Matt over at Hardwood Paroxysm also now writes a few entries for the NBA Fanhouse. Matt must really, really like blogging because he seems to be everywhere these days! Nevertheless, he posed an interesting question to us and asked us to answer it in a few paragraphs.
"How is the Shane Battier/Ron Artest/Luis Scola thing going to work out and will it be enough to get the Rockets to the second round? Conference Finals? What's the ceiling for this team?"
What he got in return, well... you'll just have to see for yourself!
Season preview: The NBA's Southwest Division
(and yes, I had about 20 more quotes I was prepared to use. I did my best to show restraint!)
Crazy Pills = Maverick??
"How is the Shane Battier/Ron Artest/Luis Scola thing going to work out and will it be enough to get the Rockets to the second round? Conference Finals? What's the ceiling for this team?"
What he got in return, well... you'll just have to see for yourself!
Season preview: The NBA's Southwest Division
(and yes, I had about 20 more quotes I was prepared to use. I did my best to show restraint!)
Crazy Pills = Maverick??
8 comments:
CLASSIC
grungedave,etc.
(off topic, from laker blog interview, sorry)
I have to take issue with you on one thing. First of all you might
remember me from the Jazz blog during last years playoffs. Some of you might call me a troll, but if you are honest with yourself I am not even close.
Most of your analysis of the Rockets and Lakers was good (maybe right maybe wrong, but fair) and you were right to defend yourself in the comments however I think you went a little overboard.
Anyway to my point. Yes most fans of all teams are biased and can't admit the truth about their team or other teams either, but you are being a bit hypocritical as well.
You tout the relatively unknown virtues of Luis Scola with the phrase "you just wait and see". (Paraphrasing here, but I am sure you remember) However when Laker fans use the same verbage about Bynum, you compare him to Kevin Duckworth.
I don't know much about Scola and I don't pretend to, but let me give you a little info on Bynum that you may not know. You said he was worse than (in no particular order) Yao, Howard, Shaq, C. Kaman, T. Chandler, Camby, and Greg Oden (that last one is just a joke I assume).
Anyway the following is a list of PER's (player efficiency rating) from NBA.com for '07-'08.
Adjusted to per/48 mins. obviously.
Yao---32.97
Howard---34.11
Shaq---28.09
C. Kaman---29.85
Chandler---27.30
Camby---32.37
Oden---N/A
Bynum---36.42
In fact he was #2 in the entire league behind only Amare Stoudamire.
Now I realize the sample size is small, but don't you think you are letting your anger at some of the comments cloud your judgement. (Use a Yoda voice on that last part it sounds better)
Anyway I am curious if you have a comment.
pslakerfan
Also, (yeah I know I am beating a dead horse, or talking to a wall, or whatever).
CBSSportsline Center rankings 2008,
#1 Howard
#2 Yao
#3 Bynum
Bleacher Report
#1 Howard
#2 Bynum
#3 Yao
I am not saying they are right, just that you might be a tad off in your rankings.
pslakerfan
Any ranking of centers that does not have Yao at one (not taking injury concerns into account, just skill) is full of shit.
I really like Bynum and think he will be great. But he's 20, all I've said is that Lakers fans extremely overrate where he is NOW. They are completely in the realm of believability on where he could be though. He is not there yet, and per 48 makes no sense for him because he simply did not play big minutes until right before the injury. The less minutes you play, the better your per 48 should look if you are a good player. Yao has to pace himself, Bynum didn't last year.
And Dave's Kevin Duckworth/Benoit Benjamin comments weren't really a slap in the face as some Lakers fans pointed out. Both of those guys had long careers and had similiar early career numbers to Bynum. Mind you, Bynum is 20, the point was, he hasn't done it yet and right now he compares more to those guys career numbers than Yao's or Shaq's or Hakeem, not that he isn't going to be better than those two guys. We both believe he will be.
The NBA is full of guys that never lived up to their potential, hell Lamar Odom plays on your team right now. Steve Francis played on ours as did Ralph Sampson, whose early career numbers own what Bynum has done so far (obviously older player, much more polished than a HS guy) and knee injuries stopped him from reaching the potential he could have.
Just saying it again, he's not there yet, flashes of brilliance do not equal full on every day greatness.
Yao is the best center in the league and it's really not close. DHo is great, but people vastly overrate him now because of the slam dunk contest (great move on his part). I still love both of those guys though and think Howard will just get better and better.
a. thanks for your response (really)
b. I would like to hear from grungedave, as it was his comments that I was referring to.
c. My biggest issue was his "just you wait and see" attitude about Scola while simultaneously complaining about Laker fans doing the same thing.
d. I can't argue with your claim about Yao being the best center in the league. DHo has different skills and their numbers are comparable (PER wise), but like I said I can't argue it. I don't put AB ahead of either, I was just saying that some of the people he put ahead of him were ridiculous (see Oden, Greg) Like I said I assume that was a joke. If it wasn't then hypocrite is a nice thing for me to say. Especially if the knock on AB is that he hasn't done well for a long enough period. Obviously 4 limited years>0 games.
e. Maybe not a huge dis, but the Duckworth/Benjamin comment was meant to be a cheap shot, we all know it.
f. I think per 48 mins is fair for someone who played 30 mins per game vs. the typical 35-40 for most players. Obviously you can't use it for guys playing 5 mins per game, but 30 is a decent sample.
g. again thanks for the response.
pslakerfan
Here's the difference between Scola and Bynum - we've seen Scola perform at the highest level on the International stage. The only reason he didn't start every game last year was he had to adjust to the NBA rules - and the moment he was inserted into the starting lineup, the Rockets won their next 22 games.
Nevertheless, I have never said Scola is the next Tim Duncan.
In contrast, Laker fans have already annointed Bynum as the next Shaq/Kareem/Wilt, etc. Even though his best season is just 13 points and 10 rebounds. Which, would be a "bad" season by Kevin Duckworth and Benoit Benjamin. These are the facts.
I think Bynum is going to be really good, but I'm not going to project him to be a 20/12 guy because he's just not going to be one this year.
So you would take everyone on your list over AB? Including Oden?
And thanks for not calling Scola the next Tim Duncan.
And by the way I could take the time to find some random players with stats comparable to Scola that would be embarrassing (like Duckworth and Benjamin) also, but that's not my style. :-)
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