Before the season, in a podcast with FillingTheLanes, I decided not to pick Irving for Rookie of the Year, because I thought Faried was going to tear it up. And even the guys at FTL, who give me lots of shit when I deviate sharply from conventional wisdom, thought it was in interesting choice. I mean, nobody laughed at me with the typical "hahaha you noob!" I expect when I pick these guys. Unfortunately, I underestimated the idiocy of George Karl, who has not given him many minutes (until, like, every single Nugget got injured and forced his hand). So, consider this an open letter on Karl because I have to ask:
WTF IS THIS SHIT?
I mean, seriously. Let's take a look at Faried's numbers.
| Raw Stats | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Min | WP48 | Wins | PTS | DRB | ORB | REB | AST | TO | BLK | STL | PF | |
| Faried | 468 | .346 | 3.4 | 21.1 | 10.1 | 7.0 | 17.0 | 1.1 | 1.8 | 2.7 | 1.5 | 5.7 |
| Average PF | 880 | .099 | 1.8 | 19.6 | 8.0 | 3.6 | 11.6 | 2.4 | 2.4 | 1.6 | 1.4 | 4.6 |
| Shooting Efficiency | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FG% | 2FG% | 3FG% | FT% | eFG% | TS% | FGA | 3FGA | PPS | FTA | |
| Faried | 58.0% | 58.0% | 0.0% | 65.7% | 58.0% | 61.0% | 14.2 | 0.0 | 1.49 | 7.2 |
| Average PF | 46.9% | 48.6% | 35.0% | 71.6% | 49.1% | 52.8% | 16.4 | 2.1 | 1.19 | 4.8 |
I mean, what the hell is your problem? Looking at these numbers, I really (REALLY) want to know which of them you don't like. Is it the fact that he's not a scoring threat? Oh wait, snap, he scores more than an average PF. Is it the turnovers? Oh wait, he rarely does that. Is it the bad shots? Oh, wait, he's 9th in the league in FG% among guys with > 400 minutes. Maybe he's not very good at getting to the...HOLY HELL THAT'S A LOT OF FREE THROWS. Is it the rebounding? Hahahahaha just kidding.
Seriously, I just don't get this at all. I mean, come on, by now the whole "Well it's limited minutes, you never know if he can really keep doing this" argument has got to be wearing thin. I mean, it's not like Faried has not been doing this for four fucking years now. He is exactly the guy he looked like in college. To the T. And we're approaching the 500 minute mark. If These 500 minutes had come in the first 15 games he'd have been the run-away rookie of the year candidate.
And, again, as I have said about 8 million times, it's not like you have insane options at the power forward. News flash, Mr. Karl, Kevin Love is not walking through that door. The other power forwards are Al Harrington, who's terrible, Gallinari, who's way better when he plays SF, Koufas/Andersen playing out of position, or Mozgov, who is both turrible and out of position at the 4. I guess Nene isn't too out of position at the 4, but he's gone now, too, so I wonder what your new excuse will be.
| Raw Stats | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Min | WP48 | Wins | PTS | DRB | ORB | REB | AST | TO | BLK | STL | PF | |
| Harrington | 1227 | -.008 | -0.2 | 25.0 | 9.0 | 2.1 | 11.1 | 2.5 | 3.3 | 0.4 | 1.7 | 4.9 |
| Gallinari | 978 | .092 | 1.9 | 23.5 | 6.4 | 1.0 | 7.4 | 3.7 | 2.1 | 0.9 | 1.6 | 2.8 |
| Faried | 468 | .346 | 3.4 | 21.1 | 10.1 | 7.0 | 17.0 | 1.1 | 1.8 | 2.7 | 1.5 | 5.7 |
| Average PF | 880 | .099 | 1.8 | 19.6 | 8.0 | 3.6 | 11.6 | 2.4 | 2.4 | 1.6 | 1.4 | 4.6 |
| Shooting Efficiency | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FG% | 2FG% | 3FG% | FT% | eFG% | TS% | FGA | 3FGA | PPS | FTA | |
| Harrington | 45.2% | 54.0% | 30.2% | 66.4% | 50.7% | 53.2% | 21.1 | 7.8 | 1.18 | 5.4 |
| Gallinari | 43.1% | 51.0% | 31.1% | 87.5% | 49.3% | 57.8% | 16.8 | 6.6 | 1.39 | 7.9 |
| Faried | 58.0% | 58.0% | 0.0% | 65.7% | 58.0% | 61.0% | 14.2 | 0.0 | 1.49 | 7.2 |
| Average PF | 46.9% | 48.6% | 35.0% | 71.6% | 49.1% | 52.8% | 16.4 | 2.1 | 1.19 | 4.8 |
You have got to be kidding me. As my buddy Andres Alvarez has said, the rest of this year you can apply a very simple algorithm to evaluating the Denver Nuggets performance: If the Nuggets lose, and Faried played less than 20 minutes, it is directly your fault. No, no, no, do not blame Al Harrington when he sucks. He's been in the league for a while and this isn't new information. No one is sitting at your house with a gun to your new puppie's head screaming "Play Al or the puppy gets it!!!!11!"
By the way my guess is the Nuggets will lose about 4 more "we-should-have-won-there-but-Karl-is-a-moron" games.