For the month of October, Mitch Pratt, Andrew Kasmarek and Charlie Tritschler will be previewing the NBA teams for the exciting 2013-2014 season.
What I know…
- The Knicks were rolling through the playoffs last year before JR Smith decided to earhole then-Celtic Jason Terry. After the Smith landed the aforementioned elbow he was suspended, and his play plummeted. His 6th man award winning season averages of 18ppg/5rpg/3apg dropped to 14ppg/4rpg/1apg. And let’s just say his poor shooting did not result in less shooting, rather just more bad shooting.
- Carmelo Anthony played like a champ all regular season, winning the scoring title, but once again did not help his teammates get better in the playoffs. He did not drop off like JR, but his PER rating went from 24.8 in the regular season (a career best) to 20.4 in the postseason, which is slightly worse than his career PER of 20.8.
- Amar'e Stoudamire is slated to make a team high 21.7 million this season, and 23.8 in ’14-’15. I wish GM Steve Mills the most luck with that sitch.
- Ron Metta WorldPeace Artest is on the team and JR Smith is already suspended
Additions/Subtractions…
They also brought in Ron Metta. And if you are not excited to see Mr. Peace play basketball in his birthplace…[2]
They drafted Tim Hardaway Jr, who is an NBA project but could be fun. Plus he has the genes of an NBA player. They also drafted CJ Leslie, who was one of my college basketball favorites, and as an aspiring writer, I got love for his poetry.
What I have been pondering…
I have done a lot of thinking about this team. So much in fact I grew a beard so I can stroke in just to aide [3]. The first thing I wonder is Carmelo-based. Just how “great” is he? Is he anything more than a great scorer? Should we rank him as a top five NBA player as he so often is? Through out his first nine pro seasons he has certainly showed the ability to put the ball in the hole. He reached his pinnacle last year when he won his 1stscoring title. He shot his highest percentage of his career, and brought his team to the second round of the playoffs. That seems like the work of a great player.
my ability to thinkBut what if I told you that was only the second time he got his team out of the first round of the playoffs? Does that sound like a great player? I mean, after the famous 2003 NBA Draft, coming the season after ‘Melo walked through the NCAA tournament, the media basically labeled him, Wade, and LeBron future Hall of Famers. As unfair as it may be, NBA greats are mostly graded on playoff successes. I made a comparison of (to me) the four[4]surefire HOF’ers and ‘Melo and here is what I came up with:
Regular Season
LeBron James: 27.6ppg/6.9 apg/7.3rpg 27.6 PER.
Dwyane Wade: 24ppg/6.1 apg/5.1 rpg 25.5 PER.
Kobe Bryant: 25 ppg/4.8 apg/5.3 rpg 23.4 PER
Kevin Durant: 26.6 ppg/3.1 apg/6.8 rpg 23.6 PER
Carmelo Anthony: 25.2 ppg/3.1apg/6.4 rpg 20.8 PER
Post Season
LeBron James: 28.1/6.7/8.6 27.3 PER
Dwyane Wade: 23.7/5.2/5.5 23.3 PER
Kobe Bryant: 25.6/4.7/5.1 22.4 PER
Kevin Durant: 28.6/3.8/8.6 25 PER
Carmelo Anthony: 25.7/2.8/7.3 19.9 PER
A couple things jumped out at me when comparing these players; one, I could not believe LeBron’s PER dropped from regular season to post season, but then I remembered he shit the bed against Dallas, and that hurt that number a little bit. It also surprised me to see Kobe’s PER drop, but then I remembered he usage rate was a lot lower when he had Shaquile O'Neal, so that made sense. But the real thing that stuck out, and the thing I somewhat expected to find, was that Melo does not belong in this group. His regular season PER could not even match any of the other players post season PER’s, which should logically be harder to attain. This is not even mentioning Melo’s post season PER was worse.
Basically, I think we need to cool it with Melo being a “superstar” talk, and rather just label him a star. It would not even be fair to compare him to a player like Clyde Drexler, because Drexler at least consistently put his team on his back in the playoffs, and won. Until, he proves other wise, I think historically we need to start phasing Melo towards the Adrian Dantley territory, a great scorer, but not a superstar.
Other things (and I will try and make it quick) J.R Smith, who claimed he was harnessing his focus last year, has already been suspended for marijuana. He also, waited to have knee surgery until he signed a new contract, and once again he is now teammates with Ron Metta WorldPeace Artest. If you watched the JR link, how many “no, no, no, YES!” moments will there be between these two guys? I’m setting the over/under at 2.5 per game (Ed note: Pounding the over on that one - CT)
Prediction:
But on the other hand, guys like Melo, JR, Tyson Chandler, Amar'e, and Raymond Felton are going to be too good offensively, and if they can repeat their strong defensive performance of a season ago (ranked seventh as a team), they will repeat as Atlantic Champs.
I’m predicting the four seed, which will perfectly set-up a historic first round match-up of New York vs. Brooklyn.
Stand Up,
Andrew
[1]Plus do not forget how good of a city New York is to foreigners. It is the melting pot of the melting pots. I guarantee you there are plenty of models ready for Bargnani’s European tongue. I expect Andrea to thrive here. - (Such a good point, never thought about it justifies the trade - CT)
[2] I tried to come up with a joke or threat, but the fact is if you don’t want to watch Ron play there at all then I amm just sad for you. It is going to rule.
[3]50/50 chance that is true.
[4] I should specify four surefire Hall of Famers in positions similar to Carmelo’s. Dirk and Timmy D clearly will be HOF’ers as well.
0 comments:
Post a Comment