We all know that Steph can play the game of basketball. He wouldn't be a 20/9 type of player if he couldn't play the game. Now what I want to see him do the most is locking down whomever he is guarding. Steph is too strong and too quick not to be a good defender. He needs to come in this season with a new attitude in the defensive side of the ball....

heres what the stats say about how he plays when we win.


The most dramatic changes are FT%, assists and scoring, in that order.

Free Throw percentage in wins vs. loses is drastic, and I can see how this makes a difference for us because we lost so many games by 6 points or less that if he is making his freethrows, we have a better chance to win.

His jump in assists between wins and loses is significant. Teamates are scoring more off of his passes, which doesn't necassarily mean he is passing more; it could mean he is making better passes, or it could mean teamates are just hotter in those particular games, its hard to tell without watching those games.

He is scoring slightly less, not necassarily shooting less, but 2 points less is significant and it must be that way for a reason.

His defensive numbers are slightly better in wins: his steals, rebounds, and blocks are all slightly better. He needs to D up for us to win and we all already know this.

As far as the Assists, its my view that in the wins his teammates showed up and scored more.

In the loses, he most likely was making the same amount of passes, but when they aren't hitting, then he tries to compensate, by scoring more.

One way to judge this is to look at the team shooting % in the losses.

Its really all about D. If he and the team as a whole play solid D, this team will win a LOT of games, cuz offensively this is a potent team. Even last years flawed team did fine Scoring last year. To me if he didn't change a thing offensively, but really improved his D, there would be a marked improvement. This team has more scorers and better balance now, so i'd expect that they score off of his passes more frequently and efficiently than last year. Its all about D.

Posted by nixluva:

As far as the Assists, its my view that in the wins his teammates showed up and scored more.

In the loses, he most likely was making the same amount of passes, but when they aren't hitting, then he tries to compensate, by scoring more.

One way to judge this is to look at the team shooting % in the losses.

I agree, and so do the stats!

Team FG% was up when we won and down about 5-6% when we lost.
TT, Craw, and Kurt all had huge jumps in FG%, FT%, Points per game, and in most other categories when we won.

Bottom line is:
Steph is by far the most productive and the most consistant player on this team, and when those other guys were more productive, we won, when they had bad nights, we lost. Steph gives us pretty much the same thing every night. The statistics have spoken and are hard to deny.


[Edited by - Killa4luv on 08-21-2005 12:27 AM]

[Edited by - Killa4luv on 08-21-2005 12:33 AM]

[Edited by - Killa4luv on 08-21-2005 12:53 AM]

killa.....your poll omits an obvious choice: "star should continue like last season with minor adjustments". when larry brown get the rest of the team playing up to star speed everybody will be scratching their heads (lol)

Score like hell and dee up on his opponents every single night o the NBA schedule.. That's how..

I think Steph needs to be more creative to get his assists ... he can't play the same way because he is going to suffer from not having KT around for the pick and roll - I wonder how many assists he got from Kurt, the only guy who could consistently turn a feed from Marbury into an assist. I'm not sure if Frye will be that consistent... I think even if Marbury's assist numbers go down our team won't suffer because Larry Brown's teams work around moving the ball around a lot - him getting the ball in motion might indirectly lead to an easy bucket, instead of him either running the pick and roll or driving and penetrating, which is pretty much what hes been doing to get his assists.

I like the way Steph has played last year. Here are the things I think Steph has to improve on.

1. Humility.
2. Cut down on the ego trip.
3. Stop the stare down on teammates when they make a mistake.
4. Play tough D like we all know he can.

His skills are there. His leadership skills are non-existent.

Posted by NYKBocker:

I like the way Steph has played last year. Here are the things I think Steph has to improve on.

1. Humility.

I definitely agree with that one. He says dumb things at times that get him into trouble. Most stars do, but it's different for him because he's in the NY media.

he has to play defense & his teammates have to make shots, bottomline...if his teammates aren't hitting thier shots, he's going to start going into his score first mode...that's been his tendency.