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

[mvossman]

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.

There is probably some truth to this.  I think a big part of it is that team defensive rating is heavily dependent on opponent 3 point percentage, which has a very high variance.  I think somebody already posted the wild differences in opponent 3 point percentage between our wins and losses.  The reality is that this is probably too small a sample to read much into the defensive rating.  With smaller samples, you need to look at more targeted stats (like giving up 85% at the rim) and the eye test.  Both of which suggest it was not a good idea to send Powell out there as the lone big.