Why would it be irrelevant? When Joel, Camby or Thomas was on the floor LMA didn't have to worry much on D. He was guarding the second-best big. When they weren't, not only was he "playing C" now, but he was also guarding the best big on the floor. And his stats dropped. Not just PER, but PER difference. Quantifiable. And the team didn't exactly play better when he was the biggest guy on the court, either. Someone help my memory if they can, but I'm pretty sure the Camby was checking Griffin when he was on the floor in the January games. Only when he left the game did LMA check him. And it was like that for everyone up to the trade deadline.
Care to show then where 82 games takes into account who he is covering? If he was playing C, with Joel off the floor, or Camby, then who is 82games giving his Opp. PER to? Jordan or Griffin? Probably Jordan, regardless of who he covers, unless they analyze each possession, and I;m pretty sure they do not.
82 games gives you his PER at the positions, his PER difference b/w him and opponent (position) and his 5-man unit splits. Watching the games, reading post-game quotes and looking at game logs is how I get who he's guarding. Quick question: are you honestly telling me that you think playing LMA 30+ minutes as the biggest guy on the floor (next to Robinson, or Hickson, or Sullinger, or whoever) is good for this team? And if not, what are you trying to argue, exactly?
Our team will win more games if we have an above average starting big man to pair with LaMarcus. There are advantages to having LaMarcus at the 4, there are different advantages to having him at the 5. In the end the team should focus on building a roster that wins games, we shouldn't worry about maximizing one players production in a vacuum. If LaMarcus was playing PF alongside Dwight or Bynum they would be a lethal combo. If he was playing center next to Love or Dirk they would be a lethal combo. The level of talent next to LaMarcus is 20x more critical to this teams success then LaMarcus classification as a 4 or 5. Robinson is the 2nd most talented player in the draft so I would take him 2nd.
Thomas Robinson would guard Love, Griffin, Scola, and would probably be just as good on the rest of the guys you names as well. I don't understand why you're saying LA would have to guard the other teams best big..
Yes, and just looking at positional PER doesn't say he is worse at C because of covering guys like Griffin. I don't know if it's good for this team if LMA is the biggest guy on the floor. Of course, alongside Camby, he was still the biggest guy on the floor for us. What I do believe is we hurt ourselves by continuing to choose to play 4 on 5 with a guy like Joel out there. I believe that there might be some benefit to actually making the guys you mention, Gasol, Love, griffin, etc., work on defense. Because when we trot Joel out there, they don't work. They stand and rest up for offense. And we aren't shutting those guys down on defense. Maybe making them battle with Robinson or Aldridge will tire THEM out, and maybe not being the sole offensive option will help preserve some of Aldridge's energy.
