You could say that since the alternative to him is Tarick Black. I find it hard to give too much credit to a guy who is putting up such terrible numbers, though.
For a guy making 2 million dollars his numbers are great! If we were paying what the Pistons paid and he was giving this production it wouldn't be too good. But for 2 million any team in the NBA would take that type of production off their bench.
You must not watch games then because what he gives on the defensive end doesn't always show up on the stat sheet. At 2 million dollars he's definetly a bargain!
Yet the Rockets are 2 points better on offense with him as opposed to without him. And in his case, this number is pretty indicative since McHale's rotation has him playing just about all the minutes where Harden sits(first half of 2nd/4th quarters). He's one of the best transition players on the team and one of the best playmakers. Not everything is about shooting.
If you're gonna base everything off of scoring then Brewer has been pretty bad too... 10.5 pts on 9.4 fga. There's ALOT more ways on how players impact the game than just scoring.
Kind of an ironic post considering your signature says, "stats are tools, not answers." Smith's value on this team has less to do with his shooting or PPG and more about defense, getting the ball to the corner three, bringing high energy off of the bench, allowing Harden some rest due to his ability to create on a team that lacks anyone who can (when Harden is out), etc.
Are you actually saying $8 mill/year is too much for Markieff or the remaining $6.5 on IT's is anything but a steal? You think those deals are untradeable? Please tell me exactly what veteran's deal is tradeable then, because particularly the Morris twins contracts are well below market. In fact, Markieff finished high on Simmons' trade value article specifically BECAUSE of his contract given his contribution. This is an era where Tristan Thompson is turning down near max deals for god's sake. McDonough did a ridiculous job with that team. It won 25 or so games the year before he showed up, had a high pick (I think 5th or 6th) in what was considered an awful draft, and had little to nothing to work with aside from the Morris twins. And this year he has one of the youngest teams of any of the playoff contenders. He finished 2nd in executive of the year as a first time GM and people here are knocking him. I get everyone has homer glasses on and wants Dragic traded here, but can we at least act somewhat rationally? Hell, he got Bledsoe for less than the max Bledsoe was demanding, so I'm not sure how he botched it either. And who was there to replace Frye? Only stretch guy I can think of is Hawes, but I haven't seen anything to indicate Phoenix didn't go after him. So all in all, I disagree with all of your post. If Morey went elsewhere, I'd trust McDonough to take over the reigns. He was a big part of the Celtics title team, and again finished 2nd in Executive of the Year voting as a first year guy, and has locked up all the key guys he could on good deals according to most everyone I've ever seen aside from you. Look at the trades McDonough has made. He knows what he's doing.
That's because early on he was forcing things. Now that he has settled down his shot selection has gotten better.
