2022-2023 Full Season: Rockets Players Advanced Statistics

It passes the eye test. My opinion was that the best players this year were Alpi and KPJ, while the weakest link was Jabari. The rest kind of mix in there depending on what you value. I would say Green was #3, but I’m not all that surprised to see the stats actually put Tari ahead of him. Interesting stuff.

 

You forgot Kenyon Martin jr.

He had a great 45 game mostly on Offense.

 

We can argue why a model isn't optimal The model says Jokic is a better defender than Embid, which is not enough of a reason to discount it, gives you reason to look deeper and see if you understand what it's trying to represent versus the input variable used to evaluate it.

 

I do think though, you can say maybe Segun doesn't hurt our defense as much as perception and that running the offense through Jalen and and KPJ might not be the bad call.

 

That’s true. He had a really good year, overall. The models have him better than Green, too. I still value Green over him, but he proved himself worthy of rotational minutes, whether that’s ultimately with us or someone else. I’m glad he got a shot and made the most of it.

 

I don't think it's unfair to post a thread like this to provide an honest assessment of where guys are at.

- Sengun is the most efficient, consistent player. We all know advanced stats struggle to adequately measure defense, but rebounding, steals and blocks all contribute on the defensive side of the ball, which are areas he's produced. And offensively, he's obviously hyperefficient (59.9% TS%). I still don't know if he fits in the modern game or if he's a long-term starter, but today he's clearly the best player on the team by a wide margin. If you're fully on board "Team Trade Sengun," I'd love to know the justification for it.

- KPJ genuinely surprised me this season. He was already probably the best shooter on the team, but he became an all-around more efficient scorer (56.5% TS%), while increasing his usage and decreasing his turnover rate. Most of his advanced numbers (WS/58, BPM, VORP) are all pretty league average-ish, so there's room to grow. But I honestly wasn't expecting that much growth from him. Still don't think he's a starting point guard, but I definitely think he's got a place somewhere as a key rotational guy.

- Green saw marginal improvement in most advanced stats, but his inefficiency and lack of across-the-board production hurt his advanced metrics. If you shoot 41.7% from the floor and 33.8% from the 3-point line, advanced stats aren't going to love you. There's a lot of positives, though, about the improvements he made this season, most notably the increase in overall shot volume, the increase in FTA and the fact that his AST% spiked while his TO% stayed flat. If he stays on this trajectory and improves his shot selection next season to the point where he's closer to 44/36/80, his efficiency will jump dramatically.

- Bari's numbers are predictable, too. HIs inefficiency is even worse than Green's, and his defensive production and metrics weren't strong enough to make up for them. Dude was a pretty big minus on the floor the majority of the season, but he had a massive leap in production and efficiency the last 20 games or so that boosted his numbers from historically awful to just really bad. If we just looked at March and April, where he was putting up a pretty efficient 15/8/1/1 every night, I'd be curious to see what the stats would show. If he can be that guy next year and just get better and hitting shots, he'll see a huge boost in these metrics.

Bottom line, these are still just kids who are at various stages in their development. You don't judge a player at the end of their career on how strong their advanced numbers were when they were 19-21 years old. Overreacting either way to these guys based on their production and efficiency right now would be a mistake.