Joel Anthony is on the fast break and a long pass is headed in his direction.
Let that sink in for a moment. Having a tall, fast, athletic big man catching the ball on the break might not seem like anything unusual, but Anthony has used he shot the ball, was fouled or turned the ball over on just 13 total transition possessions since the Summer of 2010. Every single time, Anthony was open and in the paint, with the defense drawn to those around him.
LeBron James has given Anthony the ball three times on the break. And when the fourth pass came, against the Philadelphia 76ers Saturday night, it would seem especially poignant. As would the game.
Since the season began, there has been a growing sentiment that something was slightly different about Anthony. He was coming to the ball instead of waiting for the pass, he was trying to dunk on people instead of just getting the ball over the rim, and he was shooting before the shot clock forced him to.
But most of all, the ball was traveling from his hands through the center of the rim more often than ever before.
And what the eyes were seeing, the numbers were confirming. But until there was a reasonable sample size to look at, it was best just not to mention it. After Anthony used nearly a quarter of Miamis possessions while he was on the court Saturday, far and away his highest mark in the past two seasons he had never even approached 20 percent before its time to talk about what hes doing.
After he shot 61 percent at the rim last season, Anthony has improved that mark a few points 15 games into this year, but in almost double the attempts per game. Hes also taking more shots within 3-to-9 feet of the rim, and hitting them at a 66 percent clip, including going 7-of-12 on a smooth lefty hook-shot hes always shown in practice but never put to much use in game action.
Can he sustain those numbers? Probably not. But Anthonys previous shooting mark in that range was 45 percent. Hes taking more, and hes making more, which has his Player Efficiency Rating over 10 for just the second time in his career.
Though James insisted he wouldve made the same pass last season, when you watch him throw Anthony a pass like this one on Anthonys third fast-break of the season, you cant help but think people are noticing the shot going up, and in, more.
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Joels getting better and better, especially offensively, James said. Hes catching, hes dunking, hes making his free throws.
Theres definitely a lot more trust there, Anthony said.
But even if his teammates trust Anthony more, that they see hes confident enough to go back up on ten percent more of his offensive rebounds and that fewer and fewer passes are bounces off his historically heavy hands even if he did fumble away two potential assists against the 76ers theyve always told him to shoot the ball.
If Im on the court, theyll let me know, Anthony said. I passed up one shot today and CB was on me telling me, Look, go in there and shoot it. You have an opportunity to go to the hook. You did it earlier, just go back to that.
A lot of the guys do it naturally; its not something that I do. I understand my strengths and my weaknesses.
And with that understanding, he just stopped thinking.
Since his days at the University of Nevada Las Vegas, coaches that have seen potential dunks turn into fumbled away passes have tried to improve Anthonys hands. The drills vary, but most revolve around the basic function of throwing passes as Anthony, at high speeds, and tough angles, on the move and from the corners of his peripheral vision, and making him catch the ball.
Drilling helped build muscle memory and instincts, but they didnt necessarily soften Anthonys hands. And every day he drilled passing catches in practice was another day Anthony thought about catching passes. At some point, there were diminishing returns. Drilling more meant thinking more, and thinking more meant fumbling more passes.
So now Anthony doesnt drill as often.
I probably did way more of those drills my first few years than I do now, Anthony said. I still drill myself on it, the drilling it important for repetition, but its really the thought process and the mentality that is more important. You kind of block that stuff out, where youre worried about messing up a pass and just go out there and play. Its a lot easier.
You do enough drills so that your body is used to it. But after that you just play and all that stuff will come out on the court.
And if you watch this possession from Miamis win over the Los Angeles Lakers, you can both see and hear Anthony, in his own way, asking for that stuff to come to him:
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The result is not only a player who has increased his shooting percentage from 53 to 56 percent and scoring 0.967 points per possession above players such as Kobe Bryant, Blake Griffin and Carmelo Anthony, albeit in far, far, far fewer possessions but someone who is able to laugh about his own reputation.
That confidence, and a little more offensive efficiency, from a player who earns his minutes for what he can do without the ball, can go a long way.
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