In the real NBA, Ben Gordon has much higher stock than Kirk Hinrich. He's improved every season since he entered the NBA and is quickly making a name for himself as a top-notch NBA scorer. However, does his outstanding play translate well into rotisserie fantasy basketball? Let's compare his numbers to fellow back court teammate, Kirk Hinrich.
Today’s Matchup: Ben Gordon vs Kirk Hinrich
Just a reminder, when you're talking about anything fantasy it's important to communicate how the scoring structure of your league works. For our purposes, I'm going to assume we're talking about rotisserie using Yahoo Fantasy Sport's default scoring system…the stat cats being points, rebounds, assists, 3's made, blocks, steals, fg%, ft% and to's.
In roto, you're looking to compare players stat-by-stat, since roto is really designed to level the playing field of statistics (for instance, by roto standards if a player gets about 2 steals per game, it's the equivalent in steals of a player scoring about 20-25 points per game).
Points Per game
Ben Gordon 21.1
Kirk Hinrich 15.0
Rebounds Per Game
Ben Gordon 2.7
Kirk Hinrich 3.0
Assists Per Game
Ben Gordon 3.4
Kirk Hinrich 6.3
Blocks Per Game
Ben Gordon 0.2
Kirk Hinrich 0.3
Steals Per Game
Ben Gordon 0.8
Kirk Hinrich 1.5
3s Made Per Game
Ben Gordon 1.7
Kirk Hinrich 1.5
FG% (and FG's attempted per game):|
Ben Gordon 45.8% (15.6 attempts per game)
Kirk Hinrich 43.7% (12.0 attempts per game)
FT% (and FT's attempted per game):
Ben Gordon 87.6% (5.8 attempts per game)
Kirk Hinrich 79.9% (3.8 attempts per game)
Turnovers Per Game:
Ben Gordon 3.1
Kirk Hinrich 2.3
Games Played so far:
Ben Gordon 43
Kirk Hinrich 41
The Verdict:
Draw.
I hate making this a draw, but there are too many arguments for both sides. On the one hand, Ben Gordon's 21.1 ppg stands out. Yet, he only has a slight advantage over Hinrich in threes (0.2 difference), only gets about half as many assists as Hinrich gets, half as many steals as Hinrich gets, and turns the ball over 0.8 times more (which is fairly significant).
On the other hand, Gordon's percentages can't be overlooked. He has improved his trips taken to the line from 3.4 per game last season to a more than respectable 5.8 a game this season and shoots in the high 80%. That's a huge lift. Also, his field goal percentage is respectable and better than Hinrich's.
That fact alone might make Gordon more fantasy worthy, as the percentages are difficult to make up for. Yet, he certainly doesn't spread his stats around as well as Hinrich.
If you're looking for scoring or percentages, Gordon's your man. If you need assists, steals and low turnovers, stick with Hinrich.
