Lillard: Efficiency Isn't Everything

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  1. SlyPokerDog

    SlyPokerDog Woof! Staff Member Administrator

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    There was little doubt, if any, that Damian Lillard would win Rookie of the Year, but whether he would join Ralph Sampson, David Robinson and Blake Griffin as the only rookies to win the award unanimously was still up for debate.

    While Lillard lead all rookies in scoring and assists and set a new record for 3-pointers made in a season by a rookie, there were some prominent and respected voices like Chad Ford and Henry Abbott, both of ESPN.com, who wondered if the award shouldn't got to a player like Anthony Davis or Andre Drummond, players who didn't have the per game stats that Lillard did, but better advanced stats like PER and Win Shares.

    "… If you look at virtually every stat, Davis had a better year," Ford wrote in a chat on ESPN.com. "PER, Win Shares, WARP, you name it ... all of them show Davis clearly as the best rookie last season."

    Despite that argument, all 121 voters cast their ballot for Lillard. And while Lillard himself appreciates the importance of efficiency, he notes that it's not the end all, be all of a player's value.

    "If I'm not as efficient, then that's one thing," said Lillard. "But I think being out there, playing the most minutes in the league, playing every game is hard! The rookies that they said were more efficient, if they played the amount of minutes and played in every game and had the amount of responsibility that I have and then they were more efficient, then that's one thing. But we had completely different situations."

    Which is why statistics, be they advanced or otherwise, only tell part of the story. No rookie was relied upon this season by his respective team like Lillard and playing every game is incredibly difficult for any player, let alone a rookie who never played more than 31 games in a season at Weber State.

    "It's more of them saying 'These guys didn't get the amount of time he got so they couldn't produce those numbers' instead of appreciating the fact that I was able to play a lot of minutes in all 82 games," said Lillard of the bulk stats versus efficiency debate. "You could look at it either way, but I think it's unfair to say they're more efficient because they didn't have the amount of responsibility and they didn't play those amount of minutes."

    Being on the floor should count for something, and for the 121 voters who made Lillard a unanimous selection, it did.

    http://blogs.trailblazers.com/Broad...188/EntryID/4870/BroadcasterID/4/Default.aspx
     
    SlyPokerDog, May 1, 2013
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  2. BBert

    BBert Weasels Ripped My Flesh

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    To me this is a "No duh!" I lost a lot of respect for those ass clowns Chad Ford and Henry Abbott for their inability to grasp this simple logic.
     
    BBert, May 1, 2013
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  3. KingSpeed

    KingSpeed Veteran

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    Amen. That's what I hate about PER being used by people who play less minutes.
     
    KingSpeed, May 1, 2013
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  4. PapaG

    PapaG Banned User BANNED

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    Chad Ford and Henry Abbott don't know shit and never have about what other players respect. Playing games and playing minutes at a high level is near the top of the list.
     
    PapaG, May 1, 2013
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  5. PapaG

    PapaG Banned User BANNED

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    For high minute starters, I think PER is a decent metric to use as a tool of comparison. But Hollinger has infected the entire ESPN community of writers to the point that Marreese Speights is seen as a good player, when the truth is he can't even start for Cleveland.
     
    PapaG, May 1, 2013
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  6. KingSpeed

    KingSpeed Veteran

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    Exactly.
     
    KingSpeed, May 1, 2013
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  7. jlprk

    jlprk The ESPN mod is insane.

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    Henry Sims was the best rookie this year.
     
    jlprk, May 1, 2013
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  8. RoyToy

    RoyToy Clown Town

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    TRUER WORDS HAVE NEVER BEEN SPOKEN

    I like Lillard even more now
     
    RoyToy, May 1, 2013
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  9. BlazerCaravan

    BlazerCaravan Hug a Bigot... to Death

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    Indeed. Stupid Davis barely is in the same conversation as the great Henry Sims.
     
    BlazerCaravan, May 1, 2013
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  10. jlprk

    jlprk The ESPN mod is insane.

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    I feel the momentum building. This award will someday be taken back from the imposter and awarded to Henry Sims.
     
    jlprk, May 1, 2013
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  11. Boise Blazer

    Boise Blazer Thread Lightly

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    Sometimes the eye test is enough for me to know that Lillard is simply amazing. I love stats but I dont need them to know that there is no one outside of LBJ that I would trade him for right now. Call that homer or not but every time this kid speaks I love him more and more.
     
    Boise Blazer, May 2, 2013
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  12. magnifier661

    magnifier661 B-A-N-A-N-A-S!

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    The best thing is he puts his money where his mouth is. There is no lip service with this kid. He says he will work on defense, then he's going to work on defense! He is so charismatic too; which bodes well for "superstardom". We have a legit star in our midst!
     
    magnifier661, May 2, 2013
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  13. Boise Blazer

    Boise Blazer Thread Lightly

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    As HCP (and others) have mentioned previously , if he gave me the same production as this year for the next 10 years i'd be happy. With that said I'd be shocked if he didnt improve and I almost expect him to improve a lot.
     
    Boise Blazer, May 2, 2013
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  14. Wizard Mentor

    Wizard Mentor Wizard Mentor

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    I can see both sides of this - I would love Anthony Davis on our team. But....

    I don't buy the "advanced stats" - not because I don't like stats, I do. Here's MY advanced stats... Take Anthony Davis's stats (PPG, RPG, APG) and multiply them by 60/82. Because of injury he only played 60 games. That's 0 points, 0 rebounds, 0's across the board. Maybe that's not Anthony Davis's fault, but it certainly isn't Damian Lillard's.

    Besides, I remember checking Greg Oden's PER one season and it was among league leaders. For example, it was greater than Dwight Howard's. Nevertheless he didn't make the all-star team, and rightly so.
     
    Wizard Mentor, May 2, 2013
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  15. Boise Blazer

    Boise Blazer Thread Lightly

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    Im sure if my family had fillet mignon once a week and nothing or bread and water the rest of the week I wouldnt be nominated for father of year anytime soon.
     
    Boise Blazer, May 2, 2013
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  16. magnifier661

    magnifier661 B-A-N-A-N-A-S!

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    About 73% is the quick multiplication. So if he had a per of 20 * .73 = a net per of 14.6. How does that fare with Lillard?
     
    magnifier661, May 2, 2013
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  17. Spud147

    Spud147 Mercy Mercy

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    For me it was the fact they didn't consider that Damian played so much and so well teams started focusing defensive strategies to keep the ball out of his hands about 20 games into the season. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that no such thing happened to Davis.

    It reminds me of the argument people about JJ and LaMarcus, one of them is getting double and triple teamed every time while the other gets to use all the attention he gets as a decoy.
     
    Spud147, May 2, 2013
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  18. Boise Blazer

    Boise Blazer Thread Lightly

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    Take it a step further and say even with all the extra attention and effort it took he still maintained the minutes and production.
     
    Boise Blazer, May 2, 2013
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  19. Rastapopoulos

    Rastapopoulos Well-Known Member

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    So the tide has turned against PER, huh? Funny how it was the other way round when we had Oden.

    Seriously, though: does anyone doubt that (barring injury) Davis will be the more valuable player in 3 years? Not to say Lillard won't be valuable, but Davis will be one of the top two at his position, and Lillard will be lucky to be top five.
     
    Rastapopoulos, May 2, 2013
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  20. Boise Blazer

    Boise Blazer Thread Lightly

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    Could be and Im fine with that but valuable to us is a PG.
     
    Boise Blazer, May 2, 2013
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