Bernard James or Cole Aldrich?

[ockingsfan]

Bernard James was just released by the Dallas Mavericks. He was a 6'10" 240lbs rookie center from the Mavericks, but he is 28 years old.

He was a rookie who averaged per-36 minute production of 10.3 pts. 10.3 rebounds and 3.0 blocks and was released due to Dallas signing of Monte Ellis. He makes only 788K per year and would make a pretty good defensive big behind DMC.

The Kings can put a claim in on him to fill the back up center role for the team and not have to worry about over bidding for a defensive big.

http://espn.go.com/dallas/nba/story/_/id/9494961/sources-dallas-mavericks-waive-bernard-james

 

[KingsFanGER]

Would be a good solution, but there might be several teams interested in his services.

 

[KingMilz]

Rather have Cole back tbh

 

[KingsFanGER]

Rather have Cole back tbh

I like Aldrich but i would prefer James. Nowitzki and other members of the Mavs always praised James's work ethic, spirit and toughness. I think he would be a nice fit characterwise for the Kings. We need more relentless players and some defensive leadership. Aldrich seems like a bit too much of "Mr. Nice-Guy" to fit that role.

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

I'd love to have James, but I may be biased.

 

[ockingsfan]

Would be a good solution, but there might be several teams interested in his services.

I think when a player is claimed on waivers, the team with the worst record that makes a claim gets the players. All the kings need is to hope the 5 teams below them don't make a
waiver claim.

 

[MassachusettsKingsFan]

I'd take a look. I'm right on the fence between who I'd rather have between Aldrich and James. My gut and hear says Aldrich, but James may be a better solution if he ever gets to play next to DMC.

 

[SacKings7]

Seems like he's worth a flier, but has he played for Denver or Golden State?

 

[N0tmyfault]

From what I have read, mavs fans were 'meh' about James and his SL showing. I did hear he was sick? However, with his military background, he would seem to be a natural leader in the locker room. It wouldn't hurt to give him a go and hope he can give 10 quality minutes a night.

 

[bajaden]

I saw him play in summer league. He's a more physical player than Aldrich, who only averaged just under 10 minutes a game last season. As stated, his 36 per numbers are pretty good, but it is a very small sampliing.. I'd be OK with bringing him on board. He was a rookie last season at age 27, due to his service in the army. You'd be getting a very mature player on one level, but a little immature in the basketball dept.

 

[VF21]

According to the Dallas Morning News:

Report: Mavericks waive guard Josh Akognon, likely to resign Bernard James

They use Marc Stein tweets as their source:


Marc Stein ✔ @ESPNSteinLine

Mavs had to waive James on Friday because they needed cap space he was occupying to free up every last dime of space to sign Monta Ellis
4:55 PM - 21 Jul 2013

Marc Stein ✔ @ESPNSteinLine

But now that James has cleared waivers, Mavs can & will re-sign him at league minimum, which is permissable after using all their cap space
4:57 PM - 21 Jul 2013

 

[cuad]

I like his game ever since I heard about him in last years draft, and was surprised when I read that the Mavs waived him, but things make sense now since they say they're going to resign him.

 

[ockingsfan]

According to the Dallas Morning News:

Report: Mavericks waive guard Josh Akognon, likely to resign Bernard James

They use Marc Stein tweets as their source:


Marc Stein ✔ @ESPNSteinLine

Mavs had to waive James on Friday because they needed cap space he was occupying to free up every last dime of space to sign Monta Ellis
4:55 PM - 21 Jul 2013

Marc Stein ✔ @ESPNSteinLine

But now that James has cleared waivers, Mavs can & will re-sign him at league minimum, which is permissable after using all their cap space
4:57 PM - 21 Jul 2013

Why would NO team put a waiver claim on him? Doesn't make sense.

An athletic big who blocks and rebounds and makes only $788K?

PDA was asleep at the wheel again.

 

[VF21]

Why would NO team put a waiver claim on him? Doesn't make sense.

An athletic big who blocks and rebounds and makes only $788K?

PDA was asleep at the wheel again.

There are some things you don't do if you want to ever negotiate a trade with another team at some point, and that's steal one of their players while they're temporarily shuffling to create cap space to complete a trade. The fact that NO team put in a waiver claim makes it pretty clear it was kind of a gentlemen's agreement kind of thing.

