Blinded by the Points
by Ken Pomeroy on Friday, September 30, 2005
Normally, a guy that scores a lot of points can be considered a productive offensive player. Normally, but not always.
I love Dean Oliver’s offensive rating as much as anyone, because it takes all aspects of a player’s statistical performance and states it in terms of efficiency, which we can easily relate to in terms of good and bad. If someone hands you a stats sheet, you can’t exactly compute offensive rating in your head (unless you’re Scott Flansburg). However, one can get a good idea about a scorer’s efficiency by looking at the readily available field goal percentage and the ability to get to the line. For example, compare these guys:
PPG FG-FGA(Pct.) 3FG-FGA(Pct.) FTA-FTM(Pct.) Smith, Steven…. 20.3 206-481(.428) 34-116(.293) 142-176(.807) Fazekas, Nick…. 20.7 223-444(.502) 33-101(.327) 183-232(.789)
La Salle’s Steven Smith and Nevada’s Nick Fazekas are two of the leading returning scorers in the nation, and…
A Systematic Breakdown
by Ken Pomeroy on Monday, September 26, 2005
Fans of the Big Blue must be restless. There aren’t enough good reasons to begin actively calling for Tubby Smith’s head. But there also aren’t enough signs to enthusiastically support him. Such is the state of a basketball program that has hung around the top ten for the last two years but at the same time hasn’t been a real threat to claim the national championship that its fans demand. The situation is uncomfortable enough that off-season rumors of Tubby going to Virginia, a team that finished dead last in the ACC, were widely considered credible.
The Wildcats face an uncertain future in 2005-06. Kelenna Azubuike turned pro and found an uncertain future himself. Randolph Morris followed the Azubuike career plan, but has decided to try to return to college after going undrafted like Azubuike. Then there’s reserve forward Joe Crawford who tried to leave in the middle of last…
Landlord’s Revenge
by Ken Pomeroy on Thursday, September 22, 2005
Back when I was taking correspondence courses from the Skip Bayless School of Journalism, I equated Shelden Williams with Emeka Okafor. Honestly, I don’t think I’ve received more feedback about something I’ve posted here. I can see why Bayless is so successful at his racket of providing weak evidence for absurd positions.
But I felt like I supported my absurd position well. Williams appeared to be just as effective as Okafor on both ends of the floor. Granted, Okafor ran the court better than Williams, but based on what could be measured, there wasn’t much difference between what each provided his respective team.
Much of the criticism from the piece on Williams centered on my choice of using stats from the easier half of Duke’s season and comparing them with an enitre UConn season. Among a recent spate of quality posts, Ryan made a similar comparison based on…
Individual Stats Primer
by Ken Pomeroy on Wednesday, September 21, 2005
Since there will be more discussion of individual stats on this site this season, I thought I’d throw together a post to let people know what values of each are exceptional. These are the measures I refer to on a regular basis. I’ll add to and adjust this document as events warrant.
Percentage of possible minutes played (%Min): Self explanatory, I think. La Salle’s Steven Smith (97.3%) led all D1 players in 2005. He missed just 32 of the 1,185 minutes that the Explorers played. Wyoming point guard Jay Straight (96.9%) was second, including a Ripken-esque nine consecutive games without a rest. Few players exceed 90%.
Offensive rating (ORtg): A measure of personal offensive efficiency developed by Dean Oliver. The formula is very complicated, but accurate. For a detailed explanation, buy Basketball on Paper. Anything over 110 is good, and 120 is excellent for a player that is the…
Unfinished Business
by Ken Pomeroy on Sunday, September 11, 2005
On January 19th, LSU beat Arkansas 66-63 in overtime. It was a particularly fortunate victory for LSU, because the game went to overtime only when officials conferred about a would-be game-winning three-pointer by Arkansas’ Michael Jones at the end of regulation. The shot was ruled a three by one official and a two by the other. Ultimately, replays were inconclusive (can we get some HD monitors, please?), the officials ruled the shot a two, and LSU got an extra chance with the overtime.
This is one example of how a goofy break can influence the outcome of a contest. Over the course of a season, these breaks are supposed to even out, but they don’t for some squads. For some closure on my earlier look at the unluckiest teams of 2005, here were the 20 luckiest teams in conference play from 2005, based on the difference between expected…