Ranking 10 worst starters of the Anthony Davis era
By Mat Issa
8. Greg Stiemsma – 20 Games Started, -1.7 Box Plus-Minus as a Pelican
With 20 career starts as a New Orleans Pelican under his belt, Greg Stiemsma barely meets the criteria necessary to be a part of our list. However, what he lacked in sample size, he made up for in on-court production (or lack thereof).
In his 20 games as a starter, Stiemsma averaged 2.9 PPG, 3.9 RPG, and 0.7 APG in 18.6 minutes of action. The Pelicans were 6-14 in those games.
We know that Davis doesn’t like playing center, but does playing alongside a big man who averages just three points a game when he starts really do it for him?
The thing is, Stiemsma was actually a pretty solid defender. In 2013-14 (his lone season with the Pelicans), he averaged a block percentage of 4.7% and a DBPM of +1.9.
However, the offense was so bad that it wiped everything he did on defense out. In 2013-14, his Offensive Box Plus-Minus (OBPM) was a -3.6, which is actually higher than his career average of -4.3. Here’s something even more disturbing. The Pelicans were ten points worse on offense when Stiemsma was on the floor. That ranked in the sixth percentile among centers (per Cleaning the Glass).
He’s not higher on this list because he only started 20 games with the team, so the damage he did to the organization during the Davis era was minimal.