David Berri, who contributes to the great "Wages of Wins" column in the New York Times, takes an in-depth look at the Sonics and how they might return to the playoffs sooner than you'd think.
posted by Paul Merrill @ 2:12 PM
6 comments
I read that article, pretty interesting. I think the articles on Durant that are referenced are even more interesting. Durant STUNK in summer league - no doubt about it. Terrible shooting %, Terrible rebounding and precious few assists. Sonics fans better hope that was a complete aberration - and that his game with the Select squad was more indicative. I have not been a Durant fan - and I still think the Sonics should trade him for the right package. They never will though.
My main problem with Durant is that he comes across as too individualistic in how he plays, most notably seen through his very low assist nubmers - but just in the general way he plays as well. I hope I am wrong.
I love Delonte though.
By 
, at
8/31/2007 2:39 PM
Having watched a lot of footage of Durant now, I can tell you that the Summer league was an aberration. For better or worse, neither he nor Green took it seriously.
I have no problem with someone of Durant's talent being a bit "individualistic". Most great players are (Jordan or A.I. never led the league in FG percentage, that's for sure). I'd rather see an aggressive Durant than a deer-in-the-headlights Rashard any day.
By 
Paul Merrill, at
8/31/2007 3:32 PM
Oh man, I think I just stained my pants!!
Are you serious that there are stats to back up the fact the Supersonics might be as good as say New Orleans, Golden State, and the Lakers, thus making our dreams of the playoffs legit? Could my tickets for the Warriors vs the Sonics at the end of season be a battle for a playoff berth?
What other great news is going to happen today? Did the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse that own the Seattle Supersonics sell the team Sabbey or some other local ownership group? Great research Paul. Man, this seriously just made my weekend.
By mcwalter44, at
8/31/2007 4:30 PM
My "research" was reading an email from Andy Liu, but thanks for the credit!
By Paul Merrill, at
8/31/2007 6:50 PM
Projecting Durant off college stats makes the near playoff prediction pretty sketchy.
And how the other players integrate matter too. The method used didnt guarantee that the number of everybody gets adds up to a realistic total. If Durant takes as many as Allen and Wally, Green and West take more than Lewis then somebody else has to take less and the prediction didnt take any shots away from the others before arriving at that playoff projection. Which was mainly built off offense and did not include shot defense at all.
By , at
9/04/2007 8:21 AM
second sentence, second paragraph should be... number of 'shots'
Berri projection is probably top end. It appears over top end but if chemistry develops between players and coach better than last time then the projections for carryover players might be too low and that could offset the over projection of the new guys. Improving the carryover guys might not be so hard since the coaching and chemistry was weak last time.
By , at
9/04/2007 8:28 AM
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