12-20-2019, 11:11 AM
(This post was last modified: 12-20-2019, 01:49 PM by dirkfansince1998.)
(12-20-2019, 10:55 AM)vfromlmf Wrote:(12-20-2019, 10:40 AM)dirkfansince1998 Wrote: Prior to his injury he ranked 3rd in DRAPM last season.
Indeed, he was a strong defender in Philly. Of course, he was traded (upgraded) but that doesn't take away from his play.
Now, he had to be removed from the starting lineup for being late to a team event, while he's supposedly playing with an MVP-candidate and top-15 scoring wing, and his team has lost 8 in a row.
Is he the same player? Or does this just underscore he's a role player and team success is really predicated on a lot more?
From the eyetest (only 2-3 games) and the numbers I think he is asked to do to much. Offense is as good or even slightly better compared to previous years. He just isn´t getting as many easy catch and shoot attempts.
Defense is clearly worse. Might be related to his teammates (Towns and Wiggins instead of Embiid and Simmons) but I don´t think that´s the case. He was just as good in a small sample size with the Wolves last year. Prior to his arrival the Wolves were among the 10 worst defensive teams in the league. In the 22 games he played last year they had a top 5 defense. He averaged 2.1 stls / 1.3 blks last year. This year he is down to 1.5 stls / 0.8 blks.
I think his DRPM is at least slightly impacted by him being listed as a PF instead of a SF. Probably getting punished for mediocre rebounding numbers.
Nevertheless his defense is worse. He never was the best on ball defender (still really good) and clearly lost some lateral quickness. His help defense was second only to prime Draymond in the last few years. Again...he is still good but lost a step.
Will be interesting to see if his quickness returns. Otherwise he might end up as Wes Matthews 2.0.