Phoenix Suns Player Review 2011-12: Hakim Warrick

Here at Bright Side of the Sun we take the words TOTAL COVERAGE pretty dang seriously.

While our beloved Suns are off taking nice vacations, we are still slaving away, attempting to provide you all with first class Suns coverage.

So friends, without further adieu, we present you with the Phoenix Suns Season in Review, 2011-12.

Up for discussion today is Hakim Warrick.

Hakim Warrick was in a heated battle this season. Not a heated battle for playing time, a heated battle to win the inaugural Taylor Griffin Least Valuable Player Award. As part of this spellbinding analysis I will ask you to not only consider what grade you would give Warrick for the season, but also whether he was actually the least valuable player on the team.

He had some stiff competition. I think you all know who I’m talking about.

The report card I’m about to hand out won’t be pretty. I don’t necessarily subscribe to the "No Sun Left Behind" ideal. There appears to be one thing that Warrick excels at (dunking) and very little else that he does at an even average level. There were fugacious moments where Warrick did make contributions, but they were few and far between.

As a very clever person put it, Warrick is like a $1 scratcher lottery ticket. You’re not investing much, and you don’t expect much in return. Every once in a while you win $5 and are pleasantly surprised, but the next 9 times you scratch it off and get nothing (or at best your dollar back).

If you’re feeling lucky, scratch ahead and keep your fingers crossed.

Here are Warrick’s numbers as a Sun.

There is a pretty conspicuous decline here. His points, rebounds, and minutes per game were the lowest since his rookie season. Field goal percentage – career low (and a drop of 10%!). Advanced numbers reveal the same conclusion. This was Hakim Warrick’s worst year statistically since his rookie season. Considering that was his rookie season this may very well have been his worst year as a pro.

What I think is a telling stat is that Warrick’s career ORtg/DRtg are 109/110, but this year they were 100/109. Warrick still played the consistently poor defense that has plagued him his whole career, but this year failed to provide an offensive spark to offset this deficiency.

Now let’s look at something else that is rather condemning:

Table Courtesy of NBA.com

As depicted, Warrick was second to worst in +/-. Steve Nash (big surprise) was #1. However, by manipulating the numbers to militate the interpretation and using an adjusted +/- per minutes played, Warrick ranks dead last at -1 point per 3.99 minutes played. With Nash at +1 point per 11.08 minutes played, if Warrick played 12 minutes in a game it would basically take Nash 33 minutes to undo the damage he caused. Surprisingly (or not), Channing Frye ranks #1 on the team in +/- per minutes played at +1 point per 10 minutes played.

Warrick narrowly edged out Josh Childress to avoid having the least number of games played this season. In fact, the three Suns at the end of the bench appeared in 34 (Childress), 35 (Warrick), and 36 (Price – who actually started 8) respectively. All three of these players showed flickers of promise, but all three failed to earn regular playing time and found themselves completely out of the rotation for stretches of the season.

Warrick was thrust back into a larger role again at the end of the season after a devastating injury to Channing Frye left the Suns scrambling for frontcourt help. Warrick actually played more minutes in the last 3 games (66) than he had in the previous 21 (62). To his credit, Warrick appeared ready to play and there were even brief glimpses where it appeared he was helping the team, but those were ephemeral, and Warrick the defensive sieve rematerialized as he did throughout the season.

After playing in 80 of 82 games during the 2010-11 season, it seems that Warrick has fallen out of favor/played himself out of a position and that two years into his contract this experiment appears to be an utter failure. I find it highly improbable that Warrick will find himself in a consistent role where he’s helping the team and contributing next season.

The Suns should attempt to move Warrick, if possible, even if for nothing more than the sake of opening up a roster spot for somebody who might be able to contribute more next season.

I give Warrick a D- for his lack of performance.

What do you think Brightsiders? Who was the least productive Sun this year and what grade do you give Hakim Warrick? Place your vote in the poll and leave your grade in the comments below.

This will be presented to the the Taylor Griffin LVP award winner.