Eddie Johnson is arrogant, ignorant, biased, and obsessed with how great the NBA was in 1988 (when defense consisted of grabbing on to your opponent and holding on for dear life). He recently wrote an article listing what he believes to be the top 25 players in the NBA. I obviously disagreed with his list, and wrote a rebuttal based on my 2K10 roster (which sadly, make infinitely more sense than this self-proclaimed expert's opinion). .
You can read his article here (hey look, a free plug!)
http://blogs.hoopshype.com/blogs/johnson/2010/04/15/the-new-top-25/
Eddie Johnson's top 25
1. LeBron James
2. Kobe Bryant
3. Dwyane Wade
4. Kevin Durant
5. Dwight Howard
6. Amare Stoudemire
7. Dirk Nowitzki
8. Carmelo Anthony
9. Deron Williams
10. Steve Nash
11. Chris Paul
12. Pau Gasol
13. Tim Duncan
14. Chris Bosh
15. Brandon Roy
16. Joe Johnson
17. Jason Kidd
18. Rajon Rondo
19. Gerald Wallace
20. Chauncey Billups
21. Tony Parker
22. Paul Pierce
23. Kevin Garnett
24. Derrick Rose
25. Josh Smith
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Rashidi’s Top 25 as per his NBA 2K10 Playoff Roster (which can be downloaded via 2K Share on XBox 360)
95 – LeBron James (SF)
93 – Dwyane Wade (SG)
93 – Chris Paul (PG)
92 - Kobe Bryant (SG)
91 – Dwight Howard (C)
89 – Deron Williams (PG)
88 – Kevin Durant (SF)
88 – Tim Duncan (C)
87 – Chris Bosh (PF)
86 – Carmelo Anthony (SF)
86 – Brandon Roy (SG)
85 – Yao Ming (C)
85 – Rajon Rondo (PG)
84 – Steve Nash (PG)
84 – Joe Johnson (SG)
84 - Russell Westbrook (PG)
83 – Pau Gasol (PF)
83 – Amare Stoudemire (PF)
83 – Carlos Boozer (PF)
83 – Josh Smith (PF)
83 – Derrick Rose (PG)
82 – Dirk Nowitzki (PF)
82 – Manu Ginobili (SG)
82 – Gerald Wallace (SF)
81 - Andrew Bogut (C)
1. LeBron James - such an easy call even Eddie Johnson can’t screw that one up.
2. Dwyane Wade - I get that Eddie is scared to knock Kobe off his pedestal as #2 until the Lakers lose in the playoffs, but Dwyane Wade passed him last season and hasn’t looked back. Wade is unstoppable, and it will be scary to see what happens when Miami surrounds him with top tier talent next season (read: not a 30 yr old Jermaine O’Neal, a 20 yr old Zach Randolph, a random corner shooter, and a backup PG).
3. Chris Paul - CP3 is the best PG in the league even when he's not healthy.
4. Kobe Bryant - The Lakers on the other hand are winning because they are blessed with two all-star caliber bigmen, not because Kobe is doing everything himself. Yeah, he hit all those game winners, but in years past his team would have had the lead and not heroics. Give Gasol and Bynum to D-Wade and they’re the most dominant force in the league. Even Artest is basically Q-Rich with all-defense. Give Kobe the supporting cast Wade has and they’re fighting Oklahoma for the 8th seed.
5. Dwight Howard - is the defensive player of the year once again, but until he gets a legit post up game, learns how to find his teammates like Duncan, and stops turning the ball over so much, he’s hit his ceiling. That said, it is a bit scary that he still has so much room to grow.
6. Deron Williams - Deron is the de facto #2 PG which ain’t a bad thing. Sorry, but CP3 would be doing backflips if he had Carlos Boozer, Andrei Kirilenko, and Paul Millsap (instead of David West, Peja Stojakovic, and Darius Songaila).
