NLL Insider - Glitched Outby CarlSpackler, updated on Saturday, December 10 2016, 04:59 am EST For anyone who’s been in the NLL for any length of time, they are familiar with the “glitch†players *cough* Gerald Green *cough*; the guys who play far better in 2k than they have any business playing. These guys are relatively obscure, low-salary, low- to mid-70 overall, and inexplicably scoring like an all-star. If you’ve got one on your team, you’re overjoyed. And if you’re playing against them, it’s infuriating. While we’re just a few weeks into the season, some guys are starting to emerge…
What is now apparent is that the glitch is less about individual players and more about the remarkable resurgence of the power forward in what had become a very guard-centric league. So if we set aside our original parameters and focus instead on all of the big men, we see some pretty interesting trends emerge. Take Anthony Davis, for example. In his first four seasons, Davis has been slightly increasing his PPG average (13.7, 14.6, 12.3, and 16.1 respectively). To start off the 2016-17 season, he is currently averaging a league leading 31.3 points per game. But from everything we know about The Brow, this is exactly where he should be. He is not some average player, registering 18 points and 10 boards per game. He is a legit superstar and is finally playing like one in the NLL. DeMarcus Cousins (a Center, not a Power Forward) is a player who should have been posting a mid-20s scoring average over the last few years, had a 21 ppg average last season, a 14.6 ppg average in ‘14-15, and a 12.2 average in ‘13-14. This season, he putting up almost 27 points per game, which is exactly what you’d expect from a player of his caliber. But let’s not completely dismiss the conspiracy theories, because they can be so much fun. So here’s a little fuel for the glitchy fire… Dirk Nowitzki is going to go down as one of the NBA’s greatest players, and perhaps the prototype of the “stretch 4.†He’s had an amazing career but there’s no doubt that he’s in the twilight of his career. The 2012-13 season was the last time he’s averaged over 20 points in the NLL. Since then, he’s averaged 13, 12, 11, and 10 points per game in the last four seasons. So far this season, Dirk is averaging 17 points per game. And back to Centers, the best season for scoring that Brook Lopez had in his career was 2012-13 when he averaged 21.5 points per game. Since then Lopez has hovered in the mid-teens. But bring on the 2016-17 season and Lopez has experienced a resurgence, averaging 23.5 points per game. Not bad for a guy who’s a thousand years old. It’s very early in the season to come to any conclusions and numbers could change, but what we’re seeing now is a significant turnaround from the NLL of the last few years that saw the backcourt putting up ungodly numbers while the front court remained mired in relative obscurity. Though the seesaw may be tilting a bit more heavily in the direction of the big men, it appears that we may be closer to achieving a balance between the front- and backcourt players in the NLL. In the immortal words of the Big Aristotle, “If you feed the big dog, he will guard the yard. If you don’t feed him, he’s just going to walk around and get bored, and he ain’t going to do shit. So if I’m getting the ball, I’m going to work. Every time.†|
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