You are right. Half the league is overrated now yet Euros are usually undervalued by a lot of teams, not all of course (Rox, Spurs,Mavs.....)
Kanter is much better offensively inside the 3 point line and is a much better rebounder. He is worse defensively but DMo isn't good enough defensively to offset Kanter's superior offense. DMo has better post moves but that is just one aspect of offense. DMo is not as far behind from Kanter as most media probably think, but he still needs to work on his mid range game, finishing at the rim, and rebounding to be on par with Kanter IMO. I expect he will get a sizable offer though.
I said he has better offensive tools and he does. DMo is a vastly superior defender, has a better post game, and is a better 3 point shooter. What does Kanter have?
You're right - it is our homerism that helps us overrate DMo defensively. I was checking the 2 guys eFG% against and discovered: DMo: eFG% against (individual) = 45.8% on court opposing team FG% = +1.8% net points per 100 possessions = -2.6 Kanter: eFG% against (individual) = 49.8% On court opposing team FG% = +5% net points per 100 possessions = -0.6 So while Kanter might not be as good defensively, in fact, Kanter is horrible. DMo isn't a world beater in that category. And Kanter has the offensive skills to almost offset his liabilities on the defensive end. Surprisingly the stats show that Motie is a 'net negative' as an offensive player, and so falls behind Kanter overall.
Kanter is a huge net negative because he's one of the worst defenders in the league and doesn't make up for it on offense. He only creates for himself and rebounds. If he continues his hot start in OKC and adds floor stretching ability, he might be able to become a small net positive on the court. Or maybe he'll do what he has never done and defend. More likely, he'll just be a terrible contract.
Yeah, best I can tell Kanter only has slightly better FT shooting and rebounding over DMo and Kanter is so terrible defensively that those 2 advantages just aren't enough to make up for everything else.
RPM Kanter: -2.72 DMo: +0.09 A team is going to have a hard time winning starting Enes Kanter at center, see: Utah and OKC.
DMo is better defensively but not "vastly", DMo does have a better back to the basket game but Kanter is a much better mid range shooter and finisher around the rim in general. Also he is a superior rebounder. Those are Kanter's advantages.
It really is pretty vast, we're comparing a guy who allowed 56.9% at the rim to one who only allowed 48.9%....someone that gave opponents a boost to their normal shooting percentages literally everywhere on the court to one that held opponents under their averages literally everywhere on the court. Kanter is one of, if not the worst defensive big man in the NBA, DMo is a plus defender. For the most part, their differences offensively come down to usage and FT shooting. Defensively they are leagues apart.
If healthy, Dmo is going to get a max contract next year. There is zero debate about it. Kanter is a pretty good comparable, but the biggest difference is that more than half the league will have max money and a handful of players to offer it to. In that type of market environment, teams will be debating whether to offer Dmo the max, or overpaying a scrubbier player without the size, skill or upside. That being the case, having the RFA rights to Dmo is huge. It also means that trading for Dmo has big value, even though his rookie contract is about to expire.
A dude on some basketball site tried to argue that Marcus Morris was a superior basketball player to Motiejunas.
He is a very good team defender. He is the best of the bigs in team defense. He works hard at it. He is not a rim protector but he does know how to use his body to stay in front of his man and use his length to disrupt. He is also one of the best low post scorers in the league and that's not homerism. You just have to watch the games to see it.
OKC were running Ibaka every time they could with Kanter and he was still dragging them down, that's stats with ibaka on the court most of the time and okc tends to struggle defensively without him, that's just how bad he is. Dmo also struggled late in his season, from what we now know was his back, his defense slipped and his rebounding was getting noticeably awful.
Ibaka and Adams are both great defensive bigs. Kanter can play all his minutes with one or the other of them and his D is somewhat covered. On the other hand, DMo was manning the middle most of last season without Dwight and alongside a pitiful defender in Terrence. DMo was playing out of position and without even a center alongside him, much less a good defending center. Always have to consider context and setting when looking at any numbers, analytics, etc.
I hope he stays Rocket for all his years in NBA. <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/G1-kgcaLqjs" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
