Los Angeles Lakers’ Jeremy Lin vs. Ronnie Price: On-ball defense edition

The Los Angeles Lakers have dealt with a point guard controversy for a majority of the season between Jeremy Lin and Ronnie Price. This is one article in a series of articles comparing the two players. This one deals with on-ball defense.

When the Los Angeles Lakers and head coach Byron Scott demoted Jeremy Lin from the starting lineup to the bench in favor of Ronnie Price, there was little surprise that it would be happening. The Los Angeles Lakers were 5-15 and Scott needed to shake up the lineup and provide a spark to team on a one-way tank towards the lottery. Lin was one of the victims of Scott’s roster tinkering.

Before the game against the New Orleans Pelicans when Lin was replaced with Price in the starting lineup, Lin and Price both held had a defensive efficiency rating of 117 estimated points allowed per 100 possessions for the season. In the four games prior to the game against the Pelicans when Bryant became the main ball handler for Byron Scott, Price had a defensive rating of 111 while Lin sported a defensive rating of 112.

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Not a huge difference, but that coupled with Lin’s 35.3 percent effective field goal percentage as opposed to Price’s 58.3 percent in those four games did not help the case for Lin keeping his starting spot.

Still, the main argument for Price to start over Lin was that Price was a better on-ball defender than Lin. However, according to NBA stats, Lin is actually a better on-ball defender in terms of field goal percentage.

Jeremy Lin has played in 36 games while starting in 21. On the other hand, Ronnie Price has played in 34 games while starting 15. The sample size is similar enough to make a reasonable comparison between their defensive numbers.

According to NBA stats, Lin is allowing a 47 percent conversion rate when he is defending the shooter. When Price is defending the shot taker, he is allowing a 49.5 field goal percentage. In fact, in terms of field goal percentage, Lin is better in all defensive categories than Price as seen in these handy screenshots:

Obviously, defense is not the only reason why Scott has decided to continue to start Price over Lin; Price holds a better offense rating over Lin (110 versus 99 respectively since Lin was demoted to the bench after the Boston Celtics game) and takes care of the ball more than Lin (11.8 turnovers committed for Price versus 16.2 turnovers for Lin per 100 possessions). However, at least in terms of defense, Lin is a lot better than many are giving him credit for and should not be used as the only crutch for Price starting over him