7. Kevin Durant - Durant is obviously a great scorer (which Eddie Johnson loves more than anything in the world - else he'd have put him behind Dwight Howard) but does he make his teammates better? Answer: No, not really. Give him a few years before you crown him #4 in the freakin world.
8. Tim Duncan - Only an idiot would think Tim Duncan has regressed when he’s put up the same exact production three years in a row. A hobbled Tony Parker is all that kept the Spurs from being #1 in the west. What sane man would actually take Tim Duncan over Amare freakin Stoudemire?
9. Chris Bosh - Unlike Amare, Bosh can actually rebound the basketball (while still scoring at a high rate, imagine that!), which is why he’s the league’s top PF (presuming of course, that you’re not actually counting Tim Duncan as one).
10. Carmelo Anthony - Melo’s a good scorer, but he was obviously a bit overrated in most circles given the Durant-mania that everyone has right now.
11. Brandon Roy - Roy was good, but he wasn’t as great as he was this season. Going forward, I’d be concerned about his knees as he continues to have surgery on them. He has the skill level to deal with any athletic decline but it’s something to watch nonetheless.
12. Yao Ming - That’’s right, Yao Ming is still in the league! He’s a dominant offensive force when healthy and until he shows us he’s lost it, he needs to be on a top 25 list.
13. Rajon Rondo - Rondo is basically the leader of the Celtics now on the court, and is making a lot of his 2008 critics look stupid along the way.
14. Steve Nash - Nash is still Nash, which was somewhat unexpected for a 35 year old - though Nash never had any athleticism to rely on in the first place, so a big drop wasn’t to be expected anyway. He could play to 40 without a dropoff just as John Stockton did, provided he starts getting his minutes limited. The Suns are the top offensive team in the league (by quite a bit, in fact) but they are also (EASILY) the worst defensive team in the playoffs. Part of that falls on Nash, and always will so long as he’s the head of the team’s defensive attack.
15. Joe Johnson - JJ’s as versatile as they come. He isn’t an elite scorer, but he’s good enough to get by as a #1, sets his teammates up, and plays exceptional defense. He is the closest thing to Scottie Pippen you’re going to find in today’s league (and no, I’m not saying he’s as good as Pippen - else he’d rank 5th instead of 15th).
16. Russell Westbrook - Westbrook transformed into a solid PG after having a Steve Francis-type rookie year that had me pessimistic on his future (Steve Francis comparisons are NEVER a good thing for a PG). His A/T ratio improved dramatically from 1.58 in 2009 to 2.43 in 2010. His athletic talents and defense are a big reason why Oklahoma improved by 20+ wins. If he can actually learn how to score the ball efficiently, he’s a top 10 player. If he doesn’t, but continues to improve his defense, we’re talkin Gary Payton that can throw it down.
17. Pau Gasol - Gasol is just as good as Bosh offensively, but he’s not a great rebounder. That’s okay though - I and everyone else in the world not named Eddie Johnson would still rather have Gasol over Amare Stoudemire.
18. Amare Stoudemire - Speak o the devil himself! Amare didn’t start caring about the season until the trade deadline passed. Imagine where they’d be if he weren’t dogging it the first 50 games?
19. Carlos Boozer - Booze is just as good a scorer as the other PFs on this list, and he’s probably the best rebounder too. It’s a shame that he’s undersized and can’t block a shot. Btw, unlike other PFs on this list COUGHamareCOUGH I give him credit for being a professional during his contract year and not dogging it.
20. Josh Smith - Atlanta’s improvement this season stems from J-Smoove’s improvement on the offensive end. Less threes. More dunks. Solid formula for success. His elite shot blocking also returned from a one year hiatus (stemming from an 09 injury).
