Good point guards are shit, don't draft them

*It's been a long time since I've posted. But in all honesty, I haven't found a whole lot to gripe about. I really hope the Boston Herald/NY Post/SI.com set hasn't had some overhaul where they stop being dumbasses. But here's the first salvo in what will hopefully be a summer filled with bullshit.*

Who's the most important player on a basketball team? The point guard, probably. He handles the ball the most and facilitates the offense. You can easily overcome a shitty one with a great two-guard (see: Kobe, Wade, "I play every position" LeBron), but having a great one is a huge help.

But fuck drafting one high. Chris Paul? Dude's a stiff. Deron Williams? Guy sucks. They aren't winners.

*Gun loading*

DEREK FISHER PROVES TITLES AREN'T WON WITH GREAT POINT GUARDS

This was the teaser that set me off. Fisher has four rings. Three of them with Shaq/Kobe and one with an insane Kobe. Fisher had dick to do with them winning, aside from some "clutch" threes (that one against the Spurs kills me) and not turning the ball over. Awesome great job!

Derrick Rose was Rookie of the Year. Chauncey Billups was a hero in Denver. Jameer Nelson and Mo Williams were difference makers in the East. Aaron Brooks almost changed history. Point guards also are expected to dominate the first 10 or 12 picks in the draft next week.

All those dudes are A) either very good or awesome at basketball B) except for Williams, first round picks and C) teams that made the playoffs. And where's Paul and Deron Williams? They made the playoffs too.

And then there's Derek Fisher. He of the season averages of 10 points and three assists. He of the 40 percent shooting in the playoffs.

And he of the four rings.

Alright, fuck this. I am dubbing this the Ramiro Mendoza corollary: when a dude wins a ton of rings being very lucky or like the tenth best dude (or worse) on his team.

There's your reality check. At one of the great historical intersections in the history of point guards, an unexplainable convergence of circumstances from the 2008-09 season into the June 25 draft into free agency next month, the reminder note being distributed after Lakers-Magic is that it does not take a great talent at the point to win the title. Big men (Kevin Garnett, Tim Duncan, Shaquille O'Neal, Hakeem Olajuwon), yes. Wing players who leave defenders with singed jerseys (Kobe Bryant, Dwyane Wade, Michael Jordan), absolutely. But not point guards.

Tony Parker is an awful PG. How the hell did Duncan win the title ... what's that? He won a Finals MVP? He is a two-time all-star who has averaged 18 points or more and 5.5 assists or more over the past four seasons and is only 26 years old? Well shit...

I will cede that the teams Howard-Cooper cherry-picked didn't need awesome PGs to win titles. But of those seven players, two are in the top ten OF ALL-TIME and the four big men are in the top fifty or forty.

Point is, you need awesome players to win.

Fisher is just part of the story. Take a look at the point guards who have won in the Finals the past decade or so, and it's clear teams do not need great point guards to win a championship, and teams where the best player is a point guard do not win.

Already this list is bunk for a few reasons. The Lakers have won four of the past ten titles. The Bulls got one, and the Spurs PG is great. Let's see this thang.

2009 -- Fisher.
2008 -- Rajon Rondo, Celtics. Certainly has All-Star potential, but not there yet.
2007 -- Tony Parker, Spurs. Three All-Star appearances, one Finals MVP.
2006 -- Jason Williams, Heat. With the asterisk that Wade handled the ball a lot.
2005 -- Parker.
2004 -- Chauncey Billups, Pistons. Four All-Star appearances.
2003 -- Parker.
2002 -- Fisher (35 starts in the regular season and all 19 starts in the playoffs) and Lindsey Hunter (47 starts in the regular season, most at the point). With the asterisk that Bryant handled the ball.
2001 -- Fisher. Started only 20 times in the regular season because a foot injury cost him the other 62 games, then started the entire playoffs. Brian Shaw and Ron Harper played the point a lot in the regular season. Plus: the Kobe asterisk.
2000 -- Harper.
1999 -- Avery Johnson, Spurs.
1998 -- Harper, Bulls. Asterisk: Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen.

So throwing out Parker and Billups, two first rounders who are really good, what the fuck is the point of this? Answer: some teams with really awesome players won titles over the past ten years. Cool.

