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Originally Posted by kg_veteran
How is Artest's offensive game any better than Howard's offensive game? In the past 3 seasons, their PSA (points per shots attempt) numbers are 1.04 for Artest and 1.03 for Howard. This year it's 1.06 for each of them. Artest thinks he's a lot better than he actually is offensively, which makes him (in my mind at least) less valuable on offense than Howard. Plus, I think Howard still has room for growth in his offensive game, whereas I think Artest pretty much is what he is. Either way, I don't think there's any way that Artest should be considered superior to Howard offensively.
On the defensive end, Artest is clearly better when and if he's focused, but how often does that happen? This year, Howard's "counterpart PER" as tracked by 82games.com is 3 points lower than Artest's similar stat. Based on what you can count on from the two players on a nightly basis, I'll take Howard every time.
As for how they're ranked, dude is right. In fact, Howard's PER ranking is higher than Artest's ranking.
If Artest has his head screwed on straight, I agree that the Pacers wouldn't deal him. Then again, he doesn't, and that means that any team that wants to trade for him should and will take his "mental status" into account.
Say no to Artest.
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I never said Artest was better on offense. I don't think he is and I never said it.
I do, however, believe he is a FAR superior defender, when things are right with him, which is in fact essentially what you said.
My whole point was that, if Artest was right, he was clearly a superior player to Howard, and I would take him in a heartbeat. I also said I don't believe he is right, so I would not do the deal....so I don't really see where we disagree here, except for you misunderstanding what I meant on his offense.
I guess I was mainly playing devil's advocate. I wouldn't even think of doing that deal right now, but let's not kid ourselves. If Artest wasn't freaking crazy, he'd be considered one of the best 10 players in basketball, and Howard wouldn't touch him.
EDIT: And btw, even if Artest was right, there's no way he and Howard could start on the same team. They're too much of the same animal.