A surprising two man game!

[mook]

One of those 2 variables (speed and distance travelled) is calculated from the other, so Batum is really excelling in 1 thing, not 2. I didn't look up the measurement method, just looked at your page a few seconds, but I can see the horizontal arithmetic starts with 1 of those 2 variables being an actual measurement somehow.

Sort it descending by Distance Traveled Per Game, and you'll see he's traveled 2.6 miles per game (tied with several others for 6th in the league.) Now notice his average speed? Notice everybody else he's next to? He's averaging 4.5 MPH while most of the other guys are in the 4.1-4.3 range. Nobody in the league (except Michael Carter-Williams) runs as far as he does as fast as he does.

 

[Boob-No-More]

He is a huge upgrade, but you may be overstating his impact a little. You are describing a Dwight Howard or Marc Gasol or Hibbert-level impact on defense. We obviously don't have a center that good at defending the rim, or else we wouldn't be giving up so many damned points in the paint. Lopez is a solid defensive center--he's a big body who does what he can to clog the middle. But he's not always in position to protect the rim--he's just a little slower and lumbering than the elite defensive centers.

Still, though, he's light years better than Hickson.

I know I was gushing a bit, but did not mean to imply that Lopez was an elite, All-NBA level defender. What I was really trying to say is that he does a lot of things that help his team that don't show up in his individual stats. And, while perhaps not one of the top 3 or 4 rim protectors in the league, he is above average and that's a huge improvement over what we had last year. He is basically competent at doing the fundamental things you need a center to do (setting picks, blocking out, protecting the rim, scoring efficiently around the basket), and that's a refreshing change. It may not make him an all-star, but he was a great pick-up that cost us very little and has improved our team significantly. And he's only 25.

BNM