To review: Avery Johnson has one ring, Jason Williams has one ring, Steve Nash and Jason Kidd none.

Conclusion: Johnson and Williams are better than two HOFers.

Kidd was in back-to-back finals and lost to awesome teams. What a schlub. Steve Nash has two (ill-gotten) MVPs and is unfortunately running a flawed team that probably could never win a title. They are both great. And yes, they have both never won a crapshoot filled with landmines played underwater, drunk and blindfolded.

Two starting point guards among the last 12 champions have been All-Stars. No Hall of Famer was in the role since Isiah Thomas with the Pistons in 1990.

This is so flawed because of the past 12 title winners, a whooping SEVEN of those were either the Spurs (Parker, who's an awesome PG remember) or Lakers (the land of two top twenty all-time guys). So this list is a whole huge weird mess of randomness.

The draft and free agency alone will alter the league for years. It just may not deliver a title. Because it doesn't take a great point guard to win.

I guarantee Chris Paul will win a title sometime as the best player on his team. Deron Williams is also very, very good and could get there. Jason Kidd has ran into some freight trains and Steve Nash's window is probably closed. Rajon Rondo and Derrick Rose look set to battle it out for decades, possibly contending for titles.

This has nothing to do with "title teams don't need point guards!" It's "title teams need really good players and a bunch of other shit to happen" to win. All-time greats help too.

If you are going to "prove" it doesn't take good PGs to win, how about deflating all the lottery PGs that stink now? I am sure that'd be more convincing than "the Spurs/Lakers -- winners of 58% of the last dozen titles -- didn't need one!"

It's good to be back.

Tony Massarotti doesn't understand anything

Following the Boston Red Sox for some time, I have seen more than my fair share of players run out of town for not living up to insane expectations day one into their Boston careers.

Julio Lugo -- a favorite punching bag of Sox fans -- is probably next. The fact he's lasted into the third year of a four-year contract is actually astounding.

Tony Massarotti, who is quickly becoming my new favorite Sox idiot writer, is doing his best to make sure Lugo doesn't make it past year 2.5.

The question, really, concerns how far the Red Sox are willing to go. How long are they willing to put Julio Lugo at shortstop? How long are they willing to try? How long before they give the keys to Nick Green or Jed Lowrie or someone else entirely?

Or what he really wants to write: Is Jose Reyes or Hanley Ramirez available?

In the interim, games are being played. And roughly one-fifth of the way through this 2009 season, the Red Sox are precisely where we left them at the end of 2008:

Unsure of themselves at the shortstop position.

Also at the end of the 2008 season: One fucking win (a 3-1 loss) away from the World Series.

In the middle stands Lugo, now in the third year of a four-year, $36 million contract. The money matters. ... What should have been a double play was, instead, a single. And instead of having nobody on with two outs, the Rays had the beginnings of what was a six-run rally.

In the moments thereafter, Lugo was booed by a Fenway Park following clearly aware that the Sox now have lost more games this season with Lugo as the starter (five) than they have with Nick Green (four).

Jesus Christ.

Those horrible, completely Lugo's fault losses were against...
CLE, TAM, TAM, CLE, TAM

And Lugo had ONE at-bat in one of those losses against Cleveland. So shove it.

Tampa is the AL champs and Sox pitching allowed nine runs against the Indians both games. Not exactly Lugo's doing. He's also gone 5-17 with two runs and two RBI (one homer) in losses he's started.

With regard to wins, Green (16) is winning by a landslide (Lugo has one). The Red Sox are choosing their words carefully with regard to Lugo’s play afield, but most anyone would be hard pressed to suggest that the Sox are a better team with Lugo on the diamond.

I don't know what Mazz uses for his stats, but I have Lugo with two "wins", May 7 and 8, where he went 4-9 with four runs scored.

And attributing wins to a SS is dumber than starting pitchers. Which is to say: dumb as shit.

Nick "The Hammer" Green has played in 24 games compared to Lugo's 9, with more than double the PAs. Now you'd think Green would be killing Lugo statistically, enough for Mazz to want to start him.

But nay, that would make sense.

Green's traditional line: 274/1/11 with a sterling .748 OPS
Lugo's: .357/1/2 with a .936 OPS

Now, unlike other Globe writers, I will admit Lugo's stats are nearly pointless because he's played so few games. But still, same homers and a much better OPS.

