Posted by Marv:
Posted by technomaster:
BTW, while people make comments about how good Elton Brand is, aren't his teams about as unsuccessful as SAR's over their careers?
Good observation. Every time I watch him play though I come away extremely impressed with his game and all-out hustle. Not that I care about Chicago's team, but if those lunkheads had kept together the frontline of Brand, Artest and Miller I don't think we'd be having this conversation now about Brand playing on losing teams (not to mention how much they're going to end up regretting letting Crawford go!).
Well, couldn't they still have had Eddie Curry too? Hrm...
Also, in response to Brand being a two-way player, yeah--- it seems like he's a banger on both ends. He has a physical style that the Knick fans grew accustomed to in the 90s so it's easy to latch on to him. When you look at the thin SAR, you wonder how good a defender he could be--- but he may be adequate.
I'd like to look up what KG, Jermaine O'Neal, and other "top" big men have done to him (Elton Brand included). Hrm... just thinking about that, it sure looks like top PFs in the NBA have grown longer and leaner (versus the bruiser body Karl Malone, Chris Webber, DC, LJ, Barkley types). Among the top PFs in the NBA today: KG, JO, Duncan, Nowitzki...
While head-to-head stats are often misleading (top-scorers rarely guard other team's top scorers) here we go (from the 2003-2004 season):
Nov 1: OT loss to Pacers, SAR 26pts, 10rbds, 3 ast, 8-14fg, 9-10ft. O'Neal 20pts, 6rbds, 2blk. (Artest was probably guarding him--- he put up 22pts, 12rbds, 4ast)
Nov 15: loss to Nets, killed by K-Mart. 12pts, 5rbds, 5fouls. Kmart goes off: 23pts, 14rbds.
Nov 18: Win vs Milwaukee: SAR 27/11. Tim Thomas 17/2. Joe Smith 10/9. Sick, he matched their stats combined.
Nov 21: loss to spurs, blowout 75-114. SAR 16pts, 7rbd, 3stl 27mins. Duncan 25pts, 10rbds, 4blk 24mins!
Nov 24: loss to Detroit: 26pts, 14rbds, 3ast. Ben Wallace 8pts, 15rbds. Prince 22pts, 8rbds
Jan 2: blowout loss vs Min (75-93): SAR 15/6. Garnett 18/15/4. (See next game vs Wolves!)
Jan 13: big win against the Spurs: SAR: 29/10/3. Duncan 28/9.
Feb 4: big win vs T-Wolves (97-89): Outplays Garnett! SAR 32/14/5. KG 17/12/6.
Well, this small sampling shows that SAR seems to show some spunk, especially against the top players. I found the stats of that 1 Milwaukee game really amusing.