Time will bear out whether that is the case, but I loved this bit of spin doctoring Chris Mannix uses to prove his point:
For starters, Boston's acquisition of Jesus Shuttlesworth, er, Ray Allen was a stroke of genius. In Allen, Ainge picks up arguably the league's best perimeter shooter whose presence alone will open up huge driving lanes for Pierce. Despite playing in just 55 games for the floundering Sonics last season, Allen averaged 26.4 points on 43.8 percent shooting.
Some Boston pole-smoking from a likely Massachusettsan...I love how missing nearly 30 games is used as evidence that Allen's points average is even more impressive. Too bad almost everyone knows that the less games a player has played in, the more distorted his average numbers will be. There is a reason why, for instance, major league baseball has a minimum number of plate appearances to qualify for the batting title, etc.
Also, it's pretty funny that in trying to praise this deal, Mannix brings up one of the major flaws in this deal: Allen has been less than healthy lately. Here, by way of contrast, is how another writer discussed this deal:
Worst Deal: This is a tough call, but we're going with Danny Ainge and the Celtics on this one. Jeff Green is going to be a quality player in the NBA and he was dealt for a soon-to-be 32-year-old Ray Allen who is coming off two ankle surgeries. Unless Ainge makes another deal, this is a team that won't be able to stop anyone — and also won't have enough guys who make anyone better.
Methinks Mannix needs to put down his copy of "He Got Game," and his glass of green Kool Aid and wake up to the fact that Allen's not getting much younger and that he has shown that he's really not good enough to carry a lousy (and yes the Celtics are an absolutely lousy team) team to contender status.
If anything, this trade is reminiscent of the ill-conceived Payton trade that sent Allen to Seattle in the first place.
I mean EVEN BILL SIMMONS thought this was a lousy deal
lawl! you already basically pointed this out, but i love the wording mannix uses (capitalization for emphasis)- "DESPITE playing in only 55 games, allen averaged..." as if fewer games hurts your ability to have a decent average.
ReplyDeletedespite only getting one at bat in last night's game, joey pinchhitter managed to obtain a batting average of 1.000 for the day!