After Enes Kanter trashed the Utah Jazz organization and Salt Lake City prior to last weekend's return to Utah, he put up 18 points and 11 rebounds in a game the Jazz won by five points.
Following the game, Utah forward Trevor Booker threw a skyscraper's worth of shade his former teammate's direction in a postgame radio interview. "He got his stats and he got the L, as always," Booker said.
Booker's quote might as well by the slogan for the RPM Mirage team. As opposed to the recent RPM All-Stars, who shine through the prism of ESPN's real plus-minus because of the impact they have that can't be measured in the box score, the RPM Mirages put up big numbers but don't help their team win. Kanter is a prime example ... but he's not the only one.
Starters
Brandon Knight
PG
Phoenix Suns
-2.6 RPM
As the team's leading scorer, Knight got credit for the Milwaukee Bucks' unexpected emergence as a playoff team, making a push for an All-Star spot. Plus-minus data tells a different story. Even with Milwaukee slipping after trading Knight, the Bucks have still been better without him on the court, per NBA.com/Stats.
There's an interesting overlap between Knight and RPM All-Star Khris Middleton. When Knight played with Middleton, Milwaukee was plus-7.5 points per 100 possessions. When Knight played without Middleton, the Bucks were outscored by a ghastly 9.0 points per 100 possessions. Hence the difference in their RPM ratings.
Kobe Bryant
SG
Los Angeles Lakers
-2.7 RPM
Before succumbing to shoulder surgery, Bryant was still putting up 22.3 points per game. However, his inefficient scoring (Bryant's .477 true shooting percentage was far and away the worst of his career, and also the lowest among players who have averaged at least 20 points per 36 minutes this season) meant Bryant was something of a drain on the Lakers' offense, which scored 1.2 fewer points per 100 possessions with him on the floor. The Lakers have basically the same record without Bryant (10-29) as they did with him in the lineup (10-25).
Jeff Green
SF
Memphis Grizzlies
-4.6 RPM
When the Grizzlies won 11 of their first 12 games with Green in the lineup, his midseason addition got most of the credit. But plus-minus data showed the Memphis bench was actually driving the surge, and when the team struggled after the All-Star break, Green was replaced by Tony Allen. The other four Grizzlies starters have outscored opponents by 7.4 points per 100 possessions with Allen, but they're minus-3.8 points per 100 possessions with Green.
Enes Kanter
PF
Oklahoma City Thunder
-3.4 RPM
As Booker alluded to, Kanter has been getting his in Oklahoma City, averaging 17.9 points and 11.0 rebounds per game. Per Basketball-Reference.com, only three players have averaged more points and rebounds this season. Unfortunately, opponents are getting theirs too. With Kanter on the floor, the Thunder are allowing 109.7 points per 100 possessions, which would be worst in the NBA over the course of the season. As a result, Oklahoma City has been slightly outscored when Kanter plays.
Andrea Bargnani
C
New York Knicks
-4.3 RPM
Since getting past injuries, Bargnani has quietly averaged a healthy 14.9 points per game, good for 66th in the NBA. Yet the Knicks are getting crushed by 18.1 points per 100 possessions with Bargnani on the court, worst in the NBA among players with at least 500 minutes played. Even limiting the comparison to post-All-Star break (and Carmelo Anthony's season-ending knee surgery), New York is somehow surrendering 14.5 more points per 100 possessions defensively when Bargnani plays.
Reserves
Michael Carter-Williams
PG
Milwaukee Bucks
-2.9 RPM
Lest Bucks fans get too excited about dealing away Knight at the deadline, the point guard they got in return ranks just behind Knight in RPM. As Bradford Doolittle noted in Thursday's Insider Daily, Carter-Williams isn't really to blame for Milwaukee's post-deadline swoon. At the same time, the 76ers haven't really missed their starting point guard, playing slightly better without Carter-Williams this season. Philadelphia's fast pace helped inflate Carter-Williams' per-game averages, making him look like a better prospect than his team impact would indicate.
Arron Afflalo
SG
Portland Trail Blazers
-3.0 RPM
Afflalo has historically scored worse by RPM than box score advanced stats because of his poor defensive impact. Lo and behold, the Blazers' other four starters with Afflalo have scored as well as with Wesley Matthews in the starting lineup, but Portland is allowing 13.5 more points per 100 possessions on defense. Afflalo isn't that bad on defense, but he also isn't the 3-and-D player his reputation would suggest.
