It's impossible to get an accurate picture of our last spotlighted team, Buffy. Stats don't reflect the depth and skill of this roster; mainly because they've have major parts missing most of the season. Even with all those injuries,
Buffy stands at a strong 9-6 (good for third in the West) and had a four game winning streak earlier in the season.
Injuries are part of the game but this is ridiculous. Chris Paul, Rashard Lewis, JR Smith, Luke Walton, the
recently traded Joe Johnson, and Shaquille O'Neal have all missed significant time. Baron Davis and Antawn Jamison are slated to miss a few weeks each --
as is JR Smith again. We'll take a look at Buffy's projected best lineup and how that might stack up.
PTS, REB, AST: Buffy, firing on all cylinders, is a powerhouse scoring team. They're ranked 4th in PTS on the season but the potential is there for a much higher ranking. While there are no scoring champs on this roster, seven guys can consistently put up around 20 ppg (Paul, Duncan, Baron, Rashard, Jamison, Curry, Crawford). That makes for a lot of buckets. We're thinking Buffy can compete with anyone in PTS anyway, simply because they are so explosive and anyone is capable of blowing up for a big week.
The trade for Tim Duncan (10.8 REB) inserts a stud rebounder into the lineup. While there are a handful of pretty good rebounders on the squad -- Curry, Jamison, Lewis, Webber, Collision, and presumably, Shaq, can all get at least 7 REB a game -- Buffy isn't an overwhelming REB force. Yet. Ranked only 8th on the season, they can quickly rise in the rankings if everyone gets on board. Not to mention, Baron and CP3 are both great rebounding point guards. We forsee a top 3 REB ranking if everyone is healthy and in the lineup.
The passing burden falls squarely on the brittle bodies of Baron and Chris Paul. Both average about 8.7 AST a game and that incredible output would allow them to carry the rest of the team. How far though? The next best AST guy on the team is either Jamal Crawford or Luke Walton -- one is a shooter, the other is limited by Kobe and Lamar. While there's a steep drop-off after the two stud point guards, Buffy should be at least middle of the pack in AST -- they're ranked 8th for now.
STL, BLK, 3PT: You're gonna hear this a lot: Baron and Paul carry the team -- this time in STL. Both are at about 2.0 STL per game and those are league leading numbers. Most of the other guards and forwards average about 1.0 STL a game and that should be enough to make Buffy slightly above average in the STL department -- ranked 5th on the season.
Buffy is a bonafide dominant three point shooting team. They're only ranked 3rd on the season, but they've rarely had their full complement of shooters on the floor. JR Smith (2.75), Rashard Lewis (2.2), and Antawn Jamison (2.2) lead the way but Crawford, Davis, Dunleavy, and Mobley aren't too shabby either. If those seven all play at the same time, the 3PT numbers can get astronomical.
The only weakness Buffy has displayed so far is a lack of BLK. They're ranked 10th in the league, and only protect the rim better than the Sour Snails and Funk Coalition -- who barely reject anything except wins. Tim Duncan's 2.3 BLK will help here but one man can't carry a whole team. The other seven-footers on this team, Shaq and Eddy Curry, are hardly good at blocking anything except the buffet line.
FG%, FT%, TO: For a team with so many shooters, this is a fine FG% team. Eddy Curry shoots 58.1% and Tim Duncan will boost that with his 52.7%. If Shaq ever shoots enough to make a difference, his 52.2% is pretty par for the course. Even Baron Davis is at a respectable -- for him -- 42.6%. The only truly terrible shooter here is Jamal Crawford (40.2%), who has no conscience, but in a good way. Buffy is ranked 5th on the season in FG% -- soon to rise -- and that's pretty impressive considering the PTS and 3PT output they are capable of.
The flip side of the shiny coin is that FT% is shot to hell -- ranked 10th and that's before Timmy and Shaq were in the lineup. Duncan and Shaq's free throw woes are well documented. Curry and Webber don't help matters with their sub-70 FT% either. If Roger decides to take his team and go small, he could do quite well in FT% however -- since all of his non-bigs are excellent free throw shooters, highlighted by Rashard Lewis' 90.6%.
Buffy is ranked 9th in TO for the season, recently rising as high as 5th for the second half. Have they gotten better at protecting the ball? Unlikely. It's more a case of Baron and Paul being injured and off the floor. The real concern here is that Eddy Curry, Tim Duncan, and Jamal Crawford all average about 3.0 TO each, the same as the two point guards but without the high return in AST. Still, Buffy should be middle of the pack in turnovers as just about everyone either shoots it immediately, or just puts it in the bucket.
Bench: Buffy is in the enviable position of being able to play the matchups. They could go big with Shaq, Curry, Webber and Collison, or go small and insert JR Smith, Dunleavy, Mobley, and Walton. They can play for REB, for either of the two percentages, for 3PT, and not lose a whole lot in the PTS and AST department. They are a true 9-category team. Fun times eh? The only guy who will probably remain firmly planted on the bench is Hakim Warrick, who has had his moments but is too streaky to play often. Shaq may never see the light of day either, as Roger drafted him with the intention of punishing him for ever leaving the Lakers. Otherwise, there's not a defined bench here as much as a deep squad to play matchups week to week. Pundits project that the bench will usually consist of Shaq, Warrick, Mobley, Collison (who is playing like a monster recently), and Walton. Unless one of them gets the hot hand and can displace Webber, JR Smith, or Dunleavy.
Cure: There's nothing wrong with this team; in fact, there's a lot of right with it. They just need to remain healthy. The key cog, Baron Davis (who is irreplaceable as the second anchor for AST and STL) seems to drive this team's success. If he plays, Buffy wins.
Roger could move some spare pieces for another BLK guy in the mold of Darko Milicic or something like that, but for the most part, what else does this team need? Maybe another point guard to back up Baron and Paul? A witch doctor for Baron's knees? That's about it. This is the playoff dark horse right here.
Eric-A exhibited savvy draft day foresight, stealing a resurrected Amare Stoudemire in Rd2 and getting value on the dollar for Zach Randolph in Rd6. Raja Bell (7), Jarrett Jack (10) and Andrea Bargnani (11) will all turn out to be good picks, but hardly true steals. A diminished Ben Wallace in Rd4 now looks a bit early.
Jose took the risk on Pau Gasol in Rd6 and got back second round value pretty quickly. Which is good because their actual second round pick, Andrei Kirilenko has been the biggest bust so far this season. Acquiring the streak shooting Ben Gordon in Rd7 seems to be quite a coup too.
Evan got a block and rebounding machine in Rd7, Emeka Okafor, for cheap; which came right after his now ugly looking selection of Charlie Villanueva in Rd6. The best pick might have been committing to Josh Smith in Rd3 however, as Josh is now putting up outstanding, ridiculous, numbers. Then again, maybe it's mighty Mo Williams in the 9th that deserves best pick honors.
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