Allonzo Trier really likes to shoot shots (to the detriment of every other part of his game and probably to the detriment of his teammates too). This makes me wonder: was Trier’s development screwed up by Tim Hardaway Jr.’s presence on the team for the first two-thirds of the season, or was Trier going to play this way no matter what situation he ended up in?
THJ was sort of the poster boy for “empty stats gained by chucking” for a while there. He would sometimes get assists just by virtue of touching the ball so much, but mostly he was just unrepentantly chucking shots and “getting his”. Trier seems to be the same way, although his attitude is more defensible since he needs to ensure that he remains NBA-viable. That means scoring enough points to make teams want him. Ten points per game for an undrafted rookie is pretty darn good, even if those stats came on a bad team and as a result of a very scoring-focused approach.
I mean, look at Sean Kilpatrick. He carved out a decent career for himself just by being a chucker. He’s not in the league currently but I would totally bet money that he signs with a team that’s looking to solidify their playoff seed. On one hand, Trier should be looking up to the Kilpatrick-type player as a prototype for how to stick around in the league, but on the other hand, maybe you don’t want to end up as a Kilpatrick- or THJ-type player because fans and coaches get tired of you very quickly every time you change teams.