Andy Reid has the best coaching tree among active coaches. But plenty of all-time great coaches had bad coaching trees.
wjbc
joined 1 year ago
Box Plus/Minus (BPM):
- Stephen Curry 16.0
- Luka Dončić 14.8
- Donovan Mitchell 13.4
- Nikola Jokić 11.3
- Joel Embiid 9.3
Value over Replacement Player (VORP):
- Stephen Curry in 4 games, 127 minutes, 0.6
- Luka Dončić in 3 games, 110 minutes, 0.5
- Nikola Jokić in 4 games, 136 minutes, 0.5
- Anthony Davis in 4 games, 153 minutes, 0.4
- Joel Embiid in 3 games, 101 minutes, 0.3
You've left out Kevin Garnett, Jerry West, and Oscar Robertson. I judge those are the top 15 in some order right now, and they will have to be displaced by any new top 15 players.
I agree that Nikola Jokic and Giannis Antetokounmpo are the most likely candidates right now, but even they are far from certain.
LeBron and Butler actually have a lot in common, although LeBron is obviously better. But both of them play a very physical game that doesn’t depend on pure athleticism.
The difference is that LeBron is a tank who seemingly never got injured in his prime, whereas Butler rarely plays a full season and just needs to focus on being healthy in the playoffs. Even in the playoffs, though, Butler has a harder time sustaining that physical style of play.
Look at last season, where Butler was clearly hobbled in the Finals. Look at game five of the 2020 Finals, where Butler matched LeBron and came out the victor — but had nothing left in game six.
Usually everyone is looking at the ball and they run into each other because there are 6 or 8 people going for the same ball, whether to knock it down or to catch it. Some actions that are normally called pass interference may be overlooked if the defender is attempting to catch or bat the ball rather than focusing on the receiver.
I love Michael Jordan, but a lot of players and fans learned the wrong lesson from watching him. He was such a prolific scorer that they also wanted to win scoring titles. Allen Iverson won four scoring titles but was never as efficient as Jordan. Tracy McGrady won two scoring titles but couldn’t duplicate Jordan’s postseason success. Kobe Bryant won scoring titles in years the Lakers struggled as a team.
Before Jordan, Larry Bird and Magic Johnson were great scorers but were just as well known for their passing. They never tried to win scoring titles. When LeBron James came along he arguably modeled his game more on Magic and Bird than on Jordan. And until he started winning championships he was heavily criticized for it.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not criticizing Jordan. I’m just saying a lot of players and fans didn’t respect Jordan’s all around game as much as they respected his scoring. And they didn’t respect his scoring efficiency as much as they respected his scoring volume.
Bet a little bit on everyone else?
Win Shares are the best we can do for players before 1973-74. But there are better all-in-one stats, for sure. Win Shares is especially suspect when measuring defense, but then most stats are suspect when measuring defense, even the advanced stats.
PER has absolutely no reason to exist except that it came before many other advanced stats and was well publicized by ESPN. But there are many better stats that cover the same time period. PER gives too much credit to inefficient volume shooters. If someone cites PER as their advanced stat of choice, I know they aren't to be taken seriously.
All of the all-in-one stats have flaws. None of them should be taken as gospel without examining what it does and does not measure. But if it produces surprising results, the key is to examine why the results are surprising. Maybe there's a player we've overlooked -- or maybe it's a flaw with the stat.
Even True Shooting Percentage, which is pretty trustworthy, assumes that 0.44 is an estimation of how many possessions one free throw is worth, which is an approximation. Furthermore, a great True Shooting Percentage on wide open uncontested catch-and-shoot shots is different from the same or maybe even a slightly worse True Shooting Percentage off the dribble on heavily contested shots.
So context still matters. Someone who plays with Jokic and benefits from his passes may not be nearly as efficient on a lesser team.
I think everyone has written off the Clippers because they haven’t been able to stay healthy. But both Kawhi Leonard and Paul George have been pronounced "fully healthy.” And it’s possible they will obtain a motivated James Harden before the season is over.
You are speaking post COVID, when people are hyper aware of potential contagion. But absolutely no one raises your concern at the time.
Durant is 6’ 11”. Caruso is 6’ 5”, 6 inches shorter.