I think Nazr deserves some love. I know it's very early in the season, but he has played very solid basketball for us. He has a huge load on his shoulders and the task of replacing a great player, and he's doing a wonderful job for us. He's giving us a little bit less than Ben-numbers on the defensive end, but his scoring has been a huge addition.

Go Nazr!

Word. I think he'll be ok.

The teeter-totter is even so far, less defense/more offense. I miss Ben but never thought that Nazr would be that bad. Im down for a little plutonic Nazr love.

i'm still getting used of seeing him on the floor actually posting up and hitting shots.....but frankly, he's playing better than i had anticipated.

he's averaging close to a double-double, he shoots good percentages, and even gets a block or so a game. if he could limit his fouls, that'd be real nice. in three games, he's averaging like 4 per game in about 20-24 min per game.

Celtics Inside is?
Griz without Gasol is?

he's averaging close to a double-double, he shoots good percentages, and even gets a block or so a game. if he could limit his fouls, that'd be real nice. in three games, he's averaging like 4 per game in about 20-24 min per game.
There's no way we're going to get the quality minutes out of Nazr that we got out of Ben. I want to see us with Dale Davis getting minutes, especially if we're not going to play Amir.

That said, I am glad he's doing as well as he is when he's on the court.

Celtics Inside is?
Griz without Gasol is?

Right, but at least he is taking advantage of these mis-matches. The last few years when we would play these scrubs and we would get excited and Sheed would let us down everytime. His rebounding has been very good also.

The performance per $ > Ben... this gives some flexibility for future moves.

The fouls aren't AS big of an issue as they'd seem. Personally, I'd rather have McDyess on the floor later in the game anyway, and the fouls just keep him out in late game situations.

I agree. It'd be nice if he wouldn't foul as much but if its a case of fouling this much and producing this much versus fouling less but producing less, I'll take the situation we have currently.

To me, the fouls aren't an issue because of the emergence of Maxiell. I had no inkling that he would become a rotation player, but it's a pleasant surprise. When Nazr is in foul trouble and Dice is having an off night, we can always turn to Max.

Our depth this year is shaping up to be pretty strong, especially when you consider that Delfino is still improving. Plus, Amir is waiting in the wings for his number to be called. With our two firsts next season, we'll be unbelievably deep.

And again, I think Nazr is to thank for this in a way, because we didn't break the bank or trade away our good picks to get him.

Nazr's fouls are only an issue if they're stupid fouls.

If he's getting them by being aggressive on the defensive boards and/or preventing easy buckets then that's awesome.

I know that it's way too early to compare but:

Nazr 11.7 ppg 7.9 rpg 1.7 bpg 55.6% shot 83.3% ft

Ben 6.0 ppg 9.7 rpg .7 bpg 50.0% shot 66.7% ft

So far i'm happy with Nazr but he obviously doesn't have the same presence in the paint as Ben and he might want to work on his help side defense a bit more. I think that his ability to actually be a quality scorer ( even if it's just in short spurts), that we might be better off in the long run.

Nazr's fouls are only an issue if they're stupid fouls.

If he's getting them by being aggressive on the defensive boards and/or preventing easy buckets then that's awesome.
They're also an issue if we need someone to play C against a big-heavy team and we play some sort of Phoenix three-guard rotation instead because Dale Davis is out with a hammy and our coach refuses to play Amir :).

Ben Walla¢e knew when to let the other guy get to the rack and when to crunch down come crunch time.

I tend to think of fouls as discouragement. You foul someone to discourage them from attacking you. With 70 points in the paint in that first loss and being Bogut's bitch, I just didn't think Nazr's 6 fouls were that effective. But overall, I'm glad that Nazr has been effective in the minutes he can provide, especially blocking a few shots. Between him and Dale Davis, I think we'll be ok at C this year.

He hasn't had a history of fouling too much, at least statistically. Fouling can sometimes be a sign of being out of shape. Could this have anything to do with him still trying to recover from Ramadan?

He does have a history of fouling.

He hasn't had a history of fouling too much, at least statistically. Fouling can sometimes be a sign of being out of shape. Could this have anything to do with him still trying to recover from Ramadan?
Once you get near 4 fouls/game on average, your playing time is limited by your foul rate because your foul situation hits how your coach plays you and how the other team plays against you. Better bigs foul at 1 foul per 10 minutes or so. Nazr fouls about once every 6 minutes. I had thought some of that might be a Tim Duncan superstar factor -- TD doesn't get the foul, Nazr is nearby, he gets the shit calls, seeks to foul to avoid TD fouling, etc. Nope, doesn't appear to be the case.

Last time he got minutes was with NY, 2004-05...3.2 in 28 minutes...not great but not terrible for a center. 03-04, 3.0 in 25 minutes...01-02, 3.1 in 26 minutes....00-01, 2.6 in 25.5 minutes...What am I missing?

I see what you're saying about limited minutes but I don't know that his foul problems were the sole reason for the lack of PT in SA, and inconsistent playing time can also lead to twisted rates ( a guy comes in and gets a quick one before he can get in a groove....)

His fouls per 40 are almost always close to 5 or above. That's a lot. He's on par with Tyson Chandler.

I still think his fouls are a moot point unless we start relying on him to play 40 minutes here and there, which isn't happening.

And of course, playing a team with some real players Nazi is a non-factor.

Nazr is like a tootsie roll pop, after a few quarters of sucking all you have left is a crappy dark chocolate center.

Nazr is like a tootsie roll pop, after a few quarters of sucking all you have left is a crappy dark chocolate center.

LMMFAO

11pts, 8 rebs, 2 blocks. He did fine.

That is funny though.

11pts, 8 rebs, 2 blocks. He did fine.

That is funny though.

Wasn't he benched for most of the 2nd half?

Yeah, he only played 18 minutes but I think we should expect that most of the time. He's a back-up who's starting and he's a foul machine. That kind of stat production is what I assume they are hoping for from him in sometimes a little over 20 minutes, sometimes a little under 20 minutes.

I was surprised he was benched for so long, I think it was mostly because Sheed was going off. He had three fouls, two of which were offensive one being a pretty questionable call and then a just plain stupid foul in the third when he got stripped by Memo and swatted at him out of frustration. If he can avoid those frustration Fouls I think he'll be ok.

I still think his fouls are a moot point unless we start relying on him to play 40 minutes here and there, which isn't happening.
We can't rely on him for 30+ mpg, though.
That's the problem.

We can't rely on him for 30+ mpg, though.
That's the problem.

I'm not even sure that we would ever need him to play that much. When/if Sheed is suspended, then we will, but otherwise I don't see it happening. The center/powerforward position shares 96 minutes. If we allot Maxiell, say 16, which is close to usual for him so far, give Sheed 33, and give 'Dyess 25, that only leaves 22 minutes for Nazr (if my math is wrong, I'm sorry. Long day and no patience to double check). Taking Sheed out of the equation would require Maxiell to play about 10 more minutes, 'Dyess ten more minutes, and probably Nazr 10 more minutes (ish). That would be asking him to play 32 at most, which is probably doable. We also have Dale Davis, who is a body to throw out there if nothing else.

That said, I really hope Nazr gives Flip a darn good reason to play him 30+ minutes per. That would be a huge bonus, IMO.

Hell, when Sheed gets suspended toss Amir Johnson out their a few times. You never know...