Just because it had to be done, here are the 48 minutes stats for Ben vs Nazr. Remember that this guy came from the Spurs... i.e., you can be very good without seeing a lot of action. Category- Ben/ Nazr Points- 9.95/ 14.35 Reb- 15.4/ 14.4 Assist- 2.6/ 1.4 Steals- 2.4/ .7 Blocks- 3.0/ 1.7 Turns- 1.5/ 3.2 Fouls- 2.7/ 7.7 Conclusion- Nazr is a better scorer and can actually shoot a decent mid range jump shot (and can make free throws). Nazr rebounds the ball very well... almost as well as Ben per minute. Ben passes much better. Ben steals the ball much better. Ben blocks the ball twice as well and probably more when you factor in the avoidance factor. Nazr is turnover and foul prone. To me, this is a recipe for regular seasons success and post season failure. But it beats having to rely on Davis and Cato.
I'd been kind of afraid to look. Thanks for posting. The big numbers of turnovers probably stem from an offense that throws the ball into the center sometimes. No need to worry about that here. Nazr will have Ben level turns in Flip's offense. The fouls are concerning though. And the lack of blocks. I didn't watch SanAnt enough to know if he just has bad timing or if something in the Spurs' defense puts him out of position.
Nazr was there to keep Tim Duncan out of foul trouble, and play with force for the limited time he was out on the floor. Personally I feel alot of the fouls were by design. Time will answer this question however.
Great move by the Pistons. They get (1) a guy who will play cheap and (2) an assistant G.M. with all the answers. Tennis anyone?
He should really be able to help Flip with his adjustments and rotations. Plus, it would be nice to see the return of the playing coach. When things get tough, just suit up and drain a couple midcourt shots. Maybe to increase scoring, the league could make the midcourt shot a 4.
I've Talked to my friend up in the Palace land and everyone is pretty somber, not just losing Ben the player but just losing a face that could have been put on the floors of the Palace. Ben leaving is a blow to the Championship contending now team, they do fall to the pack of the rest of the Eastern Conference. The Pistons will not have the players I most wanted them to sign in Ben and Bonzi Wells. This whole thing has me a little down, but I felt better that they did sign Nazr Mohammed a decent player that has been there with a good team before. I will write later on more because Joe D. is not done. I will have to be in better spirits because I agree on some thing Lee is saying.
Like many of you have already voiced, I think 4 years is too long. Two years I could live with, but FOUR years?
What if he ends up good? If he does good for us we can then maybe package him for a trade deal. I think joel wanted to stay in Portland, and Nazr would of stayed with the Spurs if we offered lessyears or money. Hope he does good here.
Irony: The Pistons lowball Ben and lose him. The Spurs lowball Mohammed and lose him. Where is Isiah Thomas when you need him?
The Pistons did not lowball Ben. They thought his value was $48M over 4 years. They did not want to bid from that price up. Big difference. I doubt they would be doing the same thing if was a Wade or LBJ.
From Princeton University's WordNet http://wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=lowball S: (v) lowball, underestimate (make a deliberately low estimate) The Pistons and Spurs underestimated the market value of their players. Besides, it was a joke about Isiah Thomas...
Joe doesn't do ``market value''. Market value means a bloated contract from a team that's desperate and/or willing to sacrafice financial flexibility in the future. Joe hasn't been willing to saddle himself with bad contracts. He's disciplined. Usually that's a good thing, but in this case, it might not have been a bad idea in a few cases. This one, and Okur's contract looks reasonable now, though at the time it didn't.
I don't mind Nazr. He was the guy you licked your chops at when he came in but somehow got those demoralizing offensive boards right when you needed to pull away. He's not a 30 minute guy...maybe a 20 minute-er. Jmax: Your number is about to be called. bring it!
