Time To Eat Crow
January 11th, 2010 | by jruss |When I attended the Warriors/Pacers game earlier in the year I said out loud to my dad sitting next me during an abysmal first quarter, “Corey Maggette is a total scrub. The guy is garbage.” Of course I was just mad about how the whole team was playing and I focused my anger on Maggette.
Well, he must have herd me because since that game and really since December, the guy has been better than advertised. So far this year, he is averaging almost 19 points (he was billed as a 20-point scorer: CHECK), shooting 82% from the free-throw line (he was billed as a very good free throw shooter: CHECK) and he is shooting a career-high 52% from the field (he has never shot better than 47% over the course of a season and that was his rookie year: CHECK MATE).
Bottom line, he is delivering on the promise. He was never seen as a great defender although I’ve seen games where he has definitely held his own. I also think the first part of the season when Nellie was playing him at the four hurt his scoring and production a bit and since he has been playing the small forward, he has been one of the most consistent players on the team.
So, I want to hereby apologize to Maggette for writing him off so early in the season and give the Warriors props for this being a much better free agent signing than the way it appeared early now.
Now, of course, Maggette’s trade value is rising so perhaps we can trade him for three more Vladimir Radmonivic’s or a new wrist for Raja Bell.
By Lloyd Russell on Jan 11, 2010
Good article – I love the title.