Team Expected Scoring – Final Regular Season Numbers

On Monday, we looked at the final regular season Expected Scoring numbers for individual players. Today we’re moving on, looking at those same numbers at the team level. You can find all the data at the Expected Scoring – Statistics and Analysis page, or at this link.

Expected Scoring is a way of combining a player or team’s shot selection and shooting percentages into one measure of scoring efficiency. Here’s the longer explanation:

Expected Scoring uses a player’s FGA from each area of the floor and multiplies it by the average number of points scored on that type of shot to come up with an Expected Point total from that area. The Expected Point total can than be compared to the actual number of points a player scored from that area to arrive at a Point Differential. This Point Differential is an expression of how a player shot compared to the league average, but I like that the comparison is drawn with actual point totals.  The average values of shots by location that I use (At Rim – 1.208, <10ft. – 0.856, 10-15ft. – 0.783, 16-23ft. – 0.801, 3PT – 1.081, FT – 0.759) were calculated by Albert Lyu of ThinkBlueCrew.

All of the individual Expected Scoring numbers are per 40 minutes. For the team stats we look at everything per game. By overall Point Differential, the top five shooting teams in the league were:

• Miami: +5.72
• Dallas: +5.27
• San Antonio: +4.89
• Phoenix: +4.37
• Boston: +3.94

The bottom five were:

• Cleveland: -4.28
• Milwaukee: -3.71
• Washington: -2.94
• Charlotte: -2.74
• Sacramento: -2.35

The New Jersey Nets didn’t make the bottom five, but joined the Bucks and Cavaliers as the only offenses with a negative Point Differential from every area of the floor. The Miami Heat were the only team with a positive Point Differential from every area of the floor.

Looking at these numbers, now for the second season, I’m amazed at how much of a difference excelling or struggling from just one area of the floor can make. The Toronto Raptors scored right around the expected rate from every area of the floor, except for on three-pointers, where they posted a Point Differential of -1.78. If they had shot just the league average on three-pointers it would have taken their Point Differential from a -0.83 to a +0.95.

The Clippers had the 6th best Point Differential on shots at the rim, +2.63. However, they were atrocious from everywhere else on the floor posting Point Differentials worse than -1.0 from the free throw line, on three-pointers, from 16-23ft. and from 3-9ft. If they had finished at the league average on shots at the rim, their overall Point Differential would have been -4.44. Basically they dunking of Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan kept the Clippers from having the worst shooting offense in the league.

Stay tuned for a few more Expected Scoring pieces between now and the end of the playoffs!

Individual Expected Scoring – Final Regular Season Numbers

I’ve missed that narrow window between the end of the regular season and the beginning of the playoffs, but the final Expected Scoring numbers have arrived at long last. You can find them here, or by following the link through the Expected Scoring – Statistics and Analysis page.

If you’ve haven’t been following my Expected Scoring posts this season, then congratulations, you’re in the vast majority of basketball fans. Expected Scoring is a way of combining a player’s shot selection and shooting percentages into one measure of scoring efficiency. Here’s the longer explanation:

Expected Scoring uses a player’s FGA from each area of the floor and multiplies it by the average number of points scored on that type of shot to come up with an Expected Point total from that area. The Expected Point total can than be compared to the actual number of points a player scored from that area to arrive at a Point Differential. This Point Differential is an expression of how a player shot compared to the league average, but I like that the comparison is drawn with actual point totals.  The average values of shots by location that I use (At Rim – 1.208, <10ft. – 0.856, 10-15ft. – 0.783, 16-23ft. – 0.801, 3PT – 1.081, FT – 0.759) were calculated by Albert Lyu of ThinkBlueCrew.

There’s a lot to look at, so I thought I would just pull out a few highlights and lowlights.

