Mailman vs. Paperboy

So just how good is Paul Millsap, minute for minute?? I wanted to look at whether Millsap is living up to his nickname as "The Paperboy" -- a play off of "The Mailman" of course. To do so, I decided to compare Millsap's rookie year with that of Karl's. One immediate problem though: Karl Malone was a starter as a rookie, and Millsap is coming off the bench. Thus, I used a multiplier of 1.71 to project Millsap's stats at a minute-to-minute equivalency with Malone's. Below you can see my chart of how Millsap stacks up. You'll see that although Malone was a more prolific scorer and dished out more assists, Millsap is practically his equal when it comes to Rebounding and steals, and is superior when it comes to blocks.
Now consider:
1. When playing half the minutes (and playing sporadically) it is more difficult to get into the flow of a game, and get into a rhythm.
2. Millsap was a 2nd round draft pick
3. The Jazz don't run any plays for him
4. Millsap's FG% as a rookie is superior: 52.5% vs. 49.6%

The conclusion is clear: Minute for minute, Millsap is "delivering" the goods beyond almost anyone's hopes. Gotta like that.


(click on image to see it enlarged)