How UK might just batter and bruise its opponents into submission

With all due respect to returning sophomore Nick Richards and incoming freshman five-star prospect E.J. Montgomery, both of whom should log serious minutes, many Kentucky fans are expecting Stanford transfer Reid Travis and rising sophomore P.J. Washington to make up the Wildcats' starting frontcourt in 2018-19.

While different lineup combinations are going to happen, it's likely that Travis and Washington will be on the court playing off one another for large portions of games.

What might the two of those guys look like when paired together?

Today we're exploring how Travis and Washington might play with one another when Kentucky has the ball.

Sometimes a frontcourt pairing complements one another with one player excelling in certain areas and another doing the other things well.

In the case of Travis and Washington, however, we're talking about two players who mirror one another in some respects.

For instance, neither player derives the majority of their offense from a particular go-to move or by scoring from one spot on the floor. They both have diversified portfolios as scorers, put another way.

Those numbers tell us how Travis and Washington scored most frequently but not necessarily how good each player was at each particular type of play.

Travis was most efficient on post-ups, on offensive rebound put-backs and on converting baskets running the break in transition. Meanwhile, Washington was most efficient on post-up moves, on put backs and in isolation.

Neither player was especially strong as a spot up shooter. In fact both rated fairly low compared to their peers nationally in terms of converting shot attempts when they squared up. Kentucky might be well-served if both players limited those types of plays, although there's a tricky balance because for both players to improve their NBA stock getting better in that area is going to become important. Interestingly enough, Washington was woefully inept in catch-and-shoot situations when he was unguarded but actually shot 44-percent with a hand in his face. For Travis, the numbers are almost entirely reversed.

The good news is Kentucky should be much better able to surround its frontcourt with perimeter players and wings with three-point shots that have to be respected. Thus, the bigs should be able to focus on being bigs while positions one, two and three spread the floor.

In isolation both Travis and Washington were efficient scorers. In isolation, Washington put the ball on the floor 97-percent of the time. In other words he almost never attempted a jump shot from that position.

Travis was also much more likely to drive (77-percent) but here's what's striking: On Travis' 31 isolation drive attempts for the '17-18 season he did not commit a single turnover.

Because of the way Kentucky should be able to spread the floor next year, and the fact that Washington and Travis' individual efficiency will make double teams more difficult, both players should find plenty of opportunities game-in, game-out to do exactly what they thrive on: Attacking the basket in ISO sets.

Both players got to the free throw line roughly the same amount on a per-minute (6.9/gm for Travis, 5.6/gm for Washington).

Travis handled hard double teams much better than did Washington last season. Generally Kentucky's offense was stymied when Washington had the ball and faced a hard double (0.789 PPP) while Stanford converted (0.964 PPP) when defenses sent a hard double at Travis.

Let's take a look at where Washington and Travis scored their points with some "heat zone" shot charts.

The big takeaway from the shot charts is that both players are very good scorers around the basket while Travis has been more likely to put up shots from outside the paint.

When Travis puts up shots from outside his sweet spot is the left wing.

But overall the main lesson might be that Kentucky could have the luxury of allowing both players to work almost exclusively around the rim or in isolation taking the ball directly at the rim. Considering both players should be strong offensive rebounders this season (Travis ranked No. 2 in the Pac-12 in offensive rebounds last year), that strategy could yield some impressive results.

One of the reasons Washington will return to Kentucky with so much hype is the way he improved over the course of his freshman season. Postseason free throw woes aside, it's not the Washington of November or December 2017 that has people buzzing about what his sophomore year could look like.

The above shot chart is Washington's but only includes field goal attempts from Kentucky's games beginning in February through the end of the season.

Notice anything?

Washington almost entirely eliminated any semblance of scoring effort beyond scoring immediately at or around the basket. He attempted all of 12 shots outside the paint over that stretch of roughly two months of basketball. In other words, more than 90-percent of his shots came right at the rim.

Is that the Washington we'll see this year? It's probably too early to say, but the trend last year is undeniable.

Travis' track record is four years deep and there's also no denying where he likes to do most of his work, even if he is more capable in some other aspects of his game (that's was years of added polish will do).

The best conclusion we can probably reach right now is that when Travis and Washington are on the court together, at least when Kentucky has the ball, there's a good chance the Cats' opponents are going to have their work cut out for them when it comes to preventing points in the paint. It's been a while since UK has had two workhorses with around-the-rim arsenals like these capable of playing together.

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