2019-20 Around the NBA: Archived

[SleepingHero]

What the hell are we arguing about, then?!??

Stats do not paint an entire picture. You can almost always find a statistic that can back up an argument. For example, when the Mavs managed to get MKG off the waiver wire, Kamm found stats that supported MKG could be a sneaky good shooter and he'd be a positive impact player on the offensive end. I vehemently denied it. 

Well lo and behold once MKG actually played here, he averaged a whopping 0.9 ppg on 30% from the field, 0% from 3. He actually bumped up his production almost 2 fold in the playoffs, averaging 2.3ppg on 29% from the field. 

Just because there are advanced stats that paint Powell as a net positive defensive player, does not mean he is actually a good defender. He is consistently bullied out of the paint by any player larger than him. His rim defense is often times non-existent. His positioning is poor. He is too small to matchup against true 5's, and too slow to matchup against smaller 4's. He is an overall average team defender though. He makes the right rotation most of the time and he hustled whenever he was on the court. He is an average PnR defender, ranking in the 52nd percentile. Right next to our old pal Deandre Jordan and Clint Capela.  

Powell got his contract because he is a great dude, fantastic locker room presence, and was an ELITE roll man. He also was an intriguing option to play next to KP, where theoretically they both could fit. But so far no player has ever returned from an achilles injury and was ever the same. Dominique Wilkins is the only one that came close.  You can't plan for a career ending like injury, and Powell wasn't as bad as many paint him out to be. BUT we also cannot prop him up like he was an absolute essential part of this team. As soon as he went down his roll was filled better by KP. His injury allowed a much better defender and shooter in Maxi to get more minutes. And a lob threat was easily replaced on a minimum contract with WCS.

Mavs would be wise to dump Powell in any way possible while taking as little salary as they can back.