32 wrote:Come on. The ONLY difference between last year's team and this year's team is TJ Ford instead of Mike James. And they're flying through the Atlantic.

Not only that. The Raptors play much better defense than last year... and Bosh is playing much bigger, even if his numbers stay the same. They also benefit from the fact that, as you say, Mike James took lots of ill advised shots.

But, as I said before, if you look at Raptors games, TJ Ford is not playing extremely well. Just decent.

It's true that having Ford instead of James has improved the team... but more for what Ford doesn't do than for what he does on the court.


btw, the Bucks have had more problems of injuries than you think... Redd, Mo Williams, Villa, Bobby Simmons (the whole season)... That's almost the whole lineup.

Stop saying Mo Williams. 2 weeks doesn't count.

Bobby Simmons is an underachiever (I believe Patterson does just as good, if not better, of a job) and Charlie gets a lot of unearned hype (seriously, when was the last time a rookie putting up 12 and 6 got THIS much love from NBA fans...?)

Michael Redd is rough. I admitted that. But that's it. Bosh is playing identical to last season... but now the PG is getting him the ball, rather than looking for his own shot. That's the only reason he looks better; he's being set up this year.

32 wrote:

migya wrote:TJ Ford is a very good PG but Mo Williams is doing more this season!


Ford = 14.1pts, 7.7asts, 3.3rebs, 1.2stls, 0.1blks, 44.5 FG%, 32.6 3PTFG% (0.3 3s a game), 79.8 FT% & 3.1 TOs

Williams = 18.7pts, 6.1asts, 5.1rebs, 1.3stls, 0.1blks, 45.4 FG%, 353.9 FT% (1.3 3s a game), 85.6 FT% & 3.1 TOs


Mo Williams scores more, rebounds more, shoots better from the outside and more regularly, has better percentages and averages 6 assists which is very good as well

You left out a major stat, miggy: TJ Ford averages 7 less minutes a night than Mo Williams.

That means, per 48 (which can be used here, because they both get a lot of minutes), Ford's steals and blocks are higher, proving he's a better defender. Not only that, but his FG% is within 1 point from Mo Williams, showing he can score just as easily, but takes less shots.

Williams does average 6 and a half minutes more but so what, that is not that much of a factor and accounts for some 20% more time on court and so Ford wins out slightly in steals, insignificant in blocks as Ford would average like 0.12 in the same mins as Mo Williams, he would be a fair bit less in rebounds and the shooting %s remain unchanged as court time does not effect that. The big stat, if there is any here, is that Ford which get at least 0.5 TOs a game more, not a huge amount but 3.5 compared to 3.0 is seen as much worse by many analysts, as PGs tend to average around the 2.5 - 3.0 TOs mark. The big positive for Ford is that he gets alot of assists and I said that was a huge good thing about him. Ford is very good, though still a way off offensively, but Williams has done better this season and statistically does more and is more allround clearly. Williams does not play alongside a superstar big man like Bosh either so it is harder for him to get free

32 wrote:Oh, and per 48? Here's how their assists match up:

Wiliams: 7.9 A/48
Ford: 12.32 A/48

That's a huge difference, migya. WIlliams is clearly a shoot-first PG and Ford is clearly a pass-first PG. There's no sense arguing that. Besides, lets look at the numbers that MATTER (the one's in the win column).

As I said, Ford is a great distributor but Williams is in the top 15 or so in assists himself so he is no ball hog

32 wrote:Before the season, everybody had the Bucks pegged for the playoffs, with the Raptors barely missing out. But, currently, Toronto's sitting on a 31-26 record (leading their division), while the Bucks are stuck on 20-37 (dead last in their division). That's clearly not due to better personelle; anybody and their mother would have told you prior to the season that the Bucks have the better team (everyone was especially creaming over the addition of Charlie).

And, somehow, the Raptors are kicking the Bucks asses in the standings...?

Just look what TMC wrote, it says it all:

TMC wrote:No, it's because the Bucks have been hit hard by injuries. Also, I'm not a big fan of Sam Mitchell... but he's Red Auerbach compared with Stotts. Put a healthy Bucks team in the Atlantic and they'd be leading by 5 games over Toronto.

Also, keep in mind that Toronto has the best player of both rosters in Bosh. That's the guy that changes the balance... not Ford.