Gino's Jungle

A lot of negativity surrounded the trade of Eddie House for Nate Robinson. People saw Nate as being immature, and not much of an upgrade. Supposedly we were trading a shooter for a shooter. I think most of the bitterness came from the fact that everyone loved Eddie. They liked who he was, and what he meant to the team.

It personally took me about a day to understand the trade. At first I was very disappointed because I liked Eddie, and I liked the energy he could bring to the team when he started knocking down shots. He is a proven provider in the playoffs, and can very quickly rip off 12+ points in a very shot period of time. He wasn't doing that as much this year, though. Once I could take my attatchment with him away, I realized this was a very good trade. Before he took his first step on the floor, I knew he would help this team out greatly. Not to brag, but I thought it long before the rest of the world had to watch him play.

Anyway, after that little boasting moment, I just want to break down the comparison between the two players and their play while being on the Celtics this year. For Nate, I took his stats starting with the game against Cleveland. It was not fair to start his stats with the game against the Knicks, as he was clearly tentative and just getting the feel down for being with a new team.

POINTS
This year, in Eddie's 50 games with the team, he averaged 7.2 ppg. This is in comparison to Nate Robinson who has scored 8.4 ppg in 9 games. I know it is a small sample, but it is a sample nonetheless. Both players do the majority of their work from behind the 3 point line. That is a good lead into our next section.

SHOOTING PERCENTAGES

Eddie shot 38.3% from three which is in comparison to his team record 44.4% the season before. Right now, Nate is shooting a blistering 54.5% from behind the arc. He has had games of: 4 of 5, 4 of 6, and 5 of 6. As you have seen when he gets going, he may be even more streaky than Eddie.

As for field goal percentages, Eddie was 40.1%, and Nate is 46.6%. Robinson has yet to impress with his driving ability, but that is something he can do. I think as he continues to get more comfortable, and gets a feel for the movement, he will be able to get to the rim and finish a little more.

MISCELLANEOUS
Nate has been trying to be somewhat of a facilitator from time to time. Sometimes it doesn't work very well, but other times it works perfectly like it did last night on his alley oop to Tony Allen. He can be a better point guard off the bench than Eddie. House's APG this year was 1.0 and Robinson's is 2.4.

In other categories, Nate has doubled up Eddie's steal per game total of 0.6 by taking away 1.2 per game from opponents. Lastly, they are pretty much in a stalemate for rebounds per game.

So far so good.

(Photo by Brian Babineau/NBAE via Getty Images)