Why do we play so much better with Goran instead of Bledsoe?

[Ring_Wanted]

We need Bledsoe, there is no way around it, even is Goran may be a better playmaker for others.

[Calvin Klein]

We need him specially when Goran sits. That's the thing. We get killed when neither of them are in.

[INFORMER-93]

Paul Coro
Hornacek said Bledsoe (right knee sprain) will be out at least a week. Green will start in his place. #SunsVsBucks

I guess we will find out if this theory of being better with Goran is true or not. Certainly wasn't the case on Thursday. Looks like we will have at least a week to see though.

That won't prove anything. Nobody is saying that Bledsoe is making this team worse. Stats show that Dragic led lineups are more successful than Bledsoe led lineups. So the argument can be made that Dragic is more important to this team than Bledsoe. But that doesn't mean that Bledsoe isn't important or doesn't help us win.

Bledsoe is a talented player; so if you take him off the team and don't replace ANY of the talent, then we probably aren't going to be as good. But one doesn't exactly need the scientific method to figure that out.

[DirtyDez]

3-4 without Bledsoe
2-1 without Dragic

5-5 when one of them is out...

WE NEED THEM BOTH!!

[LukasBMW]

3-4 without Bledsoe
2-1 without Dragic

5-5 when one of them is out...

WE NEED THEM BOTH!!

Agreed.

I don't really buy those early stats about Dragic lead lineups being more efficient.

Both players benefit from eachother when they are in at the same time, and being able to keep one out there while the other rests is also huge.

His penetration creates problems and his defensive pressure is valuable.

[bigfoot]

I believe Dragic is a more polished leader. He's now been leading a team for over 100 games. He also mentored under Nash which has enumerable benefits. Given more games under his belt, Bledsoe will get there ... he's got Horny and Dragic as two quality mentors.

[Frank Lee]

All these Stats about a Goran team and a Bledsoe team need to also include an Ish team. Where we truly miss Bled is on our second unit, for either he or Dragic is at the helm. That is the true benefit of this two guard system.... one of them is playing at all times.

[Revived]

Would be interesting to see how these numbers look (also in comparison to Thomas) this season when only one of them is in the game.

[Wannabe MEP]

Would be interesting to see how these numbers look (also in comparison to Thomas) this season when only one of them is in the game.

Players . . . . . . . . . . . . . . OffRtg . . . . DefRtg . . . . NetRtg

All 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123.1 . . . . 103.9 . . . . +19.2

Dragic-Bled (no IT) . . . . . 108.0 . . . . 103.5 . . . . +4.5
Dragic-IT (no Bled) . . . . . 112.0 . . . . 112.2 . . . . -0.2
Bled-IT (no Dragic) . . . . . 110.5 . . . . 108.3 . . . . +2.2

IT (no Dragic/Bled) . . . . . 108.9 . . . . 104.9 . . . . +4.0
Dragic (no IT/Bled) . . . . . 111.6 . . . . 120.5 . . . . -8.9
Bled (no Dragic/IT) . . . . . 106.7 . . . . 117.7 . . . . -11.0

Caveats:

• Dragic and Bledsoe haven't played much as the sole PG, so the sample size is small.
• This was not a straightforward, automated process, so there's definitely the potential for errors.
• I used BR.com's numbers, which don't match stats.nba.com's numbers exactly. Not sure why there's a discrepancy...

[JTrain]

Like I said in the other thread, the more interesting data would be to compare possessions where Dragic brought the ball into the half court with Bledsoe playing off-ball, versus the other way around. It seems as though we are better off with Dragic playing the 1. The offense flows better and we are less likely to get the 1 dribbling around for 22 seconds and then making a desperate pass or shot.

But, without seeing some actual data, it's hard to know how accurate that perception is.

[Fo-Real]

Bledso plays like he is uninterested way too damn much for me!

[charley barkles]

^^ That bugs me too. In tonight game vs. the Blazers, the best thing that happened was when Bledsoe got fouled but the ref underneath didn't call it. Bledsoe was PISSED and started playing more passionate after that.