| Time to Shear the People’s Pigtails? Authored by Jason Schwisow - March 28, 2005 - 12:49 pm
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As the astonishing Seattle Supersonics have seemingly rolled through all comers, the slew of scintillating surprises has been seemingly endless. The emergence of Rashard Lewis as an All Star. The floor general tandem of Luke Ridnour and Antonio Daniels. The surfacing of Reggie Evans as arguably the best rebounder in the game.
However, no surprise was likely greater than the quick emergence of Danny Fortson as an energizing low post presence off the bench.
After disappointing season with the Dallas Mavericks, the Mavs moved Fortson for a handful of beans with a bad contract otherwise known as Calvin Booth. Traded for the sixth time in his career, the expectations for Fortson were generally low given his less than stellar reputation.
A big body with a low center of gravity that can make life hell for an opposing player trying to establish position in the post, Fortson has impressed by being an aggressor and by giving the Sonics a little swagger in the front court that hasn’t been seen in years.
When playing at his best, in the first few months of the season Fortson put up numbers that rivaled those of famed enforcers like Rick Mahorn and Charles Oakley.
Yet with the good has come a little bad. Too often Danny’s on court performance devolves solely to applying hard fouls and his off court performance consists of the hard to rationalize.
First, there was an impromptu chair tossing following an ejection against the Sacramento Kings. While the toss was impressive in its ease, the act was surprisingly frowned upon by the powers that be and Fortson was suspended for two games.
Following the suspension, Fortson took off a large amount to be with his ailing grandmother. A noble gesture, but prolonged to the point that “his absence [was] beginning to raise some eyebrows around the team” wrote Frank Hughes of The News Tribune.
Not long after returning from his leave of absence, Fortson was sent home early by coach Nate McMillan after an argument in practice which turned into a one game suspension at management’s behest.
After returning to action again, Fortson had a six fouls in six minutes display against the Bulls that earned him a spot in the history ledger for the fourth-fastest disqualification in league history.
Following the Bulls game, he sat out a couple more games with a sprained ankle.
And now, the most recent impetus for concern, a “DNP-CD” earned by a not so fashionably late appearance at a pre-game shoot around. His third such display of tardiness this season, Fortson was relegated to the end of the bench by McMillan, then compounded the problem by initially refusing to come out with the team at halftime during the Friday’s match up against the Knicks.
Fortson’s response? According to Saturday’s edition of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, a rather glib dismissal of the incident as "one of Nate's million rules that I can't seem to follow."
“Ain’t nothing changed with me,” Fortson later said as reported by Frank Hughes of The News Tribune. “I’m still the same person. It seems like whenever negativity comes around, somehow my name gets involved in it. I don’t understand.”
The Sonics’ response? Another one game suspension handed down by management, and a plan to leave Fortson at home as the Sonics travel to San Antonio and Memphis so he can reportedly rest his ankle.
For a currently inactive object come game time, Fortson’s creating a lot of action in his own special way.
Yet although varied reasons have caused Fortson to miss a total of 15 games as of Sunday, putting aside any possible issues of locker room chemistry Fortson’s absence hasn’t seemed to cost the Sonics too dearly.
It’s unlikely that many teams could absorb the loss of two key front court players like Radmanovic (29.5 MPG) and Fortson (17.3 MPG) as the Sonics have, which is a testament to the Sonics depth at positions where heading into the season it seemed they were fairly weak heading into the season.
Rookie PF/C Nick Collison remains effective despite limited minutes and rookie fouls, tending to play his best basketball in the fourth quarter and helping close out more wins this season that his somewhat pedestrian stats would indicate.
Although PF Reggie Evans has problems scoring from the floor, being limited offensively to either finishing at the cup or from the line after being hacked while trying to finish at said cup, he remains a tireless rebounder and hassling defender.
While C Jerome James’ array of post moves, consistent shooting, timely shot blocking, and good on court decision-making comes and goes, he’s still a decent contributor on a team that doesn’t ask a lot of him.
Once forgotten C Vitaly Potapenko, sent to the IR with a broken hand before the season started, has also played decently in Fortson’s absence. Last year’s starting center has come in like a man ready to lead his own Orange Revolution on the basketball court, showcasing his ability to hit the mid-range jumper off the pick and roll and apply hard, smart fouls in limited minutes.
While the preceding players have stepped in admirably during Fortson’s absence and produced wins, that’s not to say they can completely replicate all aspects of Fortson’s game.
At times, the Sonics have certainly missed Fortson’s big body in the paint. In consecutive games, Knicks PF Mike Sweetney and Wizards PF/C Etan Thomas have had several easy buckets in the paint when James seemed preoccupied with attempting to block others’ shots. Fortson likely would have done a better job at keeping a body on his man in either of those situations, partly because he revels in contact, and partly because he’s not a shot blocker.
On the offensive glass, Fortson also does a good job of keeping opposing rebounders at bay. Averaging 2.7 ORPG, Fortson stands second on the team behind Reggie Evans. While Evans averages 3.1 ORPG, Fortson does get his boards at a higher rate per minute than Evans.
While the toughness in the post and the offensive reounding are key elements of Fortson’s game, probably the most notable facet that the other bigs can’t cover is his free throw shooting. On the season, Fortson is shooting a sizzling 88.1% from the charity stripe. Too simply label that number as “good for a big man” does Fortson a disservice as his average is good enough to place him 9th in the league.
Of the players who shoot a better average than Fortson only one, Brian Cardinal, is comparable Danny Fortson vertically. The rest are shorter players who man positions that a casual basketball fan would normally associate with shooting the ball well.
While Fortson’s FT% is only second best on the team thanks to the presence of Ray Allen, his 88.1% dwarfs the percentages of fellow big men James (76.9%), Evans (53.4%), and Collison (68.6%) heading into Sunday’s game versus Washington. Potapenko hasn’t missed a free throw all season, but has only taken 11 attempts compared to Fortson’s 235.
The ability to shoot free throws so proficiently seems particularly important for a player with a limited offensive game. Fortson lives in the paint and takes 92% of his shots at the basket, the placing great importance on his ability to hit free throws at a high rate since contact is basically inevitable.
How inevitable? Of Fortson’s 311 FGA this season, he’s been fouled on 109 of them. That works out to being fouled on 35% of his shot attempts, easily the highest rate on the team. The next highest is Evans at a distant second with 25%; Reggie’s also easily the worst free throw shooter on the team, making him a guy you want to foul and put on the line, something you certainly don’t want to do with Danny Fortson.
The only problems with Danny Fortson’s free throw shooting are simply that he’s often not on the court enough to display his skill, or that he sometimes appears more interested in fouling others than drawing fouls himself.
When mentioning the positives in Fortson’s game that are missed, it’s probably also worth mentioning the negatives that are similarly avoided by his absence.
From a purely aesthetic standpoint, as a fan its nice to see Collison rolling gracefully towards the hoop as opposed to Forton rumbling through the lane with all the grace of a musk ox stampeding through frozen tundra, but that’s minor quibble.
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