Joel Praise on True Hoop

by TLF_Big_Papi on Dec 17, 2007 2:45 PM PST

Henry Abbot is in Homer mode, but he is using info from one of his readers to heap some praise in Joel's direction. The most interesting stat that I read is that opposing teams are shooting 6% worse when he's on the floor.

Here's the link:

http://myespn.go.com/blogs/truehoop/0-28-404/New-Statistical-Monster--Joel-Przybilla.html

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wow

that's a great post. I've been loving Joel's play this year and I totally agree he deserves more PT than he'd been getting before Aldridge went down.

by jksnake99 on Dec 17, 2007 3:12 PM PST reply actions

I think Joel

really figured out when to go for the block and when to try and draw the charge this year, and its just a simple decision he knows how to make on which to go for now, depending on the situation. Either play stops the offense in its tracks. Since he's been so good at that, he's stayed out of foul trouble. If you add the two stats together, I bet he's ahead of the vast majority in the NBA.

But now he's getting back on track with being good on the pick and roll like he was with Damon, rolling to the basket for a dunk or a putback.

by ranma on Dec 17, 2007 3:14 PM PST reply actions

Excellent Stats

That is AWESOME that a blog reader took the time to do that research and present it.

It very much supports those who were screaming at nate to play Joel more. Hopefully Nate continues to do that when Aldridge returns.

The blazer love out there right now is INCREDIBLE!

I love it.

I'm worried about the game tonight, but if we lose, then we get an opportunity to see how the blazers respond to loses. that will let us know how we're really maturing.

A wink is the same as a nod to a bat!

by ratbastird on Dec 17, 2007 3:40 PM PST reply actions

Great article & post. Thank you!

by drawingjeremy on Dec 17, 2007 5:07 PM PST reply actions

I think the Blazers get in to trouble

when they don't have a center or a point guard in the game. I consider Joel and Raef as our only two centers and Blake and Rodriguez as our only two point guards. Without a center we get killed on the boards and at the rim. Without a point guard we get killed on dribble penetration and our offense slows down and becomes predictable.

by EnglandDan on Dec 17, 2007 6:03 PM PST reply actions

Oh man ...

by far my biggest criticism of Nate since he's been here is his apparent bias against Joel with his unwillingness to play him. Cheeks realized Joel's value but it's taken until now for Nate to play him.

Will he continue giving Joel the minutes when LaMarcus returns? I'm not counting on but I'm hoping he has FINALLY seen the light.

by TwoDeep on Dec 17, 2007 9:03 PM PST reply actions

Give Nate some love

Tonight (Monday against New Orleans) he held down Frye and Pryzbilla's minutes until the last 6 minutes of the game. By then Chandler and West had played nearly the whole game. A long sequence went Chris Paul shoot and miss Joel rebounds, Frye shoots and misses, Chandler rebounds, Paul shoots and misses, Joel rebounds. After about three such sequences Frye finally made one and we moved ahead to win. Point was West dialed it in and Frye and Joel were fresh and wore them down (Paul rarely misses 10 of 15). Just as Henry says Joel was the difference. This appeared to me to be another great coaching job by Coach Nate.

by lee3022 on Dec 17, 2007 10:25 PM PST reply actions

More detail

Joel does deserve credit for the things he does well and it is also fair to balance that with noting occasionally what he does that isn't helpful.

His on /off team eFG% allowed is partly him playing well and partly Frye and Aldridge (when at center) doing worse than average there.

On a much smaller earlier issue, assists are a fairly low priority among centers but they can be quite helpful, especially for passes back to 3 pt shooters. Joel doesnt get many it is true, about half of what is average. Fortunately Blasers still manage to be average on total team assists anyways. But they surely would like to be more in the future. Joel has a high turnover rate but checking the 82game detail very very few are from passing mistakes. Joel's assists probably arent going to change and isnt a big issue in itself but put together with fairly light assists from Aldridge, Frye and Outlaw it might be an modest issue in future. Depending on how good a passer Oden is or Aldridge becomes.

by outsider on Dec 18, 2007 3:18 PM PST reply actions