After Years Of Being A Journeyman, Ben McLemore Has Found A Home In Houston - Forbes
NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA - DECEMBER 29: Ben McLemore #16 of the Houston Rockets shoots the ball over ... [+]
Getty ImagesAfter the tragic demise of Kobe Bryant, his daughter Gianna, and seven other souls in the January 26th helicopter crash, Ben McLemore credited the Lakers great of motivating him to keep his NBA dream alive, while he was hopping from team to team, hoping to stick with someone.
McLemore is currently a crucial role player for the 29-18 Houston Rockets, averaging 10 points a night, in 23.7 minutes, mostly coming off the bench. The last time McLemore broke double-digit scoring was in 2014/2015 during his sophomore campaign with the Sacramento Kings.
McLemore was the seventh selection in the 2013 NBA Draft, after one year of playing in Kansas where he starred as the team’s most reliable scorer. There was even buzz about McLemore leaping up significantly in the draft back then, going as far as the Akron Beacon Journal mentioning him as a candidate for the number one pick for the Cleveland Cavaliers, who helt that selection.
The Cavs ultimately took power forward Anthony Bennett, who has played a grand total of 1,905 NBA minutes since then, and McLemore slid to the Kings, which may have been the worst thing that could have happened to his career at the time.
The Kings had just come off consecutive years of selecting Jimmer Fredette (via trade) and Thomas Robinson, also from Kansas. Neither had much success with the Kings, least of all Robinson who was traded 51 games into his career. Sacramento was not known as a place where player development was prioritized, and with a revolving door for head coaches, there was a lack of stability and accountability all throughout the organization.
Impressively, McLemore actually ended up staying with the Kings for the entirety of his rookie contract, spending four years with roles that seemed to be shuffled around every single season.
At that time, the NBA wasn’t as inclined to be open about positionless basketball, which found the 6’4 guard caught between positions. He was considered too poor of a playmaker to run the offense as a lead NBA point guard and too small to be terrorizing offensive threat, seen through the spectrum of what the shooting guard position used to be.
More than likely, had McLemore arrived in the NBA half a decade later, his lack of size would have been seen as significantly less of a hurdle, with his outside touch being the main component NBA teams would zero in on as his swing skill. Furthermore, his general lack of playmaking and somewhat iffy defensive knowhow likely would have dropped him down the draft a bit, lessening expectations.
After leaving Sacramento, McLemore signed a modest two-year deal with the Memphis Grizzlies, for $10.7 million, in 2017 and was promptly traded back to the Kings a year later. In February of 2019, the Kings waived him.
McLemore remained a free agent until the summer, where the Rockets took a cheap gamble on his talent. They signed him to a two-year deal worth $4.3 million, with just $2 million of that being guaranteed.
So what changed this year that has led to McLemore enjoying his best season as a professional?
Part of it could be Bryant’s encouragement. Another part could be him maturing as a human being and accepting that not everything is going to run smoothly.
But there’s also another layer added to his story, which now seems obvious, which other teams failed to recognize. The Rockets leaned all the way into McLemore’s primary strength: shooting the basketball.
The soon-to-be 27-year-old has made 118 three-pointers, on 37.8 percent accuracy, in 47 games and is just 22 makes away from tying his career-high of 140, set in his second season over 82 games. The Rockets, known for leaning into the three-point shot generally, couldn’t have found a better pick-up given their limited budget at the time.
A whopping 84.1 percent of McLemore’s attempts have come from long-range, by far a career-high, and he’s on pace for 206 three’s this year.
Further adding value to Houston is the fact that McLemore doesn’t need the ball in his hands much. Of his 118 made triples, only three have been unassisted.
McLemore has made himself a target of both James Harden and Russell Westbrook’s passing, hitting 38.9 percent on 2.3 attempts a night from three-point territory off of passes from Westbrook, and 34.3 percent on likewise 2.3 attempts on passes from Harden.
Also helping McLemore breaking out this season is his deadly accuracy from the corners, where he’s hitting 43.2 percent. Almost a third of his three-point attempts come from there.
His shot-chart may appear very simple, but he’s doing exactly what the Rockets need him to do. Move off the ball, emphasize the corners, and help spread the court.
Ben McLemore shot chart
Basketball-ReferenceFor McLemore, having the maturity level to let go of what he was supposed to be when he entered the NBA, and accept that he has now become a specialty player, suggests a prolonged career.
For players who come in with certain expectations of themselves, especially after getting drafted in the lottery, it can be difficult to wrap their head around changing their game so dramatically, that it wouldn’t even be recognizable to the younger versions of themselves.
Being able to simply adjust to a new reality, and make sacrifices, goes a long way in the NBA, and right now McLemore is benefitting greatly from doing just that. As are the Rockets.
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