At mid-season, both Jakucionas and Harper belong ahead of Lanier and Clayton ... and maybe Sears and Gilbert.
So ... using the excuse the writer does that a WINNING team makes the player "better" - so more credit to players on better teams ... what is his excuse on Jakucionas as a 3rd teamer, as opposed to 2nd teamer?
To DHayek ... good comment that there is little difference between the stats of Flagg and Harper ... that is true, but not the way you imply (not criticizing you at all - I think you agree - just using it to illustrate). There is juts a small difference ... with Harper's stats being BETTER ... in other words, Harper's STATS separate him ABOVE Flagg. Flagg has really had a strong last 4-5 games ... Harper missed a game and had 2 essentially zero stat games due to illness (but played, so it really artificially dragged his raw stats per game downward).
The player whose stats are just a little behind Flagg's stats is Bailey ... and Bailey is beginning to catch up with rebounding, starting to accumulate some assists, playing better defense (including a spate of blocked shots recently): The 3 categories with which that all say Flagg separates himself from Bailey. Flagg HAS been the better performer this season than Bailey - by a distinct, but small, margin. But Bailey is closing ground.
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