Heat win, Cards spanked
What a night for sports for me.
I was actually rooting for the Mavericks, because I really want to see Mark Cuban win a championship, and the idea of David Stern handing the trophy to Cubes really would have amused me greatly.
Having said that, Wade has really established himself as a superstar.
It's a stretch to put him in that highest level that is reserved for players like Jordan, Magic and Bird, however he is quickly putting himself in position to enter that celebrated level of people. This kid is only 24 years old. I know LeBron is younger and he's also quickly approaching that level, but Wade now has a ring and LeBron doesn't, so we'll keep this post about Wade for now.
Here's what I think is the key stat for him, not only for this season, but for his career. Shooting percentage. We have too many Iversons in the league right now. They score 30 ppg, but they do it on 42% or even 39% shooting. Dwyane Wade's shooting percentage this season was .495, almost 50% from a guard. His career shooting percentage, not much lower at .482
But it seems we finally have actual good shooting percentages in the league again, here's some of the more notable players with excellent shooting on the season:
S. O'Neal (MIA) - .600
S. Nash (Pho) - .512
D. Wade (MIA) - .495
D. Nowitzki - .480
L. James (Cle) - .480
These are some good percentages from MAJOR players. Shaq always has a high percentage, but 60% is ridiculously good for him even.
Other players
A. Iverson (PHI) - .447
K. Bryant (LAL) - .450
M. Jordan (Career, CHI and WAS, 15 seasons) - .497
So you can see, players like Iverson and Kobe, while being great players, aren't doing it to the level than LeBron and Wade and Dirk are doing it. Wade's percentage, especially for a young player, is ridiculously good. He's already the center of the team's offense, so it's unlikely to have a major drop(at least until O'Neal retires).
Anyway, on to the other topic, that I'll definitely get into more later.
The Cardinals(my team) were trounced in a ridiculous manner last night. A 20-6 loss in Chicago to the White Sox. An 11-run 3rd inning, where Mark Mulder was destroyed was mostly to blame.
Mark Mulder's 2005 stats
32 GS, 16-8 record, 3.64 ERA, 83 ER in 205 IP.
This season:
15 GS, 6-5 record, 6.09 ERA, 60 ER in 89.2 IP.
He's on pace right now to catch up to the number of earned runs he gave up in 2005 in about 33 more innings. So if that pace remains(and his ERA stays the same), he would give up his 83rd Earned Run at around 123 innings pitched on the season.
The other issue last night was of course the issue of throwing at people. This is something I don't understand. To me it's a pitcher saying, "I can't get you out, therefore I have to punish you in another way."
Ponson hit 2 people, who knows if they were on purpose, but then Ozzie ordered David Riske to hit Chris Duncan, and then both were quickly ejected. Ozzie seemed a lot more pleased than with his rookie a little bit ago who missed in 2 inside pitches.
It's one of those "unwritten rules." They're mostly ridiculous, but that's material for a future post.
I was actually rooting for the Mavericks, because I really want to see Mark Cuban win a championship, and the idea of David Stern handing the trophy to Cubes really would have amused me greatly.
Having said that, Wade has really established himself as a superstar.
It's a stretch to put him in that highest level that is reserved for players like Jordan, Magic and Bird, however he is quickly putting himself in position to enter that celebrated level of people. This kid is only 24 years old. I know LeBron is younger and he's also quickly approaching that level, but Wade now has a ring and LeBron doesn't, so we'll keep this post about Wade for now.
Here's what I think is the key stat for him, not only for this season, but for his career. Shooting percentage. We have too many Iversons in the league right now. They score 30 ppg, but they do it on 42% or even 39% shooting. Dwyane Wade's shooting percentage this season was .495, almost 50% from a guard. His career shooting percentage, not much lower at .482
But it seems we finally have actual good shooting percentages in the league again, here's some of the more notable players with excellent shooting on the season:
S. O'Neal (MIA) - .600
S. Nash (Pho) - .512
D. Wade (MIA) - .495
D. Nowitzki - .480
L. James (Cle) - .480
These are some good percentages from MAJOR players. Shaq always has a high percentage, but 60% is ridiculously good for him even.
Other players
A. Iverson (PHI) - .447
K. Bryant (LAL) - .450
M. Jordan (Career, CHI and WAS, 15 seasons) - .497
So you can see, players like Iverson and Kobe, while being great players, aren't doing it to the level than LeBron and Wade and Dirk are doing it. Wade's percentage, especially for a young player, is ridiculously good. He's already the center of the team's offense, so it's unlikely to have a major drop(at least until O'Neal retires).
Anyway, on to the other topic, that I'll definitely get into more later.
The Cardinals(my team) were trounced in a ridiculous manner last night. A 20-6 loss in Chicago to the White Sox. An 11-run 3rd inning, where Mark Mulder was destroyed was mostly to blame.
Mark Mulder's 2005 stats
32 GS, 16-8 record, 3.64 ERA, 83 ER in 205 IP.
This season:
15 GS, 6-5 record, 6.09 ERA, 60 ER in 89.2 IP.
He's on pace right now to catch up to the number of earned runs he gave up in 2005 in about 33 more innings. So if that pace remains(and his ERA stays the same), he would give up his 83rd Earned Run at around 123 innings pitched on the season.
The other issue last night was of course the issue of throwing at people. This is something I don't understand. To me it's a pitcher saying, "I can't get you out, therefore I have to punish you in another way."
Ponson hit 2 people, who knows if they were on purpose, but then Ozzie ordered David Riske to hit Chris Duncan, and then both were quickly ejected. Ozzie seemed a lot more pleased than with his rookie a little bit ago who missed in 2 inside pitches.
It's one of those "unwritten rules." They're mostly ridiculous, but that's material for a future post.
posted by Matt at 9:11 AM
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