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April 9, 2008 ...In
an effort to have some statistical help with the upcoming NBA post season
balloting - I did a mini audit of the top players, all rookies, the dudes on
my fantasy team, and the Kings players. This mini-audit comes before my real
final regular season audit which will include every guy that played 300
minutes or more in the regular season. ...Anyway - I went in thinking that
the MVP race was between Kobe Bryant, Chris Paul, and Lebron James. What I found was that Amare Stoudemire needs to be in that mix too. He is
the most efficient player in the NBA. ...At each position the most efficient
players are: PG - Paul .738, SG - Bryant .687, SF - James .754, PF Kevin Garnett .752, and C - Amare .840. ...Other
contenders are Tim Duncan .728,
Carlos Boozer .720, Dirk Nowitzki .711, and Dwight Howard .711. ...Efficient Power Forward
play is more abundant thus less VALUABLE. One way to look at it is to
consider how much in front the top player at each position is over the next
best players. Seems to me—that the word VALUE fits using that criteria. Paul,
James, and Stoudemire separate themselves from the field. CP3 (Paul) is the
ONLY GUARD IN THE NBA with an efficiency over .700. ...Amare is the only guy
above .800, and Stoudemire also has the largest gap in efficiency between his
top ranked number and the second place rating. James is the only Small
Forward above .700 - and he is .113 efficiency points better than second best
at his position. Among Paul, Lebron and Amare - Paul plays on the team with
the best record. Here is a quick look at the difference in efficiency between
the players I audited: (Again I only did a select number of players) PG’s: Paul .738, Steve Nash .654, Deron Williams
.608, Chauncey Billups .591, Baron Davis .574, Jason Kidd .566, Nate Robinson
.436, Lou Williams .431, Ramon Sessions .417, Beno Udrih .405, Aaron Brooks
.389, Delonte West .375, Anthony Johnson .365, Mike Conley Jr. .360, Javaris
Crittenton .351, Acie Law .245, DJ Strawberry .226. SG’s: Bryant .687, Manu Ginobili .644, Allen Iverson
.555, Kevin Martin .546, Monta Ellis .539, Jamario Moon .490, Kevin Durant
.437, Carlos Delfino .426, Rodney Stuckey .416, John Salmons .415, Nick Young
.350, Jeff Green .348, Juan Carlos Navarro .344, Aaron Afflalo .311, Quincy
Douby .283, Daequan Cook .267, Marco Belinelli .179. SF’s: James .754, Carmelo Anthony .641, Paul Pierce
.551, Josh Howard .528, Tracy McGrady .510, Ron Artest .509, Andre Iguodala
.504, Trevor Ariza .494, Thaddeus Young .480, Francisco Garcia .440, Jared
Dudley .431, Julian Wright .426, Al Thornton .386, Wilson Chandler .374,
Corey Brewer .291, Dominic McGuire .275. PF’s: Garnett .752, Duncan .728, Boozer .720,
Nowitzki .711, Al Jefferson .674, Chris Bosh .661, Carl Landry .635, Josh
Smith .585, David West .580, Brandan Wright .561, Mike Harris .523, Al
Horford .521, Luis Scola .503, Shawne Williams (Ind.) .439, Shelden Williams
.433, Mikki Moore .425, Yi Jianlian .392, Glen Davis .391, Chris Richard
.351, C: Stoudemire .840, Dwight Howard .711, Marcus Camby
.681, Andris Biedrins .669, Brad Miller .577, Emeka Okafor .563, Joakim Noah
.503, Sean Williams (NJ) .502, Aaron Gray .471, Spencer Hawes .440, Jason
Smith .388, Jermareo Davidson .351, Stephane Lasme .336, Joel Anthony .316,
Oleksiy Pecherov .309, What does all this mean? It means I have talked
myself into Chris Paul as the MVP followed by Stoudemire, James, Bryant, and
Garnett. ...My Rookie of the Year is Kevin Durant—who
is averaging 20 points per game. I DO like to think ultra progressively in
terms of the All-Rookie Team. Some players obviously can play but their coach
doesn’t trust them yet. I hate giving First Team All-Rookie status to guys
that are not efficient but did get lots of minutes (Navarro, J. Green, and to
some extent Thornton). I would rather
see guys like Landry get the nod. Landry is super efficient but doesn’t have
great TOTALS due to limited playing time. The locks for First Team All-Rookie
are Durant, and Horford. I would add Young (almost .100 efficiency points
better than Thornton, and on a playoff team), Moon, and Landry. ...My second
team is even more speculative with Stuckey, Noah, Sean Williams, Scola, and
Thornton. ...A real eye opener was the efficiency rating of Brandan Wright at
.561. The sample size is small - but the number is consistent with his
college success. If Don Nelson mixes
in a heavier dose of Wright - the Warriors could get a boost. April
3, 2008 ...Greetings. I am addicted to basketball. I watched
about a jillion college games this season—so not surprisingly I am hyped
about the Final Four. I don’t care who wins—I just want good games. ...Random
thoughts from the NCAA Tourney: Memphis Point Guard Derrick Rose changes directions at top speed like
only a few I’ve ever seen. ...The Lopez twins are in
the NBA Draft—and so is Lester Hudson, a
guard I like, from Tennessee-Martin. ...UCLA’s star Kevin Love is a good player that I think WILL
succeed in the NBA. ...I say this every year at this time; I love Len Elmore as a basketball TV analyst. He should
be a guy making decisions in some team’s basketball operations. ...Rece Davis is the best studio host for college
hoops. ...Stephen Curry says
he is staying in school. Davidson fans are cheering. ...Earl Clark of Louisville just LOOKS like a
lottery pick. If he improves—he will be one for sure. ...Why am I like the only guy consistently
hyping Xavier’s Derrick Brown? Dude
is a baller. ...Wifey ran down her All-America team to me. She likes Darren Collison, Curry, Danny Green, Michael Beasley, and
Love. ...My team is Ty Lawson,
Curry, Beasley, Love, and Brook Lopez. ...I
take it deeper with a second team of Rose, Hudson, Robbie Hummel, Tyler Hansbrough, and Kenny George. ...Saw the Kings beat the Rockets
at ARCO on Tuesday in a great game that came down to a missed Tracy McGrady jumper. The Kings knocked Houston
from being potentially third in the West—to sixth. Sacramento wins it’s fair
share of games largely due to Ron Artest. He
is unquestionably the finest defender of perimeter players that I have seen.
If he shared the ball more on offense and tried to really achieve being an
‘assist-type’ guy - I think Artest
could be a FIRST TEAM All-NBA player. I really believe that. |