larry hughes playing efficient basketball doesn't exactly make sense.  he came into the league in 1998 and has played for six different teams, and has not lasted longer than three years anywhere.  he has always had low shooting percentages, and high shooting volume.  shooting roughly once every two minutes is major.  he has shot 31% from beyond the arc for his career and in two games this year is right on target shooting 33%.  despite the none too pretty shooting from distance, he is still shooting 62% overall.

via assets.nydailynews.com

yes jared, larry has the flattest shot on the team.  and he turns the ball over some.  and he doesn't get huge assist numbers (too busy shooting).  but he is in control with the rock, and never seems flustered by pressure defense.  on the other side, larry consistently makes very nice, clean swipes, and he does it at a pretty high clip.  in his best year, statistically, larry was scoring 22 a game, getting 6 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 steals, and 2.5 turnovers while getting to the line 7 times in 38 minutes a game.  that is rather exceptional (except for the shooting %'s) i know it's only been two games so far, but it's impossible to ignore larry's production, and with nate out for two weeks, we (as fanatics) have to consider what to expect from larry hughes.

last year, we saw larry for 25 games.  he started right away and we were impressed.  shortly after that, the luster wore off, and we headed into this season praying larry would not make the rotation.  we got our wish, and then suddenly things got going and we really needed a win, and larry came into the picture and helped us out with a steady hand and calming presence.  he made decisive passes, and a bevy of step up jumpers from 16-18 feet.  it was undoubtedly a sight to behold. 

he got the start in our only win.  and was more or less the fifth option on offense.  i say that because clearly duhon and lee in the pick and roll, is option number one.  option number two is proving itself to be the GODllinari option.  we usually try to get wilson chandler going early.  and that's four players and that makes hughes the fifth option.  i like having hughes as a fifth option.  plus when harrington comes in, he usurps hughes shot-control even more.  the only thing that scares me is when those two are on the same side of the court.  7 seconds or less is definitely about to happen when they are paired.  also one pass or less is about to happen. 

via a.espncdn.com

the only thing that i ever thought about when considering larry hughes, for years, was injury prone.  it seems like he has gotten past that.  he did come in to the league rail-thin and teen-aged, so perhaps it should not come as a surprise.  nevertheless larry's 80% two-point shooting, is not likely to keep up.  we can hope he steps up and makes the mid range jumpers, and we can hope he goes to the hoop aggressively and gets to the line.  but it's tough to tell what could happen.  over the course of his career larry just never had the chops to be a good scorer.  he has averaged over 20 points twice in his career and both of those years he was getting to line about 7 times a game, and the low shooting percentages were constant.  every other year his scoring goes up and down, and mostly it goes down.  pause.

so, what?  go back to benching larry when he falls back to earth?  make a website that makes fun of the website that makes fun of larry hughes?  showcase him, then pair him with jeffries and ship them to the wizards?  shove him back to the end of the bench?  buy him out?   we gotta have the discussion.  here's a few talking points:

• larry hughes is from st. louis.  david lee is from st. louis.

• larry hughes is good friends with lebron james.  lebron james is good friends with lebron james.

• his contract is expiring.  everyone's contract is expiring.

• he takes so many bad shots.  you're taking a cheap shot.

discuss?