The Rookie - Fngb3's Blog - Operation Sports

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The Rookie

Posted on February 11, 2012 at 03:55 PM.

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First Entry

Ion Falls made his NBA debut with the Indiana Pacers on November 2nd 2011.

Loping out onto the floor with dreads pulled back in a tail, Falls made a respectable use of his time in his first ever NBA game with good shot selection and no turnovers.

Coming off the bench behind Danny Granger and Paul George initially didn't leave much PT for the kid. When he got on the floor it wasn't in his nature to go out to make much of a mark on the game, making mostly safe plays and taking what his coaches felt were perhaps too few risks. This was reflected in a field goal percentage of .448 and just .5 turnovers per game.

Ion Falls shot just .233 from beyond the arch and consequently took just 43 3-pointers that first season, which as a wing player was something of an issue. This combined with a tendency to have the ball stripped or blocked when near the rim led Falls to drift to a mid ranged game where he did most of his scoring. Occasionally being guarded by much shorter players he would work a turnaround fadeaway from the high post, and looked very comfortable with that element of his post game despite only moderate success with it.

The Pacers were relatively competitive but a series of questionable personell calls including shipping out Paul George kept the team from building the kind of chemistry they would have needed to make a run to reach the playoffs.

Unfortunately Indiana found themselves short of making the post season that year. The lone bright spot was Ion Falls being named Rookie of the Year. At around 18 minutes per game, 6.3 ppg and 3.5 rebs a contest, some believed this award to be hollow, citing that there were technically only two other rookies even available to receive it, but Falls and the Pacers celebrated the accomplishment regardless.

Skinny went into his first offseason with several positive experiences. Success early on is important in a young players psycological development and with his ROTY award and selection to the Rookie 1st team Falls knew without a doubt that he belonged in this league.

Ends the year as a 66 overall.
1st Season stats:
17.6 MPG 6.3 PPG 3.5 RPG 0.4 APG 0.0 SPG 0.2 BPG .448 FG% .233 3P% .781 FT%

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Ion Falls' rookie season; spending most of it on the bench

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