01-06-2021, 11:54 AM
(01-06-2021, 11:25 AM)SleepingHero Wrote: 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?
It's a great question.
I'm not sure I have a strong opinion about it, but my first instinct is that Powell rarely rotates incorrectly. He rarely goes the wrong man. He doubles when he should. He recovers when he should. He seems to almost always UNDERSTAND the situation, and how Dallas is attempting to deal with it systemically.
In short, he's a super smart player who makes very few errors. I'm not 100% sure this is the answer, but I wouldn't have any trouble believing this was the answer if Carlisle told us so.
I really think the absence of error is much more of a goal for professionals like Carlisle (in any field) than the presence of great. When you think that way, a lot of decisions made by a lot of coaches start to make more sense, imo.