drzachary

Noted thinker and pundit Dr. Zachary replies to Mark Bradley's article on Twitter: https://twitter.com/drzachary/status/298565519966089217

I hereby officially veto any mention of Josh Smith ever 'reaching his potential.' 9 seasons, folks.

I think the Suns would say no to Smith-Gortat straight up, so it's a moot point, really.

Well, I'm here, and I think it would work better short term (and for a couple of seasons.) My belief is that Horford-Gortat is a better tandem than Smith-Horford.

Yes, the hypothetical players were extreme examples to prove a point: namely that comparing PPG scoring totals is honestly not that useful. Obviously, a missed shot sometimes results in an offensive rebound. (A pretty damn small amount of the time -- not worth the cost of the shot if you're a bad shooter.) But if you agree, by my two examples, that Player B is a better scorer than Player A, you agree with the point: shooting efficiency matters, and a higher points scored number is not always indicative of better scoring. It's just math, and pointing it out is not bashing a player, either!

It can help to paint the picture with hypothetical players, I guess. Player A: Scored 29 pts in a game. Player B: Scored 23 pts in a game. OMG! Player A is so much better! Player A: Shot 10-25 on 2PT FG and 3-10 on 3PT FG. He went 0-7 from the charity stripe. Player B: Shot 8-10 from 2PT FG and didn't attempt a 3. He went 7-7 from the charity stripe. Who actually helped their team? The guy who handed the ball back to the opponents 22 times or 2? What did the opponents do with those possessions?

Yes, you do trade 17 pts for 11 pts when those 17 pts include NINE missed shots per game. In a given game, both teams have an equal number of possessions. A possession either results in your team giving the ball to the other team, or scoring points before giving the ball to the other team. Winning teams do the most with their possessions, losing teams do the least.

To put it in perspective: Most people would agree that it would be bad if one of our players simply brought the ball up court and handed it to a player on the opposing team. That is what essentially happens when you take a lot of shots, miss a terrifyingly bad amount of them, turn the ball over and fail to convert free throws: because the other team is probably not going to be as inefficient with their possessions.

Yes, LMAO at people who think Josh is a good scorer. Dolfan23, I think our words might be falling on deaf ears. For so many people, YAY POINTS and YAY DUNKS means 'good scorer.'

Josh is NOT a better scorer than Gortat. He scores more points, but shoots a lower percentage and requires more shots to do it. Field goal misses = points for the opponent. Josh's value this season is all defense. The only really good offensive season he had was 2009-2010, and... surprise, surprise .. that was the season he didn't shoot 3s.

If he does it'll probably be the day of our next game (tomorrow.)

Josh being the better player is just an article of faith, though. I'd agree that he's more versatile, but only in the sense that he attempts things he's not good at.

Yeah, smith probably can't net us a player as good as Gortat. Just can't see the Suns being that dumb, without also forcing us to give up picks, which we seem to be more likely to keep under Ferry.

I feel like Gortat's gives us another Horford like value at an even better price.

Stop crushing my dreams

In what way is Josh actually better? Better defender, better in a dunk contest, more "entertaining," but I think the advantages end there.

And we all know how legit "radio personalities" are

Bad

Maybe not a good business trade, but good for wins!

I think they are just saving days, since there's no game tonight

What Dolfan said.

I think our defense takes a dip, but the offense would greatly outweigh that decrease.

Not buying the argument that Gortat's production is inflated because he has "great PGs" either. Definitely see Dragic and Teague as pretty equivalent.

Still not seeing the downside.

Gortat's been the better player the last 2.5 seasons or so. At his salary, PLUS picks? And maybe Dudley, who also has been arguably better than Josh lately? And we finally have a well-built roster with no tweeners??? What the hell do you people want?!? :)