Re: from the globe

[Tammo29@xxxxxxx]

>>>Which proves exactly what? See, this is why stats are so dangerous as 
proof of anything other than the agenda of the people citing them and their skill 
in manipulating them (I happen to be very good at that, which makes me 
particularly cynical about what can be done with them). And don't get me wrong. This 
is not a defense of the 3, a shot I loathe no matter who is shooting it.

Last season Walter launched a 3 every 7.8 minutes he was on the floor, Is 
that really such a huge difference? Tony Delk did one every 6 minutes he was on 
the floor, another relatively small difference. I don't recall vast outrage 
over it (vs 3s per se), nor does it get cited in the above blurb. Nor does anyone 
else in the league, who believe it or not may have a worse ratio get 
mentioned. Baron Davis is a 3 every 4.3 minutes on about twice Walter's minutes.

And then there's the whole issue of the minutes. The less minutes you play 
the more skewed any per minute evaluation is going to be. Again, don't get me 
wrong - Walter shoots too many 3s. But so do lots of other people, including 
Pierce with a much lower 3s per minute ratio but more reasons not to, given what 
else he can do. Walter was getting pretty limited minutes in the early part of 
the season and still heaving up 3s. He probably had a ratio of a 3 per 2-3 
min played for a while. And may well end up with a comparable ratio to last 
season, as things even out.<<<<<<<<<<


The problem is Walter is our power forward, just like Antoine was our power 
forward.  This is what most of us contend was the main problem last year and 
what we wanted to get away from this year.  Instead we've just changed the names 
on the lockers.
As long as we have our big men outside shooting three's we have no hope for 
any kind of easy baskets.
You need balance.  We have none.  As long as we have Walter playing 46 
minutes a game we are nothing but a perimeter team and perimeter teams tend to have 
more "off nights" than teams with balanced inside scoring.
The coaches like to talk about Walter pulling the big men away from the 
basket opening up the middle for drives, but more often than not they just let him 
shoot.  They don't even try to guard him.  So is he really opening up the lane?

The one thing all the players you name above have in common that Walter and 
Antoine do not, they are all guards.
Guards should be shooting more threes than power forwards.  Yes, some guards 
do take too many three's, and Baron Davis would be in that category.
However, Pierce takes 4.95 three's per game, which is just about average for 
a starting shooting guard considering the number of minutes he plays and the 
number of shots he takes.  

Here's a look at the number of three's per game some other shooting guards 
are putting up this year:

Ray Allen           7.75 pg.
McGrady            6.95 
Eddie Jones       6.05
J Crawford          5.97
Q Richardson     5.31
Redd                 5.07
Mobley              4.98
Wesley             4.85
Finley               4.81
Houston            4.60
Iverson              4.60

For Pierce about 26% of his shots are three pointers.  That would be lower if 
there were a reliable way to take free throws into consideration, which 
probably only the coaching staff would be able to do.   About 25% of his shots last 
season were three's.

With Walter it works out just the opposite. 70% of his shots are three 
pointers. It was 68% last year.  With Antoine last year about 38% of his shots were 
three's (FWIW, this year it's about 31%).  
So I think this is a realistic complaint about this coach and the way he 
coaches this team.  

TAM