Nick Green is 30 years old, with five career homers and a .665 OPS. So he's actually playing over his head right now. By a lot. Green also has 16 Ks and two walks, the same amount of walks Lugo has in one third as many games.

Nick Green sucks at hitting a baseball.

But what about the Deeeeeeeeeefense?

For what it’s worth, Green hasn’t exactly been Ozzie Smith at shortstop this season, either, contributing six errors to a team total of seven from the shortstop position, tied for most in the majors. Just the same, most of Green’s errors have come on throws and he has been moving reasonably well in the field.

So much for that.

The combination of Green’s offense and defense has been an asset to the club, particularly when one considers that he entered the spring third (at least) on the depth chart at the position.

His offense sucks and his defense is bad. Anyone but Lugo I guess.

Between now and the time Lowrie returns -- if he returns -- both we and the Red Sox will have had sufficient time to evaluate their $36 million investment at shortstop. Lugo has plenty of time to change our minds. Until then, the Red Sox will continue to play games and position themselves for a potential postseason berth, hoping that Lugo does not hurt them more than he helps.

People know Lowrie put up a .739 OPS in 81 games (over 300 PA) last season? And hit two home runs, stole one base, struck out nearly twice as much as he walked (68:35) in 2008, right? The 25 doubles are nice, but Lugo was nearly as good, with way more upside.

The .685 OPS sucks, but the 12/16 steals and better K:BB ratio (51:34) make him a better option offensively. Lugo's D was pretty bad (16 errors), but does he really deserve to be replaced by a speed-less, powerless, unproven 25 year-old kid?

Economically, it makes sense. But Mazz didn't write that (other than "the money matters." Deep analysis there.), he's making this a baseball decision. Which is dumb.

Hand in hand, the Red Sox and their shortstop will walk the line together.

They could play a AAA guy (like Lowrie) and be World Series champs. They don't need Cal Ripken.

Relax.

Baseball Tonight needs to stop covering fantasy, A.S.A.P.

BBT -- one of the bastions of mis-information and vapid analysis on the sport -- runs a little fantasy sidebar with their box scores. How cute, they're embracing fantasy baseball, something Kruk probably has no idea about and Vina has never even heard of.

One random note I had to write down beacuse it exemplifies just how valuable the Fantasy Impact on BBT can be:

Floyd (SD) to have MRI on knee.

That is Cliff Floyd. Who is 0.8% percent owned in ESPN fantasy leagues. Who hasn't topped 350 ABs since 2005, his last relevant year. Who hit 11 homers in 2006 and 2008, with 44 and 39 RBI in those seasons.

Finally, I can drop him and pick up Mike Piazza.

Why do we need 162 games when one is more than enough?

We are officially one day into the MLB season and you know what that means -- everything we need to know, we know already. Nothing will change. Let's play the World Series now and get ready for the NFL draft.

I'm kidding, of course. It really takes about a month before we know the Cy Young, MVP, best teams and division winners.

But two things are 100% fact -- Careston Charles Sabathia is an awful pitcher and the Phillies will go 0-162.

We're going double-whammy today in honor of baseball season. Heyman, Verducci -- you're on.

CC Sabathia heaved his white towel toward the bin in the middle of the visiting clubhouse after the $210 million Yankees dropped their well-anticipated opener to the Orioles -- and he missed the bin, too. Sabathia was a little off with his control in his dreadful Yankees debut -- like maybe a zip code or two off.

How long do you think it took Heyman to come up with these jokes? One hour? Two? Five seconds? Better question: which answer is more pathetic?

"Today, I didn't do my job,'' said Sabathia, whose ugly pitching line included eight hits, six earned runs and five walks, including four unintentional. "I'll go out in five games, and try to get it done.''

After a performance such as this, that sounded as much a threat as a promise. All spring, the Yankees talked about how great their pitching is, and how great they felt about this team, and also how much of that good feeling is attributable to the presence of their new $161 million pitcher.

Cut your losses now. Nothing is worth this level of embarassment.

But on this day, CC was a mess. He wore a heating pad in the dugout he said to keep warm -- though it wasn't an especially chilly day (56 degrees).

Coward. Jeter would never keep warm. Did you see that flip against Oakland? Soooooo sick.

