Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Dirkenstien
I am baffled as to how you could make that claim but I'll ask you to fulfill your proposition nevertheless. Name em off Aexchange, although I do hope you choose to use more than statistics to prove your point since it is obvious that defensive capability cannot be measured in statistics alone (A la Bruce Bowen)
|
This is pretty easy. In no particular order, SF's/Swing players who are better fits for the Mavs than Josh Howard
1. Lebron James
2. Tracy McGrady
3. Paul Pierce
4. Tayshaun Prince
5. Andrei Kirilenko
6. Shane Battier
7. Ron Artest
8. Corey Maggette
9. Gerald Wallace
10. Richard Jefferson
11. Andre Iguodala
12. Wally World
13. Carmelo Anthony
14. Rashard Lewis
15. Shawn Marion
16. Luol Deng
I'd also argue that James Posey, Caron Butler, Bruce Bowen, Darius Miles, and Mike Miller could all be slotted into Howard's spot without much of a drop off. So I could only name 16, I'd consider better than Howard, and 5 additional players I would rank as being slightly poorer to a push with Howard's contributions to the Mavs.
Thats 21. Listen, I like Howard as much as the next guy. He's long, lanky, and athletic. That being said, his perimeter defense is average at the VERY best, and on most nights against above average 2's, he can't stop any kind of perimeter penetration. He's OK for what he is, but I certainly dont consider him an untouchable, and to top it off, he doesn't even make my top 15 of SF's. He's OK, but to say you wouldn't trade for Pierce if Howard had to be included in the trade is so laughable I don't even know where to begin.
Pierce is the better rebounder, distributor, defender, scorer, perimeter shooter, FT shooter, clutch player, and has better athletcism than JHo. Pierce >>>>> Howard.
Edited to add that I also forgot to mention Vince Carter and Lamar Odom, both of whom play the 3 and are superior players to Howard, although not necessarily a better fit. However, I guess you could say Lewis and Anthony also fall into this category.