How'd He Do?: Hilton Armstrong

by Rohan on Jun 7, 2008 11:53 AM CDT

After a little break in the action, time to get back to work. Hilton Armstrong's turn.

/Sigh...

Positives: Increased his block rate from 3.2 to 3.6.

Negatives: Fouls/minute rate increased, eFG% took a terrible nosedive (54% to 45%), didn't improve his offensive rebound rate at all, defensive rebound rate decreased by nearly 1 board/100 possessions, turnover rate increased to a scary-bad 24.5%, almost no progress defensively as he was repeatedly schooled by back-up centers and power forwards (his biggest problem is probably playing defense with his hands and not his feet).

My Grade: 1, Explanation: I hate giving anybody a 1 given how well this team did. But how can you justify anything Hilton did this year? Other than blocks, he got disturbingly worse at every aspect of the game. Shooting, rebounding, fouling, defense in general... His PER finished at 7.7, down from 12.2. To put that in perspective, only 3 PF's or C's (with regular minutes) in the entire league did worse than that- the Collins bros and Francisco Elson. New Orleans already picked up the team option on Hilton a while back, and that's probably a good thing with the dearth of FA big men available.

You can point to Brandon Bass who had eerily similar numbers before breaking out for Dallas. He posted a 7.2 PER his second season, a regression from his rookie year. While Hilton shot 45% this season, Bass shot a pathetic 34 eFG%. With Bass, though, there were signs of a good player if you looked closely enough. He was able to sustain good turnover rates despite USG%'s higher than Hilton (15.6 and 17.2). He proved more willing to pass his second year, reflecting in his AST% rising from 1.8 to 2.8. And the sealer was his 22.8 and 21.9 DRB%. Those two numbers proved that he could bang down low despite giving up height. We simply refused to give Bass any significant playing time.

Hilton could become a good player. The signs just aren't there, as they were for Brandon. Personally, I think the Hornets will continue to give Hilton minutes because they don't want to repeat the Bass error. Ironic, huh?

Poll

On a scale of 1 to 5, how much did you enjoy your stay at the Hilton? (That'll be 1.9 million dollars please!)

1

16 votes

2

12 votes

3

4 votes

4

2 votes

5

4 votes

38 votes | Poll has closed

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Comments

Hmmm....

The stats tell an interesting tale. But I think what they may not show is that Hilton just had some flat out horrible games that probably tilted those stats generally downward. What I’m saying, is that he had games where he had played really well, but those stats are diluted by those horrible games. To me, a player like that, who only is 2 years in, needs more playing time to get consistent. To get his confidence. Yet Byron kept yanking the rug out from him. I can see you disagree, but I think they should play him up as long as he’s under contract. Otherwise, he might just be the Tyson-from-Chicago that we give away to some other team, and look foolish years later.

by m-W on Jun 7, 2008 2:53 PM CDT reply actions

Eh

I’m still mad he didn’t give me a high five that one time…

by Rohan on Jun 7, 2008 3:09 PM CDT up reply actions

Stats, Stats

I think you may be relying on the PER statistic too much. Hilton showed some flashes of talent defensively several times, but he’s just not getting adequate time to develop a confidence needed to get into the rotation. He’s a good shotblocker, if nothing else, and can really be a strong rebounder for us.

by noballer08 on Jun 7, 2008 11:03 PM CDT reply actions

Heh

I have a tendency to do that. You’re right, I mentioned that his rebounding rates didn’t increase, but I forgot to mention that his rebounding rate wasn’t to shabby to begin with. Also, I like the way you put it: “he can be a strong rebounder and shot blocker.” I mean, if we bring in another bench player with some offensive ability, that’s all we really need from Hilton.

Oh, and welcome to the site noballer!

by Rohan on Jun 7, 2008 11:46 PM CDT up reply actions

Frustrating

For me Hilton was one of the most frustrating Hornets to watch (Pargo on an off day would be on that list as well… oh my god, for whoever watched Game 1 of Celtics/Lakers, did you totally get bad Pargo flashbacks whenever Vujacic shot?). Some nights, especially nights when Tyson was out early with foul trouble, he looked like he “got” it, the way Julian Wright got it as the season went on. Then he’d come off the bench the next game and look clueless. And every time he makes a mistake, it seems to affect him and he just plays worse. I also think yanking him for Ely was a mistake. Hilton is younger, he’s gotta get that experience. He’s made some defensive plays that made me think, “Yes!” And he’s made some awful blunders. I wish Byron Scott could work whatever magic he worked with Tyson’s confidence issues… but then I think Tyson just has more talent.

by ticktock6 on Jun 8, 2008 9:12 AM CDT reply actions

Control, control, you MUST learn control!

Hilton, for some reason, plays suprisingly well against Dwight Howard. So, I suggest we suit up the opposing big man in a Magic #12 jersey every night. No? Oh well, worth a thought. Well, we could just make him memorize different facts about Dwight Howard, you know, like that catcher in Major Leage 2.

Lets face it, his issue is confidence. If he’s in the game, I’d look for an opportunity to get him an easy basket as early as possible; perhaps a Tyson-esque alley oop or something. He’s be a player that needs to hit the ground running, or else he just hits the ground.

by Big Easy Bugz on Jun 8, 2008 12:09 PM CDT reply actions