After the Afflalo trade, the Nuggets immediately waived Victor Claver and bought out Thomas Robinson but chose to keep Will Barton. Given that the Nuggets have very little talent left after their slew of trade-deadline moves and weren't exactly good before that, Barton has shown quite a bit with what little talent he has to work with around him. In 4 games he is averaging: 16.75 points per game .489 FG% shooting .467% 3-pt% shooting (7-15) .833% FT% shooting (16-18) 4.25 rebounds per game 2.25 assists per game 1.5/1 assist to turnover ration ...and maybe the biggest stat. In 4 games with a talentless roster, he is only -2 in his +/- on the court. In those games, Denver has lost by 25, 28, 14 and 22 for an average of over 22 points per game. They are getting killed! Yet when 'The People's Champ' is on the floor, even with their dearth of talent, they are playing basically even. It's when he is out of the game they are getting destroyed. Of course it is only a small sample size and he was never going to get minutes here and Afflalo is a great fit for this team. Still, it's nice to see a former Blazer doing well given the opportunity.
I'm extremely happy for him! It's a good gig because there is no pressure on him. Also, Denver is a team that plays with chaos, which is right up his alley. I wish him nothing but the best
Thrill is basically 2/3 into his rookie season. He's played 1,693 total minutes in his 3 year career. Average NBA starter plays about 2,500 - 3,000 minutes if healthy for 82 games. This is exactly what he needed, to play garbage time minutes where the mental/rookie mistakes he makes aren't under a microscope. It's a chance to figure out what he is. We never could in PDX. At one point we were developing him to run the offense, but he just couldn't be trusted to make good decisions with the ball, even though he's got decent handles. Can he be more than an "energy guy" off the bench? He always gave effort and kept a good attitude. Wish him well . . . when he isn't playimg Portland!
Now that is the way to think positive. Speaking of that, what former Blazer that is still in the league would you want for the #15 spot?
He, Asik, and Dante Cunningham are stat leaders in the current game, as of right now (the game's not over, maybe you'll see something different an hour from now). We drafted all 3. http://espn.go.com/nba/dailyleaders/_/gameId/400579176
I was going to bring this up earlier today. Will is actually, granted it's only 4 games as you stated, but he is actually averaging more for the Nuggets than Afflalo did. Does this make anyone think we gave up too much? My answer to this is no btw. But what do you say?
