Top Three Reasons LaMelo Ball is NOT the Rookie of the Year
And why Allen Iverson was not a good defender...
The Greatness of Chris Paul
Latest video breakdown is up.
CP3 in three plays (naturally) from Tuesday’s PHO/LAL game.
After LeBron, CP3 is the best “thumb on the scale of winning”player in the league.
I explain, with examples, in this video:
The Ballad of Tyrese Haliburton
Who’s the NBA’s Rookie of the Year?
Your answer says a lot about how you view basketball.
On Feb. 5th I posted a Twitter poll asking who was the better player, LaMelo Ball or Tyrese Haliburton?
It’s a good comp because both are tall, rookie point guards playing almost exactly the same minutes.
Again, your answer says a lot about how you view basketball.
Seventy-six percent said Ball was the better player.
Hmmmmm…
*side eye*
Let’s go to the numbers…
Player MIN PTS REB AST STL BLK TO FG% FT% 3FG%
LB 28.9 15.7 6.0 6.4 1.6 .4 2.8 .45 .81 .37
TH 30.1 13.2 3.6 5.4 1.4 .6 1.5 .49 .83 .43
Which numbers jump out at you?
For a point guard, most fans probably look at points and assists.
That’s… the wrong way to look at it.
Look again…
But first, let’s throw out Steals as it is not a helpful statistic.
In theory, steals tell us that someone is a good defender.
In reality, that player could be a good defender who gets his hands on a lot of balls OR that player could be a bad defender who gambles constantly by jumping the passing lanes and leaving his teammates to clean up the mess.
If the gambling player gets the steal it’s a pick six. If he misses, the rest of the team is in scramble mode and someone else ends up getting the blame.
This especially happens with superstars… they gamble for a steal, put their teammates in rotation, and then point at the player who is scored upon as if it is that player’s fault.
Allen Iverson excelled at this: gamble, leave your teammates to scramble, point at the teammate who got scored on.
Because he was AI, no one could say anything.
It’s a trash thing to do to your teammates. And it’s an unhelpful statistic.
So disregard it entirely.
Now… here are the stats that jump out to me (in bold):
Player MIN PTS REB AST STL BLK TO FG% FT% 3FG%
LB 28.9 15.7 6.0 6.4 1.6 .4 2.8 .45 .81 .37
TH 30.1 13.2 3.6 5.4 1.4 .6 1.5 .49 .83 .43
The debate between Ball and Haliburton should come down to two things (in reality it will likely come down to highlights and narrative):
1) How much do you value shooting efficiency?
2) How important is taking care of the basketball, especially at the point guard position?
These two things positively impact the outcome of the game.
And, right now, Haliburton is better at Ball in these two areas.
Haliburton’s FG% is ten percent better than Ball’s. FT% is about the same but look at Haliburton’s 3FG%…
Forty-three percent.
That is elite.
And about fifteen percent better than Ball.
Haliburton has an eFG% twenty percent higher than Ball’s (.611 to .510) and averages half of Ball’s almost three turnovers a game.
That is efficiency.
In turnovers per game for a point guard, Ball is in the Top Ten, even though he plays fewer than 30 minutes a game.
That is... not efficient.
For point guards who play over 20 minutes a game, Haliburton is in the Top Ten of players who do take care of the ball and don't turn it over.
So, Haliburton is elite at taking care of the basketball and Ball is awful at taking care of the ball.
Yeah, but Melo’s passes, bro. They’re awesome.
You know why they’re awesome?
Cuz he’s the fuckin’ man!
Because you only see the good ones. SportsCenter doesn’t run highlights of turnovers.
What’s SportsCenter?
YouTube. Whatever. The point is, it’s the point guard’s job to take care of the ball. Haliburton does that. Ball does not.
Plus, Haliburton’s 43% from three means that he is a legitimate floor spacer when he is off-ball.
Offense is spacing and spacing is offense.
Haliburton’s gravity gives you spacing.
Ball is shooting a reasonable percentage from three, 37%, but he is also not being closely guarded out there.
In this clip, look at how far off the defender is sagging:
Ball gets a clean look, and hits it, but because his 3FG% is average for a guard, the defender can sag and clog up passing lanes.
The name of the game is efficiency.
Haliburton is efficient.
Ball is… getting there.
Don’t get me wrong, Ball is having an outstanding season for a rookie.
But Haliburton is having a better one.
Anyway bro, you said three reasons.
Oh yeah, I did, didn’t I?
The third is defense.
Haliburton is light-years ahead of Ball. In fact, he reminds me of a young Scottie Pippen.
Our stats for defense are not good so rather than making a statistical argument you’ll just have to trust me on this one. There are no SportsCenter…
YouTube.
There are no YouTube clips of great positional defense by this year’s rookie class.
To sum up, in comparing Ball to Haliburton, Haliburton is a better shooter, a better defender, and takes better care of the basketball.
Other than that, the Rookie of the Year Award is Ball’s to lose.
I say that facetiously… Because of “narrative,” Ball will likely win.
But, right now, Haliburton is better.
Have a great day out there in the sim…
Benbo