NBA Top 50: Caron Butler (No. 26)

Caron is a superstar, and a role model.

I want to be him when I grow up.

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Yet another very good player and good ranking.

This doesn't have to do with his basketball skills, but he's become a great person too. Down here in Heat land there isn't a player who we miss more. Ya it was worth it to trade him for Shaq and our championship, but man, we really liked him down here.

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Is that for real? 10,000, Even 5,000 for a seat? U get the seat forever? Or just the season? Im from Australia and 150 bucks is alot for a seat to a AFL game.

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Caron Butler looks like he fits in this area. He's an above average player, good in a lot of areas and possesses a good basketball IQ. He's also maybe the most indispensable player on a solid Wizards team, giving him a certain weight in the rankings.

What I don't understand is why he's so much higher than Iguodala. Statistically they're nearly exact replicas of each other:

Caron: 20.3 pts, 16.3 shots, 2.2 steals, 2.6 turnovers, 4.9 assists, .357 3% on 3.2 attempts.

Iguodala: 19.9 pts, 15.6 shots, 2.1 steals, 2.6 turnovers, 4.8 assists, .329 3% on 3.7 attempts

The three point shooting favors Butler slightly but in career percentage, Iguodala's got Butler beat .331 to .318.

Their biggest difference is the rate at which they get to the free throw and the percentage they shoot once there. Iguodala has been as high as a very good 7.3 while Butler's high is a pedestrian 5.2. Butler shoots a much higher percentage though Iguodala isn't horrible--he shot 82 percent in 2006--so the number of made free throws are similar though Iguodala is drawing more fouls.

I think Butler may be higher because he's thought of as a complete player while most consider Iguodala to lack an outside shot. True but Iguodala's also not horrible from outside, he's improved. Still, with the stats so similar across the board, I can't see why Iguodala is 23 slots lower than Caron.

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You obviously didn't get the memo that per-game stats aren't being used much in this exercise because they're very limited.

Let's try this again:

Butler: 18.4 pts/36, 6 reb/36, 4.4 ast/36, 50.1 eFG%, 55.8 TS%, 9.8 REB%, 21.9 AST%, 20.7 PER

Iguodala: 18,1 pts/36, 5 reb/36, 4.3 ast/36, 49.5 eFG%, 54.3 TS%, 8.2 REB%, 20.3 AST%, 19.0 PER.

So basically, Butler is better than Iguodala at everything. Hence, the placement.

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Pradamaster, you looked at the per 36 numbers and concluded that Butler is definitively better by 23 spots. Wow, Butler's a 0.3 pts better scorer and his assist% trumps Iguodala by a whopping 1.6 percent. I think Butler is a slightly better player but the emphasis is on slightly. Butler at 26 and Iguodala at 49 makes it look like the gap is pretty wide and it's not. I wasn't saying that Butler is being overrated, more so that Iguodala is being underrated.

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Yes, Caron's got Iguodala beat in the numbers if you're being really technical. Yes the numbers say Caron scores more, has more assists and so on but the differences are so marginal, they're essential even. Besides rebounds and free throw percentage, there is no stat that Caron blows Iguodala away.

And about pace, that's more of a team statistic. Even though Philly played faster, Iguodala still scored 19.9 points on 15.3 shots and Butler 20.3 points on 16.3 shots. Butler's not suddenly going to score more on a point to shot basis if the Wizards played at Philly's pace. Butler's assists look better with the slower pace but Iguodala averaged 5.7 assists in 2007. He's a very good passer and no way inferior to Butler when it comes to passing. The shooting numbers shouldn't be too affected, etc...

In terms of their on court contributions, they're essentially the same. Stylistically, I wouldn't analogize them to each other. I'd say Caron is more similar to Joe Johnson. Same size, not great athletes, slightly above, good shooters, not great at getting to the line, good playmakers, good all around. Iguodala, the way he moves and plays, he's like what a good healthy of Larry Hughes ought to play like.

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lol @ yall disputing who's better... seriously baron davis is better than both igoudala and butler yet he was ranked 30th... but to tell the complete truth, butler gets the edge... he didnt have a pg like miller running the show and didnt have the defense that the sixers had. butler also played well in the playoffs, something that igoudala didnt do. so in that section i agree. But still, baron is still better than both those players so w/e

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Nice, arguing about who's better by statistical decimal points. You guys sound like a bunch of kids trading Pokemon cards.

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No, Iguodala is very good and has the potential to be even better in the future. I guess I'm not disputing that.

What I'm disputing is mostly the idea that 23 spots is a big gap. It's not in the grand scheme of things, considering there are 450 players in the NBA. If Butler and Iguodala switch teams, their clubs would be pretty similar. Still, it seems about right to put Butler slightly ahead of Iguodala in ranking the best players in the league considering that Butler is a little better than Iguodala in every relevant category.

Pace is a team stat, but it's still relevant for discussion with individuals. As Ziller mentioned in his Corey Maggette and Tracy McGrady posts, being able to create shots is a skill. Last year, both of these guys were clear #1 options when they played, yet Butler was able to create more shot opportunities in fewer team possessions AND hit a higher percentage of those shots. The difference isn't huge, but there's a difference.

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As a Heat fan, it's nice to see Caron rocking it up there with the black president. He was awesome in Miami and it sucked when we had to give him up. Scary to think of what he and Wade together more than Wade's rookie(and Butler's sophmore) season.

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