1993Playoffs wrote:Saw a recent discussion about this and wanted to see other people’s opinion , in the regular season and playoffs in real time I remember thinking holiday was the best player in the playoffs but I didn’t catch their regular season
Thoughts. ?
Okay, here's my general thoughts as someone who was extremely hyped about AD before he was drafted:
* AD's capabilities are even greater than I thought when he was in college, particularly on offense.
* AD in the playoffs has on a number of series had looked like the best defender of his generation, doing things like pwning JJJ or Bam.
* AD's off-ball threat is way ahead of the other great bigs of today. I expect, for example, that if Lillard has joined AD instead of Giannis, things would have gone better.
* But AD does not seem to be a guy who can maintain his impact day in and day out the way you need to to max out RAPM studies. Some of that is injury, but I think some of it also is the fact that in a playoff series he can really zero in on a particular context with the help of his coaches, and he tends to get the better of guys who are more impactful by RAPM.
* By contrast, Jrue for a long time WAS a guy who regularly gave you something close to his top impact all season long, and thus, by RAPM studies, not really a surprise that he can look like the better player.
* I should note that Jrue also excels in the playoffs and is known for crippling opponent's lead guards, but regular season-wise, I just think he's a more reliable player.