Don't hate the player: The grate of fame
Friday, December 14, 2007
Where we were.
Where we are.
- 20 Second Timeout: Is Gilbert Arenas the Most Overrated All-Star in the NBA?
- Passion and Pride: Arenas is a better blogger than baller, calls out Iguodala
- Charley Rosen: Wizards getting by without Arenas and his "belligerent e-mails" (HT: JakeTheSnake)
But easy doesn't always equal accurate.
Gilbert had a Cinderella season on- and off-court in 2006-07, even if the ending was more fractured than fairy tale. Then, once his hype got a bit ahead of his 'comp this year, Gil was shelved before he could yet again let his play speak for himself. And do you doubt that he would have stepped up? Take a lesson.
So now we're into a favorite pastime: Making yesterday's hero into today's tackling dummy.
The Wiz are more than Arenas, of course, and we DC-ites all enjoy the new look, but like Dwyer/Truthaboutit/HSCS point out, let's not pretend this team into a contender yet. Especially without Arenas. Over the past 15 years, nobody--not Webber nor Howard, not Butler nor Jamison, and certainly not Err Jordan--has been as dynamic or clutch in a Washington uni as Gil.
Not even Ledell. It may sound like blasphemy, but even if Arenas is half the man of A-Train, he's three times the player.
20 Second's Friedman may contend that at 128-118 from 2004-2007, the Arenas-led Wizards have been "mediocre for quite some time"--but behind Gil, the Clippers of the East have finally shaken off the cellar! Dave, you realize this is Washington's best three-year stretch in 30 years? Antawn and Caron were strong additions, but Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen, they're not.
Injuries sometimes fast-track certain players to the spotlight. Tracy McGrady became a star at the expense of Grant Hill's ankle. Kurt Warner only started because Trent Green went down in the preseason. But the sidekick getting to (short-term) star is a more familiar theme. Last week, Manu's 37-point specials pushed the Duncan-less Spurs over the Mavs and Jazz. Last year, one A.I. stepped up for another in Philly. Even Scottie was MVP-caliber when MJ left for...well, we've collectively forgotten that chapter. Yet who thinks Iggy > Iverson, or would take Pippen over Jordan?
So temporary vanishing acts and surprise star turns are essential parts of the sports fabric; fans aren't required to hate on what's gone missing, just better appreciate what we've got. And in the Wizards' case, maybe it was more than we knew.
Labels: Caron Butler, Gilbert Arenas, Ledell Eackles, NBA, Washington Wizards
posted by Anonymous @ 12:37,
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Time to punch the numbers
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
John Hollinger's revised ratings are out and the bloggers are talking. Happy: Fans of the Rockets (projected NBA champions), Bulls (Eastern Conference champs), and Kelenna "Sambuca" Azubuike (as Hollinger projects Marco Bellinelli to be so bad, the Warriors will have no choice but to play him).Not so thrilled: Wizards fans, who are trying to understand how a team with
While there are worse concerns for the Wiz these days than a columnist's predictions...still, yikes. Doctor Dribbles may publicly trust in PER, but most of the We Rite Goode riters are closet Hollinger-heads; for our purposes, his words carry scary weight. The estimable Pradamaster is over at Bullets Forever furiously debunking Hollinger's rationale, which includes allegations that Gilbert Arenas's quickness-dependent game will slide and Antonio Daniels is due for a fall. Not entirely idle speculation, but Prada's click-worthy argument strongly rebuts these concerns.
But one Hollinger point--that Antawn Jamison is slipping--is an observation that we'd also long, secretly feared.
True, Jamison's PER of 18.4 was his highest in three seasons in DC; he certainly seemed to fill it up down the stretch and in the playoffs. But, we worried, might his performance have been skewed by an end-of-season flurry, with Arenas and Caron Butler sidelined? And if the Big Three stay healthy this coming year, and Arenas and Butler continue to dominate possessions, doesn't it seem likely that Jamison's numbers will take a dip?
Granted, this may be an effort to rationalize Hollinger's prediction (it's horrible--in some twisted way, we'd prefer Jamison to actually be declining than to have Hollinger be wrong), but curiosity got the better of us and prompted some game log investigation and back-of-the-envelope math courtesy of Excel. We've saved our very basic spreadsheet here, for those who are curious.
