Right now it's not much difference but in their prime Josh was much better than Taj. They are the same age so it's not like that was the reason. Taj isn't skilled and he is undersized. That's why he has always been a backup. He will hustle but he can't make a play and never could.

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He's an expiring salary. He's about a $3M per year guy that's the 7th or 8th guy off the bench. He's a pro so that's valuable to have on a winning team.

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Be well

GO BEARS!!!

I don't think I have ever seen anyone say he wasn't.

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Be well

GO BEARS!!!

I watch between 75-80 Bulls game each season; you've admitted you don't.

I also watch a good bulk of basketball from around the league. One or two national games per week.

Statistics are proof. I cannot say 'well I watched a lot of basketball and player x is better than player y because it looks like he is.' You want to discount statistics yet all statistics are are tallies of events that occur throughout a game. The same game that I watched, and the game that you've already admitted you hadn't.

Shows aren't popular on TV because "I saw this one show was on at a hospital lobby before." TV ratings are statistics that tell us which shows are popular. Cars don't sell well because "I see a lot of them on the road." Sales figures tell us where a car ranks.

Statistics are involved in everything in life. "This is sports, not a classroom" just isn't a stance.

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Rick Hahn is the best GM in baseball.

But with the salary cap ballooning this year (& likely spread over the next) that even makes an expiring contract much less valuable.

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There are only two examples of infinity: The universe and human stupidity and I'm not sure about the universe.

True. What's sad is someone will probably give him $7M next season.

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Be well

GO BEARS!!!

The eye test is better because stats can be manipulated and cherry picked. For instance Butler scored 19 points after the game was decided. That makes a difference in the eye test evaluation but it won't while looking at stats. His shooting percentage also improved dramatically.

That's why guys like Kevin Love were possibly overvalued. Guys that put up numbers on losing teams are difficult to evaluate. Guys that watch games can determine how they are scoring and ascertain that it doesn't translate to winning. Guys that simply Stat watch cant.

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And when you don't even watch as many games as I do, how would your eye tests be accurate?

You're the moron that puts scoring over everything else. Kevin Love should be your favorite player.

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Rick Hahn is the best GM in baseball.

You claim to watch games but your only frame of reference for anything are statistics. You don't make much sense. I can evaluate players without resorting to stats. You cant. Everything is a statistic. That's why Portis looks like Tyrus Thomas, or Etwaun Moore looks like a legit NBA player. It's all about numbers. Get a clue.

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Stats are for fags. Seriously. This is why I'm a better baseball fan than IMU.

Alan Turing agrees.

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You know who else puts scoring over everything else, GMs and owners. The highest scoring players are also the highest paid players. Your posts are customarily dumb and provide little in the way of substance. You are merely Stats Inc. regardless of topic.

Per 36 for a guy that will never play more than 36 minutes a game on avg is a stupid Stat to cite. That Stat is really for guys that don't receive much playing time. Rookies and 10 and 11 man types. If you know anything about sports you know why guys like that don't play a lot of minutes. They are not good.

When you stretch them out the deficiencies begin to show. That's why a number of closers aren't good at being starting pitchers. That's why pass catching running backs are mostly relegated to third down ssituations.

To cite some per 36 Stat as a way to suggest that Taj. Gibson was better than Josh Smith is stupid for that very reason. In your rush to statistician everything you have failed to realize this.

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You're a fool that doesn't understand what statistics are. They are not a weird way to view the game.

They are the results of every single aspect of the game.

You failed statistics in high school, didn't you?

Take all the jabs you want at me. You're a peon. Your thoughts and views are viewed and rebutted by me for solely my entertainment purposes. No one has ever thought they could try to help you learn something.

Your ignorance is astounding. Per 36 doesn't try to imitate per game stats. It simply tells you what a player does every 36 minutes on the court. Period. It just so happens that many star starters play 36 minutes. But you compare per 36 of one player to per 36 of another. How is that flawed?

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Rick Hahn is the best GM in baseball.

I don't give a damn about what a guy who plays 12 minutes will do in 36 minutes because I know if he were any good he wouldn't be playing 12 minutes. I know what the stat means and it is pretty much useless.

