My "groundless" thoughts on Corey Maggette:
In General:
Since 2006, Maggette's name has been tied to NUMEROUS organizations including Miami, Indiani, Lakers, Jazz, and more.
The most recent rumor involving the Lakers, of course, involved trading Luke Walton for Corey Maggette. Somewhat shockingly this offer was supposedly TURNED DOWN.
As we all know, the Clippers surprised a few people by taking Al Thorton. If Corey Maggette was to be the SF of the future, this sure as hell was a funny of showing it. In fact, it seems to again coincide with Dunleavy's choice to bury Corey on the bench. Corey, who over the years, has made it very clear that he believes he's a starting NBA talent. I completely agree! While Dunleavy has promised Corey that he will start, it doesn't appear as if he is in their long term plans anymore. Al Thorton is a tweener, and with Elton Brand as the court general, it doesn't appear as if Corey has a place in the Clipper's future plans.
With Maggette having the option to end his contract at the end of this season, the Clippers risk losing a 20ppg scorer for absolutely nothing. If they've thought about making a deal once, why not revisit this deal?
Why we should target #50:
An All-Around Talented Kid:
Over the last four seasons, he has a PER of 19.4.
To give you an idea of what that means, here are some 2006-2007 PER numbers for top SFs:
LeBron James: 24.5
Lamar Odom: 16.1
Ron Artest: 18.5
Carmelo Anthony: 22.1
Kobe Bryant: 26.1
Gerald Wallace: 19.8
Scottie Pippen through 24-27: 19.4
Here are just some general, basic statistics involving the kid:
Over the last four seasons, has averaged over 3.5 assists per 40 minutes
Over the last four seasons, has averaged right around 7 rebounds per 40
Over his career, has averaged a steal per 40
Career 82% FT shooter
Career 57.3% TS shooter
Has shot 41.4, 42.5, and 39.7 eFG% on his jumpers the last 3 seasons.
He's a legit #2 option:The fact of the matter of the is, for the last FIVE STRAIGHT seasons Corey Maggette has averaged over 20 points per 40 minutes. This kid can score! He's not putting up inefficient numbers either. He's a career 47.5 eFG% shooter, and has exceeded, or met, an eFG% of 48.0 4 out of his eight seasons with the Clippers. Over the course of his career, Maggette averages 22 points per 48 minutes. Wow! These are impressive numbers for a guy that NO ONE is talking about right now.
No one on our team possesses Maggette's skill set:You wanna talk about an athlete, you can start talking about Corey Maggette. As we all know, Maggette is strong an ox. He literally bulls his way into the lane each and every night. In fact, not even Kobe gets to the line as much as Maggette. Over the last 3 seasons, Corey has AVERAGED 11 free throws trips per night. That's astounding for a SF. Not only that, Corey is an 82% free throw shooter! That's excellent! Unlike other players on this team, Corey has a shoot second mentality. You won't see this kid jack up shot attempt after shot attempt. With Maggette, you know he's going to the rack, but you can't stop it.
Defensive Aptitude:While Maggette isn't the greatest quality defender, he brings a toughness that shows up on the stat sheet.
Based on the new DCS ratings that came out on August 1st:
Corey ranks 37th among all SGs and SFs for defense.
Corey has a rating of 7.9, which translates to the range of 0-20 for ABOVE average defenders.
Corey is tied for 42nd among SGs and SFs for defensive +/- rating with 0.6 points per 100 possessions. This simply means his team gave up about half a point less per 100 possessions when Maggette was on the court versus when he was off the court. It translates to about 1 point per game. However! You must consider the fact he was playing behind Quinton Ross who is an excellent defender. Despite that disadvantage, Corey still had a positive impact on the defensive +/- ratings.
Maggette tied for 42nd among all SGs, and SFs for allowed opponent production.
Furthermore, away from the numbers, Maggette is just a tough guy who doesn't take crap from people; exactly the kind of attitude we need. He's strong enough to defender the bigger SFs in this league such as Carmelo Anthony, Ron Artest, and LeBron James. This is highly advantageous because it means Kobe no longer has to worry about going to the post against these types of players.
He's 27 Years Old:He's not old enough to the point where we have to worry about signing him to a longer deal, and yet he's not young enough to the point where we have to worry about foolish inexperienced mistakes. He's an 8 year vet of the league.
Friends with KB24!:I can't believe I'm using such a silly reason to promote getting a player! However, in light of recent events, this can be nothing but an added bonus. It means better chemistry, and it means Kobe has something good to talk about.
The Negatives:1. A known ball stopper. Hopefully, this is where the one of the best coaches in the NBA can go to work.
2. Known ego issues. Corey thinks he's all that and a bag of chips. Again, Phil with the psyche manipulation.
3. Quite injury prone. Only played more than 70 games twice in his career. One of those seasons being last year where he got reduced minutes.
4. Low basketball IQ. I've seen this mentioned a few times by Clippers fans and Laker fans alike. I thought it worth noting considering the triangle is a complex scheme. He is known for not taking the situation into account and always trying to do the same thing. I have faith in Phil. We don't pay him 10 million for no reason.
5. I'd personally like to see him create more turnovers, and cut down on his own.
6. About the jumper: I'd love to see him increase his %s a few points because he'll become even more deadly when opponents have to respect that J(think Tony Parker).
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