Hollinger Believes Calderon and Bosh Should Be Allstars

[KG1585]

1. All of you out there convinced that ESPN.com

[BasherMan]

Tied ya!

[Air Canada]

Bosh deserves to be there and Calderon probably does too but I doubt he'll actually make it

[inrapscity]

Bosh "deserves" but still questionable vs. wild cards like Butler.

Calderon deserves some votes but there are "a lot" of better wild cards candidates.

[The Letter V]

Jose is putting up good numbers, but I don't think he deserves it. Bosh has been up and down all season long...but I think the coaches have enough respect for CB4 to vote him in.

[Joker]

Hollinger picked Calderon as an all-star just to spite TJ.

[PHANTOMPHOENIX]

Bosh "deserves" but still questionable vs. wild cards like Butler.

Calderon deserves some votes but there are "a lot" of better wild cards candidates.

+1

I haven't seen Hollinger's list but I don't see how Calderon is an All-star...and I am a Calderon fan.

[KG1585]

Hollinger is eating crow here. At the beginning of the season he said that both TJ and Jose had career years last year, and had peaked, and wouldn't be able to match thoses number. Both of them have proven him wrong as both of them averaging better numbers than last year. The way TJ was playing I think he would've been an all-star, had he been able to stay healthy.

[PHANTOMPHOENIX]

Hollinger is eating crow here. At the beginning of the season he said that both TJ and Jose had career years last year, and had peaked, and wouldn't be able to match thoses number. Both of them have proven him wrong as both of them averaging better numbers than last year. The way TJ was playing I think he would've been an all-star, had he been able to stay healthy.

Pretty stupid claim on his part. Both are young and improving.

[kmatrixg]

I never understood eating crow. I understand what it means theoretically, but why can't you eat something like duck or sparrow...why crow?

[saham]

I am not surprised here. He has been putting really good numbers which makes him one of the best point guards in the east this season in absence of TJ. I do not think Calderon is going to make it to the AS game as there are quite a few SG's out there who are going to take both guard positions in the AS game.

[dacrusha]

Hollinger also predicts that the Raptors have a 99.1% chance of making the playoffs.

[Courtside]

I never understood eating crow. I understand what it means theoretically, but why can't you eat something like duck or sparrow...why crow?

"Rudyard Kipling uses this expression, which predates his birth, in his short story

[Schad]

Hollinger also predicts that the Raptors have a 99.1% chance of making the playoffs.

It was 100% previously. We're slipping.

Of course, it doesn't make much sense that a team could decline from 100% certainty...

[KG1585]

That's amazing. To show you how amazing, let's look at a stat I keep called "pure point rating." I created it to replace assist-turnover ratio, which tends to reward point guards who never penetrate. Pure point rating produces more valid ratings of a player's ability as a distributor by rewarding production instead of just making a ratio. (If you're curious, the formula is: Pure Point = (100* ((Assists * 2/3) - Turnovers))/Minutes.)

So

[Darrick Martin]

Backup guard No. 1: Jose Calderon, Raptors
This is probably going to shock some people, so I'll just go ahead and say it: Calderon, right now, is the third-best guard in the East.

Go ahead and laugh. Get it out of your system.

Done? Good. Now let's look at the numbers. Calderon ranks fourth among Eastern Conference guards in PER; he's a millimeter behind T.J. Ford, who is out indefinitely, and of course trails Wade and Billups.

But he's way ahead of the others. Vince Carter, Richard Hamilton and Michael Redd are eating his dust, and no other point guard in the East rates in the top 50 in PER (If you're looking for Jason Kidd, by the way, there's more on him below).

You might think Calderon's numbers are so good because he's been beating up on second-teamers for half the season. Actually, no: His PER has gone up since Ford went out and now is as high as it's been all season. In his 20 games as a starter, he's averaging 13.5 points, 9.9 assists, and shooting 50.0 percent from the field. The other overlooked part is that he's making only 1.5 turnovers per game.

Let me repeat that for emphasis: 9.9 assists. 1.5 turnovers.

That's amazing. To show you how amazing, let's look at a stat I keep called "pure point rating." I created it to replace assist-turnover ratio, which tends to reward point guards who never penetrate. Pure point rating produces more valid ratings of a player's ability as a distributor by rewarding production instead of just making a ratio. (If you're curious, the formula is: Pure Point = (100* ((Assists * 2/3) - Turnovers))/Minutes.)

So

[Darrick Martin]

"He's on a team with only one other viable scorer and, thanks to his skillful playmaking, has them in the top half of the league in offensive efficiency."

The offense has gone to kaput lately though.

[supersub15]

"He's on a team with only one other viable scorer and, thanks to his skillful playmaking, has them in the top half of the league in offensive efficiency."

The offense has gone to kaput lately though.

Bench scoring with Dixon at the helm has gone down the drain.

[itbobby007]

Wow @ the Hollinger article...thats insane. Jose FTW.

[theonlyeastcoastrapsfan]

Hollinger also predicts that the Raptors have a 99.1% chance of making the playoffs.

don't mean to be a pessimist, and I'm the last person who would want to see it happen, but if Vegas was giving odds like that, i'd bet against us. It's encouraging, though.