SB Nation User Blog: Sleepy Freud

Amare & Sharing

Sleepy Freud — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 16:57:14 -0000

Adam Lauridsen's great piece on the rather disturbing parallels between Amar'e and Maggette got me thinking about sharing.

via noimpactman.typepad.com

Specifically: has there ever been a great NBA player who was an unmitigated ballhog? Bird, Magic, Jordan, LeBron -- all obscenely good passers, obviously. But even among the great big men ... Duncan, KG, Shaq, and Gasol were/are all excellent passers for their size, generally dropping dimes at 2-3 times the rate Amare has mustered (a paltry 1.4 per 36 minutes, career).

I did manage to find one franchise-ish player who shares the ball as poorly as Amar'e: Dwight Howard -- also 1.4 assists per 36 career. But he's also the best rebounder in the NBA and the Defensive Player of the year, two areas in which Amar'e doesn't exactly excel. And Howard still isn't the type of player who can lead his team to a championship without a ton of talent around him (though given his combination of freakish athleticism and great attitude, I suspect he'll get there).

Closer to home, the three brief, shining periods of success in recent Warriors history seem to have all been fueled by guys who were ace at sharing the rock and getting teammates involved: Hardaway/Mullin, Webber (one of the best passing big men I've ever seen, 4.1 assists per 36 career), and of course BD. Does it not concern anyone that Amar'e is the opposite of these guys?

JAE's latest reports on Amare's decent numbers sans Nash provide some comfort, I guess, but they're based on pretty small sample sizes. Over the course of his career, Amar'e has pretty consistently been the 3rd or 4th most valuable player by plus-minus on the Suns. No great surprise that, on the whole, Suns fans on the Bright Side haven't exactly been clamoring for the team to lock him up long-term.

In sum: we're looking at a player doesn't rebound very well for his size, doesn't play much D, has had microfracture knee surgery and a detached retina, has never been a team leader, is by most accounts a bit of a malcontent, and does not share the ball. Further, as Lauridsen alludes to in his piece, he risks stunting the development of our talented young core -- Randolph, Morrow, Buike, Curry, e.g. -- by being such black hole. All driving + no kicking = dreadfully few touches for the kids. (Sorry, I just wanted to be the only GSoMer other than JAE ever to use the word "dreadfully.")

Analogies abound: A taller version of Corey Maggette? A more efficient, more athletic version of Zach Randolph? A more chiselled version of Al Jefferson? Like all analogies, these are pretty flawed ... but less flawed, I suspect, than comparing Amar'e to a true franchise player. Is Amar'e a winner who makes his teammates better like KG/Duncan ... or a just big body like Jefferson/Randolph who puts up numbers, gets points for his fantasy owners, and collects his (max) paycheck? Do we really want to hitch our entire franchise to this guy for the next 6-7 years?

Yeah, count me fully off the Amar'e B'andwagon. For good. Or at least, till I hear he's on our team. Then I may come sniffing around. ;-)

On a side note, I saw Zydrunas Igauskas sipping coffee yesterday at an outdoor cafe on Spring Street in SoHo. He was long.

Poll

Cookies, cake, ice cream, or pie?

Yao to miss entire season ... or rest of career?

Sleepy Freud — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 19:06:55 -0000

Yao to miss entire season ... or rest of career?

Man, horrible news if true. Godspeed, Yao.

Al Jefferson + 6 for Amare?

Sleepy Freud — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 05:11:40 -0000

Al Jefferson + 6 for Amare?

Seems almost believable.

Andrew Bynum hurt, possibly seriously

Sleepy Freud — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 02:18:30 -0000

Andrew Bynum hurt, possibly seriously

Wow. Could knock LAL off the list of serious contenders -- which right now is basically BOS, CLE, ORL, LAL.

I have no love for the Lakers, obviously, but it's hard not to be a bit bummed about a potentially career-threatening injury to a player so young and full of promise. Here's hoping for a speedy recovery (and, down the road, a trade to the Warriors...?)

The GSoM Political Thread, Part II

Sleepy Freud — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 12:16:36 -0000

OK, the now legendary "Marbury diary" was getting impossible to navigate. 505 posts: that has to be a record for this site.

Feel free to use this thread to discuss anything sociopolitical. The other diary touched on, among other stuff:

• McCain/Palin

• Obama/Biden

• The "War" in Iraq, and war in general

• The death penalty

• The "liberal media"

• Big government

• Jeremiah Wright

• Adolf Hitler (see Godwin's law)

• Stephon Marbury

I was also thinking it could be fun to have a running "game thread" on the remaining debates, including Thursday's upcoming VP debate.

Anyway, if you want to keep the discussion going, rec this diary! It would be cool this time to hear from some of other people than the usual suspects. I respect young Sam's persistence, but by now I think he's made his positions on many of the issues pretty clear. Ditto for me, Skeptic, JAE, Droppin_knowledge, et al.

And as always: I know we all get heated with this stuff (well, I do anyway) but try to play nice.

Poll

Who are you supporting in the upcoming election?

Barack Obama and Joe Biden

244 votes

John McCain and Sarah Palin

55 votes

Other (ideally, please specify)

26 votes

325 votes | Poll has closed

RIP Gene Upshaw

Sleepy Freud — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 13:46:29 -0000

RIP Gene Upshaw

This came as a total shock to me — I didn't even know he was sick. I guess I've been away from the Bay for too long.

Age 63 may seem old to a lot of the kids on here, but it's way too soon. I remember rooting for him as a kid during his mid-late-'70s Raiders heyday. He always seemed like a very cool, charismatic dude, and a born leader. No surprise he became head of the players' union.

Anyway, thoughts, prayers, condolences to the family, etc.

Hahahahahahaha

Sleepy Freud — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 17:35:38 -0000

Hahahahahahaha

Alien Sam Cassell Game

Sleepy Freud — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 16:51:00 -0000

Alien Sam Cassell Game

Not sure if this quite as exciting as NBA 2K8 or whatnot, but there are less amusing ways to pass the work day...

JRich is white hot

Sleepy Freud — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 01:32:46 -0000

JRich is white hot

29 points, 7 boards, 2 ast, 3 blk, 1 stl tonight v. Philly. Ouch. Timing is exquisite too -- talk about twisting the knife. I still think it was a good trade, but he definitely seems to have fully regained his pre-injury form. Good for you, JRich. Now next year try to lead your team to the playoffs...

Andrew Bogut High-Fives Himself. This what I do every time I post on GSoM... ;-)

Sleepy Freud — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 13:29:22 -0000

Andrew Bogut High-Fives Himself.

This what I do every time I post on GSoM... ;-)