No Respect for James’ Supporting Cast.

“If you take LeBron off that team, no. They’re not [a playoff team]. They’re nothing,” Ron Artest expressed after the Cleveland Cavaliers defeated his Los Angeles Lakers for the second time this season back on January 21nd.

And if you’re a longtime Cavs fan, this sort of argument is nothing new to you. So and so is only a marginal role player, player x only looks good next to LeBron James, the Cavs would only win 10 games without LeBron, etc. I’m certainly not here to argue with any of these statements, regardless of how ridiculous some of them seem. After all, there’s no way for me to prove how the Cavaliers would perform over an entire season without James, and I hope I never get the chance to.

But my beef is with the NBA. You see, with All-Star weekend right around the bend, everyone throughout the NBA, from the coaches to the league personnel, has made it quite clear that they subscribe to Artest’s notion of the Cavaliers.

First it was the NBA coaches, failing to vote another Cavalier into the All-Star game, despite Cleveland boasting the NBA’s best record. Mo Williams would’ve been an easy cop out. With Williams injured, he would’ve been selected, recognized as an All-Star, and then passed over for a replacement player. This will also mark only the third time in Shaquille O’Neal’s 18 year career that the big fella has missed the All-Star game. However, I can understand the coach’s hesitation, with some very deserving players getting nods instead (Bosh, Johnson, Rose, Wallace, etc.).

Also worth noting was the missing invite for J.J. Hickson to participate in this year’s Rookie Challenge. While Hickson may not have the inflated statistics of Minnesota’s Kevin Love or New York’s Danilo Gallinari, he is the starting power forward on the only team with 40 wins in the NBA. He has also stepped up since the Cavs lost several contributors, averaging 9.9 points and 7.0 rebounds on 55.6% shooting over his last 9 games amidst a 10 game winning streak. In the end, his lesser role with the Cavaliers, despite a starting role, could justify being passed over for the likes of a Michael Beasley.

But the list of selected contestants for the 3-point Shootout seems completely unjust. The Cleveland Cavaliers, who not only lead the NBA with the league’s best record (40-11) but are second in three point percentage (40.2%), have three players (Gibson – 46.9%, Parker – 44.7%, Williams – 42.9%) in the top ten for individual three point percentage. The only other teams with multiple players in the top 10 (Golden State and Phoenix) both had a player selected for the three point contest (Stephen Curry, Channing Frye). Neither player has a higher three point percentage than either Daniel Gibson or Anthony Parker.

So since those in charge of selecting participants for the three point contest don’t watch Cavs games, I figured I’d help them out, by the numbers style.

- So far this season there have been 80 occurrences of a player making at least 3 three pointers on 100% three point shooting. 10 of these times the player accomplishing this feat suited up for the Cleveland Cavaliers (12.5%), which is the most by any team. Daniel Gibson has done it 3 times, which is tied for the most despite the fact Gibson hasn’t even played in every game this season.

- Over his last 8 games since reentering the rotation due to guard injuries, Daniel Gibson is 19-42 (45.2%) from three. Here are some of the 3-point Shootout participants and how they have faired from three over their last eight games: Chauncey Billups – 17-41 (41.5%), Daequan Cook – 7-22 (31.8%), Stephen Curry – 17-42 (40.5%), Channing Frye – 21-66 (31.8%), Danilo Gallinari – 20-52 (38.5%). You’ll notice that all of the listed contestants have made fewer or a similar amount of threes and have shot a worse three point percentage over their last eight games since Gibson reentered Cleveland’s rotation and has played comparable minutes over his past eight games. The only contestant with a better percentage than Gibson over this span is Paul Pierce (13-28, 46.4%).

- I could go on and on with the numbers that prove how many efficient three point threats the Cleveland Cavaliers possess. But this All-Star selection week has proven that the league doesn’t value efficiency. Ultimately, I only need one number to prove that — 1, the number of Cavaliers that will participate in any All-Star weekend events.

No Respect for James’ Supporting Cast.

By Mark Cameron

Comments

WUJU February 5th

Good Stuff Cam!
gourimoko February 5th

It’s annoying that Cleveland continually gets disrespected but, honestly, we knew this was coming. No Gibson or Parker in the 3-pt shootout? Gimme a break.
SanD February 6th

If Mo were healthy, he’d be in the contest, but Gibson and Parker aren’t really snubs, despite their high percentage. Frye and Gillinari are the two best 3 point shooters this season, when you account for percentage and *volume*. (You can cherry pick all the stats you want, but each is shooting over 40% with 100 more attempts than our guys.) I like Billups and Pierce’s inclusion because it’s nice to have All-Star Sunday players participating in the marquee Saturday events (ahem, Lebron). They are also shooting over 40% with more attempts than our guys. Cook gets an automatic invite on the “strength” of last year’s performance.

So really, it’s Curry and our guys — along with a number of other similarly situated players. The stats are pretty comparable. I’m disappointed, but I don’t besmirch the NBA for wanting to promote a four year college player over one of the so-called “Lebrons.”