John Hollinger ?@johnhollinger

Among players carefully rationing out an 80% effort, I thought Dwight Howard was the best defender last year.

Ha! Exactly. That’s a great line from Hollinger.

Brian Cronin:
What the fuck, Dwight Howard?Speaking about the Defensive Player of the Year Award…

For serious? You half ass your way through the season and then get pissed when you only come in third? Too dumb. I mean, don’t get me wrong, Howard might have a reasonable case for the award (under the argument that even a half-assed Howard is still the best defender in the league) but to be pissed about it in this scenario? Too stupid.

John Hollinger ?@johnhollinger

Among players carefully rationing out an 80% effort, I thought Dwight Howard was the best defender last year.

:)

Mike Kurylo: Better?

Much!

ruruland: yeah, that’s about right. His 4 year trend is 35.4. I see him in the 37-39 range, around 4.5-5.5 a game which is a lot. But will have positive impact on his efficiency.

I book this as your prediction. I’ll love see happen as no doubt it will contribute to more win, but willing to bet money it doesn’t.

Melo TS% >= 0.575 and 3pt% >= 0.37

Career Season TS% (2007-08) = 0.568
Career Average TS% = 0.544
Career Season 3pt% (2010-11) = 0.378
Career Average 3pt% = 0.322

“I thought I should have won it last year, to be honest with you,” Howard told reporters after practice Monday. “I was a little bit upset about that.”

For serious? You half ass your way through the season and then get pissed when you only come in third? Too dumb. I mean, don’t get me wrong, Howard might have a reasonable case for the award (under the argument that even a half-assed Howard is still the best defender in the league) but to be pissed about it in this scenario? Too stupid.

http://www.grantland.com/blog/the-triangle/post/_/id/40438/can-carmelo-anthony-really-play-power-forward-and-should-he

with all due respect, this is an insane perspective. he posted on Oct 3 to mock them, and then when they wrote a whole post analyzing his initial comment, he posted again in response. Cuban is an internet guy, I’m sure he posts plenty of places, agreeing, disagreeing, whatever. his mere presence somewhere proves nothing.

Mark Cuban’s comment:
thank you for the additional data. You actually make my point.
In a team game if one out of every 5 games a player can have a significant, positive impact on the outcome of a game is that player more valuable than the steady state average player ?
If a player plays below WOW average 4 out of 5 games , could this player still be more important to a team than the player that plays at an average level all the time ?
Yes. Matchups and Coaching matter. If you play to your teams strengths and leverage the advantages you have, the player may not be the star of the game every game, but if he can win you the games where he has the advantage , he is doing his job well.

Again, coaching matters. If you force a guy to do what he is not capable of doing you get turnovers, fewer rebounds, missed shots. All WOW negatives.

Finally, when matters. i like advanced +/- is because it weights the event. ie, A rebound or turnover up 15 w 1 min to go shouldnt count.

Melo did seem to pass out of double teams quite a few times in the little I watched but also forced some things. I do want him taking the three when its open but damn he better start making them.