He is not turning the ball over at a high rate. Look at the efficiency numbers. His TO% is lower than Shayok and Weiler-Babb. His assist rate is just as high as Weiler-Babb's well if not slightly better.
I agree with most of your post and think LW will get better with more time. But the above comment had me scratching my head. He is much better than Shayok, but not sure about your comparison with NWB. CSP talked about how he is trying to drive this point home for Shayok.
Shayok - 36 assists, 54 turnovers. = -.67 ATO
Wiggonton - 25 assists, 14 turnovers = 1.79 ATO
Weiler-Babb - 76 assists, 27 turnovers = 2.82 ATO
While I was at it I looked at the other guards' ATOs.
Haliburton - 77 assists, 14 turnovers = 5.5 ATO. (Crazy that he plays the most minutes and has the least turnovers and the most assists as a true freshman)
Horton-Tucker - 53 assists, 18 turnovers = 2.94 ATO.
I think most of us feel NWB, MS and TH are no-brainers to start and get the most minutes. MJ has to play the most until Cam or George can play effectively, so there are four major contributors/starters. The question is who do you play more THT, or LW?
I compared LW and THT as they seem to replace each other the most:
LW - THT
FG% .345 -
.388
3PT%
.319 - .292
FT%
.697 - .650
Scoring 10.9 -
11.9
Rebound 4.3 -
5.3
Steals .89 -
1.32
Blocks .22 -
.68
Of course THT has the benefit of inflated numbers from non-con, but this is not as easy as many of us like to make it. Personally I think that you ride either one of these guys that are hot, but they both need a lot of minutes for us to be good down the stretch. My hope is that we can see Lewis, Talley, and even Zion getting a few minutes so they are ready for injuries or slumps, but that's not easy to do when you are battling in the Big XII.