I’m not a huge fan of “Win Scores,” not any more than I’m a PER maven per se, but as you say: “There needs to be a balance between what is observed and what(’s) on paper.” Quoting the article:

When we look past scoring totals, though, we see that he has declined substantially with respect to rebounds and turnovers. And although he is getting to the line more frequently, his efficiency from the charity stripe has declined as well.

There’s dogmatism of the “one stat to rule them all” variety, here, as “Win Score” judges overall production independently of role and position. Brewer has been moved to the two, whereas he was basically a SF his first year, so he’s not boarding as much now partly for that reason. His ability in that area isn’t necessarily changing.

But despite its limitations, the number still is letting us re-ask the question: Is Corey effective in his new role?

The picture we have of Brewer this year should be tempered both by things like watching the hot shooting streak and by this sort of number. They way I see Corey right now is this: In the absence of reasonable NBA talent on the wing, the Wolves gave Corey Brewer a season’s worth of green light. Through playing time, through an extremely painful early season, he got more comfortable, particularly in shooting. But the kid is basically still among the least consistent NBA players going. Our eyes can tell us that, too, can’t they? It’s still the case that Corey is not reliable. His touches have gone up dramatically; looking at the “advanced” (meaning, quite basic but not collected in a standard box score) stat “USG%” will tell us that. But can you depend on Corey? His turnovers, the swings back and forth when he’ll get a steal and then blow the possession on the other end trying to finish that break…. I think the numbers and our vision are in some accord, here.

The comparison I often come back to on Brewer, given what we see and what the numbers tell us, is to baseball players who don’t have much “plate discipline.” That’s a fair amalgam of what the numbers tell us and what our eyes see. Corey Brewer is like a dynamic batter who can’t help swinging at balls in the dirt. My basic question about him is whether NBA players ever really learn plate discipline in that sense. Maybe in a smaller role, Corey would be able to direct it better. (In baseball, not so much. Hitters seem to either have a patient eye or not, over their careers.)

I can guarantee you that Berri is.

There is a positional adjustment to wp48 that accounts for your concern about different roles on the court. However, I think your argument is valid in that Corey , this year, may need to be evaluated as a 2 not a 3. That could change things (but probably not much).

is played a new position this year, one that he’s probably never played, and really shouldn’t be playing.

The Wolves have nobody other than Ryan Gomes (who’s a ‘tweener and really can’t play much offense at SF), who looks remotely like a starting NBA three. The reason Corey’s not there much is that he’s gotten killed defensively too often. Look at the way Rambis has used his roster, and you’ll see that he’s doggedly avoiding Corey at SF most of the time. He gave him Durant, another super-skinny type, to mark, but there have been countless examples this year of how shy Kurt R. is of putting Brewer on people like ’Melo. (He gave that one to Love at one point rather than Brewer.)

Everyone who’s wondered all season long how Sasha Pavlovic was getting minutes, here’s one of your answers: Rambis thinks Pavlovic can defend threes, and he mostly doesn’t think Corey can do it. The Wolves have been limping along at SF using veterans at hand like Wilkins and Sasha because Rambis doesn’t feel like he can slide Corey over.

a comment describing a guy as being a douche just for the sake of it (which he kind of is btw) by the name stay classy.

I love every minute of it.

on soaring dunks off the fast break.

the MVP is supposed to go to the guy that is the most valuable to his team (i.e. improving them). The most improved player award is usually for the player that has improved his own game the most from last year.

The question I ask myself is whether or not the player passed the “where the hell did they come from” test. While he does pass it, I do think it is fairly clear that there are others who have made similar improvement to their game that are more worthy. Durant, Gasol, Brooks all come to mind.

For the record you can pretty much ignore the opponent PER as it just doesn’t have a very high correlation to reality in my opinion. Sometimes it is correct in pointing out poor defenders and other times it’s not. God I wish they could come up with some better defensive metrics..

I mean, look at Corey’s Wigwam Stat, his Substitution Modifier Numbers and his irregular Overall Opponent Gatorade Multipliers and it’s obvious to see that Corey Brewer is a terrible basketball player. How could everyone else be so blind when the evidence is right there in front of them?

Because the only Timberwolf that significantly improves the team is Darko, and you’re dead set against keeping him

and opinions of the CH crowd rightly thought CB was dog crap his first two years. No one is now thinking he is the second coming of D. Wade. But what our eyes are telling us is that he went from a player who should have been run out of the league to one who can play a role. That is a big improvement irrespective of Berri’s numbers.

The position he was supposed to occupy on this team, but which he’s seldom allowed to play now? Because we’re trotting out Wilkins and Sasha Pavlovic instead?

Brewer has been one of Thorpe’s students. Thorpe tends to talk up his guys, not surprisingly.

It’s a joke to say he has no credentials. The main issue is that he was away from the league for 5 years, not that he was the towel boy when he was in the league. He had the same amount of authority back then as guys like Lindsey and Tom Penn did last year.

The contract is more than his value at this point, notwithstanding Corey’s somewhat steadier feet.