Monday, October 17, 2005

Baron Davis, Overrated?


The most overrated
player in the NBA???
Charley Rosen is at it again, this time Baron Davis heads his list of the most overrated players in the NBA (If you don't remember the last time, check out his Warriors Preview). As you'll likely guess, we disagree. Check out what Charley wrote:
#1 — Baron Davis

Over the course of his career, Davis has missed 34 percent of his free throws and more than 59 percent of his field goals. Blame impatience and lack of concentration for the former, and a penchant for forcing shots for the latter.

Davis' numerous ill-advised shots are symptomatic of his selfishness, carelessness and habit of playing out of control. Because he's overly concerned with his passes being highlighted on the evening news, Davis inevitably chooses to risk spectacular passes when simpler ones are in order. He's so focused on scoring that he'll assault the offensive boards with no regard to maintaining court balance — thereby leaving his team vulnerable to fast breaks.

Davis is also surprisingly ineffective in screen/roll situations at both ends of the court. On offense, he'll try to split any resultant double-teams, and on defense, he's simply too passive. Intelligent defense (pressure and containment) can force him into turnovers.

For the past few seasons, Davis lobbied to be traded because the Hornets were consistently an underachieving ball club. If he had looked in the mirror, Davis would have seen a big reason why this was so.
My first reaction to this was "Wow, I can't believe this guy." Then I thought about it, I guess a 15-5 record to close the season doen't count for anything, nor does turning around a franchise, or making all of the players around him better, or having his teammates, coach, and GM speak nothing but great things about him. Sure he takes some ill-advised shots but that does not make him overrated when he brings so much more to the TEAM. Also how can Charley write that his defense is too passive? Next to Pietrus, he's probably the most active Warrior on defense. You don't get a ton of steals by being passive.

Funny how the article makes no mention of his time with the Warriors. Maybe Charley Rosen fell asleep the last third of the season and never watched a Warriors game. That would be a shame because he missed out on one of the most exciting teams last season. Oh and maybe he forgot we beat the Kings and Suns twice when Baron arrived and he outplayed both Bibby and Nash. Anyways, if you'd like to write him a special letter, go to the article and scroll down to find the comments box next to Shareef. But make sure to leave us your thoughts in the comments section. What do you think, is Baron Davis overrated or is Charley Rosen way off base on his comments (again)?


6 Comments:

At 12:29 PM, Blogger Nels said...

Rosen is way off. And I like how he uses inverse numbers for the FT and FG percentages... 59% seems like a lot of missed FGs... but 41% is not as bad as it gets. Especially since guards tend to shoot worse than forwards and centers on principle. Baron may be a little overrated, but certainly not the most overrated player. And even if he is overrated, it's most likely because people like him for more than just his basketball skills.

 
At 6:46 PM, Blogger atma brother #1 said...

I actually thought Rosen's rankings of the all time greats over summer were well, great. The man knows the game of basketball and its history.

I'm not so sure he stays up to date though. He also seems to be a cranky fellow.

Calling Baron the most overrated player in the league is ridiculous.

 
At 8:54 PM, Blogger Joe said...

While some of what he said is *true*, he's just focusing on all the wrong things.

We've all seen it with our own eyes. The Warriors were literally transformed over night the first day he stepped on the court with a Warriors uniform on.

But we really can't expect guys like Rosen to understand all of that.

He wouldn't dare condecend.

 
At 1:08 PM, Blogger Michael Deuser said...

He's not THE most overrated player in the league, because that's clearly Allen Iverson.

He's the kind of guy that can nearly singlehandedly take a team to the playoffs, but he's also likely to sabotage it when they get there.

I do think it's true that his FG is atrocious and his FT is simply inexcusable for a guard. 40% might not not that badly on 10 shots per game, but it kills on 20 shots per game. Ditto three points and free throws. He shoots a lot of everything, and he shoots them all poorly. It's like having a leadoff hitting with a .300 OBP.

Baron Davis is no Steve Nash; we should get that straight.

 
At 11:37 PM, Blogger atma brother #1 said...

Hopefully this doesn't start a riot, but I think Steve Nash is the most overrated player in the league. He got way too much credit for the Suns impressive season last year.

Nash is a good passer and shooter, but one of the worst defenders in the league. HIs assist totals were inflated because of Amare and those wingman knocking those treys.

And no Marbury wasn't awful with the Suns. Amare was out practically the whole time during Marbury's last season with the Suns. Let's see how Nash does without Amare and those shooters for the first half of this season.

 
At 9:31 AM, Blogger atma brother #1 said...

bballblog-- Sorry, I didn't mean for it to seem I was criticizing your analysis. I honestly think the Suns would have been fine with Marbury, a healthy Amare, Q, and Joe Johnson. Marbury never got the chance that Nash did.

 

Post a Comment

<< Home