Have you forgotten every other variable other then statistics? Not to mention, if you’re going to sell your soul to the sabermetrics-devil/Owen, you don’t have to look any further then last year at the Francis/Marbury disaster to see how changing a team dynamic on that level is not a black and white statistical analysis. Clearly not solved by any forray into Francis and Marbury’s recent/career statistics to predict the outcome of that junior high chemistry set experiment. While most of the people on this board predicted the Marbury-Francis experiment would fail before the season even started, it is obviously clear that no one relied on recent/career stats to make that determination. It was a chemistry question mark involving 2 players with similar skill sets, similar pros, similar, cons….does this sound familiar??? And to make matters better/worse, Isiah will continue the experiment even if it is going bad until a dead horse has been beaten to the paleolithic era. Which is another reason why this season hinges on how well Curry and Zach Mesh.
All of the confidence and persistence under the rim Curry gained last year is in jeopardy with Zach in the picture. Would it really be that surprising if Curry becomes a lacksadasical waste of space constantly deferring to Zach the entire season? The guys motivation is more fragile then Oliver Miller passing an Arby’s after a Weight Watchers meeting. All the progress made with him last season could be lost. Or they could feed off each other well and wreak havoc on the entire league. This pairing is an experiment, not a math equation.

True. Not having a SF that can hit a 15 footer has absolutely killed the Spurs for the last 6 years.

I like Balkman…but I don’t see him as a guy who can overcome the weakness of our “top three” guys…I think he can make a good team greater, but not a bad team good…

That said, I hope he gets all those minutes, he is fun to watch, and if he gets a perimeter jumper, look out.

I’ll go out on a short limb and say Zach & Eddy’s per-40 numbers will be:
ZR: 22pts, 11reb, 2.4ast, 2.9to, 0.9stl, 0.2blk
EC: 22pts, 8reb, 1.0ast, 4to, 0.5stl, 0.6blk

There’s no magic here, it’s basically a combination of their career averages/recent numbers. Players per-40 minute numbers don’t change too much. There is a slight variation depending on how the offense is run. For instance Zach’s pts/40 rose last year, but that’s because he took more shot attempts. Most likely he’ll be closer to his ’05 & ’06 numbers.

There is some law of diminishing returns in effect, but for the most part they should be about where you’d expect them.

I also question how good a rookie PG can be if the Clippers are giving him away for cash considerations with Shawn Livingston’s uncertain health going forward.

the way i see it, Celtics, raps and nets are getting all the attention. Do you guys think that the knicks have a chance in beating these teams?

T-Mart – What does chemistry really mean here?

I think we know just about everything there is to know about how Curry and Marbury will play next year.

Curry will continue to be a bad rebounder, passer, possessor, blocker, stealer, defender, and an above average scorer.

Marbury will have a ts% somewhere between 52-6%. His assist rate will be around 25. His rebound rate will be around 4.6. His usage will be about 21.

How is the addition of Randolph going to change there performances positively? Randolph can only take shots, rebounds, and turnovers from Curry. He can perhaps create more assists for Marbury, but in the grand scheme of things that is a tiny effect.

Where does chemistry as you describe it come into play? What does it amount to really?

I think its pretty clear that Randolph will help the Knicks, he is a big improvement over Frye. But beyond that, whet can we possible expect to happen? Does the whole being greater than the sum of the parts somehow add up to the Knicks doing something very unexpected next season?

An addendum:

Marbury’s best ts% was 57.5% in 04-5, playing with the outstanding offensive frontcourt of Kurt Thomas, Nazr Mohammed, and Michael Sweetney. Other than that he has been between 50.5% and 54.7% every year of his career.