I mentioned this in another thread, but you have to consider those net ratings numbers with the fact that GTJ spends most of his minutes in lineups that have four other starters, and he’s done great in that situation, having very little dropoff. But start to pair him with one or more other bench players, and the ratings in those lineups fall off significantly. At the same time, he isn’t going against opposing starting units the way the other starters are. In short, you would expect someone who doesn’t start games but plays most of their minutes with four starters to have one of the best net ratings on the team.

In other words, this is the same criticisms GTJ has had his whole time in Toronto; put him with four starter levels guys? He’ll fill that role fine; they’ve got the gravity, the passing, the defense, etc. to make up for him. As soon as you put him with other bench level guys, his impact drops off in a hurry.

Also not convinced on Rose’s numbers here. NBA.com shows Trent and Barnes with a 112.9 offensive rating, not the 118.3 Rose claims.

His best net rating unit is when he swaps in to replace Poeltl with the other starters, and when he and Flynn are in for Poeltl and Schroder. That’s a nearly +30 net rating in the former and +16 in the latter. But those units are usually used when the other team doesn’t have any legit big to worry about. So yeah, guys finish at the rim more in those units… is that because of GTJs gravity, or because there’s no rim-protector? I’m not saying he doesn’t have an impact, I just think the lineups and matchups make evaluating his impact a lot tougher than what Rose suggests here.