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[mvossman]

No it´s not the only thing that matters, cause it´s an average rating of all your games played against varying degrees of opposition with varying degrees of playing partners. By your logic I find five players that have a positive net rating, play each 48 MPG and they´ll go 82-0 regardless of the opponents quality. 

Sometimes you have to apply some common sense to interpret numbers like when Luka has started all games, Kyrie has started all games he played (8 of 10) and Dwight Powell has started one game, all I need is to check whether Kyrie has played in the game Powell started to know they must have played together. Also common sense tells me that if Luka plays 36 MPG, Kyrie plays 34 MPG and Powell plays 19 MPG, it´s highly likely that the minutes of the three will have overlapped at some point in a 48 minute game, considering that they all play different positions.

This is the whole point of advanced stats like EPM and DPM.  They look at who was on the court when that player was on the court, both teammates and opponents.  On off numbers are very noisy (especially in the sample sizes you are using to make your point) so they include some box score stats to help stabilize the numbers.  You would think using box score stats would kill Powell as he does not get the rebound or block numbers folks are looking for.  And yet year after year (read large sample) his numbers suggest he has a much better impact on the court than folks give him credit for.  He is a very limited player with a high motor and a high BBIQ.  He doesn't turn the ball over, sets great screens, is crazy efficient on offense and plays good P&R defense.  All of that helps to offset his limitations rebounding and rim defense.  It seems like a decent tradeoff for a backup center making 4 mil a year.