Friday, February 02, 2007

Pronk

Z-bo is officially the Travis Hafner of the NBA. An elite player who, simply by being in the wrong place, wrong league, at the wrong time, is not on the All Star team. Travis Hafner, who goes by the nickname Pronk due to his striking likeness to a character from "Shrek", has been one of the best hitters in the American League the last 3 years. He's had an OPS (on base + slugging percentage) of 993, 1.003, and 1.098 the last three years but has never made an All Star Team due to the presence of more high profile DH's in the league, Big Papi, Jim Thome, Frank Thomas, etc.

Z-bo on the other hand is the only player in the league averaging over 23 points & 10 rebounds a game, and ranks 11th in the entire NBA in PER at 23.66. The problem is that out of 10 players ranked ahead of Zach, 5 of them are power forwards in the Western Conference, Dirk, KG, Duncan (although it could be argued that he's a center), Boozer, and Brand.

So, while it seems ridiculous that Zach isn't an All Star, there is precedent here. Bad timing. The greater injustice would be The Marcus not making the rookie game. I can't explain how Jorge Garbajosa is on the team and Aldridge is not, unless Bargnani had it written into his contract as the #1 overall player that says he gets to bring his Euro buddy with him wherever he goes. I would have made a stink about Sergio as well, but since he's hurt we'll leave that alone.

There have been some cries for Jarrett Jack to be on the Soph team, but let's be honest, Jack's a solid player but he's not going to be selected at the point ahead of Chris Paul or Deron Williams.

The Ducks...um...nothing to see here, move along.

1 comment:

tc said...

Hey there, big hoops fan (sorry, don't laugh, Lakers....but I am from LA, grew up watching the Lakers in the early '80s) anyway. Overall I just like good hoops and I'm just found your blog. Don't wanna say I feel sorry for the Blazers coz we compete against ya, but y'all have some fantastic players in Aldridge, Jack, Roy; can't think who your GM is but then there are other guys who are solid-Udoka, Webster-their potential isn't as great but they should be in the league at least 6 or 7 years. And Rodriguez too. Anyway, just found your blog; I'm always looking for info to aid my fantasy league decisions and, well, hoops is a hell of a game so I like to find good info about it so, well, I'll check your site again. Great writing.