coldfish wrote:DJhitek wrote:coldfish wrote:http://hoopdata.com/shotstats.aspx
Sort by attempts from 16-23 feet. You will find, for the entire NBA, its:
1. Lamarcus Aldridge 7.3
2. Derozan 5.8
We have been over this with Luol at great length. That's an awful shot. Its losing basketball. When Deng was doing it, he didn't lead the entire NBA in doing it by almost 20% either. That stat is nuts and its why his scoring efficiency is so low. At 41%, teams are probably begging him to take it too. 77% were assisted, meaning that he is just hanging out there waiting for a catch and shoot.
Aldridge doesn't have 3p range and he doesn't have good percentages or volumes closer to the hoop either. Its only directly at the rim where his percentage goes up.
If Aldridge plays on Chicago like he did in Portland, I'm not sure he improves the offense at all. . . . . and there are people willing to give up Noah for him !?!?!?!?!?!?!?!
The grass isn't always greener.
I understand the notion for these type of statistics, but you are comparing apples and oranges. Aldridge is a guy we can dump the ball into on one side of the floor and he can generate offense on his own. Just because it's from 15-17 feet doesn't mean he is less effective.
I'm not understating Noah's impact, but we wouldn't lose that much defensively. As much credit as we give Noah, he can never stay healthy, doesn't generate enough offense for himself and that won't ever change. It's not a ridiclulous statment to say Noah for Aldridge is a even deal.
On offense, LMA makes about 41% of those long shots. That means on average, he generates 0.82 points per attempt, which by definition means it is less effective. There are times where guys are called to take that shot as a bailout and in that case, a shot is better than no shot. However, the fact that he is getting assisted almost 80% of the time from that range shows that he is camping out there.
As far as Noah, people are underestimating his defensive impact. Thibodeau requires his big men to act like free safeties who run the defense. They call out assignments to their teammates. When you see Bulls players flying around on defense, its probably because a big man told them to. Noah said it took him some time to pick the assignments up. I can only assume that it would be the same with LMA.
Beyond that, Noah is quick. He might be the quickest 7 footer in the NBA. Given that the whole layered defense is predicated on big man help, this is really important to the defense.
I'll summarize it this way. Everyone wants to beat Miami. Miami features two slashers in Wade and Lebron that the Bulls specialize in stopping on the interior. If you harm Chicago's ability to perform help defense, you are going to have to have a massive increase in offense to make up for it and beat Miami. LMA, the way he plays now, isn't a massive upgrade in offense.
Note: I'm not saying no to LMA. I'm just trying to point out that he isn't a superstar. He is an upgrade, but if the price is too high, which it probably is, I think a trade actually dampens the Bulls' future.
Just for the record, I wouldn't trade Noah for Aldridge, for the reasons you've cited above, among others, but I do think he is a big upgrade. Looking at efficiency in context, Aldridge is a strong offensive weapon.
When you look at the basic data for him at Mysynergysports.com, a few things jump out:
1)
He's a great post option.33.7% of his offense came from the post, at a .94 PPP (22nd in the league) and a 9.4% turnover rate. That's a tremendous weapon, and a real primary option. Compare that to Boozer, who posts up at .84ppp (72nd) at a 12.6% turnover rate.
2) He's not padding his efficiency stats on hustle points.
LMA is highly efficient in the three "hustle" categories (cuts, offensive rebounds, and transition) at 74th, 4th, and 32nd overall efficiency, but they weren't a huge chunk of his offense: 7.4%, 7.2%, and 3.4% respectively. This is a bad thing, right? Maybe on first glance, but he was able to get his points while ceding the paint to a big who scored pretty much only on hustle points in JJ Hickson (18.5%, 17.7%, and 9.8% of Hickson's offense came from those 3 hustle categories).
Joakim would've beasted in the space Hickson got in Portland. In Chicago, he has to share the paint a lot more with Boozer, who especially cuts (16.4%) at a far higher rate than LMA.
The efficiency stats, at least to me, show a guy you could use like Bosh in Miami, but with more posting up: a true second offensive option to Rose who needs much less setting up than Boozer and turns it over a whole lot less (which means more offensive rebound opportunities). That's worth paying a whole lot for, at least to me.