WoW has a huge blind spot when it comes to the ‘value’ of shot creation. I put value in quotes because Berri doesn’t believe there is value there at all, and has built his metric accordingly. But people who watch the game know differently.

Al Thornton, a rookie playing for a truly abysmal team because of all the injuries, was frequently put in the situation of getting a shot when nothing was there. We know, from watching him play, that he has many, many things that make him a truly special offensive basketball player. He’s got a great first step, a wide array of shots, a pure stroke, and athleticism to spare. These are things you can’t really teach. But the WoW metric sees a bunch of games with sub-20% shooting.

As John R says, he needs to get better. And he likely will. But I’m now surprised that WoW is down on him, nor am I concerned. I know what I saw.

It’s a far fetched comparison but I like to think of Al/Corey to Kobe/EJ. The Lakers let go of Jones to give Kobe more playing time, and it ended up paying dividends. Remember, Kobe only averaged 7.6 points his rookie season; he pretty much sucked. I’m not saying Al will develop as rapidly as Kobe will if Maggette is gone, nor am I saying we should get rid of Maggette… But we can’t judge Al this early in his career. He may be older than the rest of his draft class, but seeing as how athletic and well-conditioned his body is (He played through ankle sprains and the flu), I think he can play for at least 13 years down the road.

Like Livingston, we’ve seen flashes of brilliance from Al. It’s just a matter of time in terms of development that he becomes a dominant force.