TDL Archived: The 2nd Rnd Pick Yankee Swap

[mvossman]

Your starting assumption is WRONG about my position. That is why I keep going back to ground zero.

I am not saying SD is the "CAUSE" of anything. 

Here is my quote again:

"SD is somehow (whether his play or his use by the coaches or his dynamic alongside other players, etc) central to the team defense issue through 41 games this season."

His presence is somehow central to the issue. Correlation is certainly part of it. I am NOT saying SD is the "CAUSE"---I never used that word. You are putting it in my mouth. 

Until we agree on my basic premise I am going to keep going there and not chase further down the rabbit hole. 


And again, it is a statistical FACT that the Mavs have been much better without SD on the court this year. That is 100% indisputable. But that doesn't mean SD singlehandedly is the "cause" for it (and I never, ever claimed it did).

This is the statement you originally made was

 "There is absolutely no way to look at the data IMO that does not come back to the conclusion that SD is central to the Mavs defensive struggles."

Calling SD central to the Mavs defensive struggles vs saying he is the cause seems like semantics to me.

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The stats are not misleading. People read them wrong. It is the interpretations and the meanings applied to them that are off, not the stats themselves. The stats are just numbers.

The Mavs defensive rating is 7.6 points per 100 possessions better when SD is on the bench than when he is in the game. This is a fact. It is not misleading. It is simply how the games have unfolded and the numbers therein.

It is misleading from the standpoint that you are implying these numbers are unique to him.  When you see that they are similar for the rest of the starting lineup, it paints a completely different (and more accurate) picture.