Since rejoining the New Orleans Pelicans, Norris Cole has begun to make his case for being this season’s LVP.
This isn’t hyperbole, Norris Cole has a legitimate case for being the worst player in the entire league this season. Since coming back from injury, he has regressed in almost every statistical category and should be rendered unplayable in an NBA rotation.
Keep in mind, “worst” is a subjective term. Obviously, Norris Cole isn’t the least talented player in the league, he just might be the least helpful. For instance, compare him to someone like Kendrick Perkins.
Perkins has very little NBA talent, but he knows that. He doesn’t try to be anything he isn’t, and he’s perfectly happy to set screens, bump into people, and grab a few rebounds. In that sense, he’s neutral. If Perkins were to start launching 30 footers, he would have the same level of “talent” despite becoming a worse “player.”
Norris Cole is worse than the untalented players in the NBA because unlike them, he isn’t a net-neutral, he’s a severe net-loss.
Time to dig into the numbers.
For the purpose of sample size, I’m going to consider 20 games to be the minimum amount played before a player can be considered. 20 games is close to a month of playing and I don’t want to factor in players with less experience than that.
Of players with at least 20 games under their belt this year, Norris Cole places 9th in true shooting percentage at 41.9%, which is effectively just field goal percentage with the efficiency of three pointers factored in (something which should be helping him).
That’s not the terrible part.
Looking at the list of these terrible offensive players, most of them make up for it with defense. That makes logical sense. If they’re in the NBA, and they’re horrendous offensively, then they must be bringing it on the other end to earn their keep.
Here’s where the case is made.
Of the top FIFTY worst offensive players in the NBA, the ONLY player with a worse defensive rating than Cole is Kobe Bryant. Keep in mind, Kobe is the 19th worst offensive player in the NBA while Cole is 9th.
Not only is Cole one of the ten worst offensive players in the league, he’s also one of the only ones who’s horrendous defensively as well. The logic is clear, and it shows that though Kobe and Cole might be more talented than “neutral” players like Perkins, they are the two most harmful players in the league by a large margin.
To further illustrate Cole’s terrible offense, let’s look at his shot chart.
Do your eyes hurt?
Cole is shooting 20.9% from the top of the arc, the area where 43/53 of his total three pointers are taken. Remember when I said Kendrick Perkins would be worse if he started launching 30 footers? Well for some reason I feel as though he could probably at least hit more than 20% of them.
He’s an average midrange shooter from the area where he has taken the majority of his shots (90). Still, even though he’s passable as a midrange shooter, it’s not like it’s a good shot to be taking in the first place.
To put it in perspective, teams regularly hack DeAndre Jordan in order to take advantage of the fact that he is a 41% free throw shooter. Norris Cole’s BEST outside shot is still a worse shot to be taking than a pair of DeAndre Jordan free throws. Unbelievable.
Now, let’s check out his opponent’s shot chart.
He’s allowing a terrible 39% on opponent threes, but that’s not where the atrocities begin. If Norris Cole isn’t letting taller opponents shoot over him at almost a 40% rate from deep, he’s letting them blow by him and score at a 71.4% rate at the rim.
He’s an absolute liability on both sides of the floor.
Now, it wasn’t always like this. Take a look at Cole’s production last season as opposed to this one. The first chart displays basic stats while the second chart displays more advanced ones.
For whatever reason, he has regressed in every aspect of his game outside of a slight uptick in rebounding.
On this roster, he has the worst defensive rating of any player with 20 games under his belt at 109.6. His offensive rating 99.6 is promptly followed by Omer Asik 99.0 and Alonzo Gee 98.0.
The numbers are clear. Cole is a bottom ten player in the NBA in terms of efficiency and he’s the worst defensive player of the group as well.
Kobe is the only other player who comes close to matching his detrimental impact, and Kobe is having a season which has truly never been seen in history. He has almost 20 seasons of incredible historic level play under his belt and has earned the right to be in efficient since this is his retirement lap and his value is largely sentimental.
Norris Cole on the other hand doesn’t have any finals MVPs. He’s has somehow carved out a role for himself despite being just as harmful, if not more harmful than Kobe Bryant.
Last time I checked there were two sides of the floor and Cole seems to be unplayable on either one of them.
That’s what makes him this seasons LVP, he offers zero value on either end of the court at a level which is fundamentally unmatched by any normal player in the league.