Sabathia, who may feel slightly better knowing he stunk early last year, positing a 7.87 ERA through April, 2008, chalked it all up to not being able to locate his fastball. But total truth be told, he didn't throw it all that hard, either. According to the scoreboard, he pitched at around 92-93 mph. Posada said it was 94-95. But in any case, it didn't overpower a soul.

Gotta love hiding a totally article undermining fact in a paragraph that evokes Posada's human radar gun capabilities.

Let's look at those starts from early '08:

Mar 31 -- 5.1 IP/6 H/5 ER/3 BB/7 K
Apr 5 -- 5.1 IP/6 H/4 ER/4 BB/2 K
Apr 11 -- 3.1 IP/12 H/9 ER/2 BB/4 K
Apr 16 -- 4 IP/ 8 H/9 ER/ 5 BB/ 1 K

Lesson: be happy you got off with 4+ innings and less than nine earned runs.

After the buildup, the whole thing was such a letdown.

A buildup created by you guys, the media, saying he was Sandy Fucking Koufax for the last third of the 2008 season.

And Teixeira pleased them by doing nothing, by going 0-for-4 with a walk, and by grounding out with the tying run at third base in the eighth inning.

"I didn't get it done today,'' Teixeira said.

That makes two of 'em. Between Sabathia and Teixeira, the Yankees got zero return on their $341 million investment.

And will continue to when Tex goes 0-630 with 162 walks and CC goes 0-31.

-----

Of course, no one dares to write off a rugged Phillies team on the basis of one game, other than maybe the few fans who booed Myers and Ibanez.

And dumbass sports writers who make accusations based on 0.6% of the baseball season.

Indeed, the Phillies have turned slow starts into their own Philly tradition, having begun the previous three seasons 24-22, 26-28 and 24-24. Wake them up when it's June.

Article over. Well, done Verducci. Wait, there's like 250 more words here...

Shit.

But there was something specific about how Philadelphia faded out on Day One that bears watching. Manuel chose to bat left-handers Utley, Ryan Howard and Raul Ibanez in succession in the middle of the order,

Also known as two of his three best hitters.

thus handing opposing managers a room-service invitation to clamp down a game with one decent left-handed reliever -- a reliever such as the Braves' Mike Gonzalez.

I am not going to give Manuel this much credit, mainly because I think he played with Abner Doubleday, but is there a slight, small, miniscule chance Manuel thought, "You know what, Utley and Howard are fucking awesome at baseball, who cares what handedness they are, I am batting them 3-4."

I think it's dumb that Jayson Werth bats second (should be sixth) and Rollins leadoff (should be second) when Shane Victorino is batting sixth (should be leadoff), but that's just me.

Also, it's not like Mike Gonzalez is killing these guys.

Howard -- 1/7 with a homer, career .231 versus LHP
Utley -- 2/5 with a double, career .280 versus LHP
Ibanez -- never faced, career .268 versus LHP

After Utley walked in the ninth to bring the tying run to the plate, Howard whiffed and Ibanez did likewise. Somewhere Pat Burrell was smiling.

I just love when things come together.

Smiling Pat Burrell:
o-5, 4 K versus Gonzalez, career .276 versus LHP

"We've played one game, man," Manuel said. "What would you suggest?"

Translation: "Fuck off, Verducci."

Well, here's an idea, now that $31.5 million already has been spent on a soon-to-be 37-year-old left-handed hitter who has never played in a playoff game: Put Shane Victorino or Jayson Werth between Howard and Ibanez, with the other of the two hitting second.

So Victorino, with his 34 career homers, now protects Ryan Howard? Get ready to see four wide ones, Ryan. Or how about Werth, with his career-high 418 ABs (and 24 homers in '08), 29 years on this Earth and never being an everyday player?

At least Ibanez has gone 20+ homers for four straight seasons of more than 600 ABs.

Oh, and fuck "never played in a playoff game."

Overheard watching the WBC

The series-long Japan slob-fest train keeps on chuggin.

Paraphrasing some guy (does it even matter anymore?): "Moving station to station, situational hitting, good, solid defense, throwing strikes, the strikeout when you need it. That's winning baseball."

So...

Scoring runs, not giving up more runs than you score, moving from first to home, hitting the baseball, catching the baseball, throwing the baseball. That's winning baseball.