APBRmetrics

-Pace is at its highest level since 1994 at 95.1.

-3PAr is on record pace again, at .253.

-League-wide ORTG is down from last season, but trending back up.

-Through 8 games Miami is the best offensive team of all time by differential from league average defense, at +10.0. (04 Mavs have the record at +9.2)

-Despite this, Miami is the worst team by ORB% of all time (18.2%).

-They are the best team by eFG% of all time (58.9%), which is the driving force behind their all-time best offense

-Through 8 games Indiana's defense is the best of all time by differential from league average offense, at -11.8. (64 Celtics have the record at -10.6)

-Kevin Durant is on pace to break Jerry West's FT/G and total FT record of 10.63 and 840 respectively, with an average of 11.63 FT/G. If he plays up to his usual health of ~96.8% (rounded to 79 games), he is on pace to make 919 free throws

-Kevin Durant is currently attempting .755 Free Throws per Field Goal Attempt.

-Of the 113 Player Seasons in which a player attempted >10.0 FTA/G, this is the 8th highest rate. 5 seasons by Dwight Howard and 2 seasons by Wilt Chamberlain rank ahead

-Of the 105 Player Seasons in which a player attempted >10.0 FTA/G and >15.0 FGA/G, this is the highest rate.

-Kevin Durant is currently attempting .755 Free Throws per Field Goal Attempt.

-Of the 113 Player Seasons in which a player attempted >10.0 FTA, this is the 8th highest rate. 5 seasons by Dwight Howard and 2 seasons by Wilt Chamberlain rank ahead

-Of the 105 Player Seasons in which a player attempted >10.0 FTA and >15.0 FGA, this is the highest rate.

You may mean to say averaged >10 FTA
If he averaged >15 FGA, do you need the additional FTA qualifier?

I find only 3 other seasons in which a player averaged 15 FGA and >.70 FTA/FGA -- Barkley in '88, Moses in '85, and Neil Johnston in 1953.
http://bkref.com/tiny/ZnpTc

Ha, yeah fixed that

The wonders of having Harden and Howard on the same team:

Team FTr > .400 since the introduction of the 3-point line.
That's quite a margin by the Rockets. They aren't capitalizing though; here's the FT% for the same teams.

Thanks for sharing those findings sideshowbob.


Here are a few more quick comments:

Avery Bradley in the absence of Rondo, with less than 2 assists per game. Jordan Crawford doing a better job in almost every way.

Noah with one of the worst raw +/- per minute in the league right now.

The Mavs free agents generally doing well.

McGee getting just 16 minutes per game, even without Karl.

Brandon Jennings living out the fancy high usage, low shooting efficiency style and with one of the very worst raw +/-. Detroit with one of the worst performing starting fives. Does Dumars need a good trade to keep his job or does he get at least another 2 years (for more draft picks and potential development) and possibly another coach – sacrifice?

Some pundits are suggesting New Orleans as the most likely / best trade partner for Asik using R. Anderson. It is of course a good possibility. Boston might not as easy, but I’d think there might be viable trades that could be crafted, perhaps multi-player and maybe multi-team. I don’t see a lot of other teams that will really want Asik and have what Houston probably wants back (face-up and / or good defensive PF?).

Pau Gasol playing so weak that the slim chance to trade him is closer to zero.

Beasley playing in a one dimensional way but his shooting efficiency is surprisingly high.

Terrible starting lineup performance in Milwaukee. Haven’t looked in depth for reasons why. Has anyone else?

Wolves appear to have a weak bench but not sure if it be a big problem in the playoffs.

Markieff Morris, from out of nowhere, a candidate for most improved. Did he have obvious court real estate issues with Gortat? Very little Alex Len yet. Will they fit later?

Surprised by the strength of the Blazers offense so far.

I guess the Spurs got what they wanted / expected from Belinelli so far.

Rockets 3 pt FG% is really low. Howard was supposed to help. Why isn’t working? Poor perimeter shot judgment, chance or something else? Do 3 pt shoots off of Howard pass show more problem than other attempts? With Sportsvu that answer should be out there for the getting I assume.

Austin Rivers down to footnote minutes. Will anyone trade for him? Boston?

John Wall still showing poor efficiency.


Best performing lineups (used over 10 minutes per game in at least 3 games) as of a day ago:

Lineups raw +/-
George,Paul - Hibbert,Roy - Hill,George - Stephenson,Lance - West,David (IND) 9.8
Anthony,Carmelo - Bargnani,Andrea - Felton,Raymond - Shumpert,Iman - Smith,J.R. (NYK) 9.7
Brewer,Corey - Love,Kevin - Martin,Kevin - Pekovic,Nikola - Rubio,Ricky (MIN) 8.1
Bogut,Andrew - Curry,Stephen - Iguodala,Andre - Lee,David - Thompson,Klay (GSW) 7
Ariza,Trevor - Beal,Bradley - Gortat,Marcin - Hilario,Nene - Wall,John (WAS) 6.2
Dudley,Jared - Griffin,Blake - Jordan,DeAndre - Paul,Chris - Redick,JJ (LAC) 6.1


All +6 per 100 possessions or better. No others met the criteria and were above +2.3.

