Is there any question? I think almost everyone on the board would agree that Zaza Pachulia is a little lame at center. Yet if this is even a valid question (it is), then we have problems.

Curry's offense is more than offset by his terrible defense. We might as well have a 7 foot tall log sitting at the other end of the court, because defensively it would give us the same results.

Fat@$$ doesn't try. You want that to change? Like many assume it will?? Then get rid of the negative influences who faciliate this awful behavior: Cancerbury and Assaih "I need fake stats to keep my job" Thomass.

Solace, I agree that Curry needs to bring more energy to his defensive effort. I have seen him make some defensive plays, so I know the potential is there for him to be a decent defender. He just has to be more focused on that end of the floor. IT has focused this season on developing Curry as an offensive weapon because he knows this team's best chance of winning right now is to try and outscore our opponents. I have no doubt that IT will eventually get on Curry about his defense and when that happens, Curry will improve in that area.

Just to equate the playing time, here are ZaZa's #s averaged out over 35 mpg next to Curry's at 35 mpg
Y Curry - 19.5 ppg, 7.0 rpg, 0.8 asts, 0.5 blk, 0.4 stl, 3.6 TO in 35 mpg
Z Pachulia - 14.6 ppg, 8.2 rpg, 1.8 asts, 0.6 blk, 1.3 stl, 2.8 TO in 35 mpg

The facts are plain as day. Some NBA players play team games. Y Curry is about as one-dimensional as they come. If he wasn't as good a post player as he is, I think he'd be in the NBDL, if even that.

You don't need the stats to decide this one. I was at the Knicks vs. Hawks game in Atlanta and I saw in person that Za Za is getting his stats in a less impactful way. In fact things like this happen all the time in this league. You can put up what look like good numbers and STILL have a bad game, due to how you end up getting those points and how the team is playing. Thus the term "quiet 20 pts". If you're on the floor sometimes you just end up in certain situations that make you look good on the stats, but the player isn't really having an impact on the game. THE BIGGEST THING IS NO ONE DOUBLES ZA ZA!!! He can get his points cuz defenses don't really do anything special to try and stop him. He's not that kind of threat.

Meanwhile Curry would wreak havoc on a team if they didn't pay all kinds of attention to him.
Meanwhile Curry is warping the other teams defense and getting the other team into foul trouble. He's getting the Knicks the other team in the penalty earlier, which is part of the reason we shoot so many FT's. He's scoring inside on a regular basis, meanwhile Za Za probably has quite a few of his pts off jumpers. It wouldn't even be close on the scoring if Curry hit more FT's. The things that Curry has to do to improve his all around game are within his ability to accomplish. I can't say that I think Za Za would be able to become as effective in the paint as Curry is.

Posted by nixluva:

You don't need the stats to decide this one. I was at the Knicks vs. Hawks game in Atlanta and I saw in person that Za Za is getting his stats in a less impactful way. In fact things like this happen all the time in this league. You can put up what look like good numbers and STILL have a bad game, due to how you end up getting those points and how the team is playing. Thus the term "quiet 20 pts". If you're on the floor sometimes you just end up in certain situations that make you look good on the stats, but the player isn't really having an impact on the game. THE BIGGEST THING IS NO ONE DOUBLES ZA ZA!!! He can get his points cuz defenses don't really do anything special to try and stop him. He's not that kind of threat.

Meanwhile Curry would wreak havoc on a team if they didn't pay all kinds of attention to him.
Meanwhile Curry is warping the other teams defense and getting the other team into foul trouble. He's getting the Knicks the other team in the penalty earlier, which is part of the reason we shoot so many FT's. He's scoring inside on a regular basis, meanwhile Za Za probably has quite a few of his pts off jumpers. It wouldn't even be close on the scoring if Curry hit more FT's. The things that Curry has to do to improve his all around game are within his ability to accomplish. I can't say that I think Za Za would be able to become as effective in the paint as Curry is.

That is a good point Nixluva. Za Za gets his 14 points per game going primarily one on one and putbacks. Curry scores 19 points per game being almost constantly doubleteamed. When you look at it that way, the 5 pt difference between Za Za and Curry is alot bigger than it seems because those doubleteams lead (or at least should lead) to easy baskets for Curry's teammates.

Simply listing stats ain't considered analysis of game

bigbeast -I'm witchoo. Add this to the compost heap of "Eddy Curry Sucks at this or that..." threads

Posted by TheGame:

Posted by nixluva:

You don't need the stats to decide this one. I was at the Knicks vs. Hawks game in Atlanta and I saw in person that Za Za is getting his stats in a less impactful way. In fact things like this happen all the time in this league. You can put up what look like good numbers and STILL have a bad game, due to how you end up getting those points and how the team is playing. Thus the term "quiet 20 pts". If you're on the floor sometimes you just end up in certain situations that make you look good on the stats, but the player isn't really having an impact on the game. THE BIGGEST THING IS NO ONE DOUBLES ZA ZA!!! He can get his points cuz defenses don't really do anything special to try and stop him. He's not that kind of threat.

Meanwhile Curry would wreak havoc on a team if they didn't pay all kinds of attention to him.
Meanwhile Curry is warping the other teams defense and getting the other team into foul trouble. He's getting the Knicks the other team in the penalty earlier, which is part of the reason we shoot so many FT's. He's scoring inside on a regular basis, meanwhile Za Za probably has quite a few of his pts off jumpers. It wouldn't even be close on the scoring if Curry hit more FT's. The things that Curry has to do to improve his all around game are within his ability to accomplish. I can't say that I think Za Za would be able to become as effective in the paint as Curry is.

That is a good point Nixluva. Za Za gets his 14 points per game going primarily one on one and putbacks. Curry scores 19 points per game being almost constantly doubleteamed. When you look at it that way, the 5 pt difference between Za Za and Curry is alot bigger than it seems because those doubleteams lead (or at least should lead) to easy baskets for Curry's teammates.

That is my point, but the reason I voted for Za Za- he gets 12 points off the flow of offense. Is he as good a talent Curry? No. Do the defenses focus on him? No. But the difference is 7, in my opinion, would be made up for by other players that would be involved in the offense and his superior help d. And I don't know what kind of help D Za Za plays- by definition, it can't be worse.

Thank goodness there are some of us here who can keep this place honest. Was it me or wasn't there some consideration of Curry as an All Star this year? His name wouldn't even be mentioned if he was as bad as some would have you think. SURE he has to get better at the little things, but that's the case for a lot of guys. The Knicks coaching staff knows this. Eddy knows this and we've read over and over again that they will make it a part of his continuing development this summer.

Posted by bigbeast:

Posted by misterearl:

bigbeast -I'm witchoo. Add this to the compost heap of "Eddy Curry Sucks at this or that..." threads

Seriously, Martin mind as well stickey a "Eddy Curry sucks at this or that..." thread and we can lump all of them in together.

Before I even opened the thread, I knew Curry was going to be compared to some journey-man center who may have half-way-decent stats. Obviously, Curry was going to be on the losing end somehow. And it was more than certain that Bonn would jump in to kick dirt.

Sorry, Bonn but I couldn't resist. I just watch Episode I last nite and Bigeast comment just stuck out there.