Our old pal David Berri took a look at the Memphis point guards today from his usual statistical perspective on the Wages of Wins Journal. When it was all said and done, Dave arrived at the same conclusion I did in the preseason:
Still, if the numbers for Lowry and Conley hold, Memphis will eventually have to make a decision about who to start and who ultimately to keep. At this point only one thing is certain. The team is not going to keep starting Stoudamire.
It's nice to see confirmation of my evaluation of the PG position from someone who has a lot more clout in academic circles. Another fine post that I recommend reading in its entirety.
We here at 3 Shades of Blue are participating in a season-long ranking of Most Valuable Player and Rookie of the Year candidates that was organized by Alex of BrewHoop. The other blogs participating are as follows:
BrewHoop
Sactown Royalty
Third Quarter Collapse
20 Second Timeout
Posting and Toasting
Queen City Hoops
TWolvesBlog
Sixers 4 Guidos
Bullets Forever
Green Bandwagon
The Bratwurst
Indy Cornrows
Blog A Bull
Clips Nation
You can view our first rankings of the season with commentary on BrewHoop now.
Yet another far-fetched Pau Gasol to the Chicago Bulls rumor/fantasy out of the Windy City -- this time from delusional old man Sam Smith who is no stranger to making up his own trade proposals involving Memphis Grizzlies. I'm sure everyone remembers his obsession with Shane Battier a few years ago. Really, this one is more like a plea for the Bulls' management to make an offer for the Spaniard than it is a trade rumor. That makes it even worse. What's really funny is how he proclaims how much the Bulls need him while downplaying his abilities at the same time. Reminds me of a certain group of posters on the Grizzlies message boards. Here's an example of Smith's continual contradictions:
Now with a new general manager, a new coach in Marc Iavaroni and a new style,
it's clear that Gasol is lost and likely expendable. At least that's the belief around the NBA, and teams expect a shot at Gasol by the trading deadline. The question is how much you really can give up for a seventh-year player who never has been a good rebounder or defender and hasn't been on the winning side in a playoff game.
If Gasol is such a poor rebounder/defender and is labeled a "loser" then why would Chicago benefit from his presence? Of course, if he had bothered to read Ron Tillery's fine article in yesterday's Commercial Appeal, he'd know that Gasol is working very hard to adjust to Iavaroni's new system, and isn't pleased at all with his current level of production. Of course, that wouldn't get Bulls fans excited about Gasol's "availability", would it? Don't worry Grizz fans -- just another bogus rumor that shouldn't receive any attention beyond this blogger taking the time to shoot it full of holes. If the Grizzlies do decide to trade Gasol, it will take more than Tyrus Thomas and Andres Nocioni to acquire him.
Update: Over on AOL's NBA Fanhouse, Bethlehem Shoals called out Sam Smith for being a doddering old fool for many of the same reasons I did regarding the Pau Gasol wishlist piece. Once again, it is nice to see that I am in agreement with people held in higher respect than myself in the blogosphere.
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4 comments:
Having endured fairly serious point guard injuries last year and already this year, I am still surprised at the immediate assumption that the Griz are going to get rid of one of the point guards. Obviously JCN can fill in, which makes such a move much more likely, however, that speculation began after the draft before JCN had been traded, when there was no legitimate backup PG option.
We're lucky we have not yet traded DS.
Speaking of models of player performance, how is the +/- stat on nba.com boxscores calculated?
Brandon - I could go into a rather lengthy discussion about the +/- rating system but it would be best to read this article from 82games.com (http://www.82games.com/ilardi1.htm).
In simple terms some calculates the scoring when you are in the game versus when you are out. If the team scores more when you are on the court then those points are added as a positive score. If the team is outscored then it is a negative.
I expect you guys to keep Chris Paul in the MVP discussion over at BrewHoop. Don't do it for me, do it for the children.
Paul's just amazing.
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