Okay, six games later... Is Big Ben rejuvinated?

[dougthonus]

TB, I'd like to think having Wallace on floor on the last offensive possession is a mistake that Boylan won't repeat again, being that it lead to gut-wrenching reliance on his free throw shooting ability.

He was out there in possessions we could have won against Orlando and Portland as well. He's made in 3 games (on multiple important possessions as we had chances to tie/win in overtime and regulation), so to assume he won't make it again goes against all evidence of what he's done. It was more critical in those games, because we were playing to tie a game as well. In this game, if we had missed then we'd have just gone to overtime potentially.

Instead, I think he'll figure Ben Wallace can hit 1 of 2 at the line since that's what happened, and we won the game. Considering this mistake has hurt us in 2 previous games already, possibly causing 2 losses (though it's a stretch to blame any loss on one thing like this as there were probably a 100 things that he could have done differently to cause a 1 point swing in an OT or double OT game) it's hard to envision him deciding it's a bad idea after it generates a win.

[Sebastian]

11.2 rpg, 2.33 apg, 2.5 bpg, 1.7 spg, 5.3 ppg

As glaringly average as those numbers are

A person would have a hard time finding a more ridiculous and inaccurate statement.

Average?

11.2 reb would be 7th in the NBA

2.5 blocks would be 6th in the NBA

1.7 steals would be tied for 11th in the NBA

2.33 assists would rank 8th among all NBA centers and forward/centers

How in the hell are those numbers "average", let alone "glaringly" average?

Average?

Playing nearly 40 minutes a game, at least half of all starting bigs will match or eclipse that total production. That puts BW in the middle. In the middle = average. As nice as some of those numbers look, they are a bit inflated by big minutes and the cheap nature of some of his rebounds (e.g., tips that have no chance of going in and dent the top of the backboard are still offensive rebs, easy corrals off of missed free throws, of which he has grabbed a whole lot of in the last 6 games if you recall). BW doesn't seem to routinely get the tough boards anymore, which is unfortunate b/c that's half the reason he was brought in here (great rebounding). I will concede that he is almost Rodman-great at tip-outs that give us second-chance opportunities, and in that way he is a positive on offense. But only in that way.

I think Doug mentioned that Ben on offense isn't quite the black hole some make him out to be because he takes less shots (wastes less possessions) than guys like Randolph, etc., but when he's on the floor his man can leave him to double Deng or Gordon, thus making it that much more difficult for those guys to be effective. In a season like this where we are struggling to be consistent on offense, that really, really hurts us.

What's also perplexing is that Ben's man D has looked as good as it ever has at times this year, while at others he has been manhandled by whomever he goes up against. I'm not sure if this lends more credence to the "Ben is hurt" or "Ben doesn't care" hypothesis. Either way the end result is a player who shouldn't be starting over at least one, perhaps two of his backups.

[Rerisen]

Ben Wallace should probably play 25-30 min a night and a lot of the complaining would go away. And preferably not the last 2 minutes.

But since 30 minutes is kind of a 'legit starer' benchmark, you know Wallace would probably cry or sulk if he got less, and that is unfortunate.

As far as Big Ben being outproduced, the raw points are not what matters so much. When he shot near 50% in Detroit it really didn't hurt them at all with all their scorers. He wasn't inefficient so much as just didn't get a lot of shots in the offense, ceding them to better scorers. But with the Bulls, when he is shooting 33% and also 47% from the line that definitely hurts you. Those 2-7 type nights are going to cost you 2 or 4 points a game vs if someone else took them (someone that doesn't botch layups and clear paths to the basket). Same thing with Duhon, when he goes 0-7 and assuming you don't offensive rebound those bricks, he is going to have to have a absolutely stellar game to make up for those lost points. Either with steals, taking charges, creating assists where no other player would have been able to, etc. More often than not that hasn't been happening.