How Ty Lawson Has Become a Borderline Star

From the start of the season until the start of the new year it did not look like Ty Lawson was worth a dime of the extension he received. He was shooting around 40% and not averaging anywhere near his point total from last season. Most people thought the money got to his head and he was not playing as hard as he could. Then the calendar flipped and so did Ty's play. In 2013 he has become a new player averaging 20+ points and 7+ assists since the new year started. Four Syllables can be attributed to his transformation "Mid-Range Jumper." He has added this shot consistently to his arsenal and he does not have to be shooting square to the basket to make it. He has made it made it fading backwards, left or right and has been able to make them with a hand in his face.

Adding a mid-ranged jumper means that players can no longer play off of him in order to keep him in check. They are starting to realize he has this new ability which means they play him closer which increases the probability of Ty breaking their ankles and still pulling up or just driving right by them and towards the hoop. Ty is ravaging his opponents with his newfound shot.

It is not like Ty did not have this shot before, it may not have been as refined, but George Karl has finally given him the green light to shoot this on a regular basis. This gives Ty all the confidence he needs. His game runs off of confidence and in the past when he had a bad first half it normally meant he would also have a bad second half. That has not been the case this season. In fact, I believe he has played better in the second half when he has a bad first half. We saw this against the Clippers when he only had 2 points in the first half, but came out with 19 in the second.

Ty has scored 20 or more points in 11 out of the last 13 games. This scoring is unprecedented from him considering he was not the type of guy to take over the game. He finally feels comfortable enough to take over a game now since he has his lethal mid-range jumper to fall back on.