The notion of fit and value
Posted: Mon Nov 17, 2014 10:13 pm
The idea of "skills" instead of positions is something that I really love.
In my opinion, basketball is more or less played by a primary creator, secondary creator, wing shooter/defender, stretch big and pick and roll dive man/rim protector. This explains the diminishing returns of throwing a ton of LeBron James' together - one of them is going to be "relegated" into the wing shooter/defender role and thus his value is severely diminished, all the while being the same player.
It is something that I have argued heavily with Cavs fans and it is why the value of having Dion Waiters out there when LeBron James and Kyrie Irving are already on the floor is severely diminished - in this role, Matthew Dellavedova is probably more valuable than Dion Waiters, which is just an insanely perplexing notion when watching them play; Delly can't dribble a ball without the world imploding.
This is something that needs to be taken into account with respect to RPM and those that use it - a player's RPM only really has any value if they are compared to another player who is playing that same role, not someone playing the same position.
Obviously this is nothing groundbreaking, but after listening to Seth Partnow and Ian Levy on the r-squared podcast (http://nyloncalculus.com/2014/11/14/the ... h-partnow/) I thought this may be a useful place for discussion on such a matter.
In my opinion, basketball is more or less played by a primary creator, secondary creator, wing shooter/defender, stretch big and pick and roll dive man/rim protector. This explains the diminishing returns of throwing a ton of LeBron James' together - one of them is going to be "relegated" into the wing shooter/defender role and thus his value is severely diminished, all the while being the same player.
It is something that I have argued heavily with Cavs fans and it is why the value of having Dion Waiters out there when LeBron James and Kyrie Irving are already on the floor is severely diminished - in this role, Matthew Dellavedova is probably more valuable than Dion Waiters, which is just an insanely perplexing notion when watching them play; Delly can't dribble a ball without the world imploding.
This is something that needs to be taken into account with respect to RPM and those that use it - a player's RPM only really has any value if they are compared to another player who is playing that same role, not someone playing the same position.
Obviously this is nothing groundbreaking, but after listening to Seth Partnow and Ian Levy on the r-squared podcast (http://nyloncalculus.com/2014/11/14/the ... h-partnow/) I thought this may be a useful place for discussion on such a matter.