Overall

• Dirk Nowitzki: +4.43
• Stephen Curry: +2.91
• Al Horford: +2.81
• Ray Allen: +2.79
• Steve Nash: +2.4

For the second straight season, the overall Point Differential leader was Dirk Nowitzki (minimum 500 minutes played). Not only was he the most efficient scorer in the league, but he belongs to a small and elite group of players who posted a positive Point Differential from every area of the floor: Chris Paul, Daequan Cook, Pau Gasol, Ray Allen, Beno Udrih, Gary Neal, Steve Nash, Elton Brand and Nowitzki.

Rookies

• Gary Neal: +2.25
• Patrick Patterson: +2.01
• Landry Fields: +0.97
• Gordon Hayward : +0.64
• Ed Davis: +0.33

This list really underscores how rare it is to find a rookie who plays within themselves, understands their strengths and weaknesses, and can provide efficient scoring right off the bat. 34 rookies played at least 500 minutes this season. Only these five, and Trevor Booker, of the Washington Wizards, posted a positive Point Differential across the entire season.

Most Improved:

Here are some players who saw big improvement in their point differential versus last season.

• Daequan Cook: +4.61 (-2.32 to +2.29)
• Darrell Arthur:+2.91 (-1.87 to +1.05)
• DeAndre Jordan: +1.91 (-1.37 to +0.54)
• Chris Wilcox: +1.69 (-1.17 to +0.52)
• Nick Young: +1.28 (+0.16 to +1.44)
• Chuck Hayes: +1.19 (-1.57 to -0.38)

Young received a lot of attention this year for making himself into a somewhat efficient scorer. His transformation was based largely on a career high, and possibly unsustainable, field goal percentage on long two-pointers. Darrell Arthur and DeAndre Jordan seem like more likely candidates to repeat their levels of scoring efficiency next season.

Not So Hot

These are the guys who make you dig your fingernails into your palm everytime they even look at the rim.

• Louis Amundson: -3.57
• Aaron Brooks (Houston): -3.19
• Gilbert Arenas (Orlando): -2.71
• A.J. Price: -2.65
• Samardo Samuels: -2.61

There’s a ton of information here, and I’ve only done a cursory job of reviewing it. If you find something interesting that I’ve missed, feel free to share it in the comments! Final team Expected Scoring numbers should be up later this week.

Last Night’s Numbers – 4/14/11

This is Last Night’s Numbers, a (mostly) daily feature where we run through the NBA games from the night before, highlighting one or two numbers I found particularly interesting from each game. All the stats are from Hoopdata’s box scores, which contain some additional advanced stats not available in traditional box scores.

Boston 112 – New York 102

• The Celtics’ offense, minus their typical starters, exploded against the Knicks. They shot 56.5% from the field, and made 8 of their 17 three-pointers.
• Avery Bradley scored 20 points in 27 minutes, on a 62.5 TS%. Bradley was 6 of 7 on shots at the rim.
• The Knicks were 23 of 33 on shots at the rim, but just 10 of 38 on shots from beyond 15ft.

Chicago 97 – New Jersey 92

• Joakim Noah had a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds in 23 minutes. 7 of his 10 rebounds came at the offensive end.
• With a FTR of 0.342, the Chicago Bulls gave themselves an 8 point advantage at the free throw line.
• Jordan Farmar scored 21 points on a 59.5 TS%. He also added 12 assists, 5 of which went for layups or three pointers.

Cleveland 100 – Washington 93

• With a FTR of 0.349, the Cavs gave themselves a 14 point advantage at the free throw line. Ramon Sessions made 11 of 12.
• Jordan Crawford finished his rookie season shooting 2 of 14. He missed all 11 of his shots that didn’t come at the rim.
• J.J. Hickson had 13 rebounds, 6 of which came at the offensive end.

Dallas 121 – New Orleans 89

• With a FTR of 0.466, the Mavericks gave themselves a 13 point advantage at the free throw line.
• In just 20 minutes, J.J. Barea scored 14 points on a 77.1 TS%, with 8 assists. Barea was 7 of 7 at the free throw line, and 4 of his 8 assists went for layups or three-pointers.
• Just 23 of the Hornets’ 79 field goal attempts came from inside of 10ft.

