Kyshawn George, Washington’s third rookie last season, had a classic up and down season. His performance went through major peaks and valleys — at times, pretty good and just godawful at others.
Reminder: In PPA, 100 is average and higher is better. Replacement level is 45.
George’s name recently popped up on the Hollinger and Duncan podcast where John Hollinger and Nate Duncan discussed the respect Wizards coaches reportedly had for his defense in the latter part of the season. Better defensive metrics have him as basically a neutral defender, which isn’t bad for a rookie — especially when playing for the defense-challenged Wizards.
The combination of his overall performance and his status as a relatively older rookie (age 21) was not particularly promising. That said, I’m a big believer in the theory that young players (and 21 is still young!) control their NBA destiny to the extent that they’re willing or able to work.
Today’s exercise isn’t to rehash that article from May, but to run him through the Statistical Doppelganger Machine, look at the comparable player seasons The Machine spits out and see what — if anything — it might tell us about George.
The Statistical Doppelganger Machine takes a reference seasons (in this case, George’s rookie year) and compares it to every other player season since 1977-78. The Machine uses 14 pieces of information, including age and per possession box score stats. Despite height and position not being factors, players usually get stat comps from the same position group. In George’s case, the position range is somewhat wider — I classified him as a wing, but he arguably has the size to play forward and the skills to play guard in today’s NBA.
Overall, these comps feel about right — some pretty good role players and some end-of-the-rotation types who stuck around for a few years by working hard.