He's played Wemby 3x this year and has averaged 11 points. 6, 12 and 16 in those games. Wemby isn't a rookie anymore. 11 pts vs Chet who he also abused last year. Also no longer a rookie.
Let's take the premise that JG and Alperen are "acceptable" defenders. Our starting lineup is absolutely ELITE on defense right now. You must think Fred+DB+Jabari are Payton, Pippen, and Garnett on defense.
Alpi's and Jalen's defensive ratings are completely different. No data supports the notion that Jalen is better in any aspect of defense.
So what I am seeing in this ranking is that we have 5 different players in the top 5 duos.... 5 players... I meeeeeaaaaaan, it's almost like it tells you something about who the starting 5 should be...
Our starting lineup is a collective unit of guys giving effort on defense and outside of Dillon, none are "elite" defenders. Not even sure Dillon is but he's the highest ranked. They all rank in the Top 30 of defensive WS right now. Do I think that Jabari, Sengun and Jalen are elite defenders? No I don't. I think as a unit they are detailed on that side of the ball this year and have very few lapses. You have to give them credit for that. Jalen included. I mean....Banchero is high on that list.
Norman Powell, Halliburton, Irving, Lilliard, Brunson, LaMelo, Luka, and Morant shot 27% while guarded by FVV*. Other teams typically try to score on Brooks when there is a switch than go to the house on Mighty Mouse. I get that FVV is having a bad shooting year, but he still orchestrates the offense with an incredible high assist to turnover ratio and is Revis Island when he gets switched onto a big. *It would be lower without LaMelo, but was trying to be inclusive of the best guards FVV has covered.
Sengun is the highest paid player on the team and the face of the franchise, meanwhile KPJ is barely an nba player and Jalen is on his way to getting benched. What in your mind do you imagine Sengun fans are “butthurt” about?
The thing that stands out is not Sengun. Most of the starting 5's minutes come from playing together, so they are expected to be similar, and actually are as expected for Dillon, FVV and Sengun. The thing that stands out is Jalen and Jabari having low +/-, which is an obvious result of Tari&Amen performing better than them.
+/- has something to do with rotation and substitution patterns, who they play with and who they play against. It is pretty obvious that most of the times when Amen and Tari come in, they bring positive impact. And they are clearly much better than a lot of teams' second unit. Many of the big runs were generated by their defensive dominance. Whoever stay on the floor together with those two guys get benefitted on the +/- by their presence. We need to dig deeper to see how much of each of the starters plays with them.
