Minnesota Sports Forum

There's irony in using W/L to rip Ball...

... to tout a guy who helped a team have the leagues worst record (14 - 40).

AbeVigodaLive wrote:There's irony in using W/L to rip Ball...

... to tout a guy who helped a team have the leagues worst record (14 - 40).

I think I was unclear before my first cup of coffee, Abe. Ball didn't help his team win games and Graham does, but like most rookies, Ant doesn't either...yet. But you don't win ROY because your team is good. You win by putting up big offensive numbers, and Ant is doing that. I see him as almost a lock now for ROY.

FNG wrote:

AbeVigodaLive wrote:There's irony in using W/L to rip Ball...

... to tout a guy who helped a team have the leagues worst record (14 - 40).

I think I was unclear before my first cup of coffee, Abe. Ball didn't help his team win games and Graham does, but like most rookies, Ant doesn't either...yet. But you don't win ROY because your team is good. You win by putting up big offensive numbers, and Ant is doing that. I see him as almost a lock now for ROY.

16 / 6 / 6 / 45% / 38% 3fg
18 / 4 / 3 / 40% / 32% 3fg

And even though W/L don't really matter... putting up volume stats with poor efficiency for the league's worst team is pretty noticeable. Meanwhile, whether or not Ball deserves credit for it or he's riding Graham's coattails... the Hornets already have more wins this season than last season. It's about perception.

Putting Edwards and Ball on the same level for not helping their team win games is a bit of a reach. Edwards has actively helped the Wolves to the worst record in basketball. He still has a negative VORP. And negative WS... which is almost unheard of. We can quibble about Graham > Ball... but Ball was not making the Hornets worse for a large chunk of the season like Edwards was.

We're all excited about the flashes from Edwards and the improvement. There's legit hope there. But he was horrific for weeks/months. That doesn't just disappear because of a few weeks.


[Note: Besides that... who cares about ROY. It's actually better if Edwards doesn't win it. No more awards for sucking balls. Let him feel slighted and use it for motivation.]

AbeVigodaLive wrote:

FNG wrote:

AbeVigodaLive wrote:There's irony in using W/L to rip Ball...

... to tout a guy who helped a team have the leagues worst record (14 - 40).

I think I was unclear before my first cup of coffee, Abe. Ball didn't help his team win games and Graham does, but like most rookies, Ant doesn't either...yet. But you don't win ROY because your team is good. You win by putting up big offensive numbers, and Ant is doing that. I see him as almost a lock now for ROY.

16 / 6 / 6 / 45% / 38% 3fg
18 / 4 / 3 / 40% / 32% 3fg

And even though W/L don't really matter... putting up volume stats with poor efficiency for the league's worst team is pretty noticeable. Meanwhile, whether or not Ball deserves credit for it or he's riding Graham's coattails... the Hornets already have more wins this season than last season. It's about perception.

Putting Edwards and Ball on the same level for not helping their team win games is a bit of a reach. Edwards has actively helped the Wolves to the worst record in basketball. He still has a negative VORP. And negative WS... which is almost unheard of. We can quibble about Graham > Ball... but Ball was not making the Hornets worse for a large chunk of the season like Edwards was.

We're all excited about the flashes from Edwards and the improvement. There's legit hope there. But he was horrific for weeks/months. That doesn't just disappear because of a few weeks.


[Note: Besides that... who cares about ROY. It's actually better if Edwards doesn't win it. No more awards for sucking balls. Let him feel slighted and use it for motivation.]

Just for fun I'll turn the tables and ask..should Edwards as a rookie also be blamed for contributing to a team that's been bad for years for...being bad? I'm sorta joking here but...

Like you I don't really care about the ROY it's mostly meaningless but I think of Edwards wins he will probably deserve it...in terms of why people win ROY. Being slighted as motivation sounds good to me but I kinda don't get the feeling that it would matter much either way for Edwards. Mostly I just thought it was kinda funny when some people seemed to think Ball had it locked up and some of it was because they won games. Of course the Hornets doing well this season might actually be something for us poor Wolves fans to cling to in terms of hope...of course the Gordon Hayward addition was likely pretty significant to that turnaround. Remember back when Terry Rozier was a bad contract? Good times.

monsterpile wrote:

AbeVigodaLive wrote:

FNG wrote:

AbeVigodaLive wrote:There's irony in using W/L to rip Ball...

... to tout a guy who helped a team have the leagues worst record (14 - 40).

I think I was unclear before my first cup of coffee, Abe. Ball didn't help his team win games and Graham does, but like most rookies, Ant doesn't either...yet. But you don't win ROY because your team is good. You win by putting up big offensive numbers, and Ant is doing that. I see him as almost a lock now for ROY.

16 / 6 / 6 / 45% / 38% 3fg
18 / 4 / 3 / 40% / 32% 3fg

And even though W/L don't really matter... putting up volume stats with poor efficiency for the league's worst team is pretty noticeable. Meanwhile, whether or not Ball deserves credit for it or he's riding Graham's coattails... the Hornets already have more wins this season than last season. It's about perception.

Putting Edwards and Ball on the same level for not helping their team win games is a bit of a reach. Edwards has actively helped the Wolves to the worst record in basketball. He still has a negative VORP. And negative WS... which is almost unheard of. We can quibble about Graham > Ball... but Ball was not making the Hornets worse for a large chunk of the season like Edwards was.

We're all excited about the flashes from Edwards and the improvement. There's legit hope there. But he was horrific for weeks/months. That doesn't just disappear because of a few weeks.


[Note: Besides that... who cares about ROY. It's actually better if Edwards doesn't win it. No more awards for sucking balls. Let him feel slighted and use it for motivation.]

Just for fun I'll turn the tables and ask..should Edwards as a rookie also be blamed for contributing to a team that's been bad for years for...being bad? I'm sorta joking here but...

Like you I don't really care about the ROY it's mostly meaningless but I think of Edwards wins he will probably deserve it...in terms of why people win ROY. Being slighted as motivation sounds good to me but I kinda don't get the feeling that it would matter much either way for Edwards. Mostly I just thought it was kinda funny when some people seemed to think Ball had it locked up and some of it was because they won games. Of course the Hornets doing well this season might actually be something for us poor Wolves fans to cling to in terms of hope...of course the Gordon Hayward addition was likely pretty significant to that turnaround. Remember back when Terry Rozier was a bad contract? Good times.

Again... did Ball help the Hornets win games? Dunno. Maybe.

Did Edwards help the Wolves have the worst record in basketball? Yes.

We'll see what Edwards can do over the final 18 games. It's 18 games where Ball will not be playing. And it's 18 games for Edwards to continue to improve. But after 54 games... I don't see how Edwards has a case.

Statistically? No. Ball has been better. Story line? No. Ball has that, too. Media push? Ball.



[Note: I have no way of knowing whether it would be motivation for Edwards. Only we hear from other guys who feel slighted over something that they use it for motivation. Meanwhile, we already know that Edwards thinks he's an "average" defender, so he might also have a skewed idea of how good he's really been this year on the other side of the court. ]

Edwards has been getting some media play time lately though. His 40 point game and monster dunk which many are saying is dunk of the year.

I don't really think Ball or Edwards really deserve to win ROY, but someone has to win.