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ALLEYOOP.COM
The Basketball Page for Thinking Fans
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FROM THE BASELINE
December 19, 2001
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Dear Alley
I can't think of anything interesting to say on my own today, so I thought I'd run through the mailbag and let the readers talk:
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Dear Alley: The PER is a great tool/system, but one thing is missing: minutes per game. I already agreed with you that this should not be included in the PER calculation but I think that when you publish PER of players that don't play much, especially rookies, you have to publish their MPG too. This will give a better picture. Regarding Mike Miller and his ROY last year. I think you should consider not only his stats, but also the role that he had to take as a rookie, helping to carry his team with a lot of injuries.
Alleyoop.com: You're right, I should have included MPG (minutes per game) in the rookies article, although it wouldn't have altered my conclusions. As far as last year's Rookie Award, you raise a valid point: Richardson played over 10 minutes per game less than Miller. I just think Richardson was so much better that they should have given it to him anyway.
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Dear Alley: You may as well have bolded Jonathan Bender's name while you were at it... he's not gonna have much of a career.
Alleyoop.com: This readers' referring to yesterday's piece, and I agree with the sentiments. Why Indiana insists on pretending that he's working out is beyond me.
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Dear Alley: I am sending you the following quote from a Ric Bucher story as an example of when a sports writer just throws an opinionated statement out as a statement of fact that he expects his readers to accept as gospel when he provides no information or evidence whatsoever to back it up:
"Besides, at least they (the Jerry's) had the foresight to move Elton Brand, who is a double-double machine but doesn't have the game or skills to get numbers for anyone but himself. I like Elton, but name a Clipper whose game has improved since his acquisition. Brand, of course, is going to demand the max next year and has public sentiment on his side because of his stats, even though he doesn't have the goods to live up to such a contract. (See Juwan Howard for how well that plays.) The Clippers, not the Bulls, now have to deal with that."
He's right about Juwan Howard, but that's complete hindsight, and besides, Howard got 18 and 9 one year playing next to the double and tripple team machine that is Chris Webber, Brand has sustained 20 and 10 for two (three?) years now, while shooting well over 50% and drawing those double and triple teams himself, (soon as Howard got doubleteamed he disappeared) lastly, who in the hell on the the Bulls was Brand supposed to make better? The never pass, never rebound Ron Mercer, or the athletically gifted but completely untalented Corey Benjamin?
Alleyoop.com: As Jim Rome would say, "Rack him." Juwon's season in 1995-96 was superficially impressive, averaging 22 and 8 to earn the big contract, but I still only had him rated 14th at power forward for the 1995-96 season. Brand, on the other hand, ranked number 8 last season and will crack the top five this year. The two guys aren't in the same league as far as production. Also, saying no Clipper improved his game this season shows a strange oblivion to Quentin Richardson, who may end up winning the Most Improved Award. (Incidentally, you can find that article here).
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Dear Alley: I used to read the site when it was on the web the first time. I remember the articles on comparing players stats with players from different ages like the scoring article on how MJ was a better scorer than Wilt. I always wondered why the site went away and I would try it once and again (since no other site is really comparable) then last week I tried to open it and pow it was there. Thanks for putting it up. It would be great if you did an article on why the Wizards are starting to win games and an article on why teams like the Bucks, Raptors, Sixers, Heat, and Nuggets don't win like they should.
Alleyoop.com: Thanks, it's always great to welcome back an old reader. I tackled the Wizards about two weeks ago when they started their streak - you can find the story here. In a nutshell, they got Haywood off the IL and Collins stopped screwing around with his lineup so much. As for the other teams, that's a lot to bite off so I'll answer for each team in two words: Bucks doing fine, Sixers no bench, Raptors Antoni-No Davis, Heat talentless, elderly, Nuggets McDyess, Issel.
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Dear Alley: Art Long is in the NBA!?!
Alleyoop.com: Not for Long. (ha ha, get it? OK, no more puns today). By the way, Long also has one of the great nicknames in the NBA: "Mongo." While he was at Cincinnati he punched out a police horse, just like Mongo in Blazing Saddles. You can't make this stuff up.
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Dear Alley: Hey, Googs has been out for 4 games, the Suns are 1-3... he doesn't put up numbers that suggest that he's that important... what am I missing? Is this just a coincidence?
Alleyoop.com: It's a coincidence - the one win was by 26 over the Kings. They lost to San Antonio and lost tight ones to the Clips and Nuggies. While they probably should have won the last two I don't think Googs was the reason; in fact Rogers and Outlaw are better anyway.
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Pot Shots
Bummer about Grant Hill. You just hope he can come back next year and be the stud he was in Detroit. Orlando's saying all the right things, but you know deep down they're scared out of their pants that they'll pay $93 million for a guy who ends up playing 20 games ... Atlanta continues to edge toward moving Jason Terry back to the point. He's played half the game there the last two contests. You hear horror stories about Terry's rookie year at the point, but actually his PER of 15.28 that season was above the league average. I think it's ineveitable that Atlanta will move him back to point permanently, because the difference between having Dion Glover on the floor and having Emacquel Daughnvis out there is just to big to ignore...
The NBA should watch the Maurice Taylor situation carefully. Earliert his week he was hit with a five-game suspension for smoking his lawn, but he's injured and out for the season anyway. The Rockets, who are hopelessly out of the playoff race, may declare him "healthy" with five games left and try to get his suspension to take place then, rather than at the start of next season. Hopefully the league office won't fall for this...
EA Sports needs to make a game called "Olowokandi vs. Tsakilidis," where no matter how you move the controller the players are only capable of brief spastic movements, and spontaneously foul people for no reason. During last night's Suns-Clippers' game I was practically screaming at the TV for both coaches to play without a center. Alvin Gentry pulled the trigger first, and I think it's one of the reasons the Clips outlasted Phoenix in the fourth quarter (the other reason being that Phoenix decided not to play offense)...
Finally, what is undoudtedly the quote of the night: "You know something's going on if I'm getting seven rebounds." That one's from Utah's John Crotty after he got more rebounds than any player on the Miami team (including Brian Grant and Alonzo Mourning) in the Jazz' 95-56 disembowelment of the Heat. Crotty also was a perfect 6-for-6 from the field. It's a sad commentary on the Heat's offense during the Riley era that they only tied a franchise low for fewest points in a game.
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