Adjusted Player Trios

[J.E.]

Mulit year (2008-2011). No playoffs. Offense only. Offensive lambda = 4000

http://stats-for-the-nba.appspot.com/trios

It's a huge file, simply because there have been many trios in the last 4 years. Trios with less than 1000 possessions total were omitted.

As already seen in player pairs. Nash and Carter are horrible together, Nash's trios with Carter are really really bad for Nash's standards.

Bryant Odom Gasol at #1. Ok
Wade James Bosh at #2. Ok
Stojakovic Paul West at #3. I get the feeling Stojakovic was worth more than Banks, Jack and David Andersen
Johnson Smith Murray at #4 surprised me
Followed by two completely different Ginobili units
Nowitzki Terry Kidd at #7. I expected them even higher
Bryant Vujacic Farmar at #12 is a bit of a head scratcher
House R.Allen BBDavis at #18. Standard RAPM has the trio at #12038
Najera Iverson Kleiza at ~#70. Expected at #16000

Horrible trios when compared to expectations:
Bowen Finley Bonner
Odem Walton Farmer
Johnson Smith Hinrich
Harden Ibaka Maynor
Marion Terry Butler
Scola Martin Hill
Mo Williams Shaq LeBron
Nash Stoudemire Amundson (expected at #77, land at #44000)
Paul Ariza Bellinelli

[Crow]

You've been busy and productive. Thanks again. Should be an interesting and perhaps useful resource for those who make use of it in various ways.

[Bobbofitos]

You've been busy and productive. Thanks again. Should be an interesting and perhaps useful resource for those who make use of it in various ways.

Yeah, I really have enjoyed these

[Crow]

A bit over 10% of the trios over 1000 possessions are +1 or better per 100 possessions. Only a bit more than 2% above the possession cutoff are worse than -1. There may be a larger share of bad or really bad trios under the possession cutoff. Overall that probably says something positive about coaching recognition.

Still, if you find a trio that works consistently, one should probably try to use it pretty hard, until it starts bumping up against opponents and game situations that give it trouble or it starts getting too well understood and then defended better or exploited better.



The Lakers and the Suns had by far the most offensive trio-possessions over +1.5 (over 100,000). No one else was over 65,000. Denver and Miami were the only other teams over 60,000. The average was about 33,000 such possessions. 7 teams were under 10,000 such high performing on average trio-possessions and in a few cases it was just 2,000 such trio-possessions (Wolves and Knicks). That is quite a gap between teams with the most effective offensive trios and those most lacking them.

6 teams had more than 10,000 trio-possessions worse than -1 on offense during the period. The Thunder were highest at almost 20,000. Atlanta and Miami were close behind. The average was a bit over 7,000. 5 teams were under 2,000: Bulls, Lakers, Wolves, Suns and Rockets.

(Note: these trio-possessions per team numbers I found with a simple / quick team sort may need some adjustment for player movement and that could affect some of the teams including the outliers.)

There is narrative that can be found in the these numbers. Of what significance, that depends on the further analysis and interpretation of the analyst.

[Crow]

It is just a look at offense at this point but among the conference finalists this is how many qualified trios they had which were +1.5 or better (unless I missed some in the team sorting):

Bulls 2
Korver+Noah+Rose
Deng+Boozer+Rose
(2 perimeter and a big in each case)

Heat 3
Wade+James+Bosh
Jones+Wade+James
Jones+Wade+Bosh
(mostly or entirely 2 perimeter and a big in 2 cases, probably 3 perimeter mostly in the other case)

Mavs 4
Nowitzki+Terry+Kidd
Nowitzki+Terry+Barea
Terry+Chandler+Kidd
Marion,+Nowitzki+Terry
(2 perimeter and a big in 3 cases and probably most in the 4th but the possibility of some 1 perimeter and 2 bigs in the last one)


Thunder 2
Durant+Westbrook+Harden
Sefolosha+Durant+Westbrook
(probably mostly 3 perimeter though there could be some 2 perimeter and a big)

All the many many trios and 5 man lineups and just these few really strong trios, at least by this metric and my cutoff.

[Crow]

The Mavs had the most +1.5 or better on offense trios of the conference finalists and the most players involved with them. That greater number and diversity of successful cores probably was a part of their ultimate success. More ways to produce edge and perhaps more ways to get around a defense that may shut down a key trio or a key player for a time or generally.