The worst (below -4):

Durant,Kevin - Ibaka,Serge - Perkins,Kendrick - Sefolosha,Thabo - Westbrook,Russell (OKC) -4
Anthony,Carmelo - Bargnani,Andrea - Chandler,Tyson - Felton,Raymond - Shumpert,Iman (NYK) -5.3
Butler,Caron - Henson,John - Mayo,O.J. - Pachulia,Zaza - Wolters,Nate (MIL) -6.5
Billups,Chauncey - Drummond,Andre - Jennings,Brandon - Monroe,Greg - Smith,Josh (DET) -7
Cousins,DeMarcus - Patterson,Patrick - Salmons,John - Thornton,Marcus - Vasquez,Greivis (SAC) -7.7
Favors,Derrick - Hayward,Gordon - Jefferson,Richard - Kanter,Enes - Tinsley,Jamaal (UTA) -8.8

Bosh,Chris - Chalmers,Mario - Haslem,Udonis - James,LeBron - Wade,Dwyane (MIA) -2.8
just missed.

Having a near top performing lineup tends to go along with winning a title. Right now 3-5 contenders have that and the rest don't, yet.

Here are some notable raw +/-s for big minute pairs:

Lineups +/-

Griffin,Blake - Paul,Chris (LAC) 7.3
Jordan,DeAndre - Paul,Chris (LAC) 6.8
Griffin,Blake - Jordan,DeAndre (LAC) 8.8
Paul,Chris - Redick,JJ (LAC) 10.4

Harden,James - Howard,Dwight (HOU) 1.1
Harden,James - Lin,Jeremy (HOU) 2.3

Durant,Kevin - Westbrook,Russell (OKC) -2.3
Ibaka,Serge - Westbrook,Russell (OKC) -3

Love,Kevin - Martin,Kevin (MIN) 10.4
Love,Kevin - Rubio,Ricky (MIN) 14.2
Brewer,Corey - Rubio,Ricky (MIN) 11.9
Martin,Kevin - Rubio,Ricky (MIN) 9.8
Martin,Kevin - Pekovic,Nikola (MIN) 7.8
Brewer,Corey - Martin,Kevin (MIN) 8.4
Love,Kevin - Pekovic,Nikola (MIN) 8.3

Monroe,Greg - Smith,Josh (DET) -4.9

Aldridge,LaMarcus - Lillard,Damian (POR) 3.8

Carter-Williams,Michael - Hawes,Spencer (PHI) -3.8
Carter-Williams,Michael - Young,Thaddeus (PHI) -3.8

Favors,Derrick - Hayward,Gordon (UTA) -12.2

Iguodala,Andre - Thompson,Klay (GSW) 8.3
Iguodala,Andre - Lee,David (GSW) 14.1
Curry,Stephen - Iguodala,Andre (GSW) 10.8
Curry,Stephen - Thompson,Klay (GSW) 7.8
Lee,David - Thompson,Klay (GSW) 10.6
Curry,Stephen - Lee,David (GSW) 12.6

Thompson,Tristan - Varejao,Anderson (CLE) -4.7

George,Paul - Hibbert,Roy (IND) 11.6
George,Paul - West,David (IND) 9.4
George,Paul - Stephenson,Lance (IND) 9.8

DeRozan,DeMar - Gay,Rudy (TOR) -0.2

Conley,Mike - Gasol,Marc (MEM) -1.8

Davis,Anthony - Gordon,Eric (NOP) 0.7

Chalmers,Mario - James,LeBron (MIA) 0.1
Bosh,Chris - Chalmers,Mario (MIA) -0.7

Ariza,Trevor - Beal,Bradley (WAS) 6
Hilario,Nene - Wall,John (WAS) 3.5

Duncan,Tim - Parker,Tony (SAS) 1.9

Millsap,Paul - Teague,Jeff (ATL) 5.8

Hayward,Gordon - Kanter,Enes (UTA) -9.7

Boozer,Carlos - Deng,Luol (CHI) 6.3
Boozer,Carlos - Rose,Derrick (CHI) 0.2
Butler,Jimmy - Rose,Derrick (CHI) -0.8

Not sufficient information but starter material about what is working well, ok and not.
Hope there will be some RAPM publicly available later.

Crow wrote:
Beasley playing in a one dimensional way but his shooting efficiency is surprisingly high.

He's played 48 minutes. I wouldn't exactly put a lot of eggs in the hot start basket.

Terrible starting lineup performance in Milwaukee. Haven’t looked in depth for reasons why. Has anyone else?

