Metta World Peace: Mike Brown Relies on Stats Too Much

Over the weekend, Metta World Peace went public with his frustration regarding his playing time (or lack thereof), griping that head coach Mike Brown relies too much on statistics when determining who stays on the floor during the game’s most crucial moments. From CBS Sports: “I’m trying to win,’ World Peace said. ‘And right now, coach is a stats guy. His background is video coordinator or whatever. So he’s all stats. But Ron Artest is all feel. He doesn’t understand that. Having me in the game at the end, he was worried about me shooting bad from the free throw line. And I was like, ‘I could care less because I’m gonna get a stop at the end of the game.’ He didn’t understand the rhythm that we had — me, Fish [Derek Fisher], Kobe [Bryant], Pau [Gasol] and Drew [Andrew Bynum]. I’ve been through games where I would have two points, go 1 for 9 and we’d win. That’s what matters. Stats are for people who need stats.’ […] ‘If I could count how many times another team went away from the best player when I was on him, I’ve got to be like No. 1 in the league,’ World Peace said. ‘That’s not a stat, and coach doesn’t … you would have to play basketball to feel that. When Phil Jackson was here, that’s why I was in the game, because he understands that. Philly and Utah, I was on the bench because of stats. Every game on the road is gonna be close,’ he said. ‘But I think they panic a little bit when the games get close. But me, Kobe, Pau, Fish, we expect the games to be close. We expect to pull them out, and we don’t panic. And coach, he panicked a little bit: ‘I need to make a change.’ So I just sit on the bench and wait and see what happens.’ […] ‘I think he just has to get a better feel of the players,’ World Peace said of Brown. ‘Kobe, he’s got ice-cold blood in his veins. Fish is the same way. And you’ve just got to get used to your players when you’ve got two players with five rings. … We’re cold-blooded, and coach, he’s got to understand that about us. We could care less what happens the whole game. I could care less what happens throughout the whole season. What matters is that next possession and getting that win. So he doesn’t play me for the two games and in the fourth quarter they pull away.’ […] ‘The real stat is the wins,’ World Peace said. ‘That’s the only stat that should count. If you win, that’s all that matters. If I’m 1 for 10 from the free-throw line, 3 for 15 from the 3-point line, 29 percent from field goal, no rebounds, no assists and we won, bam. It doesn’t matter because at the end of the game, I’m gonna get a big stop, I might hit a big shot. And then the player’s gonna take a stupid shot because I’m on him because he has no other choice but to take a dumb shot,’ W.P. said. ‘And we win the game and go home, have some oatmeal the next morning. It’s real simple, man. The coach, he’s got to get used to that.'”