21. Derrick Rose - I know ya’ll are probably complaining that Rose should be higher than Westbrook, but until the man can have an impact on the defensive end, that’s not happening. (Just imagine how good the Thunder would be if Joakim Noah shored up the team defense instead of Nenad Krstic!). Regardless, Rose had a great year, and was nowhere close to a disappointment… I wonder where I read such a stupid statement…
22. Dirk Nowitzki - Frankly, Dirk has been playing with stacked teams for the last decade and hasn’t gotten it done. You know what that means ladies and gentlemen? THAT THE DUDE IS OVERRATED! His rebounding has declined the last 4 years, and at age 31, that’s not gonna change. His defense is still suspect. Yes, he can shoot it, and he’s the greatest 7 foot shooter in world history (a fact that probably makes Eddie Johnson shoot himself at night, if ya get what i’m sayin), but there’s more to this game than putting the ball in the basket. For instance: Being seven feet tall AND BEING ABLE TO PLAY CENTER(!!!!) without getting killed by an 8th seed team lead by a certain point guard (don’t look up).
23. Manu Ginobili - Ginobili rarely gets respect from anyone except Spurs fans, but the fact is he is one of the league’s elite players whether he’s starting or coming off the bench. His averages as a starter this season: 21.2 ppg, 3.8 rpg, 5.4 apg… in only 30.7 mpg. Compare this to Joe Johnson: 21.3 ppg, 4.6 rpg, 4.8 apg… in 38.7 mpg. You’ll notice that Eddie Johnson left Manu off his list, and with good reason - he’s an idiot Suns homer who hates the Spurs.
24. Gerald Wallace - G-Force improved his game and took the Bobcats to the playoffs. That’s a pretty generic statement and you already knew that. You know who didn’t take thier game to another level? Andre Iguodala & Danny Granger. That’s why they’re sitting at home right now and Wallace isn’t.
25. Andrew Bogut - Bogut deserves the lionshare of the credit for helping the Bucks get to the playoffs. He was the top defensive player on the top defensive team, as well as their featured post scorer on the offensive end. It's a shame his season ended the way it did, but here's hoping he has a full recovery.
Now, on to the players on Eddie's list that I left off: Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, Jason Kidd, Tony Parker, and Chauncey Billups.
Pierce and KG play for a stacked team and would be so screwed if either had to carry a team as they did in their younger years.
Ditto for Jason Kidd.
Tony Parker last season would have been somewhere around 11-15 and was easily the #3 PG in the league, but hasn’t been himself at all this season. As stated in the Duncan section, a healthy Parker is all that prevented the Spurs from being the 1st or 2nd best team in the west.
Billups is a good player and a godsend for the Nuggets offense (probably even more important than Melo in this regard, since he makes Nene, K-Mart, and Birdman dangerous), but his defense hasn’t been “good” since Ben Wallace was watching his back. The Nuggets were 16th in defense, which was the 2nd worst mark by a playoff team (Suns were 23rd… the Pacers were the only non-playoff team in the top 16 btw). He does hurt them in this regard, but I don’t think anyone will complain so long as he’s manning the league’s #3 offense (i mean, he’s not a D-killer like Nash, just not as skilled on the offensive end either).
46 comments:
As I said on GameFAQs. List lost all credibility when you put Dirk at number 24. Rajon Rondo wouldn't be able to do that for the Mavs.
You also forgot Dirk won the MVP two seasons ago. Still overrated?
sigh... I should have read more throughly.. I can somewhat "forgive" this as you based it on the 2k rosters. HOPEFULLY this isn't actually your top 25.
2007 Dirk
27.6 PER - lead league
.605 TS% - 9th in league, career high
5.3 ORB% - career high
23.8 DRB%
That was then. This is now.
2010 Dirk
22.9 PER
.578 TS%
3.1 ORB% - 2nd lowest of career
20.1 DRB% - lowest since he was a 21 year old small forward
Dirk's offensive rebounding is the worst among all starting PFs, while his defensive rebounding has regressed each year since 2007 and is at the worst mark of his prime years - and a significant drop from 22.1% the year before.
