Basketball: February 2008 Archives
Hat tip to David Berri on this one.
I'm pretty sure Pop is proud of his defense when he holds opponents to 30% from the 3point line, and you want to put a guy out there who averages 30%?
Really!?
And this is better than the best point guard in the game HOW?
Avery should know that, very much unlike Jerry Stackhouse, Jason Kidd is actually aware of the fact that he isn't one of the team's better shooters. Jerry is the very worst kind of bad player: the kind who thinks he's a really good player.
And I have to give some extra credit for confirming the 4th principle of economics to Mark Cuban. It appears that he was really upset about giving up Jerry Stackhouse, so when he had the opportunity to re-do the deal using Keith Van Horn, he decided to keep Jerry. At the risk of repeating myself: Jerry Stackhouse is NOT good. Again, look beyond the scoring totals. And getting rid of Stack was at least half of what made this such a great trade!
Seriously, this isn't rocket science. Every single one of you that plays in regular pick-up games knows this. You know the guy. He's the alpha dog of the gym. Takes all the shots. Hogs the ball a lot. Always wants the ball to go through him. Thinks he's the best player in the gym. At least half the gym thinks he is, too.
But you know in your heart that if you took 12 shots per pick-up game, you'd get 5 of your team's 11 too. Hell, if YOU took 12 shots a game, you'd get 8 of your team's 11. In fact, whenever you get that many shots, you do usually get 8 points. Trouble is, you don't get the ball that much. And you aren't as good at "creating your shot" as that guy. Someday I am going to write a whole blog post on how bullshit the whole "creating your own shot" myth is (hint: how often does the creator create a good shot? Really? There are tons of guys in the NBA who can create their own shot, but only about a half dozen of them regularly create good ones.). So you only shoot 4 shots a game. And everybody respects this guy as one of the best players. But seriously, if you're ever captain, who do you pick: the 6'7" muscled guy who grabs all the boards and plays really good D, or this guy who's really good at creating his own shot? And which team wins more often?
So it looks like Dallas has given up Desagna Diop, Jerr Stackhouse, Devin Harris, Maurice Ager and two picks for Jason Kidd, Antoine Wright and Malik Allen.
Provided that Wright and Allen never see the floor, this is a great trade for Dallas, and a decent one for New Jersey. Not only is Kidd a much better point guard than Harris (Harris is above average, but not Kidd. Seriously.) but this means that Jerry Stackhouse and his negative win score are gone. That's 24 minutes a game, or what amounts to -.2 wins over a half-season (or .2 losses, if you prefer that). Yes, Stackhouse is bad. Look beyond scoring totals.
Of course Wright and Allen are worse (MUCH worse) than Stackhouse, but unlikely to see the floor in Dallas, which has guys like Dirk Nowitski and Josh Howard to play forward, thank-you-very-much.
For the Nets, they get two above-average players, they get rid of two VERY below average players, they get rid of a ton of money in Kidd's contract. Seems like a good deal even if the first round picks aren't likely to be franchise players. Unless, of course, they are foolish enough to play Stack > 30 minutes a game and/or re-sign him after 2009.