Golden State 110 – Portland 86

• The two teams combined to make 21 of 49 three-pointers. Reggie Williams, Patrick Mills and Wesley Matthews each made 4.
• Reggie Williams scored 28 points for the Warriors on a 77.8 TS%. 11 of his 12 made baskets were assisted on.
• The Warriors made 26 of 37 shots at the rim, on their way to a 51.2% shooting performance on the night.

L.A. Clippers 110 – Memphis 103

• Blake Griffin finished his rookie season with a triple-double. Griffin had 31 points on a 64.4 TS%, with 10 rebounds and 10 assists.
• The Clippers made 26 of 29 shots at the rim. 47 of their 81 shot attempts came within 10ft. of the basket.
• The Grizzlies turned the ball over on 20.8% of their possessions. O.J. Mayo had 5 in just 30 minutes.

Houston 121 – Minnesota 102

• Chase Budinger exploded for 35 points on a 72.7 TS%. He made all 7 of his free throws, 4 of 8 three pointers, will contributing 6 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals.
• Goran Dragic totalled a triple-double with 11 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists. He put it together in exactly 44 minutes.
• Anthony Randolph continued his string of strong performances to finish the season. Randolph had 23 points on a 65.9 TS%. He made 8 of his 9 shots at the rim.

Orlando 92 – Indiana 74

• The Magic turned the ball over on 27.5% of their possessions . . . . and still beat the Pacers by 18. Earl Clark had 6 turnovers in 17 minutes.
• The Pacers shot 30.7% for the game, making just 5 of 14 shots at the rim.
• Brandon Rush scored 16 points for the Pacers, on 16 shots. He was 5 of 9 on three-pointers, 0 of 7 on two-pointers.

Detroit 104 – Philadelphia 100

• With a FTR of 0.408, the Pistons gave themselves a 10 point advantage at the free throw line.
• Rodney Stuckey finished the season with a strong performance. Stuckey scored 29 points on a 73.1 TS%. He made 10 of 11 free throws, and added 8 assists.
• The 76ers made 21 of 25 shots at the rim and inexplicably missed all 10 of their shots in the 3-9ft. area.

Phoenix 106 – San Antonio 103

• Marcin Gortat scored 21 points for the Suns, on a 60.6 TS%. Gortat also had 13 rebounds, 4 of which came at the offensive end.
• The two teams combined for just 14 turnovers on 190 possessions. That’s a TOV% of 7.4%.
• Steve Nash had 10 assists for the Suns, 7 of which went for layups or three-pointers.

L.A. Lakers 116 – Sacramento 108 (OT)

• Kobe Bryant scored 36 points in 38 minutes. He did it on a 63.4 TS%, adding 9 rebounds and 6 assists.
• Samuel Dalembert had 18 points and 18 rebounds for the Kings. 9 of his 18 rebounds came at the offensive end.
• The Kings were 11 of 19 at the free throw line, giving the Lakers a 9 point advantage.

Milwaukee 110 – Oklahoma City 106

• The Thunder, giving limited minutes to their normal rotation players, turned the ball over on 22.9% of their possessions.
• The Bucks used 11 different players in the game, 7 of which scored in double-figures.
• Michael Redd played 29 minutes for the Bucks, the most he’s played since January 8th, 2010. Redd scored 11 points on 5 of 10 from the field, knocking down 1 of his 3 three-pointers.

Utah 107 – Denver 103

• Gordon Hayward had a career night for the Jazz. Hayward scored 34 points on an 88.5 TS%. He was 5 of 5 at the free throw line and made 5 of 6 three-pointers.
• Both teams turned the ball over on exactly 16.8% of their possessions. They also posted identical FTRs, 0.338, and both made 39 of 77 from the field. The different was Utah’s 8 of 15 shooting on three pointers.

Miami 97 – Toronto 79

• Toronto posted a FTR 0.531, but made only 22 of 34 at the line.
• The Heat made 13 of 26 three-pointers. Eddie House and James Jones combined to make 11 of 19.
• The Raptors shot 43.8% for the game. They were just 12 of 40 on shots that didn’t come at the rim.

