I've been working on breaking down the stats produced by Flip's point guards over the years.
I'm still working on drawing conclusions and applying them to Arenas/Critt/Foye/James. In the meantime, the list of the point guards Flip spent the most time with and some observations after the jump.
Here are the players who have spent the most time at the point for Flip (by minutes*):
Chauncey Billups 12,127 over 5 seasons (including the 2 year/4,000 minute stint in Minny)
Terrell Brandon 7,082 over 4 seasons (2 as the primary starter)
Stephon Marbury 6,097 over 2+ seasons (his first 2 nba seasons and the start of his 3rd)
Terry Porter 4,854 over 3 seasons (Flip's very first PG, though Marbury got there for Flip's first full season)
Troy Hudson 4,832 over 3 seasons
Sam Cassell 4,360 over 2 seasons
- Chauncey Billups' three best seasons in terms of PER were the three seasons of his second stint with Flip. Terrell Brandon's 4 seasons with Flip were all above his career average PER (and, what's more, they were the final 4 seasons of his career). Sam Cassell had his single best PER with Flip. Arenas has a higher career PER than any prior Flip PG.
- Only once has a Flip PG played more than 3,000 minutes in a season, and that was Marbury with 3,112 in his second NBA season. It doesn't seem that injury has been a terribly big contributor to this. Arenas has played over 3,200 minutes in 2 seasons and would have gotten there a 3rd time in 06-07. Particularly in light of the injury history, I'll be surprised if we see more than 2,900 from Arenas this year, even if he plays in 80+ games.
- The two highest usage rates for any player-season of the above were both from Cassell, with a 27.2% and a 26.4%. Arenas, meanwhile, has a career usage of 27.9% and topped 30% in both 05-06 and 06-07. Oddly enough, those Cassell numbers were both actually over his career average.
- The numbers bear out that Flip PGs have a particularly prominent role setting up their teammates. Of the 20 player-seasons, in 14 of them the player exceeded his career average in assists per 36 minutes. In 15 the player beat his career assist % (percentage of teammate baskets assisted). So, if you want to draft Arenas as your PG in fantasy, you might get a nice boost over his career assist numbers. Impressively, in 11 of the 15 higher assist % season, the player had a lower turnover % (turnovers per 100 plays) than his career average.
- Meanwhile, of the 20 player-seasons, in 9 the player exceeded his career average in FGA/36, suggesting that their shot usage stayed around their norms. Arenas, however, has taken a lot more shots than any Flip PG, with a career average 1.3 shots per 36 higher than even Cassell (and 4.2 higher than Billups, who, aside from Porter, took the fewest FGA).
- Billups was the most efficient scorer (his second time with Flip, by quite a bit). Arenas has a higher career true shooting % than anyone but Billups, and if you subtract out Billups' second stint with Flip, the two are very close.
* Note that in a full NBA season, there are a little under 4,000 minutes available per position.