FanPost

Earl vs Jamaal: A SPAT Analysis

[FanPost About #1 Winner!]

Currently I am a senior in college, studying accounting. This is (crosses fingers) my last semster. Part of my coursework is a capstone business course. We've used in this class a tool businesses may use to analyze themselves (from a big picture point of view) called the SWOT analysis. It stands for STRENGTHS (what are your businesses strengths) WEAKNESSES (what are your businesses weaknesses) OPPORTUNITIES (what opportunities does your business have) and THREATS (what threats does your business face.)

Building on this model, I have developed the SPAT analysis: STATISTIC, POEM, ABSTRACT THOUGHT. Once I have carried you through this highly advanced and methodical approach to player comparison you will agree with me that this team's backup point guard should have been ___________________(read on for answer)

(Edited by me just for formatting, read the rest after the jump)

STATISTIC

Here I will use two simple metrics: Assist Percentage (estimate of the percentage of teammate field goalsa player assisted while he was on the floor) and Turnover Percentage (percent of turnovers per 100 plays).

(Stats and descriptions taken off of basketball-reference.com)

Earl Watson Jamaal Tinsley
Assist Percentage 28.9% 36.3%
Turnover Percentage 32.0% 25.9%

As you can see, Tinsley's percentages in both assists and turnovers are superior's to Earls.

But wait! Is it possible that Earl is superior to Tinsley in other statistical measures? Yes. But my analysis formula only provides for one stat, and I already broke that rule by using 2. So, I'm calling it now.

WINNER: Jamaal

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POEM

Earl:

My name is Earl

I take care of the ball like it was a pearl

I make such awesome passes it will make your head swirl

Jeremy Evans is my friend

Derrick Favors is my friend

Enes Kanter is my friend

That is all I have. The End

Jamaal:

Yo I'm Jamaal!

I go shopping at the mall!

For clothes!

And sometimes covers for my cellular devices!

But I do not buy groceries at the mall.

I am Jamaal

I am legendary

*******

Clearly, Earl rhymes better.

WINNER: EARL

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ABSTRACT THOUGHT

Currently Avengers is sitting in 4th place all time in box office revenue. Impressive. So I got to thinking, what Avenger would Earl and Jamaal be?

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Earl Watson is the Hulk. He can be calm, cool, collected, rational. Like Bruce Banner. But get him mad...and he turns into a raging green machine. Like the Hulk. (Just ask Dirk)

Iou_medium

Jamaal would be Thor. Thor was "banished" so to speak for incorrect behavior. But Thor found himself in the sleepy town of Puente Antiguo, New Mexico and defeated the towering machine his brother unleashed on earth.

Like Thor, Jamaal went through some troubles, but got back on track and heroically assisted his teammates on the court.

So question is, who would win between Thor and Hulk? Fortunately, the Avengers provides an answer as these two fight. (Spoiler alert) It was basically a tie.

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WINNER: TIE

So by my count the score of this analysis is 1-1-1. So the judges (me) will confer.

(Imagine that I'm having a heated discussion)

And the winner is.........EARL WATSON!!!!!!

Basically, I felt Earl did a great job of including (in a social aspect) the youngsters. Not that Jamaal didn't, but Earl was really that veteran presence young talents need. Also, and this is purely an eyeball estimate, but the offense seemed to flow better with Earl. Jamaal seemed to really struggle with his shot, while Earl could be counted on for a little more of a contribution. So a) influence on youngsters b) smoother offense (eyeball) and c) more effective scoring (again, eyeball) I'm going with Earl Watson.

That said, I have nothing but respect and gratitute for Jamaal. All around good guy who has earned a revival career, whether it's with us or another team.

Thank you, readers/judges for your consideration. Questions? Hit me up on Twitter @UtahJazzTime

All comments are the opinion of the commenter and not necessarily that of SLC Dunk or SB Nation.