Comments on: Checking In With Andray Blatche

By: Helpside

Helpside — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 04:06:27 +0000

Did you guy’s take a look at the L.A. Lakers cream puff Schedule. Somebody hate the wiz kids.

By: datonypony

datonypony — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 23:06:41 +0000

But after A.I left philly, have they ever gone into the playoffs as deep as when he lead them into the finals? I don’t think so. I agree that scoring is overrated and how grabbing the rebound, not turning the ball over and all those other things are essential, however, there are also games where a team can do EVERYTHING right, good rebounds, hustle, no turnovers, great defense, but… Couldn’t score that night. Then, it’s still a big L as basketball is still a game about how many points you score. I know that this hardly ever happens but yeah. I agree that Jeff Green is not as good on other areas than DOminic though.

By: Tom Mandel

Tom Mandel — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 21:57:28 +0000

ty — no one compared AI and Andray. We were talking about Dominic and Jeff Green of OKC. The numbers show me (and so does watching games, btw) that Dominic is a better NBA player than Jeff Green.

By: tyrone20000

tyrone20000 — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 19:16:37 +0000

By the way I would love to see Blatche change his game to a focused, hard charging, do whatever it takes to win the game type player.

By: tyrone20000

tyrone20000 — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 19:12:45 +0000

AI is a basketball leader. The 76ers and Nuggets were not bad teams. Maybe it was team chemistry, but AI is 100% a winner and team player! Take Blatche off the Wizards and I’d be surprised if anyone outside of Washington would notice. I would bet the farm if we lose Blatche for a legit big we would get better, but that does not mean AI and Blatche are the same

By: Tom Mandel

Tom Mandel — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 11:44:45 +0000

Getabig — I responded to your question in the next thread. As I say there, it was meant as a friendly gesture. You are one of the big reasons I participate in this blog.

By: Tom Mandel

Tom Mandel — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 11:43:42 +0000

datonypony — you are right that people have different roles on a team. Plays are designed to run through options, and one guy is designated to take more shots than another guy.

But if that guy shoots a higher % he is doing more to get a win. Therefore, if he shoots a lower % he is doing *less* to get a win. All you can do is measure.

Moreover — and people *often* forget this fact — if your team didn’t get the rebound, you never had the chance to take that shot. Or if you turned it over, or if you committed a foolish foul. Etc.

Because scoring points is the most entertaining part of basketball, fans tend to overvalue the contribution to winning made by the guys who score a lot.

The most obvious example of this overvalueing is AI. He is one of the most extraordinary guys to watch in the history of basketball. Diminutive, unafraid, an amazing scorer. But… he doesn’t help his team win as many games as people think. When Iverson left Philly, they became a better team. When he left Denver, they became a better team.

Not a dig on AI — he’s amazing.

By: getabigboyoffense

getabigboyoffense — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 01:27:40 +0000

“uh oh — getabig is back ” – Tom M.
My friend, what does that mean? I’ve always said that I enjoy everything that everyone contributes to the blog.

By: datonypony

datonypony — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 23:12:05 +0000

But Tom one thing I have to say about points per game and taking how many shots that you have to consider is this, a player who has say 45% FG might not be able to keep it 45% the whole game if he is having to play a whole lot of minutes and take a lot of shots due to psychological or physical factors. So, taking that into consideration, we take arenas for example, not very spectacular FG but he is willing and has the courage to take that many shots and turn it into points efficiently, whereas, if we took a normal player with the same FG% and we get him to take around 20-25 shots a game…. Yeah I think you might get the point. So,points per game is quite important as someone has to get the shot up in that 24 seconds and your mentality affects that along with other factors. So, in a sense, Dom vs Green, Dom is better at everything else, but Green scores more, it isn’t quite lopsided as it looks.

Wow, My first ranting long contructive post. PLEASE someone comment or reply or make an argument to this or else I will slit my wrist and no one will ever see me here again.

By: Tom Mandel

Tom Mandel — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 11:41:40 +0000

It’s a little more complicated than that. Green’s stats as a rookie were pretty dismal. He was much better last year as a 2d year player — but not quite as good in raw numbers as Andray.

But, you can’t compare guys who play different positions in that way. Bigs, who play near the basket, naturally accrue more rebounds and they usually shoot a much higher % as well. Handling the ball less, they are also subject to fewer TOs.

Main point, tho, is that Jeff Green got a lot better his 2d year. He may continue to improve. Still, even though he starts for the Thunder, he wouldn’t start many other places at this point. Andray actually declined a little in the dismal year we had last year, so we’re looking at whether he takes a jump under the new staff.