If Rajon Rondo played with Shawn Marion, Caron Butler, a power forward as good as Jason Kidd (I'll let you pick between LaMarcus Aldridge and Luis Scola), Jason Terry, and Brendan Haywood, that team would win 55 games at the very least. Dirk has been playing on stacked teams his entire career and has very little to show for it. He's only gotten out of the second round two times in ten years.
Baron Davis = Overrated.
Rajon Rondo = Overrated.
Rashidi = Overrated.
Sorry Dude but don't knock Dirk. Dirk went to the finals with Erick freakin Dampier at center and Adrian Griffin at 2-guard while dominating the league, dropping 50 pts on PHO, taking your "#1 seed" San Antonio in 7 games. With Terry and Howard and Harris rounding out the rest. That team was NOT stacked. Rondo plays on a team with 3 Hall of Famers and won a champ. but when one of them was out last year he couldn't get it done. Give Dirk Paul Pierce and Ray Allen AND Perkins (A entering his prime center instead of a mid 30s Dampier) and watch him win a few championships. Sorry but Harris-Terry-Howard-Damp does NOT equal Pierce-Allen-Garnett-Perkins. Your ratings are not infallible, and your ego overshadows your good work sometimes. And when i sim a franchise with your rosters, why do the Knicks end up with the 1 seed year after year? You are not insulated from bias.
Also, Dirk is 23-7 since adding Haywood and Butler, so I don't see how you can say he hasn't been successful with these players so far. Plus, Chris Bosh hasn't done jack despite being the world's best rebounder of all time in 2k10, and playing on a team with some talent.
Plus, Dirk has one of the best rebounding PGs ever, a high RBing sg Butler, High RBing Marion SF, and a 10+ rbing C Haywood, so he doesn't have to fight for rebounds like he used to. Plus his team makes a higher percentage of their shots now (6th in the league since the trade at 47.6%) so their are less offensive rebounds to get. Check out DallasBasketball.com, it'll set you straight.
If you can't even make it to the 8th seed in the East, ala Chris Bosh, that means you suck! The 8th seed in the West is a 50 win team and they all played each other at the end of the year and they all still managed to win 50 games. The Thunder would dominate in the East, and the 7th seed Spurs would absolutely wreck all over crap teams like the Heat and Bucks. So don't knock any of those teams, especially not the Mavs who beat everyone this year (Lakers twice, Denver 2 of 3, etc.) Oh and the Knicks suck! They should be one of the worst teams and they acknowledge this by selling all their talent away, yet you still overrate them and give them good potential, etc. Your rosters should not be making the Knicks contend from the very first year of franchise. FAIL.
Oh and its ok that Gasol isn't a great rebounder, but not ok for Dirk? and Gasol is a better scorer than Dirk? Gasol barely averaged 20 points on a Grizzlies team where he took all the shots and was swept by Dirk's Mavs the one year they reached the playoffs. You're telling me that if Kobe had a choice between Gasol and Dirk, he'd choose Gasol? Seeing as how Kobe said he'd veto a trade to Dallas if he couldn't play with Dirk, I find this hard to believe. Your list is full of contradictions.
So despite all of Dirk's sucesses in the playoffs, which are significantly more than #14 Nash's sucesses (how many finals has he reached with #18 Amare, Marion in his prime, #15 J. Johnson, Barbosa, pretty much everyone rated higher than Dirk?) you rate Dirk lower because of his worst playoff series, which coincidentally was #23 B. Davis' BEST playoff series. So B. Davis was perfectly suited for G. State's system, yet the best he ever did in that system was be an 8th seed with a fluke series win that was more about Dallas' failure than GS's success, as evidenced by Utah's dismantling of GS in the 2nd round. So of course that makes him better than Dirk.
I apologize, I meant to say that Gasol's Grizzlies got swept ALL 3 years they reached the playoffs, and didn't win a single playoff game ever, with Gasol as their main guy, but Gasol is better than Dirk, clearly.
lmfao rashidi get a damn life
Holy shit.
