RoCo is a far superior defender and 3pt shooter than Aminu, as well as a smarter overall player.
Powell is smaller but pretty equivalent to what Harkless brought defensively. Yet he's a far, far superior offensive player.
Our bench has never been noteworthy. This years is probably our best bench in a while.
I'd say Roco is superior to Aminu on D but not far superior. Aminu rebounds better, which offsets some of RoCo's superiority. DPM for Aminu was about +0.6 as a Blazer and Roco has been +1.3 for the past 4 years. Seems right to me.
Roco is a more versatile 3 point shooter. He can shoot the 3 in more situations under more duress which is a great benefit. Still Aminu got off 5.0 3PA per 36 as a Blazer to Roco's 5.4 this year. Not much difference. Efficiency - Roco's 3 point % for the past 3 years is 36.1% vs 35.3% for Aminu as a Blazer. Yeah, Roco is at nearly 40% right now. That doesn't mean he'll stay there. He was sub 30% not that long ago when many knee-jerkers were calling him worthless. He shot 38% a few seasons ago followed by a 33.5% season. Variance happens. It remains to be seen where his 3-point % will settle as a Blazer. 38% would be great in which case I will agree. But we're not there yet. In spite of Roco's hot 3-point shooting, Aminu's last season had an equal TS% on more volume. Aminu did that by taking the ball to the hoop and getting fouled much than Roco does and then shooting 87% from the line.
I rank Aminu and Roco high in smarts and high in intangibles. I never see either of them take stupid shots. Both turn the ball over at the same rate. Both give 110% effort.
I'd rather have Roco, but I don't see the disparity being as much as you do. Their box scores are about equal, if anything Aminu's is better. Box score does a pretty good job at measuring offense, but mostly neglects defense which is why I put Roco as better. Also, to be fair I'm comparing Aminu's last (best) season as a Blazer and that may not have been sustainable. I think everything Roco is doing is sustainable other than perhaps his 40% 3-point shooting.
I don't believe Powell is as good a defender as Harkless was at SF. Overall he is a much superior player. I just think some his benefit is wasted playing him with CJ and Dame. Only one of them can shoot on a given possession. The way we play (alternating ISO's) it isn't as if we do a great job utilizing our multiple scoring threats to create open looks. I would rather have two of them on the floor at all times and have Powell in when we need added defense (with Kanter). It doesn't matter who starts. It matters that you play your best players the most minutes and that you create lineups that work well together - balanced O and D for one thing.
As far as the bench. Within the non-noteworthy category there is ok, bad, and terrible. Benches play 35-40% of the t0tal minutes. They matter a lot. Not sure where our current bench falls relative to Aminu/Harkless last year bench. When we had Hood I'd say our bench was significantly worse (Hood, Melo, Kanter, Ant line-up up for example). Now, I don't know. I'd say our bench is perhaps equal and should soon be superior as Ant is slowly getting better, Little is playing more and improving, the addition of Powell indirectly boosts our second unit.
Overall though, I agree this team should be better. If that theory holds and everyone stays healthy
1. Our D-rating should be a at least bit above average like the Aminu/Harkless D was with Nurk.
2. We should win around 53+ games next year.
