On written words and spider graphs

Got for Christmas from my good friend Ben the preposterously cool San Francisco Panorma. Read about it here and here and here. If you have 16 bucks and any interest, any interest at all, in written words on printed paper that tell true stories, you should get it.

Of particular interest in this forum, though, there’s not only a keeper of a Stephen poster inside, but there’s also an interesting little “spider graph” and analysis by Roger Pimentel. The title is ... Stephen Curry vs. Monta Ellis: Can You Spot The Natural Point Guard?

Pimentel writes:

Let’s try to determine who fits which role. The top half of a spider graph is composed of offensive statistics; the bottom is defense. A well-rounded player will have a circular spider graph, while the graph of a player with specific strengths will have sharp points.

Can you guess whose spider graph is more circular?

Pimentel continues:

Right off the bat, it’s Curry who seems to be gravitating toward the role of a traditional point guard. Curry comes across as a creator -- his balance of scoring and assisting on the graph suggests that he creates shots for himself and others equally well. Despite his early misgivings about his teammate, Ellis is thriving in his quasi-two-guard role by doing what he does best -- taking the ball to the hole.

So I’m in Davidson right now. Last night Bill Cobb and I did a very festive and Christmasy thing. We drank beer and watched the Wisconsin game. There’s a play pretty early in the second half where Davidson starts to pull away. Thomas runs the floor and scores a layup while getting fouled. What’s Stephen do on that play? He gets the rebound. He throws a laser to Thomas. TV likes he shoots he scores, so it makes sense that that’s what most fans think of when they think of Stephen, but it’s neat to see that some seem to be starting to understand what I’d like to think we here have known for a good long while.