How Gradey Dick Stands To Have A Successful Career
Gradey Dick hasn't had a strong start to his NBA career, despite offering up one of the most crucial skills that teams are surveying the world for: Reliable long-range shooting.
The 6-foot-6 shooting guard has, however, come on a bit of late, averaging 10.2 points over his past 12 games, which includes 51.1% from the field, and 45.8% from the outside.
It's not a coincidence.
After the Raptors pivoted away from their former core, their new direction has led them towards leaning into youth, offering Dick the chance to see some significant court time, while allowing him to go through some growing pains.
While 10 points may not seem a like a lot, it's a solid start for the 20-year-old, who still needs to round out his game before he's properly unleashed in coming seasons. Dick is currently a spot-up shooter who hasn't hit a single unassisted 3-pointer in his career yet, and that's probably going to be his role for a while, as his handles are still slightly too raw to let the offense flow through him, even in limited use.
However, being a good spot-up shooter is far from nothing, particularly when you're that tall, and with a quick release. Dick's ability to seek out the right shots, and secure a spaced out defense for his teammates, is going to be an advantage for the Raptors, even if the rest of his game takes time to come around.
Two encouraging signs of the shooting being real - not that there was much skepticism about that - are his 92% free throw efficiency, and his 50% accuracy from the corners, which makes up over 43% of his 3-point attempts.
Being a specialty player will often be viewed as a bad thing for players selected in the lottery, but for a player that young, who can grow into being an elite version of that specialty player, things could be much worse.
Whatever happens in Dick's career, he'll always have that jumper, and we've seen plenty of players build long careers off that one skill, as long as they maintain it, and improve upon it further.
This isn't to say Dick will be the next Kyle Korver, but if the rest of his game takes its time, leaning into one area - but being elite at it - should provide him with plenty of money, and plenty of interest, over what should be a long NBA career.
For Toronto now, it's not about adding on. The regular season is slowly but surely approaching its final stretch, so what the Raptors should be focusing on is confidence, and putting Dick into situations where he can be successful, as to have him enter the summer optimistic and riding high.
If they do that by just letting him shoot, that's not a problem.
Unless noted otherwise, all stats via NBA.com, PBPStats, Cleaning the Glass or Basketball-Reference. All salary information via Spotrac. All odds courtesy of FanDuel Sportsbook.
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