Ron-Ron, CWebb, Peja "Stinking It Up", Says ESPN

by louismg on Nov 10, 2006 6:14 PM PST in News Comment 11 comments

Five games into the season should be enough for anyone to do some instant analysis, right? I mean, seriously... with teams having played 6 to 7 percent of the entire 82-game schedule, we can already see what's directly in front of us: that the world powers of the NBA, the LA Clippers and Atlanta Hawks, are going to run away with their respective conference championships, and we might as well polish up the league scoring trophy for Allen Iverson.

With this level of dramatic, thoughtful insight, we get a snarky column from ESPN.com's John Hollinger, who eagerly tells us about ten players who early in the season are a blight on their respective franchises. Among his ten nominees? None other than Ron Artest, Peja Stojakovic, and Chris Webber.

Without abusing copyright rules, here's a snippet of his brilliance:

Re: Artest

Ron Artest, Kings: The Kings are off to a very solid start, so it's really unfortunate that Artest is going to kill it with his selfish play.

This, of course, with Kevin Martin averaging 23.4 points per game, 15th best in the league (and an overachiever, according to Hollinger). Hollinger also piles on by calling Ron-Ron "crazy". Nice investigative reporting there, John. Way to put the brother down.

To misquote "crazy" Ron-Ron:

John Hollinger, up on ESPN. You look like a girl, put down that pen.

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Re: Ron-Ron, "Stinking It Up", Says ESPN

Im tired of Hollinger's opinions. According to him, Bonzi Wells, was the second coming and the Kings were doomed, DOOMED to failure without him.

Mr Hollinger needs to stick with stats.

by Chris The Greek on Nov 10, 2006 6:22 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

Re: Ron-Ron, CWebb, Peja

It's worth noting that Artest's current PER (15.90) is much higher than the PER Hollinger projected for Ron-Ron (15.02).

Hollinger's overall analysis of Ron-Ron's offense isn't totally off the mark, except that he hasn't played like that in the past two games. Against Minny at home and against Detroit, Ron-Ron made his mark in the lane and only took (and missed) open jumpers.

And not mentioning the insane job he's doing on the boards (better than ever in his career) and defense (4+ steals a game)? That's error by omission.

by Ziller on Nov 10, 2006 8:03 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

Re: Ron-Ron "Stinking It Up"

That's clearly an intentional omission. Ron-Ron's shooting percentage is not good, we know that. But he is #1 in the NBA for steals per game. #1.

And an "insane" job? TZ, that's like calling Ron-Ron "crazy". :-)

Kings-obsessed. A's obsessed. More ramblings: louisgray.com

by louismg on Nov 10, 2006 8:31 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

I thought hollinger was a stats guy

Of note: Ron Artest leads the team in +/-. Kevin Martin inexplicably 2nd worst to Shareef.

by Deleran on Nov 10, 2006 9:52 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

WTF?

Can someone explain what the +/- represents?

I have no clue. I find it hard to believe having K-Mart on the court is bad.

by evanmeagan on Nov 11, 2006 1:36 AM PST reply actions 0 recs

Re: WTF?

Here a +- example:

Martin plays the entire first quarter. The score during that time is 30-18 Kings. Martin's +- for the first quarter is +12. Martin sits out the first six minutes of the second quarter, when the Kings score 6 points and give up 12. Martin comes back in for the last 6 minutes of the quarter, and the Kings score 10 and the opponent scores 20. That's a -10 for Martin, and his total +/- for the half is +2.

It's an interesting measure in that over the course of many games, it tends to capture some non-box score stuff. But by itself and unadjusted for bench ability or off-court data, it's not the end-all be-all. And it is certainly not a good measurement to put stock into with very little data.

by Ziller on Nov 11, 2006 10:25 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Re: WTF?

Dammit TZ, always got me beat - by a minute.

Dude. :-)

Kings-obsessed. A's obsessed. More ramblings: louisgray.com

by louismg on Nov 11, 2006 10:27 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Re: WTF?

Wow, this is like the third time we both posted the same thing within a minute the last month. Creepy...

by Ziller on Nov 11, 2006 4:57 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Re: WTF?

I assume +- refers to the total points scored by your team vs. the opponent with the player in there. +- has been used in the NHL for a long time, but honestly, this is one of the first times I've seen it used in regards to the NBA.

For Artest to be leading the team in +/- could be a testament to his defense disrupting the opponents' game in a serious way.

Kings-obsessed. A's obsessed. More ramblings: louisgray.com

by louismg on Nov 11, 2006 10:26 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Unfair critique

"Selfish" is just the wrong word to describe Ron. Sure, he has jacked up some uniquely ill-advised shots this season, but he does it out of a need to lead and put the team on his shoulders. Unfortunately, though his shoulders are wide, he takes too much on himself and isn't a skilled enough shooter to warrant the number of jumpers he takes. If anything, his shot selection shows a lack of trust in his teammates. The last couple of games, he seems to be understanding that he really isn't the team's first option from the outside. However, his ability to get in the lane and handle the ball so well places him in a position to make all his teammates better. Let's hope he continues to remember this.

Hollinger can be appear unthoughtful - in fact, his opinions often appear knee-jerk. I prefer somebody like Steve Kerr: I may disagree with what he writes at times, but it seems like he attempts to think things through the best he can and to give context to his opinions.

by Kusian on Nov 11, 2006 11:46 AM PST reply actions 0 recs