07-03-2021, 02:27 PM
(This post was last modified: 07-03-2021, 03:07 PM by dirkfansince1998.)
(07-03-2021, 12:14 PM)DanSchwartzgan Wrote: Conley has always been positively impactful in on/off. His career average is +6.2. This season was double that. His 108 D-Rating is very close to his 109 career average. The bigger swing factor is typically more about who replaces you (or who you replace). Playing with Gobert can help, especially to the extent your backup doesn't play with Gobert. Dirk was always an on/off monster and no matter who you put with him, Dirk's backup was always going to look bad by this metric.
It is hard to prove this up with the data I have access to. Perhaps Kamm can help here. Conley had a 99.1 D-Rating when paired with Gobert. He played very few minutes without Gobert, but the top lineups where this occured, the D Rating was actually better (small sample size alert). Clarkson and Mitchell are sizable on/off negatives defensively. Lineups with Gobert/Mitchell have a D rating of 103.7. Clarkson/Gobert is 100.3. You'd have to eliminate the overlap to really know, but that is tough because Utah typically has two of them on the court most of the time.
No doubt. Conley has been one of the best small guard defenders for most of his career. Would actually argue that he should have made more than one all defense 2nd team (2013). But I think at his current age he isn´t the point of attack defender that a lot of posters are asking for. Just like CP3 or Lowry he is more of a veteran leader that calls out plays, makes good decisions off the ball and plays great team defense. They aren´t asked to guard the best opposing perimeter scorer for 30+ minutes. That´s the job of younger guys like VanVleet, Anunoby, Bridges, Payne, O´Neal or Mitchell.
In my opinion that´s exactly what the Mavs need. Just want to make clear what to expect.