Quote:
Originally Posted by xorbie
Come on. JR Smith plays a lot of his minutes against backups, is fresher when he plays and plays on a significantly faster paced and better offensive teams than Ben Gordon. And Gordon has done what he is doing for 3-4 years, JR Smith for 1 if that.
They both played against backups, and both players were on the floor late in games. Even if you adjust for pace JR had better numbers. Experience plays a factor, but that's one of the few things Ben has on KR. Even so, JR has improved every season, whereas Ben Gordon's numbers went a little south last year. So yeah Ben has 4 years of similar play to JR's 2, but JR is already a better player at a younger age. He has more size, length, athleticism, and has more weapons in his arsenal. Most importantly, his career is decidedly on the upturn at 24 whereas Ben's seems to have stagnated or possibly gone down.
If this were a real draft, the player already who's better and been improving year by year would almost always go above the guy who's been consistently good. Especially when you factor that this player is bigger, faster, and more athletic.
Even if you buy into the "played against bench players" line, then that means that he also played with bench players, making his job as a scorer harder. He also played in a tougher conference against tougher competition... but I don't think any of those arguments hold water.
Last edited by Seadood228; 06-15-2008 at 11:39 AM.