Let's be real about what we had with Starter Powell

[SleepingHero]

  "Powell has conceded 85% of shots he's defended, per the NBA's stat site".

"but the starting lineup with him (Powell) has only allowed a 100.9 defensive rating - almost 10 points better than last season's                average and six points better than the team's overall rank."

Rebounding was abysmal with a non-rebounding C like Powell playing as a stand-alone big.  You might get by with that if Powell's well established lack of board prowess was surrounded by Luka and another big.  But it was a killer when he was run out there by himself.  Powell's rebounding is off this season compared to his pedestrian past,

One thing I'm asking myself is, if Powell as an individual is giving up 85% of shots on him, yet the team as a whole has a stellar DRTG, is it more because of Powell's presence basically funneling all of the opposing shots onto 1 player (whoever Powell is guarding essentially), thus letting everyone else stay on their assignments, and leading to an improved defense since the opposing team is essentially baited into a less efficient game plan? Or is Powell a non-factor and it's something else causing the team defense to be better as a whole (whether that be a new addition I.E. JRich and his callouts, or RC's focus on defense in training camp?) Or maybe a mix of both? Or its a small sample size that will adjust in time whether that be a lot of shots that went in on Powell were lucky or the DRTG will rise? And one has to ask how less efficient this game plan is if Powell is allowing 85% of shots to go in? 

This is even further compounded by the fact that Powell has been overall an atrocious rebounder. He never was elite at that, but right now he's putrid. Of course the fact that Powell is also not back yet to his old self on offense is playing a role with the starters poor ORTG. I liked the chicken and egg sentiment. Is it fat Luka? Is it DFS missing wide open 3s? Or is it truly because Powell is unable to provide any sort of pressure? We saw the pressure WCS brought with his verticality on offense against the Rockets and how everything looked different. But again Luka also looked a lot better that game too. Chicken or egg strikes again.

So if Powell as an individual cannot defend, is not good on offense, and cannot rebound, then how can he possibly be a positive on the court? Wouldn't common sense lead us to believe that the team is just being held back when Powell is on the court? The 2-man lineups with Luka and either WCS, Powell, and Kleber really lend credence to that idea. 

IF anything, I'm left with more questions than answers. It's hard to argue against that Powell does look better paired with another big. But is that because the other big is just hiding all of Powell's issues? And how does it affect that other big's impact having to makeup for Powell's deficiencies? 

I suppose we'll see in time. Hopefully once KP comes back this is a non-issue given that Powell's minutes should go down.