Critical and Fundamental Statistical Observations

[Smitty]

I've listened to a few of the local podcast recently and I really hope we don't let this 'Lively is better than Gafford and should be starting' argument get to the national media level because then the narrative will inevitably change. I think it's fair to say that Lively is better but it doesn't have to be at the expense of Gafford if that makes sense. Both are good. Both are capable starters.

My personal opinion, Gafford starting makes sense from a coaching standpoint in that Gafford is slightly inferior to Lively and therefore plays most of his minutes with starters (Luka in particular for the natural "Luka bump") and that Lively doesn't necessarily need the "Luka bump". Ultimately, if Lively gets more minutes and more opportunities to close then I don't care about which one starts.

Bottom line, I like to think of them as a tandem, Twin Towers, as LukaMagic dubbed them.