Statistical Exploration – Brevin Knight

Posted by Andy Larsen on February 17, 2009

Brevin Knight is actually a pretty decent point guard. What makes him interesting is his defensive production, he’s fantastic at both man-to-man defense and he gets a fair amount of steals on big men in the lane. Let’s do do the usual point-by-point breakdown:

Scoring: Can’t really shoot. He has put down jumpers at a 35% rate this year, which is slightly below his career average. He hasn’t made a three pointer in the last two years. Interesting stat: there are only two point guards in the NBA who have played in a majority of their team’s games who haven’t made a three. Those players: Jason Hart and Brevin Knight. He’s also usually a better free throw shooter than he has shown. This year he is only 73%, for his career, 79%. He can drive a little, but when he shoots down low, he gets blocked 23% of the time. These are the hazards of being a short guard in a big man’s game.

Passing: Brevin’s actually a pretty good passer. Back when he was the starting PG for Charlotte’s “attack”, he averaged 9 assists a game in the 04-05 and 05-06 seasons. He gets 10.8 assists per 48 minutes for the Jazz, so he hasn’t really slipped. He has a pretty good assist to bad pass turnover ratio (4.5), and subjectively, he seems to control the game really well.

Rebounding: Actually not that bad of a rebounder, he gets more rebounds per minute played than Deron. Really, Deron should be offended by that, he has 5 inches on Knight.

Defense: This, and the passing, is why Brevin Knight is still an NBA player. He limits his opponents to 13.7 PER against, slightly below average. Keep in mind, this is against the opposing point guard only. Brevin then adds additional value by stripping the ball from big men down low. He averages 1 steal a game in his 15 minutes. The only player in the NBA who averages more per minute? Chris Paul. This isn’t something he has picked up this year, or is a statistical fluke. Brevin ranked third last year in steals per minute.

As a result, his +/- defensively is huge. When he is on the court, Utah gives up 97.1 points per 100 possessions. When he’s off the court? 112.2 points per 100 possessions, a 15 point difference. Now yes, some of that is playing with a improved defensive bench, especially Andrei Kirilenko. But a similar difference has tracked him throughout his career, and that’s why he gets minutes over Ronnie Price.

In sum, Knight is a player who won’t hurt you too badly offensively, and will make up for it defensively. That adds up to a useful PG, which is an improvement over Jason Hart.

5 Comments

Trent on February 17, 2009 said:

Brevin is such an upgrade to Jason Hart. I do wish he was shooting better though.

Boondock Saint on February 17, 2009 said:

Agree with Trent….love him over Hart but wish he had a jump shot to go with those lightening quick hands.

Annie Whittaker on February 17, 2009 said:

At the beginning of the season, I mentioned to someone that I really think I like this guy. I just like his presence on the court. He seemed to have that veteran cool headedness and confidence. I think he’s proven me right so far. I too wish he was hitting more shots, but I love his defensive quickness and court-savvy.

Montgump on February 17, 2009 said:

when is boozer coming back? i am going to be so peeved if the jazz dont trade him and he ends up not coming back or he comes back and sucks.

Linda McFarland on February 18, 2009 said:

I understand that you can’t trade a player when he is out hurt and the trade deadline is over thye 18th of this month. I agree with J.R., he will be back after the 19th.

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