Better Off Without Steven Adams?

There is a growing sentiment that the Pittsburgh Panthers are better off without former center Steven Adams, a Big East All-Rookie Selection just one year ago. Personally, I don't give much credence to this kind of conjecture, but of course I am a hypocrite, hence, I am writing an article about it. The one anecdotal observation that I care to substantiate on is the notion of addition by subtraction.

The assumption is that since Adams is gone, so all of his attempts and minutes must have gone elsewhere providing more opportunity for everyone else. Well in truth, freshman forward Michael Young has pretty much taken all of the shot attempts and minutes that Adams left behind thus far.

His usage percentage[1] through nine games is 16.3%, just slightly below the 17.7% that Adams finished with last year. If Young makes incremental improvements throughout the year (likely), he'll exceed 17.7% by the end of the season. He's also taking 8.9 shot attempts per game, and is averaging 6.6 points per game on 42.5% shooting. He's chipping in 5.3 rebounds per game in just 20.0 minutes per contest as well.

Through nine games last year, Adams attempted 5.1 shots per game, and averaged 6.2 points per game on 56.5% shooting. He also pulled down 5.0 rebounds per game in just 20.4 minutes.

What about the other starters? sophomore point guard James Robinson is currently attempting the same amount of shot attempts per game as last year, and his usage percentage is virtually the same. One might be inclined to think that senior forward Talib Zanna is the one benefiting the most. However, he has the same usage percentage as last season as well. Furthermore, he is only attempting an additional shot attempt per game. His increase in production is more directly tied to his field goal percentage - currently 64.5%, up from 49.8% last year.

Fellow senior forward Lamar Patterson is having a phenomenal start to the season. But in terms of production, I would argue that Patterson is filling some of the void left by Tray Woodall. Woodall led Pitt with 8.7 shot attempts per game last season. He also led the team in usage percentage at 22.8%.

Patterson is taking 10.9 shots per game, up from 7.5 last season. His usage percentage has gone from 21.5% to a team-leading 27.1% this season.

Junior guard Cameron Wright has probably benefited the most. He is taking an additional 5.4 shots per game this season now that he is a full-time starter. The combined increase in shot attempts by Patterson and Wright is almost exactly the same as the attempts Woodall took last season.

Defensively, Adams blocked 15 shots in his first nine games last year; no Panther has blocked more than seven so far this year. Adams altered a lot of shots, and his end of season defensive rating[2] of 87.0 is better than any current starter. A rather impressive number given that Pitt hasn't played any offensive juggernauts yet this season, while Adam's rating was taken across the entirety of last season.

Offensively, the Panthers are currently tied for 9th in points per possession at 1.23. Last year, they finished the season 8th in points per possession at 1.13. Defensively, Pitt held teams to .92 points per possession last year, good for 24th in the country. This year, the team is holding teams to .91 points per possession, good for 18th in the country.

Again, the averages for this year are based on just nine games. The final numbers from last year's team were taken across the entire season. I am sure once ACC play starts, the Panthers won't be able to keep up their current efficiency levels.

But doesn't this team get in transition[3] more than last year? Currently, Pitt attempts 25.9% of their shots in transition, with 55.3% of those attempts at the rim. However, last season, the Panthers attempted 24.1% of their shots in transition, and 57.6% were at the rim.

While a lot of key metrics are very similar to last year's team, it's the way Pitt is going about things this year that makes them distinctly different than past years. Nearly everyone can put the ball on the floor, and the Panthers haven't really had a point-forward quite like Patterson in the last 13 years either.

Credit Patterson for putting so much work in over the summer to make a leap, credit head coach Jamie Dixon for showcasing an offensive and defensive scheme that best suits his current personnel. But don't discredit Adams just because Pitt sometimes dumped the ball into him last year only to come up with a lot of empty possessions.

Has there ever been a starting Panther in the Dixon era that had their best year as a true freshman? Over the summer, Adams showcased enough ability that he was drafted in the NBA Lottery by a team[4] that he may start for by the end of the season, a team that has a realistic chance of winning an NBA Championship.

Would Adams be an ideal fit in this team's offensive scheme, probably not. But that assumes the team would play exactly like they do right now. However, would he be an incredible rim protector against penetrating guards who are finding more success getting into the lane thanks to the new hand-check rules, definitely.

So, is Pitt better without Adams? In short, no. You can't be a better team if you lose the guy with the highest ceiling that has entered the program in the last 13 years. You can, however, be extremely smart about how to best utilize the players the team currently has, and I would argue the Panthers are thus far doing that better than they ever have.

- Stats courtesy of Hoop-Math, Sports-Reference, and Stat-Sheet.

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[1] An estimate of the percentage of team plays used by a player while he is on the floor.

[2] An estimate of points allowed per 100 possessions.

[3] Defined as shots occurring within the first 10 seconds of a possession after a steal, defensive rebound, or opponent score.

[4] The Oklahoma City Thunder with the 12th pick in the 2013 NBA Draft.