rpa wrote:HartfordWhalers wrote:Not to derail the trolling, but while the passing and rebounding looks true, I don't think the defense supports this claim. Cousins defense has been better than expected, but I wouldn't give him better than Curry ever was. Curry was considerably better at getting blocks, and Cousins is on pace to have more fouls in a season than anyone has had since 04-05. 82games shows opposing centers at a 17.5 PER, 19 points a game on 55% shooting, and the team allowing 110.9 points per 100 possessions with Cousins on the court, while 109.8 without him (I couldn't find Curry's similar numbers).
1) Curry wasn't "considerably better at getting blocks". Curry averaged over 1 block exactly ONE time in his entire career and is sitting on a career average of 0.8--which is damn close to Cousins' 0.7. And there's one thing to add to this: as a starter Cousins' blocks are slightly higher at 0.9.
2) Blocks don't necessarily equate to good defense the same way that steals don't equate to good defense.
3) Using on/off court numbers make for a horrible argument. +/- (which is the general term for what you're using--regardless of the way in which you express it) is probably the worst statistic around especially when used to try and gauge players on bad teams. As I said in a previous post: Kevin Durant had a -8.4 his 2nd year in the league. He didn't have this number because HE was a terrible player, he had it because he was logging major minutes (the vast majority of them against other teams' starting lineups) on a bad team.
4) Neither Curry nor Cousins will ever be considered a defensive anchor. That said, Curry was a truly horrific 1 on 1 defender and team rebounded. Cousins is by no means good (yet) but he's better than Curry.
1) Curry averaged 1.7 per 36 and a 3.4% block rate his rookie year to Cousins 1.0 per 36 and 2% Block rate. I would say that is considerably better.
2) True. But less blocks, WAY more fouls, worse +/-, and allowing direct positional opposition to look very very good against you don't make you look good. Try and find a stat that supports Cousins is better than Curry at defense, because as it is now, the stats that are available
all say he isn't (than Curry's best seasons). Needless to say, if you want to say it is a
fact that his defense is better than Curry's ever was, I think you need a little more than defense stats are hard. At least if you want to be taken serious and not lumped in with the yahoos.
3) See 2.
4) Again, if he's better, provide me with some evidence. Any. Curry had 2.8 defensive win shares his best season. Cousins is on pace for 1.6. Just about every stat (and they all have some flaws) favors Curry.
Rebounding and passing you had, but including defense was just an overstep.
