Re: The VP Mystery

[Mister Ghost <mister_ghost@yahoo.com>]

A couple of factors to consider - As a backup player his stats would
naturally be skewed: Lack of playing time; Consistency; Garbage
Time appearances; Cleveland has backup point guard problems, so
he may have not seen a lot of shots, etc. And Kemp and Ilgauskas
gobble up the boards, so there wouldn't be as many rebounds
available.  
MG,


Michael Joseph Byrnes <mbyrnes@leland.Stanford.EDU> wrote:
>
> 
> From looking at Vitaly Poapenko's Cleveland stats, it looked as if
we were
> acquiring a huge guy who had problems rebounding (career average of
3.3
> boards per game), was not much of an offensive player (career field
goal
> percentage well below 50%), and not a shot blocker.
> 
> However, these are VP's averages after his first three games with the
> Celtics:
> 
> 	Minutes per game:	25.0
> 	Field Goal Percentage:	 70% (14/20)
> 	Rebounds per game:	 6.7
> 	Points per game:	10.3
> 
> I realize that we are only talking about three games here, but
Potapenko's
> stats are completely different!  While 6.7 boards per game isn't
outstanding, 
> it is still good (particularly in only 25 minutes).  And, he seems
to be
> taking high percentage shots and hitting them, which wasn't the case
in
> Cleveland.  Is VP just a better "fit" with the Celtics than with the
Cavs?
> 
> When we traded for VP, Pitino lauded his ability to play one on one
> defense.  Yet, on Sunday Rik Smits torched him for 28 points, and
today
> the Clipper centers (Wright and Olowokandi) combined for 30 points
and 19
> rebounds.  Of course, VP was only in for about half of the game, but
it is
> still strange to see such huge numbers by opposing centers 2 games
in a
> row.
> 
> All in all, though, it's looking like the VP trade is going to work
out
> for the Celtics.  Perhaps, once the C's start playing home games and
VP
> starts to learn the system, the Celtics will still make a run at the
> playoffs.  (It would be nice to give Cleveland a non-lottery pick!)
> 
> Michael Byrnes
> mbyrnes@stanford.edu
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
==
MG In Exile

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