Points in the Paint

» February 12, 2009 9:12 PM | By Brandon Hoffman

Bill Simmons of ESPN.com: “Explain how a kid who just turned 20 four months ago has basically been averaging a 29-8 with 49-88-45 percentages and this isn’t a national story. I mean, you should be tired of hearing about Durant by now. By the way, he’s averaging 31.9 ppg, 8.1 rpg and 45.4 mpg over the last 12 games, six of them wins. Here’s his game log if you don’t believe me. And check those numbers compared to a 21-year-old LeBron in Year 2, or Kobe’s third season when he turned 20. Hmmmm. What do you think Durant has to do to crack one of the first three segments on ‘PTI’?” He could pass the rock every once and awhile. I like how The Sports Guy conveniently excluded Durant’s assist numbers. KD is averaging a paltry 2.8 assists per game. It’s a good thing we haven’t found a way to accurately quantify defensive impact too because Durant plays zero defense. I don’t understand why Simmons is so caught up on Durant’s age. Kobe Bryant made the All-NBA 3rd team at the age of 20. James made the All-NBA 2nd team at 21. Durant has exceeded my expectations thus far, but comparing him to Kobe and LeBron is tantamount to basketball blasphemy.

Chris Erskine of the Los Angeles Times: “While struggling to raise five children on a CBA salary, Phil Jackson took an aptitude test to find another career. The results: 1) adventurer; 2) lawyer; 3) minister.”

Jason Fleming of HOOPSWORLD: “Apparently Phoenix Suns owner Robert Sarver wants to start doing his own work in finding a trade partner to work with over an Amar’e Stoudemire deal, according to Adrian Wojnarowksi of Yahoo! Sports.‘It makes [the owner] look too motivated,’ said one Western Conference GM who was aware of Sarver’s calls. ‘It makes them look desperate.’ As an Eastern Conference GM wondered: ‘What in the world are two owners going to come up with that the GMs haven’t already discussed? This is how bad deals happen.’ That’s how bad deals happen? Well, I guess that helps explain Phoenix’ trade FOR Shaq. From Paul Coro of The Arizona Republic: “It was late January when basketball interrupted banking business for an NBA owner whose team was sitting pretty atop the West. Suns Managing Partner Robert Sarver was working at his Biltmore-area office when his Miami Heat counterpart, Micky Arison, called. Pau Gasol wasn’t yet with the Lakers. The Spurs were days from posting an ugly win without Tony Parker at Phoenix. ‘Is this something you’d be interested in?’ Arison asked. Something was some thing, all right. Arison was talking about trading 14-time All-Star center Shaquille O’Neal to the Suns.”

Alex Raskin of HOOPSWORLD: “Some teams don’t put a lot of thought behind their system. If you happen to have one of the greatest living scorers, you may not need to play disciplined basketball. But for the Spurs (who have had seven different players lead the team in points for a game), intelligence reigns supreme. Only 21.6% of San Antonio’s possessions end in a turnover. That is good enough for second in the NBA. They also rank fifth in the NBA in Effective Field Goal percentage – which weights three-pointers – at 51.5. This suggests that the team is taking the right shots at the right time. The best example of San Antonio’s discipline comes from the number of personal fouls they’ve committed – 956. In fact, the Spurs have had the fewest number of personal and technical fouls (16) in the league this season.”

Bustopher Says:
March 20th, 2009 at 5:41 pm
Definitely check out that hoopsworld article. The raskin guy is good. I also liked the Bill Simmons piece.

Sponsors