This does not really bear arguing any more because now it's a debate of what an all-star does on the court. That's all opinion and would make Sura feint upon reading it. All those hall of famers did more than Chandler is doing. They fill up stat sheets with steals and assists. I get your point, but Chandler is playing a point scoring position and he's not a ball distributor or a top 10 rebounder. Either way, your post was well written and I enjoyed the read and see your points, but you need a proper period at the end. This one should suffice:
I doubt he can either. He may be able to be slightly better than Prince as a more assertive player, but I don't see him averaging 20ppg, which is pretty much where you need to be as an all-star "front court" player. If he only maintains what he is doing this season, he'll be a very valuable player. I hate to judge a player on a recent hot streak.
Yeah, PPG is up there with "reputation" as one of the things that is traditionally overvalued for all star selections, which tends to make the honor a bit of a joke to begin with. Case in point, it took Iggy years to finally get an All-Star nod, despite being one of the most well-rounded, versatile players in the league in addition to one of its best man defenders. We could probably agree that there is a Venn diagram of a circle that contains the NBA's best players, overlapping with another circle containing players who hold the cheesy "All Star" honorific. Sometimes they're the same people, sometimes not.
MLB has seen a huge embrace of advanced stats, but in the NBA, you don't see those stats beyond PER very often. No talk of Offesensive & Defensive ratings or rebounding percentage or even TS%. Short Forward in particular is difficult to get all star nods unless they score since they aren't going to average 10 boards or assists. Kirilenko is the only exception I can think of. He averaged 16 & 8 in his all-star season, but he also was near the league lead in blocks, which Parsons will never be.
The Gilbert Arenas rule won't apply when Morey declines Parsons' 4th year to make him a RFA. We have full Bird rights on Parsons at the end of the 3 years.
To be an All-Star, or viewed as All-Star caliber, the coaching staff has to designate Parsons as scoring option #2 behind Harden so he can get his PPG up. Whenever Harden or Lin go out, he has to take command of the ball distribution and play-making. Thirdly, Parsons needs his own flashy signature, go-to move. This league is partly a style contest, and it'll help him to be more popular.
1st year: Dirk Parsons PPG 8.2 9.5 RPG 3.4 4.8 APG 1.0 2.1 SPG .6 1.2 BPG .6 .5 FG% .405 .452 3P% .206 .337 MPG 20.4 28.6 2nd year: Dirk Parsons PPG 17.5 15.7 RPG 6.5 7.0 APG 2.5 3.5 SPG .8 1.1 BPG .8 .1 FG% .461 .476 3P% .379 .418 MPG 35.8 38.1 I don't see what's so funny about what I said. After adjusting for minutes, Parsons leads Dirk in APG, SPG, FG%, and 3P% in years 1 and 2. Also after adjusting for minutes, RPG for both players is almost the exact same in years 1 and 2 (with Parsons getting the slight edge in both those years). Dirk leads Parsons in PPG in both years (after adjusting for minutes (Parsons has 83% of Dirk's PPG in year 1 and 84% of his PPG in year 2)). The only thing Dirk leads Parsons in by a comfortable margin is BPG. Their stats in both years are very similiar. After adjusting for minutes this is how Parsons's stats compare to Dirk's: Year 1 Year 2 PPG 83% 84% RPG 101% 101% APG 150% 132% SPG 143% 129% - with Parson leading Dirk in FG% and 3P% in both years
I've been listening to opposing team's broadcasts quite a bit this season, and people outside of Houston are definitely taking notice of the kind of player Parsons has become. I probably hear more positive comments directed towards him than any of our other players.
These are very different players, with different styles, different ceilings, and who were are different ages and levels of development when they came into the league. Dirk is over 7 ft tall. That right there is a huge difference in who they are, how they play, and what their thresholds are. The thing that makes Dirk so unstoppable as a primary offensive weapon is that he is an awesome shooter whose shot is unblock-able and essentially undefendable. Parsons will never be that tall and will thus never be able to play or dominate in that way. As much as I love Parsons's and his defense, varied skill set and intangibles, I do not think he will ever be a primary offensive weapon. He is a great role player and I hope he retires a Rocket, but his skill set and how he contributes is radically different from Dirk and has no potential to become that.
The Raptors commentators were singing his praises last night as well. "That Chandler Parsons is a good looking young player". I bet Morey gets more calls about Parsons than anyone else on our roster. That'll be the chip Morey cashes in to get Harden, part two.
In a heartbeat Carmelo is a top 10 player in the league, just imagine Harden and Melo two very efficient scorers who would you double team.
