Suns and Mavericks

[vonkaar]

Who's to say that the players you picked haven't peaked? Zach Randolph might have peaked in his sophomore year, especially considering who he's playing for. 12/12/2 are great numbers for a center man... Look at my comparisons. He'd be 4th or 5th in the league with those numbers. As for Damp's previous years...

Years? How do you figure? He's been plagued by injuries his entire career... the only 2 years in which he played complete seasons (after his rookie start), he was nearly a double-double center (8/9, 13/12, 12/9 etc). From 98 to 2002 he only had 134 starts, out of 328 games. He's only had 2 years where he played full seasons AND over 27 minutes per game... he was 13/12 and 12/9 those two years.

[xaoshaen]

Who's to say that the players you picked haven't peaked? Zach Randolph might have peaked in his sophomore year, especially considering who he's playing for. 12/12/2 are great numbers for a center man... Look at my comparisons. He'd be 4th or 5th in the league with those numbers. As for Damp's previous years...

Years? How do you figure? He's been plagued by injuries his entire career... the only 2 years in which he played complete seasons (after his rookie start), he was nearly a double-double center (8/9, 13/12, 12/9 etc). From 98 to 2002 he only had 134 starts, out of 328 games. He's only had 2 years where he played full seasons AND over 27 minutes per game... he was 13/12 and 12/9 those two years.

So basically, for 8 out of 9 years Dampier's been rendered poor to mediocre for a variety of reasons. I'll say this for him, at least he consistently underperforms your expectations. Given his track record, which Dampier would you expect to show up in the future? The 03-04 version, or the one that's shown up every single other year?

Assume that every single player I listed has already peaked. Some of them have never had a year as bad as Dampier's best year as judged by PER. Among the rest, Dampier's best year only beats out four of them. Dampier's second best year is a 25% dropoff from his best year, and puts him in some decidedly mediocre company. His closest comparison scores include illustrious names like:
Most Similar Season at Age
22. James Bailey (884)
23. Sean Rooks (894)
24. Michael Olowokandi (884)
26. Melvin Ely (903)
27. Stacey King (899)
28. Shawn Bradley (877)
29. Jayson Williams (874)
30. Ervin Johnson (903)

[vonkaar]

Wtf are you getting those numbers from? Shaq's PER last year was 24.33. 884?

[xaoshaen]

Wtf are you getting those numbers from? Shaq's PER last year was 24.33. 884?

The by-age listing is a set of similarity or comparison scores, not PER values.

[Zanchief]

Sad. Nash hit a big shot to send it to overtime and his buddy couldnt do the same.

Gonna be interesting to see what will come of the Mavs over the off season.

[Tacks]

I laughed when Dirk yelled at the end of the 4th and then choked in OT. Oh well at least Shaq doesn't have to worry about the powerhouse who is Dampier.

[Lyion]

Best series so far.

Nash came up big in game six, was an awesome show.

[vonkaar]

Nash came up big in 5 of the 6 games man... and even in his 'weakest' game, he was still playing at #1 point-guard abilities. He was singly responsible for driving a dagger into the heart of the city that once loved him. We figured out how to stop their entire team, but we couldn't do anything about him. Very sad 8(.

At this point... I don't know what I prefer... San Antonio beating the fuck out of them or Phoenix going all the way and winning it all. See... we Dallas fans are *quite* used to rooting for San Antonio or Houston - the 90s taught us that. Plus, Tim Duncan is one of my absolute favorite players... pretty much, I only hate Bowen and Pop. So, seeing them stomp Phoenix into the gound *would* be a lot of fun. But then, would it not be better to have lost to the eventual champs? The Stars' playoff losses of "late" taught us that... always helps to ease the sting.

My predictions for the off-season: Kieth and Stackhouse stay. Cuban will test the waters AGAIN about getting Kidd here, maybe with a Finley / Terry trade... maybe Daniels even. Regardless, I see our starting lineup next year look like: *some PG*, Stackhouse - SG, Howard - SF, Nowitzki - PF, Damp - C. Van Horn gave us a great backup PF for Dirk... hopefully one of our two center prospects (Mbenga and Podkolzin) will blossom in training camp and we'll have a pair of strong 24-minute centers. I'd hate to see Finley go, but I can honestly see Donnie trading him - even for a good draft pick from a veteren-hungry team like Charlotte. Shrug... oh well, so it goes =/.