Richaun Holmes - all he contributes is a contract for trading

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It’s not just counting stats that suggest Holmes was a good defensive center, every advanced stat says it as well. I don’t know how much permanent damage that eye injury may have had, but he had a lot more shit going on than just that. 

Powell is not our best center right now. Maxi is (unless it’s Holmes). He just has durability issues. It’s possible Holmes has nothing left and we are forced to start Powell again, but I don’t think it’s foregone conclusion.

Maybe "not effective" isn't the best term.  Average might be more appropriate. 

Here's Richaun Holmes defensive plus/minus from 538 for his peak performance years:

2018:   -0.2
2019:   + 0.2
2020:   + 0.1
2021:   + 0.2

That seems pretty average.  

Here's Dwight Powell from the past few years:

2021:   + 0.8
2022:   + 0.7
2023:   + 0.6

So, a little better than average.  

I think Dwight is a better defensive player than Richaun Holmes although Holmes is a better rebounder.

I don't have anything against Richaun Holmes and I hope he overcomes his eye injury and the personal turmoil of his last few years.  It would be a great if he could become our starter and upgrade our roster.  My real problem is just Mark Cuban polishing another terd and trying to sell it as progress.  For whatever his personal faults, Christian Wood was a much better on-court player last season than Richaun Holmes.  Pointing to Richaun Holmes as the solution to our center problem is disappointing.