shooter, he hasn’t really backed that up so far this year as he’s converting on just 34.3 percent of his field goal attempts and 23.9 percent of his three-point attempts. Both of these figures are considerably lower than what he posted last season.
I suppose my biggest qualm with Lyles is that at times he simply needs to slow things down and make better decisions. He’s already proven that he can be a prolific offensive threat, now he just needs to prove that he can be a solid decision maker and utilize his teammates rather than trying to take down the opponent 1-on-5.
He’s young and I’m confident that he’ll get a better handle on the game and that he’ll also find his shot once again despite the slow start to this early season. In a bench unit that had Lyles as its biggest question mark (before all of the injuries of course) his efficient and solid play will go a long way in improving this second unit and the team as a whole.