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I have respect for the idea of advanced statistics - of measuring underappreciated skills and giving us a better understanding of who really makes a team win. But I've always wondered if they're making any headway in basketball and I've never looked at them closely. I thought I'd have a look at Hollinger's PER ratings, and what I saw wasn't impressive. Clustered at the top are some no-brainers. LBJ has the top rating. Chris Paul, Dwyane Wade, and Kevin Durant rounding out the top 4. OK. So far the "advanced stats" aren't telling me something I wouldn't have guessed; they might be right, but they aren't finding diamonds the rough.

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By now, you've probably seen the video of Artest flipping Ariza's shoe into the crowd.  Funny stuff.  Funnier from the point of view of this C's fan is that the Lakers got the worst of the Ariza-Artest exchange.

Don't believe me? Look at their numbers on B-ball-reference.com. Ariza has a PER two points better than Artest, with a line of 18 pts, 5 rebs, 4 assists, 2 steals. Ron's got similar rebs and assists, but he's scoring only 12 and making only .5 steals pg. The steal number's no surprise - Ariza is quicker and taller than Artest, and I expect he's a better all-around defender. (Yes, Artest is still a good defender, but he *used* to be elite. Not anymore.)

What's more, Ariza is only 24, six years younger than Ron-Ron.  The move is going to look bad this year, and even worse over the next few as Ariza hits his prime and Artest continues to slide down the far side of the hill.