Charlotte 96 – Atlanta 85

• Charlotte turned the ball over on just 10% of their possessions, compared to 15.6% for the Hawks.
• The Bobcats made 18 of 34 long two-pointers, an absurd 53.0%.

NBA Anti-Awards: Final Edition

With the regular season now in our rear-view mirror, bloggers and basketball writers will be posting their choices for winners of the NBA’s postseason awards. Earlier this year, in a bout of malaise and general curmudgeonliness I created a handful of awards for some of the worst and most discouraging achievements of the season. The games have been played, the turnovers have been tabulated. It’s time for the NBA Anti-Awards to be handed out.

The Shawn Bradley Award – This award goes to the player 6’10″ or taller who has had the highest percentage of his shot attempts blocked (minimum 500 minutes played).

Bulls’ rookie, Omer Asik, led this category almost from start to finish. As the season wound down he was briefly overtaken by a late charge from the Hawks’ Zaza Pachulia. However, with Pachulia taking three shots without being blocked on the final night of the season, Asik passed him to win this award by the slimmest of magins. Pachulia finished with 19.0% of his shots blocked, Asik with 19.1%. Asik’s unique blend of size and general awkwardness should make him a contender in this category for years to come.

The Shawn Kemp Award – This award goes to the player who has fouled out of the most games. From 1986 up through the present, Shawn Kemp is the NBA’s leader in foul outs with 115, 35 more than his next closest competitor.

DeMarcus Cousins locked this one up, fouling out twice in his last eight games. Cousins finished the season with 10 disqualifications due to personal fouls. He put in a lot of work to make this award possible, committing 328 personal fouls on the season, 65 more than the next closest player. Cousins would like to thank his colleagues for all their wonderfully well-executed pump fakes.

The Jahidi White Award – This award goes to the player with the lowest ratio of Ast/FGA (minimum 500 minutes played). The award is named for White who assisted on just 1.7% of his teammates’ baskets over a 334 game career.

Serge Ibaka is this year’s Jahidi White Award winner. Ibaka totalled 21 assists against 613 field goal attempts, for a ratio of 0.03. It’s tough to fault Ibaka. Playing alongside Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook, a guy has to take any opportunity he can to get a shot up.

The Darrick Martin Award – This award goes to the player with the lowest FG% and a minimum of 300 attempts. The award is named for Darrick Martin, a career 38.2% shooter who played 514 games over 13 NBA seasons.

As I mentioned in previous updates there was a lot of movement in this category throughout the season, as players who shoot under 40% tend to find themselves outside the playing rotation. Pacers’ second-year point guard, A.J. Price, bucked the trend seeing progressively more playing time as his FG% plummeted. Price shot 35.7% on the season, narrowly edging cagy veteran Jason Kidd. Well done young fella’!

The Jason Kidd Award – This award goes to the player with the most turnovers in a single game. Jason Kidd has had a Hall of Fame career with many terrific positive statistical contributions. He’s also had 3 career games with more than 12 turnovers.

Amare Stoudemire‘s 11 turnover game against Washington, on December 10th, finished the season as the highest in the league. Derrick Rose made a late charge, posting games of 9 and 10 turnovers in February and March, but ultimately fell short. Rose will have to console himself with the NBA’s MVP award.

The Matt Bullard Award – This award goes to the player 6’10″ or taller with the lowest Total Rebound Percentage. (Minimum 500 minutes)

This was one of our most competitive awards. At times Brook Lopez, Danilo Gallinari, Hedo Turkoglu and Andrea Bargnani all looked like clear favorites. In the end, dark horse candidate, Donte Green of the Sacramento Kings emerged as our winner. Greene, who stands 6 feet, 11 inches tall, grabbed just 7.4% of the total rebounds available while he was on the floor.

The Kobe Bryant Award – This award goes to the player who has missed the most shot attempts in a single game. The award is inspired by Kobe’s performance in Game 7 of the Finals last season.

