Chad Ford John Hollinger Ponders PER

First things first. It’s an off day, TZ has already covered Kevin Martin, and I feel like writing. Second, seven games is way too small a sampling to draw any intelligent conclusions, but that has never stopped me before, and it does not seem to be slowing me down at the moment.

The Kings are 8.5% through the 2008-09 season, so I thought that it would be the perfect time to see how our guys are doing in Chad Ford John Hollinger’s PER rankings. As I have stated before, PER is a great guide, but it is not a rule. It is, however, the easiest way for lazy hacks like me to compare player performance. And I found some interesting things, such as the fact that the Kings rank in the top 13 at every position. Let’s take a look, by position –

Center  Brad Miller, all two games of him, ranks 3^rd, behind only Dwight Howard and Shaq. Spencer Hawes ranks 10^th, ahead of such guys as Yao Ming, Andrew Bynum, Chris Kaman, Tyson Chandler and Jermaine O’Neal (he also rates ahead of Al Horford and Joakim Noah – just sayin’).

Power Forward  Jason Thompson ranks 13^th. Shelden Williams is 44^th. And the guy getting the minutes – Mikki Moore – is 55^th, looking up at Channing Frye. I’ve always said that it’s not Mikki’s fault that he is miscast as a starter. Hopefully JT will develop quickly and allow Mikki to bring his energy off the bench. I’m not slamming Mikki here. JT is the future, and I’m ready for the future.

Small Forward  John Salmons is 12^th (take that, neophyte “writer”). Dribble your way into my heart, big fella. Still not sold on the beard, though...

Shooting Guard  Slumping Underachieving Slow starting Gamer Kevin Martin ranks 12^th at shooting guard, despite playing on one leg for a couple of games and playing with the pressure of perhaps knowing that TZ and I profess our man-love for him on an annoyingly regular basis. Quincy Douby is 52^nd.

Point Guard  Yes, our point guard ranks 12^th on the list.  Bobby Brown is off to a fine start. The Tasmanian Slovenian? Not so much. He currently “ranks,” and he ranks 58^th, just ahead of B-Jax at 59^th.

Rookies  Thompson 3^rd, Brown 5^th.

Not ranked  Donte’ Greene, Kenny Thomas, Francisco Garcia.

What does all of this mean? Absolutely nothing. But that’s never stopped us from opening a lively thread, has it? Hell no! And it’s not going to stop us now.

Topic starter – Bigger waste of time: This article, or Michael Olowokandi’s time at Pete Newell’s big man camp?