Maybe I'm missing something, but why should the article focus on Lin? It's talking about lineups and philosophies involved in making it successful. Seems about right to me. You can find defensive efficiency rankings at espn's hollinger stats, basketball-reference, and teamrankings.com. Probably other places too. Personally, I'm not surprised. Morris entered the starting lineup just in time for our successive beatdowns on a bunch of offensively challenged teams, starting with Memphis and then NY minus Melo. Since there isn't much sample size in the first place(200 minutes is 4-5 games worth) it would skew the stats quite a bit. In general, all stats that are based on 5-man units tend to be very lacking in sample size and therefore heavily affected on a game-by-game basis.
A ball stopper is one who when gets the ball holds it for a long time trying to create for himself. Patterson is nothing like it. His role is the finisher. He gets the ball at the end of the play and shoots. It's not his fault because that's what he is supposed to do and he does it quite well. That said, Morris is a much better passer than Patterson, especially in transition. In terms of shooting, Patterson is slightly more reliable, but Morris has more variety of moves. Morris is a better rebounder but neither is really good for a PF. Patterson is better at defense although Morris seems to be improving. The two guys are very close overall. Each brings a little different things to the table.
True, if you're focusing on the stat, opposing teams get more possessions when playing against us, they may not be as prolific or efficient in scoring with extra possessions at faster-paced game (besides Thunder and Spurs, I would guess). I was just thinking of it as a measure of the team's defense.. perhaps I need to read that other current thread on our D. Will also look into the efficiency stats sometime. Thanks
I prefer Morris as the starter. I like his passing ability. If you think about it in our current starting line up every player is a great to decent passer for there relative positions Asik included.
The article briefly critiques every starter's defense, but didn't mention Lin. I was just surprised because Lin has been pretty solid defensively. Not that the article should focus on him or anything.
There was that Battier article... No Stats All-Star. Hmm, maybe that was a lot more than 2 years ago. This Grantland story is a good read, good to get a wider perspective.
