In Praise Of Tall Guys Who Shoot Threes

Let's compare some numbers, in this case, per-36 minutes adjusted stats for a few big dudes who shoot the three with some regularity.

Who? - Pts - Rebs - Blks - Stls - FG% - 3P%
A - 15.4 - 4.8 - 0.4 - 1.2 - 43.5% - 39.7%
B - 14.9 - 7.0 - 1.2 - 1.1 - 45.1% - 43.9%
C - 19.3 - 8.0 - 0.6 - 1.0 - 43.6% - 37.0%

Player B, as you have probably already guessed, is three-point marksman and super-nice-guy, Channing Frye, who it should be noted, is pretty much the best ever.

But, who then is Player A? He seems to be a little better at scoring, though with less efficient shooting and a big drop off in rebounding and blocks. All in all, about the same or worse than Channing, right? Well I would agree. He also happens to play for a play-off team. His name is Rashard Lewis.

Is that not interesting enough for you? How about this: Rashard Lewis is the ninth highest paid player in the NBA. He made about 19 million dollars this year, and is under contract to get a pay raise of about 1.5 million a year up through 2013. Channing Frye made 2 million dollars this year. He is scheduled to get a pay raise of $80,000 next year. Now go look back at the stats again.

The point is this: Channing Frye does the same things as Rashard Lewis at one tenth the price. That's value.

But, who is this mysterious Player C? This scoring and rebounding dynamo may be a slightly worse shot than Rashard and Channing, but he certainly brings a lot to the table, and for 1.3 million dollars this year, he's a bargain! Who is it? Why, it's none other than Rashard Lewis's back-up, Ryan Anderson! Look at the stats again. Now look at the contracts. If you are an Orlando fan, now is the appropriate time to wallow in some Rashard-Lewis based contract sadness.

Now cheer up! While you might not have invested wisely in Rashard Lewis and Channing Frye is happily busy with the Suns, you can rejoice in your Ryan Anderson-y future and all the fringe benefits he brings to the table. What fringe benefits you ask?

Well, who in the NBA can you count on for some solid pottery-painting time? No one but Ryan Anderson. No, seriously.

I love that.

Serious propers to Trey Kerby at Ball Don't Lie for bringing Ryan Anderson's weirdness to my attention. Let me send you off with some videos of Ryan Anderson nerding out with Brook Lopez while trick-or-treating and going to comic book conventions and saluting both of them for joining the all-geeky team with Marvin Williams, Danny Granger, and, of course, Channing Frye. Good job, nerds.