Yes, I looked into it. I found out, that when you have bad players, you tend to have bad lineups. Unfortunately for Milwaukee there is no easy way to fixing this, outside of getting different players.

I see Milwaukee has very strong team 3pt FG% and FT% but are near the bottom at actually getting those shots. Anyone see anything about their play-calling or execution they want to share?

Team Offense: Pts per 100 Poss.

With Mayo 94.6
without Mayo 118.8

More details to consider behind these numbers but this looks like a very bad start for this free agent acquisition and / or poor grouping of starters and bench units. Does Pachulia clog the lane? Not by his 82 games stats while on the court. Henson no. For Sanders and Ilvayosa there appears to be a problem, whether it be "clogging or otherwise: http://www.82games.com/1314/13MIL12.HTM#onoff
http://www.82games.com/1314/13MIL10.HTM#onoff Mayo with just one 3 pt assist of a teammate (as of a few days ago). Same for Ilyasova and Pachulia. Should get more.

You'd almost have to pay me to watch the Bucks play, so I'll just throw some more numbers into the mix.

The four worst teams in terms of shooting % from less than 5 feet are CHA TOR MIL and CLE.

Among these teams, the Bucks have attempted the fewest (24th in the league) shots from less than five feet.

The Bucks along with the Cavs and Bobcats are among the league wide leaders for shot attempts from 10 to 14 feet.

Not surprisingly all four of these teams are at the bottom of league rankings for EFF FG% and TS%.

We have examples of other teams that said during the offseason and preseason they wanted to shoot more threes and more from around the basket and they've gotten it done (76ers and Raps come to mind). The Bucks are going in the opposite direction. Last season they were 4th in the league on shot attempts from less than five feet

Crow mentioned the Mavericks free agents. Let's look specifically at DeJuan Blair. He has registered the highest PER on the team (24.0 - also 13th highest in the league among qualified players), playing 20 minutes per game off the bench.

Blair is 24 years old and playing for a new contract. He is being paid $941,000 this season - quite possibly the best bargain in the league.

Check out Blair's shot chart - it appears that Carlisle has ordered him to not attempt a shot farther than 16 feet from the basket. And he is shooting 66% on shots taken from less than 8 feet from the basket...

http://stats.nba.com/playerShotchart.ht ... on=2013-14

Unfortunately on the defensive side, Blair has allowed one of the highest shooting percentages on attempts near the rim...

sideshowbob wrote:
-Despite this, Miami is the worst team by ORB% of all time (18.2%), largely because they are the best team by eFG% of all time (58.9%)

I don't think these are directly / consequentially linked always but they are probably still somewhat related here.

"Offensive rebound percentage is an estimate of the percentage of available offensive rebounds a player [or team I assume] grabbed while he was on the floor."

Kevin Love: .610 TS% ~ .542 eFG%
Compared to previous seasons: Fewer long twos, almost no corner threes, many more shots around the basket and by far the highest % (from around the basket) of his career.

Crow wrote:

sideshowbob wrote:
-Despite this, Miami is the worst team by ORB% of all time (18.2%), largely because they are the best team by eFG% of all time (58.9%)

I don't think these are directly / consequentially linked always but they are probably still somewhat related here.

"Offensive rebound percentage is an estimate of the percentage of available offensive rebounds a player [or team I assume] grabbed while he was on the floor."

I think I just phrased that strangely.

Here's what I meant:

Miami is the best offensive team by differential from the league average defense

A.) Despite being the worst ORB% team of all time
B.) Because they are the the best eFG% team of all time.

My implication was not that they are the worst ORB% team of all time because of their eFG%, but that they are the best offensive team of all time because of their eFG%. That's my mistake, the way I wrote that makes it seem like I was implying that their ORB% was a result of their eFG%.

As you said, eFG% can't show high correlation with ORB% by definition of ORB%, though it would theoretically be even lower with FG%, as it is a more direct measure of made/missed shots.

Roughly 8% of the regular season schedule is complete and four out of fifteen teams in the Eastern Conference have more wins than losses. Five EC teams have a positive point differential. Six EC teams have a positing NetRtg...

Going 0-2 last night, the East is now 16-33 vs the West. That would be the lowest ever W% (.327) for a season.
They're 11-12 at home and 5-21 out west.

Last year the East was .418 vs the West; .422 before that; .418 also in 2011.

I (and many others I think) thought more teams in the east would be better this year. Individual stories and perhaps some common themes?

Best big minute pairs based on raw net +/- per possession (+9 per 100 posessions or better)

Bogut,Andrew - Iguodala,Andre (GSW)
Iguodala,Andre - Thompson,Klay (GSW)
Hibbert,Roy - Hill,George (IND)
Hill,George - Stephenson,Lance (IND)
Beverley,Patrick - Parsons,Chandler (HOU)
Gortat,Marcin - Hilario,Nene (WAS)
Dunleavy,Mike - Gibson,Taj (CHI)


Notice who has them and who somehow doesn't.