Surprisingly, this was our only category that finished with a tie. Kobe Bryant‘s 21 missed field goals, on November 11th against Denver, were matched just 16 days ago by Monta Ellis. Both players would probably rather throw this award away then put in on their mantles. I hope it doesn’t take them 21 tries to get it into the garbage can.

The Nick Anderson Award – This award goes to the player who missed the most free throws in a single game. Anderson was actually a decent free throw shooter. But his four missed free throw attempts in the 1995 Finals against Houston kind of stand out in my memory.

As expected Dwight Howard easily takes this award. This season he has missed 12 free throws in a game once, 11 free throws three times, and 10 free throws three times. Hopefully, taking home this hardware will lessen the sting of missing out on the MVP.

The Chris Childs Award – This award goes to the player who has posted the highest Turnover Percentage so far this season. It’s named after former New York Knick Chris Childs, who retired with a career Turnover Percentage of 22.8%. (Minimum 500 minutes)

Joel Pryzbilla just barely topped our minutes requirement, stealing this award from Chris Duhon. Pryzbilla finished the season with a TO% of 34.2%. That means more than one out of every three Pryzbilla possessions ended with an offensive foul, a wild pass into the stands, or a dribble off his own leg.

The Andrea Bargnani Award (Formerly the Darius Songaila Award)– This award goes to the player who has provided his team with the least overall production. I use Wins Produced to determine the winner here. (Minimum 500 minutes)

Toronto’s Andrea Bargnani has been the favorite all season, and in the end, he did not disappoint. With a WP48 of -0.122 he’s “contributed” -6.0 wins in 2,353 minutes. As promised to several disgruntled Raptor fans, this award has now been renamed The Andrea Bargnani Award.

Congratulations to all the winners, it was a wonderful season of folly and futility!

Last Night’s Numbers – 4/12/11

This is Last Night’s Numbers, a (mostly) daily feature where we run through the NBA games from the night before, highlighting one or two numbers I found particularly interesting from each game. All the stats are from Hoopdata’s box scores, which contain some additional advanced stats not available in traditional box scores.

Miami 98 – Atlanta 90

• The Hawks missed 9 free throws in the game, finishing at 12 of 21. Josh Smith and Zaza Pachulia combined to go 3 of 9.
• Miami turned the ball over on 21.3% of their possessions. LeBron James was responsible for 7 of their 19 total turnovers.
• LeBron scored 34 points on a 62.5 TS%. He also had 10 rebounds, 7 assists and 3 steals.

Utah 90 – New Orleans 78

• The Jazz shot 55.3% for the game. They made 18 of their 24 shots inside of 10ft.
• The Hornets shot 37.9% for the game and made just 12 of 32 shots from inside of 10ft.
• The Jazz recorded 25 assists on 37 made baskets for an Ast% of 67.6%.

Denver 134 – Golden State 111

• The Nuggets turned the ball over on just 7.7% of their possessions.
• The Warriors hit 13 of their 25 three-point attempts in the game. Four different players made at least 3 three pointers.
• Chris Anderson has 12 rebounds and 4 blocks in just 22 minutes for the Nuggets. He also added 14 points on 6 of 10 shooting.

Cleveland 110 – Detroit 101

• Cleveland turned the ball over on 6.5% of their possessions, compared to 17.2% for the Pistons.
• Rodney Stuckey scored 29 points on a 73.5 TS%. He also added 14 assists, 10 of which went for layups or three-pointers.
• The Cavaliers made 26 of 37 of the shots at the rim. J.J. Hickson led the way, making 7 of 11.

Dallas 98 – Houston 91 (OT)

• Houston used just seven players in the game. None played fewer than 30 minutes.
• Kevin Martin led the Rockets with 28 points. His TS% was just 52.6% and he turned the ball over 7 times.
• The Rockets shot 19 of 70, or 27.1%, on all of their shots which didn’t come at the rim.

