You tell a kid not to shoot from certain spots based on whether you believe they can hit it or not. If I changed the name from Lucas to Tate in that sentence, you wouldn't argue it at all, so let's not get on Groce immediately if that is the case. It's entirely normal for guys to have a leash on where they shoot from/how often. We, quite simply, have yet to see evidence that TJL is a shooter. We also don't have evidence to say he's NOT a shooter. But the coaching staff in this case certainly does, which is why I am noting that as a possibility. If he's only hitting 35% from 3 in practice, that'd be entirely reasonable to tell him not to.
Based on some of the shots he has passed on, I can tell you he doesn't have, or feel like he has, the green light that JCL does, that's for sure.
His shooting mechanics really have quite a few flaws (they were evident in his high school tape as well, where he really seemed to like to lean back on shots to create separation), so it's really not unfathomable.
Just to be clear, none of that is meant to say he's not a good player, but I think we need to work a little harder to get him shots where he is comfortable. I'm a broken record on it, but our screening rarely creates separation between the ball handler and his man, but if we could fix that and get him to the FT line/midrange more consistently, that would help him/us a lot. Gets him more in his comfort zone as a scorer for that floater he has shown he likes, adding a FT line jumper off of the dribble would open a lot, and we already know about his vision. Still a bright future, but needs some development as a shooter, imo.
