The Last Thank You Note I Wanted To Write Today

But thanks anyway for all the nasty traffic from the Oregonian's website, Sean Meagher. It's always refreshing when MSM types loudly ignore, or poke fun at statistical analysis. So few do, if anything can't be considered a sports blogosphere cliche...

There were so many things wrong with my Aldridge isn't spectacular post; cherry-picking rebounds, not saying why Tyrus Thomas was an equal or better draft pick, making up a word, poor writing and argument creation in general, etc. I would have loved some constructive criticism from the Pacific Northwest. Shame that didn't happen. Hopefully Meagher reads the Basketball English To English Dictionary, or gets a prosthetic finger. I refuse to believe the man has 10 digits connected to his hands.

Luckily Walter Dubowec of RaptorTalk (h/t BaB) highlighted a few more flaws in Aldridge's game, so I don't have to go into detail about Aldridge camping out on the perimeter, or why the Aldridge-would-have-solved-the-lowpost-scoring-problem crowd is mistaken. Point is, the NBA has lots of jump-shooting bigs who can't rebound good, and they aren't very valuable. The rebounding usually doesn't get better, either. Aldridge could become one of the better Mikki Doleac Robinson Googs of the world, but that doesn't mean he's going to sniff the level of production and impact toolsier bigs like Elton Brand, Dirk Nowitzki, Kevin Garnett, and Tim Duncan make.

I like Tyrus Thomas' potential more because he has shown the ability, and production (when he plays) to affect more areas of the game than a limited guy like Aldrdge. Thomas is a better rebounder and defender than Aldridge. His offensive skills may not be as polished, but jumping over defenders, getting to the line, a baby hook, and a somewhat promising jumpshot are all a good start. If Thomas develops, he's going to be a very good player. A top 10 in the NBA player. Even if that doesn't happen, and heads remain firmly up asses, it beats burning a lottery pick on the type of big man who can be had for the mid-level exception every offseason.