SI's grim assessment of the Blazers

[Boob-No-More]

After you upbraided me on Point 3, you gave a fishy stat that a 13.9 ppg average ranks #48 in the league (each team has only 48/30=1.6 players scoring that much?), so I checked and it was #69. That destroys your Point 3 defense that even if Batum doesn't improve his ppg, the new contract still won't overpay him.

http://bkref.com/tiny/IuMGt

Wrong again:

http://www.nba.com/statistics/playe...itScope=GAME&qualified=Y&yearsExp=-1&splitDD=

You forgot to select the "Qualified" option. So, your list includes guys like Brook Lopez, who only played in 5 games and Chauncey Billups, who only played in 20 games. Of the players who actually played enough to qualify for the scoring title, Batum ranked 48th in PPG - last season. This season, the highest paid of his new 4-year contract, he will be the 49th highest player in the NBA. So, even if he shows no improvement under Stotts, his paycheck will be commensurate with his scoring ability. And, he also plays great defense.

So, that destroys your destruction of my Point 3 defense. Unless you think a guy who only plays in 5 of 66 games is worth more than a guy who plays in 59 of 66.

BNM

 

[Boob-No-More]

Are you still around. Go over to the Wolves forum..... you bore us!

Yes, please. Now that Minnesota has signed "Hat Man", they have the inside track to signing Oden whenever he decides it's time to comeback and Dominate the NBA!!!!!!!!!!

And, when did he become "Hat Man"? Didn't he used to be called "Hat Guy" when he was in Portland. Is this gig in Minnesota some sort of promotion - from a Guy to a Man? Well, no wonder our "Division Rivals" were able to lure him to the great frozen north. I hope the promotion also included a new hat:

BNM

 

[jlprk]

Wrong again:

http://www.nba.com/statistics/playe...itScope=GAME&qualified=Y&yearsExp=-1&splitDD=

You forgot to select the "Qualified" option. So, your list includes guys like Brook Lopez, who only played in 5 games and Chauncey Billups, who only played in 20 games. Of the players who actually played enough to qualify for the scoring title, Batum ranked 48th in PPG - last season. This season, the highest paid of his new 4-year contract, he will be the 49th highest player in the NBA. So, even if he shows no improvement under Stotts, his paycheck will be commensurate with his scoring ability. And, he also plays great defense.

So, that destroys your destruction of my Point 3 defense. Unless you think a guy who only plays in 5 of 66 games is worth more than a guy who plays in 59 of 66.

BNM

Tisk tisk, it just isn't your day. If you give a reasonable definition to "qualified" like a minimum of 1000 minutes played in the season, Batum ranked #63.

http://bkref.com/tiny/OJqd4

This decimates your petty sniping at my noble destruction of your desperate defense against my rational critique of your misdirected Point 3. But let's make absolutely sure that your scaly corpse floats dead in the water. All I have to do to prove that Batum's new salary will not be commensurate with his ppg, is to find a reasonable definition of "qualified" that results in his ranking below #49 in ppg last season. Nooo problemo.

Defining "qualified" as minimum 1681 minutes (or defining it as any lower minimum than 1681) disproves your distorted line of reasoning.

http://bkref.com/tiny/HWQSL

In fact, Batum himself is the 5th-least qualified player on that "minimum 1681 list" with a mere 1791 minutes. Don't try arguing in vain that 1681 is too low, because if you define "qualified" as minimum 1800 minutes, Batum, with only 1791, won't be on your list.

 

[jlprk]

So your Mission Impossible is to convince me that to rank at least #49 in league scoring, the minimum minutes to be "qualified" is above 1681 but fewer than 1792.

Never take on an accountant right after he's had a cup of coffee. Unless you're a client and you haven't paid him yet.

 

[BlazerCaravan]

You people make me wish for a lockout.

 

[Boob-No-More]

Tisk tisk, it just isn't your day. If you give a reasonable definition to "qualified" like a minimum of 1000 minutes played in the season, Batum ranked #63.

http://bkref.com/tiny/OJqd4

If you actually click on the link I previously provided, it will show that the definition of "qualified" I referenced is not my personal definition, it is the official NBA qualifying standard. Here's that link again, straight from NBA.com:

http://www.nba.com/statistics/playe...itScope=GAME&qualified=Y&yearsExp=-1&splitDD=

Unlike you, I do not need to make up random definitions in a feeble attempt to bolster my arguments. I go straight to the official source. And, the official source says Nicolas Batum was the 48th leading scorer in the NBA last season. If you disagree, take it up with the league office. I'm sure they could use a good laugh.

BNM

 

[jlprk]

You must have studied their definition extensively before relenting to the unlikely coincidence that your prior reasoned-out definition precisely matches theirs. You must have almost memorized it after your prolonged, studied decision. I'd like to study it, too. Can you please tell me what it is?

 

[THE HCP]

MATHLETE FIGHT!

 

[oldmangrouch]

Oy.

While the statistical argument about Batum is all very interesting, it also over-simplifies the situation.

For quite awhile I bought into the argument that Nate-ball was holding Batum back. Then last season happened. Nate left. Roy left. Many of the vets were tanking. It was a golden opportunity for Batum to step up and show what he could do.

Didn't happen. Worse yet, Batum announces that he hates Portland so bad he would rather be in Minnie-ha-ha. Keep in mind this pronouncement came months after Nate left - so you can't blame Nate for it.

Faced with a tough situation, the Blazers (predictably) went for the worst option possible: they rewarded Batum with a big contract. He now has zero incentive to even maintain his previous level of indifference - let alone improve. Tis situation has "train wreck" written all over it.

 

[mook]

Tisk tisk, it just isn't your day. If you give a reasonable definition to "qualified" like a minimum of 1000 minutes played in the season, Batum ranked #63.

http://bkref.com/tiny/OJqd4

Let's go with this definition. There are 30 teams, so on average every team has 2 main scorers who are better than Batum. Batum is the third banana. And lo, he's been the third banana in past years on the Blazers and projects to be once again (behind Aldridge and Lillard), although he might push into that second banana role this year.

Is that level of scoring, plus very good defense worth $11mil/year? It's definitely high.

Now you add in that:
1. He was only 23 last year.
2. He put up those numbers on a slow-paced, dysfunctional team
3. The coach has only ever used him as a spot up three point shooter
4. His work in France has demonstrated he can do a lot more than that
5. Every year his scoring numbers have improved

You factor those five variables in and his contract seems a lot more reasonable.

I took your same chart and added in the variable "under the age of 24," and suddenly Batum is 17th in the league: http://bkref.com/tiny/Isz2n
He's 5th on that list in fg%, and second in 3fg%. Everybody on that list not on a rookie deal is making decent coin.

 

[jlprk]

I should have saved my sharpness for PapaG. Boob's a good guy. He just caught me after a cup of coffee. We were debating some tiny point within a tiny point.

 

[Boob-No-More]

When has he ever won a game in the last minute? His shooting is like Babbitt's, opportunistic only when wide open, and unreliable when it matters.

Bump!

[video=youtube;Nq2ZN6yfQwM]

Meant to bump this Saturday night, but got distracted with more important stuff.

BNM