Mike “Muscy Stench” Muscala is playing well right now as the primary backup to the Dwightmare in Atlanta. He basically does the things that Dwight can’t do, namely shoot from anywhere outside the paint. He’s been quietly putting up good games on a regular basis, but I just looked up the stats right now and they blew my mind.
Here’s a list of players who play at least fifteen minutes per game, sorted by win shares per 48, my favorite stat because it’s “advanced” and therefore too complicated for me to comprehend fully, and also because it roughly matches up with what I consider a player’s real worth to be:
1. Chris Paul (okay)
2. Jimmy Butler (makes me a little mad, but okay)
3. James Harden (why is he not first)
4. George Hill (???)
5. Kemba Walker (still a worse Brandon Jennings IMHO)
6. Kawhi Leonard ([blank stare])
7. Blake Griffin (more dunks pls)
8. Mike Muscala (WHAT THE HECK, HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE, EXPLAIN THIS ONE TO ME STATS NERDS)
9. Kevin Durant (“they called me a coward”)
10. Russell Westbrook (“I called him a coward”)
That is some seriously impressive company that the Stench has put himself in. I don’t know how got to be in that company but he’s there now and it pretty much guarantees that he’s going to be in the NBA for the next ten years at least. Not bad! That’s a lot of checks! Way to go!