Nivek wrote:They weren't "about even" and Price wasn't the better "bargain." Price was better last season. In fact, Price was better last season than Maynor has ever been as a pro.
On head-to-head matchups, we're talking only 3 games and 56 minutes for Price and 59 minutes for Maynor. When you say Maynor's stats were "better" in head-to-head matchups (all three of them), I'm guessing you're focusing mostly on assists. And maybe rebounds.
That said, Maynor may could end up helping on offense and not hurting a lot on defense. He needs to get better, though. And, his "make the offense better" ability has been inconsistent. His teams have been slightly better on offense when he's been on the bench (by 1.3 points per 100 possessions). Last season, his offensive on/off works out zero -- OKC was worse offensively when he was in the game and POR was better.
Shoot, Price was better last season than Price has ever been as a pro. Eh, okay in limited minutes as a rook maybe he was about equal. But the two prior seasons to this one he was about the same butt as Maynor has been, without quite the same injury excuse.
Head to head, yeah but Maynor's squad won two out of three!
But right, with the caveat of limited sample size, Maynor lost the first match-up (badly) and won the next two. The stats weigh all games equally, but I don't have to because I have superior powers of observation and my opinion transcends all stats including wins and losses, don'tcha know?
But rather than average all together, when looking for reasons to hope, well then we're talking upper end potential. So briefly consider the best game of each in this match-up. Which player would you prefer as your PG:
Player EM: scoring 15 pts, 11 assists, 2 steals, 4 boards
-versus-
Player AJP: tallying 23 pts and 3 assists, 2 steals, no boards.
? Both on efficient scoring. Me, taking the absurd and running with it (3 game sample, properly cherry picked) I'll take the double double. Pretty sure most coaches would too.
But yeah, in this comparison I was talking offense, and I'm looking at distribution, as a pass-first PG, in a facilitator role, since I submit that's what this team needs more of (Maynor) than ball-pressure defense and careful possession management (Price).
Look, better or not we saw how inept offensively this team was with AJ Price in a lead PG role. His shooting is more efficient, in part because he won't force the action-- but it leads to a stopped ball and empty possession even if his personal eFG% doesn't suffer. Maynor takes more risks in passing, forcing the action, (earning TOs and scorn from statheads, that register this as a lost possession where an expired 24 second clock, or a last second pass leading to a forced heave does not show as easily in the box score stats) but in this uptempo offense it's a better approximation of the role John Wall plays, and does not force a radical tempo change bringing him in the game.
Recall, I follow UConn. I know AJ Price's game since he was boosting laptops. He's a careful half-court chess player, not a jazz conductor in a smoky room leading a tight quintet.
But again ultimately if we're talking bench regarding our record, I'm saying the _hope_ is we're comparing John Wall vs AJ Price in that lead trumpet role, and Maynor need only be compared with Shorn ACLs Livingston, the Shelved Mack, the Generic Pargo and all.
And if not, if Maynor is our starting PG for half the year, well then, Ender Wiggin et al here we come!
