04-06-2021, 07:57 AM
(04-04-2021, 11:22 AM)DanSchwartzgan Wrote: Thanks for posting that. I thought the write-up comparing JRich to THJ was fascinating.. It points out Richardson’s 3% is trending the right way (though the sample size is only 21 for 52). What I’m more interested in is whether our Defensive Specialist is actually good at D. Post All-Star break his D-Rating is down to 113 (from 116) and his O-Rating is up to 111 (from 108) and his +/- is +4.7 vs. -3.9 before the break. If you are going to argue JRich is anything different than what we had with Delon Wright, then the argument has to start with on-court effectiveness.
I spent a little time tooling around data at BBall Index and found some things that were interesting in their defensive data. DFS is second in the entire league in the amount of time he spends guarding players classified as “Shot Creators”. JRich is 21st in that category. JRich is classified as a point of attack defender and among players who have played 600 minutes, he is 22nd in percentage of time guarding the “Primary Ball Handler”. Others who rate highly here are Delon Wright, Patrick Beverly and Danny Green (anyone notice a pattern). If you want to move on from JRich, probably the most important thing to look for is the ability to defend the point of attack (so that Luka doesn’t have to).
I'll add another bargain name to keep an eye on if we move on from JRich (or decide to start Brunson next season). Sterling Brown is quietly having a nice season on a bad team. Over 40% from 3. Good D and very switchable. Gets the other team's primary ball handler much of the time like JRich. His TS% is right at .600, which is kind of nuts for a guard on a team with the 27th rated offense. He is UFA this summer. Went to SMU and is an award winning actor in his spare time.