Most important/unexpected positive of the season to this point?

[markkbu [enjin:6588958]]

What is the most impactful and unexpected positive of the season to this point?

[markkbu [enjin:6588958]]

We improved in a bunch of different areas this past season. The two most surprising and impactful are the play of Martin and Brewer, IMHO.

Martin has been playing over his head and (to use a very common Q term) will regress to the mean. He is a good player but he will not continue to see what he did in the first 10 games or so. We are already seeing that regressing to the mean. Martin is a more effective scorer than most of us thought, and there are times where his defense is decent, which surprises me.


No surprise to most of you, I voted Brewer's play. I expected his scoring efficiency to increase from past seasons and for his defense to be pretty good. His scoring efficiency and defensive play have far exceed my expectations.


On the offensive end, he is making the changes that he should make and rarely regressing to old form. He is in the top 10 in scoring SFs and top 10 in efficiency. Without doing too much analysis, it looks like there are only 4 or 5 other players that are top 10 in both. And effecient scoring SF is a gem in this league.

He has come very close to stopping taking the shots that he isn't good at and is limiting his shot selection to layups or corner threes. His scoring efficiency may actually increase as he further limits his shot selection. Right now he is taking more shots than he should due to Rubio's well documented offensive struggles. Plus, when one of the other starters has a cold night, he may pick up some of the shooting slack. That is NEVER a good idea, and I hope that he stops doing so.


The defensive end has been the most surprising IMHO. His impact on the defensive end is easy to miss because he does it very well so constantly. The majority of his effectiveness on the defensive end is his ability to deny very good offensive players good shots. Anthony, Durant, Jeff Green are the most obvious example of this, but if you what closely, it seems to happen in most games.

Durant scored had a 40% drop in shot attempts and 55% drop in scoring from his averages. Anthony took 1 less shot than average, but shot lowwer than average for 2's and 3's and got to the line less than normal. Green (Boston's leading scorer) average over 15 ppg (on 11.5 FGA) and scored 2 pts (on 6 FGA) and shot 0% from the field. When Corey denies the other team's best player from getting the ball, it is very easy to miss that it occurred. And, that is the best form of defense.

Obviously, being 6th in the league in steals is a good thing also, but that is more of an effect of him being a very good defender than a cause.

For those that watched last night's game, it was a good example of Brewer effectiveness. He was on Parson for a good portion of the night (yes, parson's output was well below average). He also covered Lin for a bit (later in the game).

No one plays perfect D. We now have a player who can guard the other team's scorer effectively more often than not.

Oh ya.......and the guy drives to the rim with a level of athleticism and reckless abandon rarely seen in the NBA.

Book over. :D

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

I voted Brewer. Just wish he didn't take so many jumpers.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

I was going to say Love, but he's come back to earth a bit over the last week or two. So I said Brewer, who is playing at about the peak of his potential, largely because Adelman had the smarts to play him with the first unit.

What's so disappointing is that there is no young guy that has knocked our socks off and taken a major step forward. Rubio has been shooting the 3 much better and does all the other things he's known for, but he's at career lows on 2-pt% and FTAs, making him even more inefficient than his first two years. Williams is a borderline bust. Shved is a train wreck. And Dieng has promise, but is too raw for now. And Shabazz? I don't even hear him being mentioned anymore. I've written him off for this season.

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

I voted for Martin. I liked the acquisition from the start, but I didn't expect him to be in the top 10 in scoring, to be able to post up shorter defenders (like opponents used to do to Luke), or get to the foul line as often as he does. And because RA has done a good job of using Corey and Ricky on the better offensive players, he really hasn't been torched on defense either.

My first thought was to answer Corey, but then I compared his current stats to his stats the last full season he played with the Wolves (09-10)...they are nearly identical. A little better shooting percentage now, but better on threes then. More rebounds then, more steals now. This might be a time when statistics lie, because he sure seems like he is a better player now than he was then.

[worldK]

I voted for brewer's play. I was a skeptic of brewer being a starter and the amount of his contract but he has proven me wrong..

Even if you dont look at his stats and just watch him playing the game, you can tell that he belongs with the other starters out there. i was proven wrong there so far.