 

[KingMilz]

Why would NO team put a waiver claim on him? Doesn't make sense.

An athletic big who blocks and rebounds and makes only $788K?

PDA was asleep at the wheel again.

Cause he's not that good, has little to no upside and wouldn't be a "big" help

 

[Kingster]

There are some things you don't do if you want to ever negotiate a trade with another team at some point, and that's steal one of their players while they're temporarily shuffling to create cap space to complete a trade. The fact that NO team put in a waiver claim makes it pretty clear it was kind of a gentlemen's agreement kind of thing.

Didn't know this. With guys like Pat Riley in the league you'd think that the rules would be stretched to the 9th degree and all gentlemen's agreements would be out the window.

 

[VF21]

Didn't know this. With guys like Pat Riley in the league you'd think that the rules would be stretched to the 9th degree and all gentlemen's agreements would be out the window.

I'm merely guessing, of course, but these guys have to work with each other year in and year out. I doubt if Pat Riley would risk a future relationship with Mark Cuban over some rookie. I could be wrong, but I like to live under the delusion that there is still some kind of honor in sports.

 

[Gary]

No thanks. The Per36 stats are very deceiving. This guy isn't any better than Aldrich or any other big man scrub.

 

[bajaden]

No thanks. The Per36 stats are very deceiving. This guy isn't any better than Aldrich or any other big man scrub.

So the per 36 numbers are deceiving only when they don't agree with your premise, but their fine when they do? Just asking! I mean I realize he's 28 years old, but he did have a nice college career, and he's only played one year of NBA basketball averaging less than 10 minutes a game. Using your analogy, after his first year in the NBA, some guy named Dirk would be a scrub.

 

[Gary]

So the per 36 numbers are deceiving only when they don't agree with your premise, but their fine when they do? Just asking! I mean I realize he's 28 years old, but he did have a nice college career, and he's only played one year of NBA basketball averaging less than 10 minutes a game. Using your analogy, after his first year in the NBA, some guy named Dirk would be a scrub.

EDIT: saying the same thing more than once.

I don't use per36, and I certainly don't use per36 on a guy that's played less than 10 minutes per game. It's just silly.

He's not going to give us 10 rebounds and 3 blocks a game if he averaged 36 minutes. The reason why he's not playing 36 minutes is because he isn't good enough.

 

[KingMilz]

EDIT: saying the same thing more than once.

I don't use per36, and I certainly don't use per36 on a guy that's played less than 10 minutes per game. It's just silly.

He's not going to give us 10 rebounds and 3 blocks a game if he averaged 36 minutes. The reason why he's not playing 36 minutes is because he isn't good enough.

This Cole>>>>>James

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

EDIT: saying the same thing more than once.

I don't use per36, and I certainly don't use per36 on a guy that's played less than 10 minutes per game. It's just silly.

He's not going to give us 10 rebounds and 3 blocks a game if he averaged 36 minutes. The reason why he's not playing 36 minutes is because he isn't good enough.

This Cole>>>>>James

What he said doesn't really support what you said. If someone doesn't want to use Per36 numbers, that's their prerogative, but James' raw numbers are better than Aldrich's, too. Aldrich vs. James is a wash, at best, and the notion that "Cole>>>>>James" is nothing but bias showing. And, FWIW, the reason why Aldrich is not giving a team thirty-six minutes is because he's not good enough, either.

 

[Gary]

What he said doesn't really support what you said. If someone doesn't want to use Per36 numbers, that's their prerogative, but James' raw numbers are better than Aldrich's, too. Aldrich vs. James is a wash, at best, and the notion that "Cole>>>>>James" is nothing but bias showing. And, FWIW, the reason why Aldrich is not giving a team thirty-six minutes is because he's not good enough, either.

Cole per36 did average like 4-5 more rebounds a game than James per36 if I am thinking correctly. That's 50% better. That's not a wash. But all the other stats were a wash from what I remember.

Anyhow, I stick by my opinion that per36 is pretty useless for people that played under 10mins a game because if their management/coaching thought they could put up those numbers then they wouldn't be riding the bench. Players that play less than 10min a game and have spotty playing time (with some DNPCDs) are usually the 10th-12th roster spots which is the backup of the backup, meaning they didn't think the guy was even good enough to play backup let alone start.

