Season in Review: Andre Iguodala
by Jordan Sams on Apr 28, 2010 12:01 AM PDT
12 comments
Andre had the type of season he should've had. He improved his passing and rebounding. His defense remained fantastic. His points and field goal percentage dropped due to a coaching change, system change, and point guard change. He's still a really good NBA player, who needs help. He doesn't have the superstar gene, and his team's front office has done him zero favors by surrounding him with minimal talent. He needs a miracle, a miracle named John Wall or Evan Turner. Once the superstar pressure is taken off Andre, he'll be deservingly appreciated by everyone, including Sixers fans. Unfortunately, that might never happen.
I don't know of an NBA player -- doubling as his team's best player -- who is criticized by his own fans more than Andre Iguodala. Here's a list of things people (including me) have criticized Iguodala for this season:
- Leadership
- Ego
- Shot selection
- Contract
- Body language
- Wardrobe
- Rejecting the nickname "Iggy"
- Free throws
- Not being a superstar
3 stats
- Andre had a 9.4 WARP (Wins Above Replacement Player. Based on performance and playing time, the wins a player has created as compared to a replacement-level player seeing the same minutes).
- According to Hoop Data 47% of Andre's assists were at the rim. I did this comparison with Lou who had 48%, but here's the list: Jrue Holiday (38%), Andre Miller (41%), Steve Nash (45%), LeBron James (47%), and Chris Paul (36%). 47% is superb, especially for a non-point guard with 5+ assists.
- Andre shot 40% from the field and 27% from three in the fourth quarter this season.
- Free throw percentage ... 72.4% last year to 73.3% this year.
- Rebounds (+0.8), assists (+0.5), steals (+0.1), and blocks (+0.3).
- Andre shot more jumpers this season (71%) than last season (64%), but improved his eFG% from .388 to .410.
- Free throws - 4.1/per 36 in 08-09 ... 2.8/per 36 in 09-10
- Points - 17.0/per 36 in 08-09 ... 15.8/per 36 in 09-10
- And1% - 3.2% in 08-09 ... 2.7% in 09-10
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I think you summed it up quite nicely. The list of complaints is a sad truth and I think he’ll never be appreciated in Philadelphia. Even if this team gets it’s superstar and Iguodala plays the perfect sidekick, fans won’t credit him for accomplishments.
Some thoughts about his lower percentages in the fourth quarter – this team was oftentimes losing in this quarter and needed guys to step it up. I think the team mostly relied on Iguodala during these times and having no one to set up plays for him or anyone else, he was forced to rush shots. A lot of times you would see the shot clock dwindle down, player X has the ball, doesn’t know what to do, quickly passes it back to Iguodala for a low-percentage, contested shot.
Random
I don’t follow hockey at all, but aren’t the Flyers and 8 seed this year? It seems like they have much more fans and publicity than the Sixers as an 8 seed. Why is that?
THere’s a documentary on HBO this month called the broad street bullies
Watch it
It will explain why the flyers are still beloved in Philadelphia – and sell out pretty much every game
Again, the sixers aren’t even as popular as temple
by jemagee on Apr 28, 2010 6:39 PM PDT up reply actions
Very well stated. Iguodala is underappreciated for being a complementary star without a leading man to complement. I’ve often said that Iguodala is LeBron-Lite, with many of the same strengths & weaknesses in a swingman-sized package as opposed to LeBron’s Combo Forward/Mailman build. The one thing on the court that separates them is that Dala is not the natural scorer that James is.
As you argued earlier, Dala needs a #1(aka Go-to) scorer to play with. One game that really makes me intrigued to see him play with a Turner or a Wall is was AI’s return game. Denver paid AI the attention you give to a #1 scorer and Dala was able to flourish with the decreased attention. Hopefully, we can see that next year
LeBron Lite indeed, just like Lou is AI Lite IMO.
You bring up an interesting point with the AI thing. I definitely think Andre would benefit in having a go-to guy on offense, but not someone in the Iverson mold. Someone like Wall or Turner, because they don’t dominate the ball as much as Iverson.
Lou wants to be Diet AI, but he lacks AI’s ferocious intensity. AI was not a great individual defender, but he was an absolute terror in help and team defense. Lou, otoh, just wants to be a small scoring machine, and could care less about being scored on. So, instead of Diet AI, we ended up with the New Coke of AI impersonators. :-)
That said, If the Sixers can get Dala a primary scorer who doesn’t need to absolutely dominate the action(a la AI or LeBron), then I believe he can really flourish. Carmelo, as an example, doesn’t massage the ball like AI did or LeBron does. Can Turner become that guy?
Hopefully we have the chance to find out. I’ll be posting a ET profile soon, and I’m sure Mike Bourn and Derek will post their thoughts soon enough. Turner doesn’t seem like the type to dribble the air outta the ball though.
True, especially if that is not his role from the jump. From his game IQ and his versatility, I think he could adapt. I guess with all the comparisons to BRoy, I keep remembering all of Roy’s complaints about his touches and his needs. Turner needs to get better at catch & shoots though.
His shot doesn’t need an overhaul but it could use some tweaking. From what I’ve seen it’s more just shooting from a good base and squaring up to the basket. It’s tough to do off the dribble, but the less leaners he takes, the more successful his shot will be. He can get there.
by Michael Levin on Apr 29, 2010 5:13 AM PDT up reply actions
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