You can find fault in any stat if you try hard enough. You just have to know how and when to use them. For instance, in order to use UZR (Ultimate Zone Rating) properly, you need to take a three year sample size in order to get an accurate reading. Think of it this way, one year of UZR data is on par with about 50-55 games of offense. Therefore, it would take three years to complete one UZR cycle. UZR/150 is even more misleading because of its large swings in data from year to year. Still, little things like judgement calls can affect the rating as well. A chopper to short, booted by the second baseman could be scored a hit or error depending on the official scorer. That could have a negative impact on a player's defensive rating.
I'm also aware of the pitfalls associated with O-rating and D-rating because these stats revolve more around team offense and defense rather than one's individual offense or defense. However, I do like to look at trends. For a player like Marco, who has played for five different teams and to see his D-rating basically unchanged leads me to believe his defense isn't that good or the "team" defense while he's on the court has struggled. You can talk about the eyeball test all you want, but your using preseason data for your end result analysis. That's not too concrete if you ask me. Most of these teams aren't going full tilt, trying out different rotations and acclimating new additions. And don't go ham on me over his 16 point 5 steal performance against the happless Magic.
Also, I wasn't defending Neal's bad defense so I'm not sure you needed to point it out by using Timvp's statistical in game analysis. I don't know how many times it needs to be said that Neal isn't a PG. When the coach puts his player in a position to fail, chances are he's going to. And yeah, you saw the end result of SG playing out of position, running around the court like a chicken with his head chopped off, trying to chase down PG's. Hopefully Pop learned his lesson and Belinelli won't see much action there or the results will be the same. While were on the subject of misleading statistics, how about Blair being a darn good defender, a strong defensive pairing with Bonner. This is one of my favorites though...
Granted, these stats are from two years ago but the exercise in futility remains the same. In fact, the only reason I brought this up was because there were many posters who thought he was an underrated defender. A simple analysis determined that to be false. Why would you talk about the eyeball test, then back up your claims with stats? There needs to be a happy medium between watching the games and using metrics to determine a player's value or the end result will be what is known as the "De Colo" affect.
Also, WS in basketball is the equivalent to WAR in baseball. It's hard to overlook the fact that Belinelli has been a below average player in the league while Neal was at least league average. It could be due to Marco being the first or second option on his team, which in turn, dragged his overall numbers down. Maybe, he can carve himself out a nice small role with the Spurs where can be just one of the guy instead of THE guy.
I haven't given up on Belinelli and think he can be an asset. For me, he still has to prove himself on the court and show consistency on a nightly basis, something that plagued Neal from day one.
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