Haha yeah I worded that wrong. I meant Asik has the potential to impact the game more, but Parsons does so on a much more consistent basis, and he's more of a 2 way player than Asik.
Parsons hasn't been that consistent of scorer. I think Asik is the better player because he's 3rd in the league in rebounds and he's the best defender on the team. He still avgs 10 pts a game while Parsons is at 14pts. Asik has been struggling lately (maybe due to some illness) and his minutes has been cut due to McHale favoring small ball.
According to adjusted plus minus xRAPM, James Harden is most valuable, followed by Asik, then Jeremy Lin and Parsons last (in fact the measurement puts Delfino, MM, TD, Greg Smith As being more valuable than Parsons). Link - http://stats-for-the-nba.appspot.com/teams/HOU.html Name. MP Off. On Def. On Off. xRAPM Def. xRAPM James Harden 1425.25 1.093 1.057 5.16. -0.64 Chandler Parsons 1343.98 1.059. 1.063 -1.86. -0.41 Jeremy Lin 1273.10 1.076 1.046. 1.33. 0.68 Omer Asik. 1133.57 1.076. 1.028 -1.34. 4.87 Of course the measurement has its flaws and should be taken with a grain of salt, but the method has been useful in comparing the impact of players on and off court.
Parsons 2nd best Lin 2nd most impactful. If Parsons fk up we still win. Asiks busy warming benches lately. Lin fks up we lose.
After Harden there's such a big drop it's really hard to say, but Asik is our best defensive player and because our D is so bad, Asik becomes our second MVP. I think I'd have to wait until the season finishes to make a judgement on 2nd best. That being said, after these four the rest of the roster are assets really.
Parsons, then Asik and then Lin..... Honestly other than Jones and Donatas the rest of the team can pretty much die in a fire.
2nd best has to be Asik - w/o him our already-abhorrent defense becomes a $hitshow immediately (replacing him w/ Gortat would be the end of this team).
Pasrons is the most consistent offensive player outside of Harden and he usually has the hardest matchup on the defensive end. Lin has just been too inconsistent.
Best being more skilled or more importance? If we want importance I go with Asik. If we want skill set, I go with Parsons. If we want general popularity I go with Lin. If we want Girl popularity I go with Parsons, If we want middle-eastern popularity I go with Asik. SALAM to all
Sorry about the late response but here it is - Parsons after Harden has the most complete game out of anyone on the Rockets. He's still young like the rest of the team and makes a couple of weird turnovers but generally he can do everything you need on a basketball court. He is able to dribble the ball and use a pick and roll to get into the paint, he can shoot the 3 if open, he steps up in the clutch generally as well. And defensively he is always given the toughest task and his versatility on defense is very useful if used properly. He can sort of guard everyone from a point guard to a power forward in this league. Physically he can keep up with the athletes in this game and he has the length needed to be competitive defensively and finish a round the rim. He does have some real weaknesses though. He gets stripped while taking the ball to the rim a ridiculous amount (the fact that he gets the step to go into the paint is nice though). He doesn't always play team defense perfectly or negotiate picks perfectly. But he is playing a lot of minutes and he is asked to do a lot on both sides of the floor. In terms of pure skills I really think he has the 2nd best set of skills. However, as I said in my post, in terms of positive impact Omer Asik is second. He provides the interior defensive presence that is always underrated by casual observers but reflected well in a lot of advanced stats. I think the ultimate case of skills vs performance is Melo vs Tyson Chandler. Statistically a case can quite easily be made that Tyson is more valuable. Melo still has more basketball skill though.
I wonder, though, why we should refer to the more "skilled" player as the "better" player. Tracy McGrady was probably a more "skilled" basketball player than Shaquille O'neal. But was he better? There's a simple question one can ask to get at what it means for one player to be "better" than another. If you could select one or the other to be on your team, but not both, and the rest of the players on the team will be chosen later, which one would you take? Do you take Parsons or Asik? Personally, I'll take Asik.
It is easier to build around a dominant defensive center in todays NBA like Asik. Asik does have irritating limitations that Parsons doesn't. The minutes thing makes it very close of a decision. But Asik's defense and rebounding is too much for me to pass on. It just has so much impact on the game when he's in there. I would say it's 2a and 2b. I really want to take Parsons but I know Asik will help me win games and there are fewer players who can do what Asik does. I don't rate Lin that highly because there just are a ton of PGs out there. It's harder to stand out.
