Diamond Powell! All Things Dwight - Act V Broken Wings

[StepBackJay]

Powell had a great game against the Lakers, hope to see him build on that now going forward.

That being said he is still a guy you've got to get out of the starting lineup.  

All the data posted above says just the opposite.  Powell is a huge part of why the offense works.  I get that he's under his career average in every single box score metric.  But the team is absolutely killing it with him on the floor.  The Powell-Luka-KP combo has a net rating of 9.8.  It is 4.8 for Luka and KP.  It is 16.0 for Powell and Luka and 12 for Powell and KP.  You remove Powell from the starting lineup at great peril to the offense unless you think it is easy to find the number on ball screener in the league.

But we need someone who can get more than 4.6 rebounds because that is unacceptable...oh wait the Mavs are 4th in rebounds...nevermind...

Powell is only scoring 7.7 points a game...for 10 million we must get more production out of him...oh wait we have the best offense in history...nevermind...

We need more good perimeter shooters around Luka...Powell can't hit a 3 to save his life...oh wait he is converting them at a respectable 36.4% which is 3% better than his previous best year...nevermind...

He gets exposed as a defender which negates his offensive contribution...oh wait he is at 118.9 offensive rating and 108.5 defensive rating for a + 10.4 net rating...nevermind...

From a Ringer article: Carlisle has settled on the same unit over the last six: Doncic, Porzingis, Dwight Powell, Dorian Finney-Smith, and Tim Hardaway Jr. That group has an eye-popping net rating of plus-24.3 in 88 minutes, the best among all lineups in the NBA that have played at least 80 minutes this season.


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You think maybe Powell is getting carried by the rest of the starting unit? He draws a lot of tough assignments admittedly but he also gets lit up most nights. He is pretty good as a team defender moving his feet in his rotations but on-ball defense is not good. Name you talented PF starter (Love, Aldridge) and they can take Powell on the block pretty easily just shooting over him.

Offensively is where he is likely to improve the most because he is a good offensive player. I would expect him to average more like 10 ppg once he gets going. His rebounding sucks, I don't care if the team is rebounding better. It's a team effort for sure but he just not have a knack for rebounding, especially offensively. I do think he does better with offensive rebounds when he tries to tip out the ball to mid-court rather than grabbing the rebound. In the Lakers game he was able to do that successfully. He shoots like one 3 a game so not sure the stats matter a whole lot there, it's nice when they go in but it doesn't really impact the game. His defender is never going to come out all the way to the 3 line so it's not like his 3 ball adds spacing.

I have said this a million times, Powell's best role is off the bench where he is not getting exposed by starting PF's that take his lunch money. I'd much rather have Maxi in that spot for now unless and until we get an upgrade like a Favors type that can play better defense and rebound.