Atlanta Hawks: 2010s All-Decade team
Power forward of the decade: Paul Millsap
At the power forward position, we have a pretty sizable battle between Josh Smith and Paul Millsap. Smith was an Atlanta prospect through and for most of his career while Millsap joined the Hawks in the middle of the decade to form a tremendous frontcourt duo with Al Horford.
At their respective points with Atlanta during this decade, both players were at the primes of their careers, making the choice for this position very tough. To compare their respective careers, let’s look at not just their counting stats but their shooting percentages and some advanced stats as well.
| Crit | Crit | Crit | Crit | Crit | Tota | Adva | Adva | Adva | Adva | Adva | Adva | Adva | Adva | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | PTS | TRB | AST | STL | PER | MP | TRB% | ORtg | DRtg | OWS | DWS | WS | WS/48 | VORP |
| Paul Millsap | 17.4 | 8.3 | 3.3 | 1.7 | 19.8 | 9862 | 14.0 | 107 | 100 | 13.3 | 18.1 | 31.5 | .153 | 14.6 |
| Josh Smith | 17.0 | 8.8 | 3.9 | 1.4 | 19.7 | 10528 | 14.7 | 102 | 100 | 7.7 | 19.0 | 26.6 | .121 | 15.2 |
Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 12/20/2019.
Millsap and Smith had nearly identical stats in all counting categories and had a nearly identical Player Efficiency Rating (PER) during their time in Atlanta. Both players were strong defensively as well, while Millsap had a slightly better all around offensive game according to their offensive ratings.
Diving into some advanced analytics, Millsap contributed more to the team’s win total according to their win share per 48 marks, but Smith had a slightly better value according to their Value Above Replacement Player (VORP) marks.
The biggest thing that separates these two players in their 3-point shooting. Smith rarely stepped out to shoot beyond the arc, maintaining more of a traditional power forward role; only 10.9 percent of his shot attempts were 3-pointers.
Millsap on the other hand was your prototypical stretch-4. He took 22.4 percent of his shots from beyond the 3-point line, though he only made 33.5 percent of those shots in his time with Atlanta. While it’s a shame these two weren’t able to play together in Atlanta, Millsap takes the edge in the power forward debate due to being a little more of an offensive threat than Smith was.
Other considered: John Collins