Which SF do you prefer?

[Eddie20]

Leonard's defense is easily the best of that bunch.

I wouldn't go that far. Butler and Batum are excellent defenders.

[sofutomygaha]

Playing guess-the-lines is fun, but if you were trying to make a good decision based only on the numbers presented, then you would really want to know career percentages and volume.

Looking only at the numbers, I would assume player E was a hustle guy who gets all of his points at the rim and can't shoot. Reasoning that those players are easier to come by than all-around forwards who can create and hit shots, I would never take player E.

But I would be completely wrong.

[Monkhouse]

Leonard hands down...

Aside from Butler, who was highly overrated from Bulls fan, as if he was going to shock the world by scoring 20 PPG, and become the next second coming of Jesus.

Butler is your typical above average 3 and D guy. He can shoot the 3, and can defend LBJ pretty well. He definitely did a better job than Leonard, but it came down to length/body size versus quickness/intelligence. Butler is athletically pretty gifted, and has a shorter wingspan, but he did a better job of taking or staying in front of LBJ.

I'd rather have Leonard. He's the all around player. Take him over Batum any day for versatility. He knows how to pass, can rebound really well, and can score in multitudes of ways.

Plus he is like a year younger, and hes already developing so quickly. I can't really imagine Batum guarding LBJ/George.

[KGs Knee]

Leonard's defense is easily the best of that bunch.

I wouldn't go that far. Butler and Batum are excellent defenders.

Easily, clearly, what's the difference, he's a better defender than both.  But yes, Butler and Batum are nice defenders too, just not as good as Kawhi.

[BballTim]

Leonard's defense is easily the best of that bunch.

I wouldn't go that far. Butler and Batum are excellent defenders.

  Green's a very good defender as well. I'd have said Butler was the best of the bunch.

[Eja117]

I went with player E but I don't think .525 shooting is sustainable and I have per 36 minute stats

[KGs Knee]

Leonard's defense is easily the best of that bunch.

I wouldn't go that far. Butler and Batum are excellent defenders.

  Green's a very good defender as well. I'd have said Butler was the best of the bunch.

Well, based just purely on most any advanced metric available, Leonard is tops in pretty much all of them.  Then there's the "eye test", and while purely subjective, I'd say Leonard wins that debate too, although those are just 'my' eyes.

Currently, Leonard has the 2nd highest DWS of all players in the NBA (tied with Paul George and David West, and behind Hibbert).  Leonard was also ahead of all the players listed last season as well.

[PhoSita]

Playing guess-the-lines is fun, but if you were trying to make a good decision based only on the numbers presented, then you would really want to know career percentages and volume.

Looking only at the numbers, I would assume player E was a hustle guy who gets all of his points at the rim and can't shoot. Reasoning that those players are easier to come by than all-around forwards who can create and hit shots, I would never take player E.

But I would be completely wrong.

Yeah, I hear what you're saying.  I was really surprised that Kawhi's 3 point percentage is so low so far this season.  I'm sure that'll go back up sooner rather than later, though.

Long term I think Kawhi is definitely the best player of the bunch.

Batum is having the best season so far.

Nick Young is easily at the bottom of the list for me.

Green vs Butler probably breaks in favor of Green just based on the numbers, but as soon as you look at some of the other factors (Butler's size, age, how much money he makes, etc) it starts to become much easier to take Butler instead.

[Eddie20]

Leonard's defense is easily the best of that bunch.

I wouldn't go that far. Butler and Batum are excellent defenders.

Easily, clearly, what's the difference, he's a better defender than both.  But yes, Butler and Batum are nice defenders too, just not as good as Kawhi.

I wouldn't say that though. An argument can be made for all of them. In all-defense team voting Batum and Leonard finished with the same number of votes. I think Butler is the best of the bunch, but it didn't show in terms of voting because of his rookie status.

[BballTim]

Leonard's defense is easily the best of that bunch.

I wouldn't go that far. Butler and Batum are excellent defenders.

  Green's a very good defender as well. I'd have said Butler was the best of the bunch.

Well, based just purely on most any advanced metric available, Leonard is tops in pretty much all of them.  Then there's the "eye test", and while purely subjective, I'd say Leonard wins that debate too, although those are just 'my' eyes.

Currently, Leonard has the 2nd highest DWS of all players in the NBA (tied with Paul George and David West, and behind Hibbert).  Leonard was also ahead of all the players listed last season as well.

  Butler's well ahead of him in opponent production (82games) and opponent ppp (synergy sports).

[mmmmm]

All counting stats are per-36 minutes.


Player A:
14.4 points, 5.4 ast, 6.5 reb, .8 stl, .6 blk, .439/.400/.850

Player B:
17.0 pts, 4.8 reb, 1.8 ast, .4 stl, .5 blk .434/.368/.759

Player C:
12.7 points, 2.2 ast, 5.6 reb, 2.0 stl, 1.0 blk .413/.333/.871

Player D:
19.6 pts, 1.4 ast, 3.3 reb, 1.1 stl, .3 blk .451/.325/.786

Player E:
15.8 pts, 1.7 ast, 7.6 reb, 2.2 stl, .4 blk, .525/.280/.769

So who is who?  Which players do you prefer ahead of the others?

...........................

A - Nic Batum
B - Jeff Green
C - Jimmy Butler
D - Nick Young
E - Kawhi Leonard


Personally, I'd take Batum, Leonard, and Butler before Green or Young.


The point of all this is that I'd much prefer an all around player.  Jeff Green, like Nick Young, does very little for a team other than score.  This is what makes him so expendable.  That's why Gerald Wallace does more to help this team win despite hardly scoring at all.

  I don't see anything in the stats that would point to player C being a better all-around player than B or D. Also, I'm curious about what leads you to believe that Wallace is doing so much more to help the team win than Green.

Player C (Jimmy Butler) rebounds well for size and generates steals and blocks.  He does so while not being a major part of the offense.  He's a nice role player.  Still, he's not so much farther ahead of Green than the other guys. 

I find all this comment ironic in that all these drama threads on Green come out right after a day he scored only 2 points ('hardly touched the ball on the offensive end of the court) ... but grabbed 7 rebounds and blocked 2 shots.

I guess those things truly didn't help us win?

Maybe in the next game we should go back to getting the ball in his hands so he can score?