RealGM

Valley of the Suns and Bright Side have been putting out absolutely excellent player and season evaluations over the past few weeks. All of them are great reads, and a lot of them back up their evaluations with advanced statistical support.

Read on, and prepare to have at least some of your preconceptions/assumptions challenged.

Bright Side
Channing Frye: http://www.brightsideofthesun.com/2012/ ... nning-frye
Markieff Morris: http://www.brightsideofthesun.com/2012/ ... eff-morris
Jared Dudley: http://www.brightsideofthesun.com/2012/ ... red-dudley
Michael Redd: http://www.brightsideofthesun.com/2012/ ... chael-redd
Robin Lopez: http://www.brightsideofthesun.com/2012/ ... obin-lopez
Josh Chilldress: http://www.brightsideofthesun.com/2012/ ... -childress
Shannon Brown: http://www.brightsideofthesun.com/2012/ ... nnon-brown
Steve Nash: http://www.brightsideofthesun.com/2012/ ... steve-nash
Grant Hill: http://www.brightsideofthesun.com/2012/ ... l-valuable
Sebastian Telfair: http://www.brightsideofthesun.com/2012/ ... ord-hustle
Ronnie Price: http://www.brightsideofthesun.com/2012/ ... nnie-price
Hakim Warrick: http://www.brightsideofthesun.com/2012/ ... im-warrick
Marcin Gortat: http://www.brightsideofthesun.com/2012/ ... cin-gortat
Front Office: http://www.brightsideofthesun.com/2012/ ... ont-office
Alvin Gentry: http://www.brightsideofthesun.com/2012/ ... vin-gentry
Center Offense Analysis: http://www.brightsideofthesun.com/2012/ ... n-lopez-on
Center Defense Analysis: http://www.brightsideofthesun.com/2012/ ... is-defense

Valley of the Suns
Season Review: http://valleyofthesuns.com/2012/04/27/p ... -identity/
A Tale of Two Seasons: http://valleyofthesuns.com/2012/05/08/t ... enix-suns/
Offseason Discussion: http://valleyofthesuns.com/2012/05/06/d ... offseason/
How Can The Suns Improve: http://valleyofthesuns.com/2012/05/15/p ... s-improve/
Sebastian Telfair: http://valleyofthesuns.com/2012/05/17/s ... nal-month/
Josh Childress: http://valleyofthesuns.com/2012/05/19/j ... -decision/
Marcin Gortat: http://valleyofthesuns.com/2012/05/22/m ... offseason/
Jared Dudley: http://valleyofthesuns.com/2012/05/23/j ... one-given/
Robin Lopez: http://valleyofthesuns.com/2012/05/25/r ... -keep-him/
Advanced Stats Review: http://valleyofthesuns.com/2012/05/10/2 ... ced-stats/
Channing Frye makes the Suns much better offensively: http://valleyofthesuns.com/2012/05/12/c ... fensively/
Markieff Morris: http://valleyofthesuns.com/2012/05/15/m ... pecialist/

I tend to be very skeptical on statistics, specially player-alone stats as they reflect very poorly the team dynamics.

I say this in regard of Frye. The fact he is being a better rebounder ignores the fact that he is not doing his job boxing-out, which is what a big man should do (clear explanation why Rondo gets so many rebounds and consequent tripple doubles for the Celtics, for example) and what Frye fails to do by lacking strenght and energy.
I do like the fact his offensive rebound is improving, though, as this is a stat less fogged. Still, it's not standing out, as his numbers are comparable to Dudley's and Morris, one a much smaller guy (yet so much energy there) and another a rookie still getting the hang of the game.

On the offensive side, all numbers fail to show something a PF or C should be able to do: create his shot. Frye helps to spread the court, good, but this should not be a PF's job. Luckily Nash is so good that he makes Gortat do a full in-the-paint job by himself, but I see little use of having Frye open for 3's instead of our SF or SG as that reduces heavily our odds of an offensive rebound, overloading our Center with that job, or tranferring that job to poor Dudley who needs to wrestle his way through the big guys to get the job done.

I think those are the main reasons why stats show a much better Frye than the one people who watch games tend to see.

To not transform this into a Frye post, I'll make sure to analyze and try to get similar insights on other players' stats as well, as time allows me to.

Ok, quick effort on another player to avoid Frye-focus.

Both articles on Dudley praise him well enough, but there is something that makes no sense to me: the critic that he should be replaced by some "true SG that can create his own shot", and sent back to the 6th man position.

I like Barbosa as a 6th man, because of speed and ability to score on fastbreaks. Dudley is not that much of an athlete, yet has such a good shooting and improved defending and foul-drawing ability that I think he fits the 1st unit with Nash so much better than if he sat on the bench. Honestly, a self-shot-creating SG/SF would work better in our bench while Nash is sitting. There is one issue that I can't truly get together, tough: how did our 2nd unit score so well when Duds was still part of it?

Nevertheless, I think Dudley provides the best cost-benefit ratio in our whole team, and that still comes with his team spirit, competitiveness and more. Adding cost with a replacement would be a very poor decision, given limitations we have on cap space and such. It is by FAR not a fix we need to address at this moment.

I am a huge Dudley fan, guess that is quite clear. I fail to see any good reasoning in argumments that try to downplay his importance or value as a Suns player.

I agree about Dudley. But I also agree that I would like to have a great 2. One that can create his own shot would be nice, but also one that can consistenly knock down the 3. Then I would actually START Dudley also at the 3, and that would instantly improve our outside shooting/floor spacing.

A sixth man would be someone like Aaron Brooks, and then if Grant Hill comes back, he could also be a guy off the bench. As a matter of fact, Brooks and Hill might play well together since Hill is a good ballhandler and Brooks is more of a scoring pg. I guess the same could be said for Telfair, but I'd really like for Hill to play with the second unit (if he's back) to help with D and ballhandling, and if Nash is back, get a better outside shooting swingman to play with Dudley.

Interesting that Frye came up so early, because BSOTS just finished their PF analysis.

PF Offense: http://www.brightsideofthesun.com/2012/ ... is-offense
PF Defense: http://www.brightsideofthesun.com/2012/ ... is-defense

VoTS:
Grant Hill: http://valleyofthesuns.com/2012/06/09/t ... rant-hill/
Michael Redd: http://valleyofthesuns.com/2012/06/07/m ... or-future/
Hakim Warrick: http://valleyofthesuns.com/2012/06/02/h ... 12-season/
Shannon Brown: http://valleyofthesuns.com/2012/05/28/s ... t-re-sign/
Ronnie Price: http://valleyofthesuns.com/2012/05/26/r ... p-reserve/

BSoTS:
SF Defense: http://www.brightsideofthesun.com/2012/ ... is-defense
SF Offense: http://www.brightsideofthesun.com/2012/ ... is-offense

Duds is much better playing the SF for us