Knrstz wrote:I kind of struggle to know what to think of him. I know some say he needs a chance with better lineups but isn’t he a career bench player? Shouldn’t he be better than he currently is even with the players he’s with?
A couple of things:
1) Of course this isn't all on his role. A veteran like him should play better as an individual than this.
2) He may be a career bench player, yet he was never restricted to all bench lineups with trash players around him. These are the Patterson lineups with at least 120 mp over his last two seasons in Toronto:
Lowry-DeRozan-Carroll-Patterson-Valanciunas: +29.7 NetRtG, 147 minutes
Lowry-Joseph-Ross-Patterson-Biyombo: +18.5 NetRtG, 296 minutes
Lowry-Joseph-DeRozan-Patterson-Biyombo: +16.5 NetRtG, 141 minutes
Lowry-Joseph-Ross-Patterson-Bebe: +14.1 NetRtG, 199 minutes
Joseph-DeRozan-Ross-Pattereson-Biyombo: +11.9 NetRtG, 218 minutes
What do those lineups have in common?
-At least one pg on the floor who is capable to get his teammates good shots
-Always multiple ballhandlers who can create shots for themselves and others
-A SF who could hit 3s
-An athletic Center who can play decent to strong help defense
What does that sound like on our roster?
Russ-Robes-George-Patterson-Adams
or
Russ-George-Melo-Patterson-Adams
Patterson may have come off the bench, but Toronto always played him with good players and made use of their roleplayers by flexing them into their lineups with starters. Instead we are playing our worst defenders all at the same time and expect Patterson out of position and George to carry them.
Felton has played well for us, but he's not getting others shots all that often as of late. In fact, he's playing more and more like Russ with those long pull ups. Grant and Huestis are both athletic, yet they can't shoot and need so much help with off ball defense.
The Raptors are basically handing us a blueprint on how to use Patterson. Yet instead of doing that, we're wasting him because our roster is unbalanced and we stick to things that have not worked at all.
Among 5-man-units with at least 70 mp. our George+bench lineups is currently the 2nd worst in the league at -32.0 NetRtG. Among 4-man-units with at least 150 mp, Felton-George-Grant-Patterson is the worst lineup in the league with -31.0 NetRtG. By way of comparison: Christon-Abrines-Grant-Kanter had a -19.6 NetRtG last season.
Knrstz wrote:The other side of that is how long should we hold on to a guy that we aren’t using correctly?
I've thought about that as well. I fear Presti could move him instead of Grant so he can give Grant a new contract.

"I don't know of any player that, when the shot goes up, he doesn't want it to go in," Donovan said