Post by Rog on Mar 8, 2017 4:47:04 GMT
The 67th nominee of the NBN Hall of Fame, Andre Iguodala, was a good at just about everything but not quite great at anything type player. Its arguable he was actually great defensively, but does he have enough everywhere else to push him to be enshrined among the greats, or does he just fall short of reaching the minimum of greatness? Lets take a look.
Career Stats
35.9 MPG, 17.9 PPG, 6.1 RPG, 4.3 APG, 2.1 SPG, 0.4 BPG, 1.6 TOPG on 45.2% from the field, 82.4% from the line, and 42% from three
Best Season
2008(Kings) - 26.4 PPG, 6.4 RPG, 4.2 APG, 2.3 SPG, 0.5 BPG, 1.7 TOPG on 47.4% from the field, 80.8% from the line, and 44.7% from three
Career Highs
Points: 50
Rebounds: 15
Assists: 14
Steals: 8
Blocks: 5
Achievements
Championships: 0
Player of the Game: 110
Player of the Week: 1
Player of the Month: 0
Double Doubles: 158
Triple Doubles: 5
Awards
2004 - All-Star Rookie Game Participant
2004 - All-Rookie Team
2005 - All-Star Rookie Game Participant
2009 - All-League Third Team
2014 - All-Star Game Participant
2016 - All-Defensive Team
Arguments For Induction
- Was named, in different seasons in each, to an All-League Third, All-Star Game appearance, and All-Defensive Team. I do believe without some nagging injury issues in his career, he'd have more to show for it.
- Iggy, while not the most decorated defender, was an absolutely destructive defender. He carried his A rating with pride and had it for the vast majority of his career. He averaged 2.1 steals and 0.4 blocks for his career, 2.5 stocks being a solid number for a shooting guard. He had 7 seasons where he averaged more than 2.3 steals a game and also 7 seasons where he averaged half a block a game. With his high rating and good stock numbers its pretty incredible he didn't get more awards defensively.
- For a non point guard, Iguodala was about as good as you can ask a guy to be at distributing the ball. This was one of the first things he developed as a player, probably should have become closer to great at scoring but oh well. He averaged 4.3 assist guy but take out his last two and rookie season and his average creeps towards 5 pretty hard. In fact he had 4 seasons over 5 assists in his career. His 2 and a half Assist to turnover ratio is pretty elite for a shooting guard.
- Heck, the fact that he only averaged 1.6 turnovers a game for his career given how much he touched the ball and only was over 2 a game three times, being three of the first four years of his career that is understandable as well.
- Overall, Iggy was a fantastic all around basketball player and its tough to make a case against this guy being truly great, despite not being great statistically. We didn't talk about his scoring abilities, yet he was a 20 points a game scorer, showing in three years towards the beginning of his career he could do 24+, though never obtaining those numbers again. This, his efficiency, as well as his ability to hold onto the ball, be a great defender, and his underrated rebounding abilities paint a picture of a good at so many things hes great type player.
Arguments Against Induction
- AWARDS! HE HASN'T ENOUGH REWARDS! I feel like this is annoying, just repeating this same thing over and over again. We know. I know, but I have to say it. Its a huge part of his case.
- We're talking about a guy in the 17s for points a game for his career. If he had turned some of that effiency into some volume, you'd have a 25+ points a game scorer on 44-45% who can grab 7 boards, and dish out 5 assists while being a crazy good defender. But instead he settled into 18-20 points a game on 48% while doing all that other stuff. Hard to make a case on a guy who wasn't "All-Time Good" any of those other stuff too.
- You keep seeing all these excuses on averages and awards. Fact is him missing the time he did as well as not being able to know when to hang it up do hurt his case because it really, really hurts a guys averages, which mean a lot in my opinion, especially 17 points a game, ouch.
- Overall, Iggy was the glue guy you want on every team, 18+ points, 7+ rebounds, 5+ asists, who did the dirty work defensively and worked hard to be as good as he was, but the guy isn't a Hall of Famer with the lacking legendary stats and the lack of awards he has to show for it, whatever the reason may be. Hes just not a Hall of Famer.
Vote carefully, and remember to throw out arguments regardless of which side you're on. This should be a discussion that eventually gets the league to the proper decision on him. Your vote can also be retracted after it's been cast if you feel like switching to the other side based on the arguments that have been made. To be inducted, a player needs 70% and to be considered in a later class they need 50%. Vote carefully.
***BONUS - Don't forget that everyone who votes gets $25 and the person that makes the best argument or contributes to the discussion the best will be awarded an extra $25***
*
