Going Off on Nick Fazekas

Today, Matt, the main writer over at the other blog I write on, RidiculousUpside, had a post on how Nick Fazekas didn't deserve to get cut.  It was backed up pretty well, citing Dave Berri from Wages of Wins, letting readers know how he was the most underrated player in last years NBA draft and backing it up with a bunch of statistics that don't mean much to the average person.  Really, he "posted a WP48 [Wins Produced per 48 minutes] of 0.289 (average is 0.100)."

Amazing!

I don't care.  I'm glad he "produces a lot of wins", but getting off the bench at the end of the game in situations where he is not deciding the game and putting up decent numbers should not let him produce this random stat.  He put up the 2nd highest PER in the D-League.  Wow! 

Again, this doesn't take into account surrounding factors.  

Fazekas shot the best percentage when playing against the Bakersfield Jam last season, 75%, along with putting in 25 points.  Wow, great game, until you look into the surrounding factors: If you're playing on a team that features you playing next to Chris Ellis (who?), Scott Merritt (whox2?), and Keith Closs (you know him, but still, he's not so much a force after breaking the world record for most cigarettes smoked before a basketball game in Bismarck, North Dakota 10 years after being a bust with the Clippers in the NBA, then going on to play with the Pennsylvania Valley Dawgs, Detroit Motown Jammers, Orange County Buzz, and the So Cal Legends before surfacing with the Tulsa 66ers in their attempt to show Fazekas "Hey, if you don't improve, you're going to end up like this guy, AT BEST!"), you're going to put up numbers.  Especially if you're playing against the Bakersfield Jam, in front of their homecrowd of an announced 831, and you're matched up against the immortal Mustafa/Mufasa/Simba Al-Sayyad.  As predicted, he put up 25 points against them, shooting 75% from the field, though only pulled in 5 rebounds.  Ramon Sessions outrebounded him that game.  

Fazekas averaged the most rebounds last season when playing against the Anaheim Arsenal, pulling down 16.  Wow, that's a lot!  Anaheim started a lineup that featured Will Blalock, Davin White, Steven Smith, Kedrick Brown, and Ivan Johnson.  Tallest player of the bunch? 6-foot-8.  Why wouldn't Fazekas be able to board against those guys, especially when neither team shot better than 50% from the field?  Fazekas also scored 20 points in this game, adding 4 turnovers.

Alright, so against bad teams, Fazekas puts up good numbers.  What if he plays against average players that should be able to defend his limited post moves?  I looked at which team he put up bad numbers, and when looking at shooting percentage, it came against the Fort Wayne Mad Ants.  Really?  The Mad Ants, featuring a big man rotation that included NATE GERWIG?  The only thing he's got going for him is annoyingness and girth.  However, in his games against Fort Wayne, Fazekas shot just 39% from the field.  Being bodied up by Larry Turner, Lukasz Obrzut and Nate Gerwig, he wasn't very effective on the offensive end.

Against probably the best starting big combination in the D-League last year, Rod Benson and Kevin Lyde of the Dakota Wizards, Fazekas averaged 15 and 8.  Not bad, not great, but average.  Playing in the D-League, you don't deserve an NBA contract if you're going to put up average numbers against good D-League players.  He put 11 points and 8 boards when playing when Kevin Lyde was out and the Wizards big men included Rod Benson (whom Fazekas should match up well against considering he might be able to body him up), Wil Frisby (6-8 stocky forward) and Kibwe Trim (who?).  Not exceptional.  I attended the game and afterward, received a text message from a buddy that was at the game asking if I wanted to go get "Fazekased".  Fazekas that night meant going to the Elbow Room to get dominated by Georgia in Blackjack, and drinking enough Bud Lights to pull a JamesOn Curry and pee while walking over the train tracks to my vehicle.  Fazekased, not exactly a good thing.

Presumably Fazekased pregame in Tulsa

Alright, enough about the negatives, what are Fazekas postives?  Stumped? So am I. Coming out of Nevada, it was said that he has good touch and a high motor.  In his NBA and D-League career, he's made 3 of his 19 3-pointer's attempted.  He also runs like a fat girl, and not quick, so I'm not so sure his conditioning is there for him to still be considered a hustle guy.  Meanwhile, this 60-year old dude made 209 in a row with that form.  It can't be that hard.

Meanwhile, he was just beat out by Juwan Howard for the Nuggets last spot.  They have Chris "Birdman" Andersen, Renaldo Balkman, Steven Hunter, Kenyon Martin, and Nene for big men.  The two things these guys have in common are that they either lack polish or are injury prone.  Juwan Howard is polished, but injury prone. Fazekas isn't polished, but his career has been void of any major injuries.  I say major because there's got to be something that causes him to run the way he does.  It's scary.  Nonetheless, on a team full of "personalities", I guess, an aging Howard will be a good locker room guy, and add more to a lacking-since-the-Camby-trade-low-post game than Fazekas would have.