Hey Larry Hughes, Please Stop Taking So Many Bad Shots

Feb 2, 2008: LA Clippers 84 at Cleveland 98 (win)

FG          FG%         3P         3P%       FT       FT%   

3-10        .300        1-4       .250        3-4     .750

I am in Vegas for the Super Bowl. No time tonight to blog about Larry Hughes!

Jan 31, 2008: Cleveland 95 (loss) at Seattle 101

FG          FG%         3P         3P%       FT       FT%   

10-21        .476      4-8       .500        4-4     1.000

Good game Larry. Way to come back strong after last night’s sucktacular 2-11 performance. Your trade value is through the roof! Keep this up and you might be shooting 38% by the end of the season. Too bad the Cavs were abused for most of the game.
 

What’s wrong with this picture?

Yahoo sports is listing Larry Hughes as a ”Hot” player. Since when is 40% considered good? WTF?

.

Meanwhile, Chris Paul is listed as ”NOT” despite the fact that he’s shooting better than Larry!

Our standards have sunk to all-time new lows. 

Jan 30, 2008: Cleveland 84 (win) at Portland 83

FG          FG%         3P         3P%       FT       FT%   

2-11        .181        0-2       .000        4-6     .666

If you didn’t see the game tonight but you saw the box score, you might think that Larry Hughes had a totally crappy game. But if you watched the game, you saw that Larry played with a lot of energy, was aggressive getting to the hoop, had some nice assists, and he just sucks at shooting the basketball.

If it wasn’t for the 18% shooting, he had a pretty decent game! I know that’s like saying Derek Anderson had a good game against the Bengals in week 16… except for the 4 interceptions. But Larry played hard tonight. And if he keeps playing with that kind of intensity, I think he could make a huge contribution to some other team in the NBA. Isiah Thomas, you know you want him.

Of course, the real story of the game tonight was LeBron James. Note to opposing fans: DO NOT TAUNT HAPPY FUN LEBRON. Just don’t do it. Ask Chris Bosh’s girlfriend. Ask the Portland fans tonight. Ask the Portland rim that he rocked on that first quarter dunk.

If only Larry responded in similar fashion…

Larry had a very good game on Sunday. So good, you must be wondering: can he repeat the performance? Can he shoot over 50% again? Can he NOT take bad shots??? Unfortunately, these things are very difficult to predict because there are actually 3 different Larry Hugheses playing for the Cavaliers this season!

1) Bizarro Larry Hughes
Games      FG           3PT      Rebounds      Assists     TO         PPG
  8              52%        47%           3.4                1.9           2.1         17.5

Bizarro Larry plays like a guy making $12 million $7 million a year. He’s active on offense and defense, he scores efficiently, he helps the team win games. We’ve seen BLH in 8 games this season and the Cavs won 7 of those games.

2) Larry “I take bad shots” Hughes
Games      FG           3PT      Rebounds      Assists      TO       PPG
  18             24%        13%           2.9                2.3           1.9        5.5

This is the Larry we’ve seen for most of the season. Horrible shot selection, bad decision making, bad shooting, and not making his teammates better. Quicken Loans Arena officials reported that 482 people at Cavs games have thrown-up in their own mouths while watching this Larry. The team’s record with ”bad shots Larry” is 8-10 and if he keeps playing like this, he’s going work his way into a job at Joe’s Amoco Station on Saint Clair Ave.

3) Larry since the “Birthday Intervention”
Games      FG          3PT      Rebounds      Assists      TO       PPG
  3              44%        45%           5.3                3.3           1.3        15.0

It’s been 3 games since we sent Larry his birthday gift, and he’s playing his best ball of the season. In the recent win versus the Lakers, he scored efficiently and he did not take bad shots. Even the shots he missed were good looks with Larry squared-up to the hoop and fairly open. It’s only 3 games, so it’s too early to proclaim a turnaround, but this is a good start. 

If Larry continues to improve (and AV gets healthy) I think the Cavs have a shot at the title. And if we somehow win the title, I would expect a bronze statue of my likeness (hunched over a laptop) in front of the Quicken Loans Arena.

If this is just a fluke, well… I’ll have lots of material for this blog. 

Note to GMs around the league: The last 3 games are solid proof that Larry Hughes has completely turned it around and you should TRADE FOR HIM NOW before the feeding frenzy starts! Rumor has it Danny Ainge is trying to package Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen for Larry Hughes and some scrubs. Don’t miss out on this rare opportunity to acquire a franchise player in his prime!

65% of voters selected: Not Applicable, F, or worse.

88% of voters selected: Not Applicable, D, or worse.

I found it very interesting to see a spike in votes for “B” or “C” in the last 36 hours. I’m guessing some people did not understand “first half of the season”.