Tobias Harris
SF
Orlando Magic
-2.4 RPM
Harris' 17.0 points and 6.1 rebounds per game look strong for a 22-year-old headed to restricted free agency. RPM tells a different story, again largely because of the defensive end. Orlando has allowed 4.2 more points per 100 possessions with Harris on the floor.
J.J. Hickson
PF
Denver Nuggets
-5.2 RPM
A perennial RPM lagger, Hickson rates average or better by box score stats (he's got a career 16.1 PER, though he's slipped to 14.5 this season after suffering a torn ACL) and as one of the league's worst players in terms of RPM because he doesn't protect the rim or box out (he ranks among the bottom 20 power forwards by boxing out 8.9 percent of the time, per Vantage Sports). This season, Denver has been 6.4 points per 100 possessions worse with Hickson on the court.
Jordan Hill
C
L.A. Lakers
-3.9 RPM
In his first season as a full-time starter, Hill has averaged 12.3 points and 8.2 rebounds per game. Alas, the Lakers have been outscored by 10.0 points per 100 possessions with Hill on the floor. And when both Hill and Bryant took the court, they were a ghastly minus-15.0 points per 100 possessions, worst of any L.A. duo with at least 500 minutes together. In fairness, Hill is miscast as a rim protector, but that's part of the problem -- he doesn't stretch the floor either, making him a tough fit at either frontcourt spot.
News and Notes
• The Sacramento Kings made history this week by calling up Sim Bhullar from their D-League affiliate, the Reno Bighorns. Bhullar becomes the NBA's first player of Indian descent. At the NBA Summer League, Bhullar was something of a curiosity because of his 7-foot-5, 400-plus-pound frame, but barely saw any playing time. Since then, Bhullar has worked hard to improve his conditioning to the point where he could stay on the court for extended minutes in Reno, which plays at a pace (111.7 possessions per 48 minutes) 16 percent faster than the NBA-leading Golden State Warriors.
My translations of Bhullar's D-League stats peg him for 8.0 points, 9.5 rebounds and 3.6 blocks per 36 minutes. The block rate figures to be most difficult to translate to the NBA, as more athletic NBA centers will draw him to the perimeter and pull him out of the paint. With DeMarcus Cousins' season potentially over because of multiple injuries, it will be interesting to see whether Bhullar gets some playing time.
• Speaking of the D-League, with rosters already picked over by call-ups and players headed overseas, the most talented prospect remaining appears to be Sioux Falls Skyforce post Khem Birch. Birch, who was one of the top undrafted prospects by my WARP projections last June, translates to averages of 10.2 points, 11.4 rebounds and 2.1 blocks per 36 minutes in the NBA with 62.3 percent shooting from the field.
Birch, who failed to make the Miami Heat's roster out of training camp, is a bit of a tough fit in the NBA because he has the skill set of a center but stands just 6-9. Still, he has flashed enough talent that some team would be wise to sign him to a non-guaranteed contract that assures Birch will be on their roster for summer league and training camp next fall.
• And to stay on the D-League theme, consider the curious case of Houston Rockets center Clint Capela. Capela had a pair of strong outings in Dwight Howard's absence earlier this week, putting up 12 points, 12 rebounds and 5 blocks in 29 minutes. But Capela, who has spent most of the year playing for Houston's D-League affiliate (Rio Grande Valley), also missed all five free throws he took, bringing him to 0-for-13 in his NBA career. On Thursday night, Dallas Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle intentionally fouled Capela as soon as he checked in (having already done the same to fellow Rockets big man Joey Dorsey) and Capela missed two more free throws, making him 0-for-15.
Starting a career with 15 consecutive missed free throws would be notable enough on its own, but here's the thing: Capela hardly has a track record of horrendous free throw shooting. He shot 59.6 percent at the line in 171 D-League attempts, and 54.5 percent during two seasons of top-level basketball in Europe. Assuming that performance reflects Capela's true ability, the odds of him randomly missing 15 free throws in a row are around one in 460,000. Now, the chances of Capela missing 15 straight at any point in his career are much higher, and there's an element of the Wyatt Earp Effect at play here (given enough players attempting enough free throws, eventually a decent shooter will go 0-for-15). But it sure seems as if Capela's free throw woes have become mental, which is a shame given how well he's otherwise played lately.