Milwaukee 93 – Toronto 86

• The Raptors turned the ball over on 21.1% of their possessions. Jerryd Bayless led the team with 6.
• Joey Dorsey had 20 rebounds in 33 minutes for the Raptors. 10 of his 20 rebounds came at the offensive end.
• John Salmons scored 24 points for the Bucks on a 70.3 TS%. He also had 7 rebounds, 2 assists and a steal.

Charlotte 105 – New Jersey 103

• The Bobcats shot 57% for the game, making 17 of their 22 shots at the rim. They also knocked down 14 of 25 long two-pointers.
• Brook Lopez scored 31 points for the Nets on a 58.4 TS%. As usual he had just 3 rebounds.
• D.J. Augustin had 11 assists. 8 of those 11 assists went for layups or three-pointers.

Orlando 95 – Philadelphia 85

• Ryan Anderson had 18 points and 14 rebounds in just 22 minutes. Anderson made 3 of 5 three-pointers.
• The Magic dominated the glass, grabbing 64.4% of the available rebounds, with an ORR of 45.2%. Ryan Anderson had 7 of their 19 offensive rebounds.
• The 76ers made just 14 of their 47 shot attempts from beyond 15ft.

Phoenix 135 – Minnesota 127

• Channing Frye scored 33 points for the Suns on a 91.7 TS%. He was 9 of 14 on three-pointers and all 12 of his made field goals were assisted on.
• As a team, the Suns made 18 of 29 three-pointers. Channing Frye was responsible for a huge portion of that, but Jared Dudley helped out, making 5 of 5.
• Luke Ridnour scored 21 points for the Timberwolves on an 80.8 TS%. He also added 9 rebounds, 9 assists and 5 turnovers.

Oklahoma City 120 – Sacramento 112

• There were some absurd free throw totals in this game. Kevin Durant made 15 of 17. DeMarcus Cousins made 18 of 21. The two teams combined to make 70 of 79.
• The Thunder turned the ball over on 19.0% of their possessions. Russell Westbrook and Durant combined for 12 of those turnovers.
• The Thunder made 18 of 23 shots at the rim. The Kings made just 9 of 21.

Washington 95 – Boston 94

• John Wall scored 24 points in 46 minutes. He was 5 of 17 from the field, but 14 of 15 at the free throw line.
• Both teams had more turnovers than assists. The Celtics had 21 turnovers to 20 assists. The Wizards had 18 turnovers to 14 assists.
• The Celtics made just 9 of 35 shots from beyond 15ft.

Last Night’s Numbers – 4/7/11

This is Last Night’s Numbers, a daily feature where we run through the NBA games from the night before, highlighting one or two numbers I found particularly interesting from each game. All the stats are from Hoopdata’s box scores, which contain some additional advanced stats not available in traditional box scores.

Indiana 136 – Washington 112

• The Pacers exploded offensively, shooting 59.6% for the game with an Ast% of 64.0%.
• The Pacers made 13 of 24 three-pointers. Rookie Paul George led the way, knocking down 5 of 6.
• The Wizards had 7 shots blocked by the Pacers and made just 15 of their 31 shots at the rim.

New York 97 – Philadelphia 92

• Both teams turned the ball over just 9 times, 9.9% of their total possessions.
• Both teams shot an identical 41.4% from the field. Both team scored exactly 14 points at the free throw line.
• The Knicks made 11 of 31 three-pointers. The 76ers made just 2 of 18.

Cleveland 104 – Toronto 96

• The Raptors and Cavs combined for 71 free throw attempts. They missed a whopping 23 of those.
• Jerryd Bayless scored 28 points in just 30 minutes. He posted a 65.1 TS% and went 6 of 8 on shots at the rim.
• Baron Davis had 12 assists for the Cavs, 9 of which went for layups or three-pointers.

Orlando 111 – Charlotte 102 (OT)

• Gilbert Arenas scored 25 points on an 84.0 TS% for the Magic. Arenas knocked down 6 of 11 three-pointers.
• The Bobcats shot 14 of 24 on shots at the rim. 6 blocks by Dwight Howard helped set the tone.
• Dante Cunningham had a double-double for the Bobcats with 16 points and 10 rebounds. However, he shot just 7 of 20 for the game, including a 4 of 12 performance on long two-pointers.

