Travis or Rashard Lewis?

by Blaz06Draft on Nov 2, 2009 1:01 PM PST Comment 23 comments

Travis gets criticized for not being a good PF. While he's not your classic banger, let's look at how he compares to Rashard Lewis, another PF with a similar body morph and style. In fact, guess which player is which, based on basketball-reference.com comparison for last year.

This is organized by: stat, Player A, Player B. Is Player A or Player B Outlaw? The answer after the jump.

FGA/36: 13.7 13.6

FG%: .439 .453

3P%: .397 .377

FTA/36: 3.4 3.9

TRB/36: 5.7 5.3

PTS/36: 17.6 16.6

AST%: 12.5 6.3

TOV%; 11.6% 8.9%

USG%: 22.0 22.0

The answer? Player B is Travis. But I find the numbers surprisingly similar. Both Travis and Lewis take shots at the same rate, rebound at the same rate, get fouled at the same rate, score at the same rate, and are "used" by their teams at the same rate. Outlaw shoots a better overall %, with Lewis shooting better at 3s. Lewis gets more assists (not surprisingly, not one of Travis' strengths), but Lewis also turns the ball over more (surprisingly, as we think of Travis as a turnover prone player).

The point of posing this as a question is to point out that from a stats perspective, Travis and Lewis are quite similar.

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can I choose neither?

for the Blazers… love em both as players, just not for this team

Those who ignore the past are doomed to repeat it

by The Arkitect on Nov 2, 2009 1:21 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

nice comparisons

very interesting to think about……….Travis is not a bad guy to have off the bench, we wont find another player with his skill set that is willing to fill that role with minimal complaints.

by tevisthe4th on Nov 2, 2009 1:21 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

Shard is significantly more efficient

Because he shots a lot more 3s. If Travis learned to consistently take the spot-up 3 instead of dribbling in to a more difficult contested 2 he might be close to the same level as Lewis offensively.

by trk on Nov 2, 2009 1:45 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

I don’t ever see variability or standard deviations mentioned with players. Predictability and consistency are so important in a team setting, and you know what you’ll get day in and day out with some players but not with others.

Just saying. I’d guess that Travis is a bit less reliable than Shard but I don’t really know. Travis seems prone to boosting his numbers by a big game but then laying an egg, keeping his averages respectable. Dunno if that’s actually true however, or if that stat is out there to compare players.

by shralpster on Nov 2, 2009 1:48 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

Numbers are deceiving

A lot of players can put up numbers, but are they putting up wins? I wish it was possible to create a “was that a winning play or was that a winning decision” stat, but every player would have to be scrutinized on every play.

I get the paper, so I don't care!

by Name's Ash on Nov 2, 2009 1:57 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

Can we compare contracts

That’s where the PTB win big time.

Chuck Norris' tears cure cancer. Too bad he has never cried.

by FiveOhThree-RipCity!! on Nov 2, 2009 2:24 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

Maybe that's what Travis was thinking

when he tweeted about making “out of this world money” last summer?

“My stats are like ’Shard’s, so I should be getting paid like ’Shard!”

When reached 40 years of following Portland basketball you have, be as passionate of the Trail Blazers you will not!

by two4larue on Nov 2, 2009 2:29 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

This year

Travis looks great defensively. Haha he’s blocking shots like no other.

Go Blazers!

by Rip City Mike on Nov 2, 2009 2:49 PM PST reply actions 1 recs

When was this?

There’s Bonzi! (Love the photo).

My favorite teams are the Blazers and any team that is playing the Lakers.

by OCBlazerFan1 on Nov 2, 2009 2:51 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Haha quick google search...

It might not be Travvy, but it sure looks like him!

And I’m assuming it is Yao’s rookie year since he looks very slightly built

Go Blazers!

by Rip City Mike on Nov 2, 2009 3:01 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

I love Travis, but I would take Rashard Lewis any day of the week over him

by rip_city_swagger on Nov 2, 2009 3:44 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

Why?

Overpaid at the max contract, underachieving, doesn’t work hard on defense, and shoots too many 3’s.

Go Blazers!

by Rip City Mike on Nov 2, 2009 5:13 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Marion

let’s take him instead. :)

Interesting about Travis+Rashard having similar stats last season though!

Enjoy the Ride

by DigitalDaggers on Nov 2, 2009 5:30 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

Thanks for the comparison.

Very interesting… Travis is a waaaaay better deal.
And since he is not a starter, the Blazers’ do not have to rely on him to as much as the magic have to rely on Lewis. Travis fits his role on our team very well… There is always room, on the roster of a good team, for a player like Travis.

by Rick_D on Nov 2, 2009 6:25 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

Oh, that's easy....

Hedo Türkoğlu

by Tiparillo on Nov 2, 2009 7:17 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

Haha

Slow, shoots very erratically, barely can dunk, can’t rebound. Basically a fat man at 6’10 who should be playing PF at the SF position because he’s too lazy to work out.

Man, I’m so glad he’s not in Portland.

Go Blazers!

by Rip City Mike on Nov 2, 2009 9:46 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

You could have added he doesn't play defense,

but LMA would have guarded SF’s like Melo or Durant.

He rebounds at almost exactly the same rate as our small forwards last year. Turk collected 5.2 boards per 36 minutes while Outlaw got 5.3 and Batum got 5.4 per 36 minutes, so nothing lost there. His shooting is erratic (41%) but he would have taken less shots here. (He was the 3rd leading scorer (16.8 ppg) at Orlando.)

But we wanted him as a point forward. He was just 0.5 assist per game (4.9 apg) behind the team assist leader, and played the most minutes per game (36.6) on a team that went to the NBA finals last year. It would have been interesting…

by BlazerFanSince1970 on Nov 3, 2009 2:27 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs