Honestly don't know how that happened then. I would probably have to watch Clippers a lot more to notice (I usually only catch their highlights in the morning).
I was shocked as well, but here's a statistic analysis from "Wizenheimer" at the realGM Blazer board, it's an interesting read with all the caveats of comparing much fewer minutes, here ya go;
"
I'm not impressed with Mozgov. IMO, he's not that good, and that's taking into account he could have a bad role for him in Cleveland
if that's the route Portland takes at C, I'd much rather they go after Cole Aldrich then Mozgov. Aldrich looks like a true big-man-C. Here's a comparison between Aldridh, Mozgov, & Plumlee:
http://bkref.com/tiny/QMsoE
the first thing to keep in mind is that Aldrich only averaged 13.3 minutes; only 800 minutes total. So, there could certainly be some sample size issues in the comparison
anyway, per36, Aldrich averaged 15 points (on 60% shooting), 13 rebounds, and 3 blocks. Even allowing for sample-size noise, those are impressive numbers. He had a 19.6% rebound rate, and an 11.9% offensive rebound rate. More impressive numbers.
and we saw him in the playoffs. It sure seemed to me that when the Clippers went from Deandre Jordan to Aldrich in their rotation, they didn't lose much at all in rebounding, defense, or big-man intimidation.
but for me, the most impressive set of numbers are his defensive numbers. Now, defensive numbers should all be viewed a little skeptically. There can be a lot of noise due to team defense, rotations, and sample size. But Aldrich's defensive numbers are quite good. 3.1 blocks per36 is a lot. Aldrich had a block rate of 6.7% (bbref). Because of low minutes, he wasn't ranked in that category, but compare him to the top-5:
Block Pct
1. Hassan Whiteside ▪ MIA 9.7
2. Bismack Biyombo ▪ TOR 6.1
3. Rudy Gobert ▪ UTA 5.9
4. DeAndre Jordan ▪ LAC 5.4
5. Kristaps Porzingis ▪ NYK 5.0
2. Cole Aldrich LAC 6.7
it's more then just blocks though. Aldrich played for the #5 team in the NBA in defensive rating; Clips had a 103.8 rating. Aldrich's defensive rating was 94 (Hassan Witeside led the NBA with a 94.5 mark). I can't recall a player posing nearly a 10 point differential between his mark and his team's, especially when the team starting point was under 105. Aldrich's defensive box plus/minus was +5.8. That's another impressive number
winshares can be a bit tricky. Because of low minutes, Aldrich's winshare marks were rather low as there is a cumulative impact. But Aldrich's winshare/48 mark was .209. For comparison, no Blazer was over .200 and only one, Ed Davis, was above .165. Anyway, proportioning Aldrich's defensive winshares by total winshares and applying that to his /48 number yields a defensive winshare/48 mark of .119. Only 3 Blazers, Davis, Lillard, & Plumlee had total winshare/48 marks better the Aldrich's defensive mark
and there's DRPM (defensive real plus/minus). Among NBA C's these are the top-5 DRPM marks this season:
1 Andrew Bogut 5.53
2 Tim Duncan 5.42
3 Cole Aldrich 4.61
4 Ian Mahinmi 4.14
5 DeAndre Jordan 4.11
and here is the top-5 for all 462 NBA players tracked:
1 Andrew Bogut, C 5.53
2 Tim Duncan, C 5.42
3 Draymond Green, PF 4.94
4 Cole Aldrich, C 4.61
5 Ian Mahinmi, C 4.14
again, there is that sample size issue. But when every single defensive measure has Aldrich performing that well, you have to think there's some solid defense there.
The wildcard in all this is obviously Meyers Leonard, especially after Olshey's comments during the Terry Stotts press conference.
it's a lot more like a joker then a wild card.
The coaches have talked about their defense needing to get better. The players have talked about it. Even Olshey has talked about. Yet, it seems like the team is determined to re-sign Meyers, and he's bad at defense. We saw in the 2nd half of the season that Stotts, after 2 and a half years of trying, finally gave up on trying to have Meyers guard PF's. Meyers simply can't do it, he doesn't have the lateral mobility. The result was that Stotts was 'hiding' Meyers by having him guard the opposing C. But because meyers is such a weak rebounder, Stotts tried to keep either Plumlee or Davis on the floor. The result was that Portland's two best defensive rebounders were the ones chasing around after opposing mobile PF's and stretch-4's. It was a sad spectacle.
remember how Aldrich was 10 points better in defensive rating then his team? Meyers was 1 point worse then his team and Portland was not a good defensive team to begin with. Keep in mind that defensive marks tend to skew in favor of big men. Aldrich had that defensive winshare/48 mark of .119; Meyers was at .035; Mason Plumlee, who is not a defensive force had a /48 mark of .062.
and remember how Aldrich ranked 3rd among NBA centers in DRPM? (Ed Davis ranked 19th and Plumlee 27th). Well, among the 100 tracked NBA PF's Meyers ranked 95th in DRPM. And if you consider him a C, out of 78 NBA C's, Meyers ranked 78th...dead last. Think about that, out of 178 NBA big men, Meyers ranked 173rd...
Nope, our lying eyes weren't fooling us...Meyers sucks at defense....yeah but he can shoot the three!!"
