2014 Pick 2: General Commentary

[pearljammer10]

Howard and Harden are playing as good any duo as there is in the league right now.  Unbelievable.

I was surprised they fell to #5 when selecting teams. I thought they were clearly the best two man duo in the draft.

Best duo in the draft?  I completely disagree.  Durant and Westbrook are both better than Harden or Howard.  Harden and Howard complement each other well, but not nearly well enough to change that. I would have drafted Howard and Harden third if I had been drafting every position.

Westbrook better than Howard and Harden? I disagree. I would rank Russ 4th if we're ranking the players.

I had the rockets at third myself only because you cant pass on Durant in one of the first two slots. However I think the duo of Howard/Harden is better than Durant/Westbrook simply because of Westbrook.

[Merovech]

I those comments prompted me to do an in-depth stastical comparasion of the four.  I'll post it when I get back o my computer in a few minutes, but the fairly obvious conclusion, IMO, is that the player rankings go Durant>>Harden>Westbrook>Howard.

[BigAlTheFuture]

I those comments prompted me to do an in-depth stastical comparasion of the four.  I'll post it when I get back o my computer in a few minutes, but the fairly obvious conclusion, IMO, is that the player rankings go Durant>>Harden>Westbrook>Howard.

Durant > Howard > Harden > Westbrook

[BigAlTheFuture]

Double post.

[Merovech]

I those comments prompted me to do an in-depth stastical comparasion of the four.  I'll post it when I get back o my computer in a few minutes, but the fairly obvious conclusion, IMO, is that the player rankings go Durant>>Harden>Westbrook>Howard.

Durant > Howard > Harden > Westbrook

See, now that is just not supported by the facts. 

   Durant   Westbrook   Harden   Howard
PER   30.41   23.78   22.29   22.1
WS/48   0.308   0.17   0.204   0.176
ORtg   123   107   117   110
DRtg   102   102   107   100
TS%   63.8   54.2   60.8   60.1
TRB%   11.3   10.4   6.8   20.3
AST%   26.6   38.8   25.2   9.3
TOV%   12.7   16.6   15.4   17.2
STL%   1.9   3   1.9   1.3
BLK%   1.6   0.2   0.8   3.8
PTS/36   29.8   24.3   23.1   19.9
AST/36   5.2   8.1   3.3   1.9
TRB/36   7.2   6.6   4.4   13.1
TOV/36   3.4   4.5   3.5   3.4
STL/36   1.4   2.1   1.4   0.9
BLK/36   0.7   0.1   0.4   1.9
Shooting %s   51.0/39.4/87.5   43.8/34.8/81.6   45.8/34.2/85.0   59.0/33.3/59.2



Uhh, well, the formatting didn't come out right, so I just attached the graph as an excel sheet.  Anyway, the facts pretty clearly show that Durant is leagues above the other three, Harden's shooting and scoring pushes him above Westbrook's overall better passing, rebounding, and defensive game (seriously underrated defender), and that Howard's offensive mediocrity and only "very good", not "incredible" defense makes him the worst of the four.

[Merovech]

Arguably, Howard is on the same level as Westbrook, but I certainly don't think that he is better (and there is no way that he is better than Harden)

[BleedGreen1989]

Can it be Monday morning yet?

I have my list already made and want to make my two selections now!

[Moranis]

Can it be Monday morning yet?

I have my list already made and want to make my two selections now!

I hear you man.  I have one guy I want, hoping he is there at 3 when I pick.

[slamtheking]

Can it be Monday morning yet?

I have my list already made and want to make my two selections now!

I hear you man.  I have one guy I want, hoping he is there at 3 when I pick.

he's probably the guy I'm planning to take at #2 

[KGs Knee]

I those comments prompted me to do an in-depth stastical comparasion of the four.  I'll post it when I get back o my computer in a few minutes, but the fairly obvious conclusion, IMO, is that the player rankings go Durant>>Harden>Westbrook>Howard.

Durant > Howard > Harden > Westbrook

I agree with this order.

There isn't a huge difference after Durant.

When I ask myself though, who would be better, Howard & Harden, or Howard and Westbrook, I wouldn't think twice about choosing Harden.

Howard and Durant would be unfair.

[BleedGreen1989]

Fitz check PM's

[Merovech]

I those comments prompted me to do an in-depth stastical comparasion of the four.  I'll post it when I get back o my computer in a few minutes, but the fairly obvious conclusion, IMO, is that the player rankings go Durant>>Harden>Westbrook>Howard.

Durant > Howard > Harden > Westbrook

I agree with this order.

There isn't a huge difference after Durant.

When I ask myself though, who would be better, Howard & Harden, or Howard and Westbrook, I wouldn't think twice about choosing Harden.

Howard and Durant would be unfair.

  You cannot say that "there isn't a huge difference after Durant" (whether or not that statement is true-it's subjective, I guess), then also state that Howard + Harden is better than Durant + Westbrook, especially since synergy regarding those combinations is already included in the stats.  To clarify, if A>B and B=C=D, then A + C > B + D.

Also, less importantly, I think that you are severely over-rating Howard (imo, hes an overrated player in general, though I'm now ignoring my opinion in this argument) because he has a more impressive career length.  Howard is limited offensively (though obviously still above average) and Westbrook is severly underrated defensively. 

[BigAlTheFuture]

Think he was saying Howard + Harden would be better than Howard + Westbrook. And the only reason Durant/Westbrook is considered better than Howard/Harden has more to do with Durant being a tier above all three rather than Westbrook being better than Harden or Howard because he's not. Lol hope that made sense. Don't think there's a GM in the league that would take Westbrook over Howard

[nickagneta]

Think I am going to approach the rest of this draft as if Kobe wasn't on the Pelicans. I figure if I can make a very good team without Kobe, and only add Kobe in 2015 if he is almost back to being the Kobe we expect, then that would work for the year. If Kobe isn't what is expected out of Kobe, I can just send him home and not let him have an effect on the clubhouse and the rest of the team.

Its a gamble with probably a relatively low chance of success but if Kobe does come back big, then there is a chance that a team that probably wouldn't have had a chance to win it all, could win it all.

So I guess all this leads to the following: Kobe is on the block. He is kind of my Big Papi gamble the Red Sox keep taking. He's old. His body isn't what it used to be, but if I can bottle magic for one last great Kobe year, maybe it means a ring but it will be a waiting game on him. So of course, in the meantime, if anyone wants to talk trade for Kobe while I wait to see if he is going to bottle up that magic, hit me up.

I love the rest of my team though and as much as I will listen to offers on any of the rest, its going to need to be an offer that knocks my socks off to move anyone else.

[Merovech]

Think he was saying Howard + Harden would be better than Howard + Westbrook. And the only reason Durant/Westbrook is considered better than Howard/Harden has more to do with Durant being a tier above all three rather than Westbrook being better than Harden or Howard because he's not. Lol hope that made sense. Don't think there's a GM in the league that would take Westbrook over Howard

Oh, okay. I thought that he was also saying that Harden + Howard is better than Durant + Westbrook.  Yeah, even I would pick Howard over Westbrook (though, for me, that is more a function of how there are a lot more very good PGs than centers).  Yeah, I just wanted to show that the stats show that Durant + Westbrook is better than Harden + Howard.