The findings:
* In 70 games, Jamison's season averages were 19.8 ppg, 8.0 rpg, 45% FG shooting, and 16.3 FGA per game. (Granted, it didn't take Excel to uncover this data, just ESPN.com. But a crucial piece of baseline info.)
* Jamison actually played 14 games without Butler and/or Arenas; 15, counting the game where Butler played 13 minutes and took 2 shots, before removing himself because of stiffness; and 16, where Gilbert played two minutes before hurting his knee. So, operatively, 16 games in the "not-so-Big-Three" (NSBT) games--that's nearly 23% of his 70-game season. Importantly, Jamison averaged 37.9 mpg in those games versus 38.0 mpg on the season, which we can call that a draw.
* In the NSBT games, Jamison averaged 22.75 ppg, 8.37 rpg, and 18.3 FGA per game.
* Accounting for the NSBT games, Jamison's averages in the 54 games with Butler and Arenas fall to 18.92 ppg, 7.83 rpg, and 15.9 FGA per game. A huge difference? No. But demonstrable? Yes, and probably enough to measurably effect PER, which rewards for field goal attempts, in addition to other performance gains in the same MPG.
* An important caveat: Jamison's shooting percentage shrunk when other teams increasingly keyed on him, shooting only 40.9% in the NSBT games, compared to 46.4% in those 54 other games. And who knows--that FG% decline may be enough of a counter to the other performance gains. (Honestly, we don't know, and will defer to Ty Keenan and Carter Blanchard to load all of this data into the PER formula.)
* However, Wizards fans may remember a six-game stretch where the Big Three all played, but Butler was burdened by the knee stiffness that had kept him out in late February and would force him back out in March--as a result, although Butler was on the court and drawing defensive attention, he was much less active in the offense. In those six games (arguably, a tiny sample size), Jamison averaged 21.8 ppg, 7.6 rpg, and shot 48.6%.
So what does this all mean? That Jamison's PER was affected by his performance in Butler- and Arenas-less games? (Maybe.) But is this a significant observation, since every NBA player will have games where he carries more of the burden, as teammates are out with injuries/clashing with coaches/hiding from process servers? (Probably not.)
Getting to Hollinger's point, does it mean Jamison's declining? If the crack WRG basketball team had to read into the numbers, we say no; more likely, the data indicates that Antawn can still be a reliable scoring option, but at this point in his career, directing too much of the offense through him comes at a cost to his efficiency. But can Jamison step up his game in context of the Big Three? Note that when Arenas and an injured Butler were on the court and drawing the defense, Jamison may have enjoyed one of his more efficient and effective stretches of the season. His days of carrying a team are over (if they ever existed), but Jamison remains a key third wheel.
(And, in the most important finding, does it mean that we learned how to upload a spreadsheet to the Internet? Oh yes. And you can too.)
Labels: Antawn Jamison, Bullets Forever, Caron Butler, Gilbert Arenas, John Hollinger, NBA, Washington Wizards
posted by Crucifictorious @ 21:09,
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Mark it down: November 2
Thursday, August 2, 2007
So the NBA schedule is out and the Wiz are facing the new-look Celtics in the first Friday night game on ESPN next season.
It'll be the C's first regular-season game, so you know all of America will be tuning in. Well...all NBA fans in America, that is. Who are home on a Friday night. And take November basketball seriously.
Yep...it'll be me, Simmons, and this guy. And who knows, that guy sounds pretty down on the C's-- he might make other plans.
I'm agreed with my co-bloggers--while the Celtics are much improved, it's far too early to start fitting them for rings, let alone Atlantic Division championship t-shirts. The team's depth is totally gutted, their current starting point guard can't make a jumper, and there's no guarantee an aging threesome that's never played together will make it through the season healthy.
So I'd like to think when the 'zards come to town...it'll be a competitive game, at the least.
Of course, the remaining free agents supposedly now are flocking to Boston, Gary Payton couldn't shoot when he was a rookie either, and Garnett and Pierce are generally healthy young men. I could simply be jealous that the Wizards' vaunted big three of Gilbert Arenas, Caron Butler, and Antawn Jamison is now totally overshadowed...by about everyone, it seems. Doesn't highest scoring trio in the land count for something?
Hey, 1.4% of America and I know what's up. Maybe they'll watch the game with me.
Labels: Antawn Jamison, Boston Celtics, Caron Butler, Gilbert Arenas, Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, Washington Wizards
posted by Anonymous @ 20:25,
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