Its simple, Davis fits in much better with the starters because of his defense, passing, and mid range shooting. It is similar reasons that Scal was starting before he got injured.
Hollinger takes his love of the numbers too far sometimes, and fails to actually look at the real basketball reasons.
I am fine with him saying the Powe is better than Davis (although I think it is closer than the numbers show), but when you are looking at how players are used, there is much more to it than who's better. Especially when you are talking about players like Powe and Davis, who both still have holes in their games.
Is that true, though? I hear what you're saying, but overall, the team has played pretty poorly with BBD as a starter. Yes, the team has a winning record (5-2), but the team has looked poor in several of those wins, especially on defense (New Jersey, Indiana, Philly, etc.) None of those were "easy" wins, unlike what you see when Scal fills in for KG a lot of times.
Of the five player combinations the Celts have played over 100 minutes, the one where BBD plays in place of KG has been by far the worst. In fact, defensively, it's tied for our worst lineup overall, and it's tied for our fourth worst offensive unit. Opposing teams outscore that player combination 66.7% of the time it's on the floor. http://www.82games.com/0809/0809BOS2.HTM
Objectively, I can't look at numbers like those and say BBD is a good fit. I know many people like to ignore stats, claiming they don't accurate depict what's going on in the floor. However, at some point, don't the statistics shed some light on things?
On the other hand, in limited minutes, the combination of Powe with the starters has yielded a more efficient offensive team than our normal starters, with only a slight dip in defense. It's a limited sample size, but it's statistics like that that make guys like Hollinger notice that something isn't working like it should on paper. Maybe the stats truly are wrong, or maybe the team has other reasons for playing BBD. However, it's clear, at least, why Hollinger thinks Powe is a better fit.
In terms of who is a better player, I agree with the statement above that the two play different positions right now, and shouldn't be evaluated as rivals. However, statistically, Powe has definitely been the better performer. Offensively, Powe has been much better, and defensively, statistics suggest that Powe is a lot closer to BBD than many give credit for. That being said, I think BBD has looked great over the past couple months, and I'm glad they're both here. I'd like them both to get minutes over Mikki Moore in the playoffs, since both BBD and Powe are better overall players.
I think the problem, honestly and this will sound weird, is that the stats take into account the entire season.
We all know that Davis' jump shot has been a work in progress all season, but he must have been hitting it in practice at such a clip that the coaching staff thought it was a weapon he could use. However it takes some time to translate a skill from practice to a game. And so, while the coaching staff gave Davis the green light, he wasn't hitting them effectively in games but has gradually developed into an effective weapon. Powe, for all his abilities in the post, must not have nearly as effective a jumper as Davis because he hasn't been asked to shoot it at all.
I believe that having a bench with similar, albeit often limited, skill sets to the starters is invaluable because it allows the starters the ability to keep their offensive rhythm and balance when one of them goes out to injury or foul trouble.
EX:
PJ & KG- Shot blocking and 15 foot jumpers.
Eddie & Ray- Same screens to set up for jumpers.
Leon & Perk- Rebounding, toughness and post oriented offense.
Big Baby & KG- 15 foot jumper and hustle
Tony & Paul- Slashing ( it is a stretch but there's a reason back up SF is the weakest position on the team)
So having Baby, who has developed a similar ( and diluted) skill set to KG, start in his absence is important for the Celtics and although his numbers from the start of the season do not show it, his development into this role has been of extreme importance to the team and will pay off huge in the playoffs.
The numbers from the whole season may not show why Baby merits a start over Leon, but there are good reasons for that. One, I think both Leon and Baby's strong suit is under the basket and numbers are not forgiving to someone being asked to expand their game on the fly, especially when they play limited minutes. Two, it judges them both strictly as Power Forwards , which frankly, Leon isn't offensively on the Celtics. He plays a low post center offense, and God bless him for that because someone has to, and offensive numbers have a great deal of influence in Hollinger's PER. And three, it is frankly easier to score closer to the basket, which is where Leon is being asked to play.
Anyway, there's my two cents.
Topic: ESPN article says Powe > Davis, and its a mystery why he starts.. (Read 24878 times)