Comments on: Andre Drummond ranked 29th-best player under 25

By: apa8ren9

apa8ren9 — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 22:05:33 +0000

I’d put Larry Brown up there. He impressed me when he won a lot of games the year Mark Price was out in Cleveland and Darrel or Darnell Valentine was their point guard.

By: apa8ren9

apa8ren9 — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 21:43:30 +0000

As much as I love these theories when it concerns the NBA, and I really believed them when I was younger - Its too much. Even if you never win a championship, if you have a really exciting player they sell tickets and you make money as an owner. Knowing that and how business works you could not get that past that many people to manipulate a player going to a specific team. Why do you think Dan Gilbert blew a gasket when Lebron left? The value of his team dropped by about 100 million. That is the potential of a start player to a franchise off the court

By: tarsier

tarsier — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 21:07:14 +0000

Yeah, first-tier contender status will be tough to attain without an all-time great. I mean, Dirk Nowitzki and Ben Wallace were the worst players to be the best player on a championship team since pre-Jordan. And heck, the next worst was Garnett. Since then, every other championship team has contained Jordan, Olajuwon, Duncan, Shaq, Kobe, or LeBron. And often multiple of these or other HOFs as well. Every one of those guys is a lock to someday be considered at least a top 15 player all-time. Garnett and Wade will also be top 25, maybe even Pierce.

So about once per decade, a team can break through and get to the top when their best player is “just” on the Wallace/Nowitzki level.

By: vic

vic — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 21:00:25 +0000

The only coach to win a championship in both the NCAA and the NBA, when most coaches flounder like a fish out of water when try to switch?

That’s why he’s considered one of the greatest.

By: tarsier

tarsier — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 20:55:49 +0000

It’s quite a stretch to call Larry Brown a top 1% coach. In the history of the NBA, I there have probably been between 200 and 400 head coaches. I don’t have an actual number but that seems about right. That would mean that you are saying Larry Brown is at least a top 5 all time coach. He was a good coach, possibly a great one, but nowhere close to that level.

By: vic

vic — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 20:44:59 +0000

I’m not saying Trey Burke is the only solution either.

I’d take Ben Mclemore or Otto Porter first.
Trey Burke if those two are not available.

All 3 of those players are tops at their position in this draft in combination of scoring efficiency and assist/turnover.

By: vic

vic — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 20:39:51 +0000

I read those articles too, but I beg to differ with your conclusions.

There’s no proof that a high assist guard that can also score efficiently is a negative for your team.
There is, however, proof that a high assist guard that CANNOT score efficiently can be a negative for your team.
Hence Trey Burke>>>Michael Carter Williams.

Another concept missing from his research. Pass first players that are not starting pgs. Pass first is a talent not necessarily hidden only in the starting pg.

Yes while some teams may not have starting PGs, with 10+ assists, most successful championship teams have had pass-first players in other positions. Jason Kidd, Lebron James, Larry Bird.
As a matter of fact the only teams that have won championships without pass first players are teams with Legendary Coaches (Phil Jackson, Larry Brown, Greg Poppovich).

His research also did not count overall assists per team. His research did not count turnovers, which is a factor. If you have 10 assists and 11 turnovers that’s worse than 8 assists and 2 turnovers, which is why A/TO ratio is important. (Another win for the underrated Trey Burke).

So while its true you don’t need a 10+ assist player as your point guard, you do need a pass first player OR an top 1% genius level coach if you actually want to win a championship.

Also, here are some midseason stats for the Pistons (copied from realgm):

Pistons is 2nd in Opponent 3-Point Field Goal Percentage, %32.7
Pistons is 6th in Opponent Assists Per Game, 20.7
Pistons is 7th in 3-Point Field Goal Percentage, %37.6
Pistons is 9th in Opponent Points Per Game, 96.1
Pistons is 9th in Rebounds Per Game, 43.6
Pistons is 9th in Blocks Per Game, 5.7
Pistons is 9th in Opponent Field Goal Percentage, %43.9

bad ones
Pistons is 21th in Opponent Offensive Rebounds Per Game, 11.7
Pistons is 21th in Opponent Blocks Per Game, 5.7
Pistons is 22th in Opponent Steals Per Game, 8.3
Pistons is 23th in Assists Per Game, 20.4
Pistons is 24th in Turnovers Per Game, 15.4
Pistons is 28th in Assists Per Turnover, 1.33

Anyone can see from these rankings that the Pistons biggest weakness in relation to the rest of the NBA is in Assist, turnovers, and Assists/turnover.

Yes it is that simple. Lose the ball, lose the game. Adding a good decision making pg to the Pistons makes the Pistons a Much Better team, and the numbers don’t lie.

By: Keith

Keith — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 20:27:49 +0000

Agreed. If Drummond can even be 90% what Dwight was, that gives us two very high quality big men. Certainly we’ve seen how far that will take you (Orlando went to the finals when Nelson and Turkoglu were at their best), but also how far it won’t take you these days (IMO, Miami and OKC are better than LA was against Orlando).

One more good piece should probably be a big time scorer with range. McElmore and Muhammed make a lot of sense, but we likely won’t be picking that high. But the other pieces are available. Knight as more of a third/fourth option who can get in the lane and hit threes is a great role player. Eventually swapping Tay for a defensive stopper shouldn’t be too hard as well. Give us a SG that can command defensive attention, and we could have a real team on our hands. Of course, that’s all assuming Frank doesn’t keep sabotaging his own players.

By: tarsier

tarsier — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 20:07:57 +0000

To be fair, at least Drummond has Monroe next to him (well on the same team anyway, they are rarely on the floor or on the bench together). One more good piece should not be hard to come by. If Drummond can get to the level of 2009-2011 Dwight, the Pistons should have at least a second tier contender on their hands.

By: tarsier

tarsier — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 20:04:57 +0000

He could shut his mouth until he made up his mind. Admittedly, that’s a lot to ask of an immature young man. And I don’t think he is a bad person for not having done so. But a lot of the backlash is because of all his waffling. If he had just contemplated what he wanted and waited until he came to a decision to start speaking his mind to the media, he would come across a lot less like a spoiled brat.