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Utah Jazz Roster: Who is better? Player A, B, or C?

Imaginary Tax Return Sandwich
Imaginary Tax Return Sandwich
Rob Carr

I'm not an NBA head coach. So on that alone maybe I don't have any footing to stand on to question the brilliance of Tyrone Corbin, Sidney Lowe, Mike Sanders, et al. I'm also not a movie director but I can tell when I don't like something I see on the screen. Regardless of all the things I am not, one thing I am is a consumer. I buy the league pass stuff from the NBA every year. I order online at Fanzz. I go to the games in my area. I take an interest in what I am seeing, and because of a hard science background, I try to quantify what I see.

And this is one of the things I'm seeing -- one player is playing more than two other players, but in my mind, is playing worse than both. I'll put the important numbers out here, and let you decide.

[NB. RED FONT = PLAYER A IS WORSE THAN THE COMPARISON PLAYER]

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Player A vs Player B:

Both of these players can be used at the same spots on the floor. They have vastly different games, but the on court production tells a tale the eye often misses.

Player G MPG PPG RPG APG TO A:TO SPG BPG PER USG% AST% TRB%
Player A 20 28.6 9.7 2.7 1.9 1.8 1.1 0.7 0.3 9.0 17.8% 10.9% 5.5%
Player B 7 19.0 8.3 4.4 1.1 1.4 0.8 1.0 0.9 22.0 19.8% 11.6% 13.5%
Difference: A-B 9.6 1.4 -1.7 0.8 0.4 0.3 -0.3 -0.6 -13.0 -2.0% -0.7% -8.0%

So Player A plays nearly 10 minutes more a game, scores almost 1.5 more points per game, and handles the ball a little more (more APG more TOPG) -- yet somehow has a lower USG% and lower AST%. Player B beats him all over the court on everything else.

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Player A vs. Player C:

These two players are more similarly matched in terms of expected play style, but differences clearly exist.

Player G MPG PPG RPG APG TO A:TO SPG BPG PER USG% AST% TRB%
Player A 20 28.6 9.7 2.7 1.9 1.8 1.1 0.7 0.3 9.0 17.8% 10.9% 5.5%
Player C 20 26.7 11.4 2.8 2.6 1.8 1.4 0.9 0.3 12.6 23.0% 17.0% 6.0%
Difference: A-C 1.9 -1.7 -0.1 -0.7 0.0 -0.4 -0.2 0.0 -3.6 -5.2% -6.1% -0.5%

In this case player A only plays 1.9 more minutes a game, and does nothing better. Nothing. Better. Of course if you break things down and look at other details like shot locations you can tell who is who, but I want people to be objective here and not let names or ideas of players skew the info.

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So from the quantitative data, is Player A really the guy who should be playing more than Player B and C?