Wednesday, February 4, 2009
We’re going to play a quick game.
Which NBA player is having the better season: Player A or Player B?
Player A is 22 years old. He’s averaging 9.8 points, 4.6 assists and 1.9 steals per game.
He’s started 47 games and he’s playing 31 minutes per game at point guard for a team with a record of 26-21. He’s shooting 42 percent from the field and 37 percent from the three-point line.
breakbox
NCAA Record Book Consecutive free throws made
Game 24 — Arlen Clark, Oklahoma State vs. Colorado, March 7, 1959 (24 of 24)
Season 73 — Gary Buchanan, Villanova, 2000-01 (during 21 games, Nov. 17 to Feb. 12)
Career 85 — Darnell Archey, Butler, 2001-03 (during 57 games, Feb. 15, 2001 to Jan. 18, 2003)
Source:ncaa.org
Player B is 20 years old. He’s averaging 15 points, 4.9 assists and 1.4 steals per game.
He’s started 31 games and he’s playing 31 minutes per game at point guard for a team with a record of 11-37. He’s shooting 41 percent from the field and 31 percent from the three-point line.
So which one is having the better season? Oh, one more thing:
Player A is making $700,000 this season, while Player B is making $3,493,680.
Does that make a difference? Which player would you rather have?
As you may have figured out, Player A is Mario Chalmers and Player B is former UCLA guard Russell Westbrook.
Chalmers, of course, fell to the second round of the NBA Draft. The Miami Heat snatched him up with the 34th pick and he has proved to be one of the steals of the draft.
Conversely, the Oklahoma City Thunder took Westbrook with the fourth overall pick.
I bring this up because there seems to be a large contingent of Kansas fans who believe that Chalmers got jobbed when he wasn’t selected to play in the NBA’s annual Rookies vs. Sophomores game during the NBA’s All-Star weekend.
NBA assistant coaches voted on the teams and passed over Chalmers for the Bulls’ Derrick Rose, the Grizzlies’ O.J. Mayo, the Clippers’ Eric Gordon and the aforementioned Westbrook.
Chalmers, who has always been shy around reporters, didn’t hide his disappointment.
“I thought I’m having just as good a year as they are,” Chalmers said last week to the Florida Sun-Sentinel.
The Brew can see it both ways. Gordon and Westbrook are having solid rookie seasons, and Rose and Mayo have shown All-Star potential.
Still, Chalmers and former K-State star Michael Beasley joined a cast of veterans in Miami and they’ve re-energized the Heat franchise. We’re talking about a team that went 15-67 last season.
Now one year later, Miami is 26-21 and in fifth place in the Eastern Conference.
So did Chalmers get jobbed? Probably not. But if The Brew owned an NBA team, we’d definitely take the cheaper Chalmers over Westbrook and his $3.4 million salary. After all, these are tough economic times.
Thursday
YouTube Sesh
Speaking of the recession, let’s take a moment to raise our coffee mugs to Manny Ramirez.
Manny turned down a one-year, $25 million contract from the Los Angeles Dodgers on Tuesday.
And anytime somebody has the cajones to turn down that much skrill during one of the worst economic downturns ever, well, we have to raise our mugs and salute.
We scoured YouTube for a worthy video of Manny and we found this one: It’s Manny translating an interviewer’s questions for former Kansas City Royals shortstop Angel Berroa. Of course, nobody told the poor reporter that Berroa speaks English.
Type “Manny and Angel Berroa” into YouTube and enjoy.
— — Edited by Brandy Entsminger
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