You are so stupid that you don't even know that offense is more valued that Defense. That's why I had to point it out to your dumb ass.

Look up the name Steve Coulter when you get a chance. If you know anything about him or his history, which you don't, then you will know why stats such as per 36 are meaningless.

When I reference Bernstein and his playbook, this is the sort of stuff that I am referencing. It's the only way that guys like him, and by osmosis guys like you, can hold a sports conversation.

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You still don't understood, as suspected.

Since a day is 24 hours long, have 25 consecutive hours ever happened in the history of the universe?

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Rick Hahn is the best GM in baseball.

You in your not so infinite Stat referencing wisdom fail to understand the nuances of sports. Your go to move are always statistics. You can't camouflage your lack of sports acumen by quoting stats all the time. Sometimes they are relevant and sometimes they are not. You rarely hear me reference stats because I understand how stats can be manipulated. You don't obviously.


I will sum up your per 36 crap. I am not interested in how a guy per 36 avg looks as much as I'm concerned about the guy that is capable of playing 36 minutes.

It's the reason that I never believed the "Taj is better than most starting 4s in the league" garbage. As a guy that has watched basketball and played longer than you have lived I understood that he is was too small to bang with starting power forwards consistently. It has shown because he is always hurt.

At best he was a 24 min a game bench guy. His per 36 avg doesn't mean as much to me if it is spread out over 2 games. Reason being that the other 30 minutes are going to have to be filled by someone else. His hard working 18 minutes can never compare to Josh Smith's 36 minutes. Josh Smith's substitute only plays 12 min where as Taj Gibson's will have to play 30. That is why the term Starter's minutes exist and why they are important.
Josh Smith is also checking starting caliber 4 men for 30 minutes a game while Taj is primarily checking backups. That makes a difference also. You don't get that merely by looking at the "numbers".

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Actually it has.

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So a player can play 36 minutes without them being during a single game, yes?

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Rick Hahn is the best GM in baseball.

Yes they can but I'm more interested in guys that play close to 36 minutes a game. I asked you to check out Steve Coulter I know you didn't but let me provide you with a quick lesson on why stats such as per 36 are fools gold.

Steve Coulter was a backup guard with the Portland Trail Blazers during the early mid 80's. He put up pretty good numbers during the limited time that he was on the court. The Bulls used the advanced Stat rationale as a basis for acquiring him. They believed if he were a starter he would put up better numbers due to an increase in his minutes.

It was an utter disaster. He flopped because they realized that he couldn't play starter's minutes and they also realized that he couldn't compete against starting caliber point guards.

That Stat tends to benefit bench players and guys on limited minutes much more than it does guys that play starters minutes. There are too many variables for me to use it as a way of assessing players. I could provide a list but I'm hoping that you can figure out what they are.

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It doesn't benefit any player. It tells you what a player does in 36 minutes of court time.

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Rick Hahn is the best GM in baseball.

If you want to use that as justification for why player A is better than B then have at it. Watching basketball tells you more than cherry picking stats. If you want to continue on with your statistical analysis game feel free.

I'm not interested in Etwaun Moore's per 36 if takes him 5 games to arrive at it.

Taj is different because he played more, but his per 36 for his career is about a game and a half. Josh Smith is also playing with and against starters and that typically makes a difference.

There is a reason that Josh Smith has avg. more minutes than Taj during his career. He was a better player. He also came to the league as a high school player whereas Taj. Entered as an older than normal college player.

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How is Josh Smith doing?

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Rick Hahn is the best GM in baseball.

To be honest I haven't been checking. Houston could have waived him for all I know. When he does well I can't get any action in this thread.

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He is a DNP - Coach's Decision since the beginning of March.

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Rick Hahn is the best GM in baseball.

Bulls should take a flier

Sure...I need a catalyst to officially cancel my fandom.

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Rick Hahn is the best GM in baseball.

i just want to see him interact with Hoiberg

Imagine Hoiberg coaching Josh Smith, Demarcus Cousins and Matt Barnes.

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Rick Hahn is the best GM in baseball.

I would hope they kill Hoiberg first, and then kill each other.

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His career could end today and he'd still have been a better player than Taj Gibson. That was always my point.

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