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Celtics general manager Danny Ainge is widely considered one of the best basketball executives in the NBA.
He puts together wild trades, drafts very good players and is not afraid to give his opinion on all things basketball.
That opinion portion continued Thursday when talking on a radio show. He didn't sound too keen on a particular advanced statistic, per Adam Kaufman of WBZ News Radio.
Danny Ainge: "The individual game plus-minus stat is worthless…I wish they wouldn't even put that on the individual game…we have adjusted plus-minuses that are much more complex that we put a lot more stock into than just the raw plus-minus." I'd like to see those. #Celtics
— Adam Kaufman (@AdamMKaufman) December 7, 2017
The plus-minus stat, for those that are unfamiliar, is a measure of how many points an entire team scores when one particular player is on the floor. If the number is positive, it's good. If it's negative, it's bad.
The stat is on every NBA box score, and is one of the metrics writers often cite when evaluation whether or not a player performed well for their team in a particular game.
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For instance, if Los Angeles Lakers swingman Corey Brewer played 20 minutes but only scored three points, that seems bad. But if during those 20 minutes, his team was a plus-25 with him on the floor, then he made some other impact other than scoring.
Ainge, to his credit, mentions a plus-minus stat that is more complex and that he would prefer that one. There are others too, such as real plus-minus and defensive real plus-minus. There are probably others, too.
The issue is the raw plus minus is one that is easily understandable for the casual NBA fan. It'd be too cumbersome for someone to try and wrap their head around DRPM while just trying to understand if Brewer played well while he was on the floor.
So while Ainge may have a point, he may not be thinking of it from the fan's perspective. The stat may be a bit flawed, but it's certainly not worthless.