Get off Dirk's balls dude. He's aging. He'd not as good as he used to be. I agree he should be higher but not too much higher.
Frankie says RELAX.
Feedback! Awesome.
I'll attend to ya'll tomorrow.
I should note that in the last day I've been able to fenagle Dirk's rating up a point, so I'll put him at 22nd now ahead of Crash and Diddy.
I also came up with a different measurement style that I'll bring up tomorrow and let you guys compare which is better.
Long time reader here Rashidi.
If this is a cheap way of bringing traffic to the site, then I can sympathsise with you.
The reason why people are giving you less feedback is because you were right most of the time. No one could argue with you. Now that you're saying Dirk is overrated a lot of people are not happy.
I'm not a Dirk fan at all, but I can still appreciate him. You can't really go up with Eddie Johnson's list with a list based on the 2k rosters. You must do your own 25 Best list.
Also, I wish people would put their names down for cryin out loud. Responding to like 10 different anonymous' posts is difficult... not to mention some of them might be the same person making a 2nd post.
POST#7
Rondo was 20 years old when he won a championship with KG, Pierce, and Allen. He is not the same player back then that he is today, just like KG, Pierce, and Allen are not the same players today that they were back then.
Rondo is an all-star PG today, one who can literally do everything but shoot. Dirk is an all-star PF but he is not without flaws - his offensive rebounding is as bad as Rondo's shot, while his shotblocking is incredibly mediocre for a 7 footer.
Also, POST#7, I have never seen the Knicks get #1 seed in my roster. 2K has a broken association sim anyway, the best teams do not always come out on top which is why the #1 seeds get upset so frequently (different sim engine come playoff time).
POST #8, the Mavericks had an easy schedule post trade deadline. They were only .500 against west playoff teams, and that includes w/ their revamped roster.
I remember when the Pistons got Sheed at the deadline and they became a dominant team thanks to their incredible defense. I'm not seeing any trademark from this new Dallas that screams dominance.
I would be very happy for Dirk and the Mavs if they won, as he was one of my 5 favorite players about 5 years ago... I just don't see it.
Chris Bosh most definitely doesn't play with talent in Toronto though. Bargnani, Turkoglu, Calderon, and Jack are all sixth men, not legit starters.
POST#9, I use rebound percentage, not rebounds per game, so fewer misses wouldn't mean anything.
Dirk only grabs 3% of all available offensive rebounds. The most he ever grabbed was 5.2% during his MVP season. Dirk has ALWAYS been a weak offensive rebounder, regardless of who is playing next to him.
Yes, Dirk plays on the perimeter a lot, and is thus out of position for many offensive boards - however, Andrea Bargnani, a perimeter big who is the worst rebounding 7 footer in NBA history, even he is grabbing more offensive boards (4.6%) than Dirk.
That should say something.
Mehmet Okur also grabbed 7.5% of offensive boards. That's 150% more than Dirk.
Thus, I don't buy it as a valid excuse.
POST#10
I don't recall ever calling the Raptors a good team. There ARE good players who play for bad teams in this league you know. This is nothing new either. Oscar Robertson didn't win a championship until he played with Kareem. Mitch Richmond wasted his career with the Sacramento Kings and then the Washington Wizards. Stephon Marbury helped the Wolves make their first playoff appearance and was then stuck on some bad Nets teams for a few years after that.
If Bosh weren't a good player, people wouldn't talk about him as the #3 free agent after LeBron and Wade. They'd be talking about his power forward counterparts Amare or Boozer. There is obviously a reason why they are talking about Bosh instead.
POST#11, Dirk is a better defensive rebounder than Gasol (until this season, at least), but as previously stated, Dirk is really, really bad at offensive rebounding and thus Gasol trumps him in that regard.
Gasol had the best rebounding season of his career this season, and it's worth noting that he played MORE with Andrew Bynum this season than he did last year or the year before that. It's not as if his totals (11.4 ORB%, nearly FOUR TIMES that of Dirk, and 22.7%, which was 2.6% better than Dirk) were padded by Bynum's late season absence.