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

Cole per36 did average like 4-5 more rebounds a game than James per36 if I am thinking correctly. That's 50% better. That's not a wash. But all the other stats were a wash from what I remember...

Not even if you just take his Sacramento numbers (and why would I, when comparing a rookie to a three-year vet?). Aldrich's career Per36 RPG is 10.4. James is 10.3. Smells like "wash" to me...

 

[Gary]

I only took the Sacramento stats. I had forgot he played for a different team.

10.3ppg 13.0rpg with us per36. Anyhow, I need to stop looking at those sites. I hate per36!

 

[Hadlowe]

What he said doesn't really support what you said. If someone doesn't want to use Per36 numbers, that's their prerogative, but James' raw numbers are better than Aldrich's, too. Aldrich vs. James is a wash, at best, and the notion that "Cole>>>>>James" is nothing but bias showing. And, FWIW, the reason why Aldrich is not giving a team thirty-six minutes is because he's not good enough, either.

See, I don't think that's always the case. San Antonio has been a case study in taking underperforming bench players and making them key contributors to a team by giving the players defined roles and making certain they stick to those roles.

Players fall out of rotation for a bunch of reasons: bad roster fit, personality conflict with coaching staff, player depth at the position, headcase, etc. At the NBA level, the true, Thabeet level busts are the exception, not the rule. A lot of those players can be salvaged in the right situation, and even the players who don't play up to draft position (Derrick Williams, Jimmer, etc.) still have a place in the league, even if it as a roleplayer and not a star.

For whatever reason, Aldrich never, and I mean never, got significant burn on any of his teams. When he did come in, it was garbage time and he did reasonably well, but the caveat was always, "It's garbage time, who cares." The consensus became he was a bust, with the reasoning being that he couldn't get on the court, so he must be a bust. Then he came to the Kings and showed that given playtime, he could be a double double guy who can block shots.

Of course, Smart, being Smart, jerked his playtime around after his big games, so we never got to see if this was the real Cole Aldrich.

Because, if Aldrich can rebound and defend like that night in and night out, I'd rather play him than JT. Same can essentially be said of James.

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

See, I don't think that's always the case. San Antonio has been a case study in taking underperforming bench players and making them key contributors to a team by giving the players defined roles and making certain they stick to those roles.

Players fall out of rotation for a bunch of reasons: bad roster fit, personality conflict with coaching staff, player depth at the position, headcase, etc. At the NBA level, the true, Thabeet level busts are the exception, not the rule. A lot of those players can be salvaged in the right situation, and even the players who don't play up to draft position (Derrick Williams, Jimmer, etc.) still have a place in the league, even if it as a roleplayer and not a star.

For whatever reason, Aldrich never, and I mean never, got significant burn on any of his teams. When he did come in, it was garbage time and he did reasonably well, but the caveat was always, "It's garbage time, who cares." The consensus became he was a bust, with the reasoning being that he couldn't get on the court, so he must be a bust. Then he came to the Kings and showed that given playtime, he could be a double double guy who can block shots.

Of course, Smart, being Smart, jerked his playtime around after his big games, so we never got to see if this was the real Cole Aldrich.

Because, if Aldrich can rebound and defend like that night in and night out, I'd rather play him than JT. Same can essentially be said of James.

If you say so; the numbers don't appear to indicate that he can. Aldrich did have more games of double-figure rebounds (2 vs. 0), but James had more games of 5+ rebounds (12 vs. 8) and more games of 3+ blocks (7 vs. 1). James also has better Defensive Rating, and better Defensive Win Shares than Aldrich, even if you only count Aldrich's Sacramento numbers, which you pretty much have to do in order to make the case that Aldrich is better at anything. Relative to his role on a team where he wasn't a garbage-time All-Star, it's a wash at best; no compelling evidence, either way.

 

[bajaden]

I only took the Sacramento stats. I had forgot he played for a different team.

10.3ppg 13.0rpg with us per36. Anyhow, I need to stop looking at those sites. I hate per36!

The only time I truly trust per 36 numbers, is when the player in question plays 36 minutes. But they become most questionable when your going on 7 or 8 minutes a game. There's no consideration for endurance, or the other teams adjustments, or the different players on the floor, etc, etc, etc. And I haven't even gotten to the weather!

 

[The_Jamal]

There's literally no difference between the 2

 

[Gary]

There's literally no difference between the 2

Not much.. They are both garbage time players on bad teams.