da birchman
@birchman.bsky.social
300 followers 440 following 1.4K posts
that's actually crazy he's putting up this numbers definitely slept on
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birchman.bsky.social
really starting to feel like ESPN has it out for him
birchman.bsky.social
(dumbest shit i've ever seen) "this is really smart."
birchman.bsky.social
Now a look at the players in the *DPM Top 100* that were not ranked by ESPN (for the purposes of calculating the difference in rank, I'm assuming any unranked ESPN player is 101)
A data table comparing the first 16 (of 31) players that were unranked by ESPN, but in the top 100 by DPM A data table comparing the last 15 (of 31) players that were unranked by ESPN, but in the top 100 by DPM
birchman.bsky.social
the kuminga one is low key the funniest. buddy spent basically ALL year on the bench last season, with Kerr constantly being like "this guy sucks fucking ass, I can't play him." and then everyone got hurt, he had a couple of good performances in meaningless late-season games and now he's The Man
birchman.bsky.social
context certainly matters, but "credit/blame" is assigned immediately and future information doesn't change previous results. so in this case, an injured player won't get "more of the blame," but rather, won't improve in the AIO metric like his teammates are, if that makes sense
Reposted by da birchman
birchman.bsky.social
he's like an ability or piece of equipment in a roguelike that has high utility -- it won't break any build, but also won't be what puts you over the top. people tend to confuse that relative flexibility with raw effectiveness
birchman.bsky.social
I knew that was coming after he had those big, game-clinching defensive stops in the Boston series despite being quite underwhelming overall. could make a real case that he should be coming off the bench
birchman.bsky.social
oh yeah, I forgot to mention for this segment: ONYEKA OKONGWU, PERFECTLY RANKED
birchman.bsky.social
76-100 (cont'd):

- Seriously, man... Zach Edey???
- Andrew Wiggins 😬
- Mitchell Robinson and Jakob Poeltl -- really good centers!
- Uhh, Devin Vassell???
- Uhhh, RJ BARRETT????
birchman.bsky.social
I should emphasize that even though I trust DPM far more than ESPN's eye test, it's by no means "right." other all-in-ones don't reflect this poorly on Miller -- DPM thinks he's an absolutely awful defender, but that could have far more to do with circumstance like you said
Reposted by da birchman
kylerayner8.bsky.social
The idea of Bam completely subsumes the reality of Bam. Theoretically, he's the perfect centerpiece because you could fit any combo of players around him. In actuality, you can do that he just won't really change the resulting team's fortune.
birchman.bsky.social
yeah, some people were calling bust a little too early for him, but this feels like too much of an overcorrection
birchman.bsky.social
yeah, Kevin Pelton is way lower on the Rockets this year than Vegas/the average person and in his preseason win projection column he said that's because his model recognizes that Kevin Durant hasn't really helped win games in years lol

Beal almost feels like a joke
birchman.bsky.social
I think rim protectors tend to be the most demonstrably valuable through what public data is available today. I also think that these archetypes are generally undervalued by the average fan. It's really hard to comprehend "points saved" when it's not as measurable or tracked like made baskets
birchman.bsky.social
76-100 (cont'd):

- Seriously, man... Zach Edey???
- Andrew Wiggins 😬
- Mitchell Robinson and Jakob Poeltl -- really good centers!
- Uhh, Devin Vassell???
- Uhhh, RJ BARRETT????
birchman.bsky.social
76-100:

- Brandon Miller, good god. DPM thinks he's barely an NBA player at all, let alone top 100.
- Has everyone forgotten that Jonathan Kuminga kinda sucks? All it takes is like one good playoff series?
- What's the obsession with Jaden Ivey? He's being talked about like some prized asset lately
birchman.bsky.social
51-75:

- (Cooper Flagg is 52 in ESPN's rankings, but he isn't in DPM's database yet. One thing I will say though: he is not the 52nd best player in the NBA lol)
- Alex Caruso, still underrated somehow!
- God, DPM hates Trey Murphy
- Maybe Cam Johnson isn't going to help as much as I thought?
birchman.bsky.social
26-50 (cont'd):

- Denver: very underrated!
- Zubac, Jarrett Allen, Embiid, Rudy: Justice for defensive bigs!
- Remember that thing I said about the influence "scoring points" has? See: Maxey, Tyrese; Young, Trae
birchman.bsky.social
26-50:

- KAT underrated! The fact that he's behind Bam Adebayo is a goddamn insult
- A whole swath of players here that don't even make the DPM top 100: Scottie Barnes (Toronto oh no... it gets worse for you sadly), De'Aaron Fox (!), Julius Randle (!!), Mikal Bridges (‼️‼️)
birchman.bsky.social
TOP 25 (cont'd):

- Interesting that DPM has both Kawhi and James Harden as top 10 players still, despite ESPN clearly thinking they're on the decline
- Not shocking, but you can see how much influence "scoring points" still has on qualitative player evaluation
birchman.bsky.social
Some random thoughts, starting with the TOP 25:

- top 7 or so seem mostly right, but DPM is much lower on KD and LeBron
- Cade (!) and Paolo (!!) are way overrated.
- I will never, ever for the life of me understand the love that Bam Adebayo gets. the 21st best player in the NBA??? really???
birchman.bsky.social
As they do every year, ESPN recently released their Top 100 NBA players ranking. As I do, uh, *some* years, I've compared those results to each player's respective rankings in DPM -- the best publicly available all-in-one -- to see how they stack up. The results may (?) surprise you
A data table comparing the top 25 players in ESPN's top 100 NBA players ranking to DPM A data table comparing the players ranked 26-50 in ESPN's top 100 NBA players ranking to DPM A data table comparing the players ranked 51-75 in ESPN's top 100 NBA players ranking to DPM A data table comparing the players ranked 76-100 in ESPN's top 100 NBA players ranking to DPM
Reposted by da birchman
ugarles.bsky.social
the swingers taking a break from suckin' and fuckin' to watch a guy on stilts ground out weakly to the pitcher is a great image though