POST#12, I rate Dirk based off of his performance this season.
He declined in two key areas: defensive rebounding, and the close ranged (5-15) shot.
This season he shot the Close range shot at 45% which was down from 48% a year ago. His volume of shot makes from this range dropped by 70!
Like it or not, Dirk is 31 years old. He's at the point of his career where he's going to begin to break down and decline. The numbers pick up what your eyes are not.
Unless of course, you can profess to notice a 3% decrease in shot percentage from a particular zone and a 2% decline in rebounding with your eyes...
POST#13 - Perhaps if Pau Gasol played with Steve Nash instead of Jason Williams he'd have had a bit more playoff success.
Gasol is a FAR superior fit next to Kobe than Dirk is because Dirk doesn't give you much when the ball isn't in his hands. Gasol is a more well-rounded player. He's a significantly better offensive rebounder, even more dangerous with his back to the basket, and a better shotblocker and overall defensive player.
Gasol has also played mostly center since coming to the Lakers (as both Bynum's injury replacement and his backup when he is healthy) something that Dirk has yet to show he can do on a consistent basis.
POST#17 - I love a good debate, and I'm not afraid to go against convention. Those who go with the grain all the time will never learn the real truth.
Besides, it's the internet. What's the harm in it?
I just ran a sim and here are the results
MVP: LeBron
ROY: Curry
6TH: Millsap
DEF: Howard
MIP: Gallinari
EASTERN CONFERENCE
1. Celtics
2. Heat
3. Magic
4. Cavaliers
5. Hawks
6. Bobcats
7. Raptors
8. Pacers
NO NEW YORK KNICKS. Top 6 teams all made playoffs in real life, while Raptors make it over Bulls which they would have done if Bosh didn't get hurt.
WESTERN CONFERENCE
1. Lakers
2. Jazz
3. Spurs
4. Thunder
5. Mavericks
6. Rockets
7. Nuggets
8. Blazers
All these teams made the playoffs in real life except the Rockets who have the benefit of a healthy Yao Ming!
Lakers won the championship, Kobe the Finals MVP.
You can insult me all you want, but don't mess with my roster.
At the time of the Mavs trade they were absent several players due to injury, and yet played well enough to beat the Lakers, Magic, Bobcats, etc. They then struggled due to integrating 3 players into the system and having Haywood overworked from Dampier's injury and Kidd playing too many minutes because of a short rotation. All i'm saying is they played as well as anyone after the trade and went through a NORMAL sluggish period while trying to find a comfortable rotation for these new players, while adjusting their tempo due to having BOTH centers out. It is too early to judge them as not being successful since the trade, let's see how far they get is all i'm saying.
Plus, sometimes you need to look at things in a different way, not a purely statistical way. There are intangibles that Dirk has such as clutch play, etcetera that make him much more valuable than you have him on your list. Rebounding is not everything.
Okay Rashidi from watching Dirk play I really dnt see any difference from previous years. I mean yeah dirk has dropped statistical wise but he is still just as effective as before. just because you see a decline in a players stats does not necessarily mean they are going down. And this is coming from somebody who hates Dirk. And i dnt agree with you putting Baron Davis in the top 25.
As for the Various Anonymous folk who is probably the same person anyways plz dnt knock Rashidis roster. Ive never seen the Knicks in the playoffs on mine so quit it plz. Rashidi has mastered roster editing.
Can you please, PLEASE......just make a MLB 2k10 roster already....PLEASE, i'm dying here.
"Dirk has career averages of 22.7 points and 8.6 rebounds per game for the regular season. His playoff averages: 25.3 points and 11.1 rebounds.
To put into perspective how impressive those playoffs stats are, he's one of only five 25/10 playoff performers in NBA history. The others: Elgin Baylor, Hakeem Olajuwon, Bob Pettit and Shaquille O'Neal."
I agree with what that dude said. INTANGIBLES. Rebounding stats don't tell everything. Dirk has led his team to 10 50 win seasons, 3rd best record in history in that regard. And he made it to the finals with Jason Terry as his point guard, NOT Nash or Kidd. Baron Davis?????? whaaaaaaat? All he does is jack up shots and make crazy eyes at people.
And i've had a couple seasons where the knicks were high seeds, but it was before I turned player roles off, because with player roles on all the stats are skewed because every center shoots like 6 threes a game and it screws everything up.
Oh yeah n if people thought Dirk was ever going to leave Dallas, you don't think he'd be mentioned just as much as Bosh as a desireable free agent behind James and Wade? Just something to think about, and your rosters are excellent I don't got a knock on them so......hurry up with the MLB one!
oh n they dont need Dirk to play center so please don't penalize him just because he can't play center. He is a PF and that's all they need him to be, Damp and HAywood play 48 minutes combined at center now so they don't need Dirk at all at center. That's like penalizing Shawn Marion for not being a point guard, in my opinion it is not fair.
Devin Harris was the PG of that Finals team. He's the main reason they were able to conquer the Spurs that year, as Duncan actually outplayed Dirk in the series.
Also there were changes made to the rankings list.
To everyone's delight, Baron Davis falls out of the top 25 because his strength rating was too high.
I also worked hard on getting Dirk to jump 1 more point, but that's pretty much the end of the line regarding him as nobooy can come up with any suggestions for improvement.
Ginobili jumps up a point with Dirk, while Andrew Bogut takes Davis' place on the top 25.
Oh, and Duncan dropped from 5th to 8th. 88 down from 91.
Jason Terry started every game of the 2006 NBA Finals at PG, games 1-3 Devin Harris came off the bench, and games 3-6 Harris started at 2-guard alongside Terry who handled the ball most of the time. I remember and double checked the NBA.com box scores. In fact, Devin Harris had a very poor shooting series, and in my opinion is the reason they lost, going 2-12 in game 5, a 1 point loss.
Interestingly, Dallas went 2-1 with Adrian Griffin starting at sg, and 0-3 with Harris in the starting lineup. Another brilliant Avery Johnson roster shake up that worked out great for the Mavs like with Golden State.
Anyways, MLB roster anytime soon? You the man with these rosters and I gotta get my Rangers fix.
After today's game, I can see why Dirk is so low. He missed too many defensive rebounds.
Cuz 10 rebounds isn't good enough.
Harris started games 2-7 of the Spurs series and EVERY game of the Suns series. Avery then benched him because he wanted Griffin to guard a guy named Dwyane Wade.
Avery went back to starting Harris because that didn't work out too well. Wade dropped 42 points and lead the Heat from a 15 pt defecit to a game 3 victory that changed the tide of the series. Harris certainly isn't the reason Dirk shot 2-14 from the field in game 4 to allow Miami to even things up - that would be Dirk's inability to take advantage of Udonis Haslem, who was quick enough to prevent Dirk from driving to the basket, and big/athletic enough to contest his jumpshots.
The theme of tonight's game was 2nd chance points. The Spurs got them and the Mavericks did not.
The Mavericks are the 5th worst offensive rebounding team in the league, and as I've been continually saying, Dirk Nowitzki is the main reason why.
The Spurs missed 43 FGA and had 16 ORB (37%)
The Mavs missed 54 FGA and had 14 ORB (26%)
8 of Dallas' offensive boards came from the center tandem of Dampier & Haywood. Only 3 came from Dirk, while his counterpart Antonio McDyess grabbed 5 in only 29 minutes.
Devin Harris averaged around 24 minutes a game during the Suns series he was NOT their main ballhandler and Terry averaged high 30s in mintues and was given main ballhandling duties. Anyways just saying but it doesn't really matter.
Adrian Griffin got even fewer minutes than that.
Touche'
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