Detroit 116 – New Jersey 109

• The Pistons thoroughly controlled the glass, grabbing 58.3% of the available rebounds, with an ORR of 36.4%.
• Richard Hamilton and Rodney Stuckey combined for 19 assists. 11 of their 19 assists went for layups or three-pointers.
• Brook Lopez scored 39 points on a 74.5 TS% in the losing effort. Lopez was 8 of 11 on shots at the rim and only attempted 3 long two-pointers.

New Orleans 101 – Houston 93

• With a FTR of 0.327, the Hornets gave themselves a 10 point advantage at the free throw line.
• The Rockets turned the ball over on 19.8% of their possessions. Seven different Rockets turned the ball over at least twice.
• Chris Paul had 9 assists, 8 of which went for layups or three-pointers.

Milwaukee 90 – Miami 85

• The Heat turned the ball over on 18.4% of their possessions. LeBron James and Mike Bibby combined for 10 turnovers in the game.
• With every point being crucial, the Bucks made all 15 of their free throws.
• The Heat shot just 10 of 24 at the rim. LeBron James was 3 of 9 and Mario Chalmers missed all 3 of his layup attempts.

Phoenix 108 – Minnesota 98

• The Suns were 22 of 28 on shots at the rim, on their way to 52.4% shooting performance on the night.
• Michael Beasley scored 24 points with 11 rebounds, 3 assists and 5 steals. He also turned the ball over 5 times and shot 2 of 9 from outside of 10ft.
• Marcin Gortat scored 20 points for the Suns on a 60.1 TS%. He also grabbed 16 rebounds in just 32 minutes.

Oklahoma City 112 – L.A. Clippers 108

• The Blake Griffin of mid-December showed up last night, scoring 35 points for the Clippers on a 74.4 TS%. Griffin also added 11 rebounds and 6 assists.
• Kendrick Perkins had 17 rebounds, an astonishing 10 at the offensive end. He personally grabbed 29.1% of his team’s misses while on the floor.
• The Thunder actually shot much worse than the Clippers, at 43.2%. However their ORR of 38.0% and low Turnover Rate of 12.2% gave them 12 extra shot attempts in the game.

Denver 104 – Dallas 96

• J.R. Smith scored 23 points for the Nuggets in just 28 minutes, on a 77.3 TS%. He was 3 of 3 at the rim and made 3 of 5 three-pointers.
• Denver only turned the ball over on 15.1% of their possessions, compared to 18.3% for Dallas.
• Brendan Haywood attempted just one shot for the Mavericks in 32 minutes, but came up with 19 big rebounds, 8 at the offensive end.

San Antonio 124 – Sacramento 92

• The Spurs shot 60.6% from the field AND 63.2% on three-pointers. George Hill and Manu Ginobili combined to make 7 of their 11 three-point attempts.
• With a FTR of 0.329, the Spurs finished with a 9 point advantage at the free throw line.
• The Spurs grabbed 55.8% of the game’s total rebounds. Four different Spurs had at least 6.

Golden State 95 – L.A. Lakers 87

• Golden State won the rebounding battle, grabbing 51.5% with an ORR of 34.0%. David Lee had 17 rebounds, with 8 coming at the offensive end.
• The Warriors forced the Lakers into turnovers on 18.1% of their possessions. Lamar Odom turned it over 6 times in 32 minutes.
• The Lakers posted a FTR of 0.351, but missed 11 free throws. Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol combined for 8 of those 11 misses.

Free Throws by Possession

Over his first two seasons, frequency of free throw attempts received a lot of attention as the chink in Derrick Rose‘s armor. He has pushed his FTA/36 to a career high 6.4 this season, an accomplishment for which he should be commended. Rose’s FTA/36 are at a career high, but so are his FGA/36, and his TO/36. In fact his Usage Rate has risen 5.3% since last season, to 32.5%, the second highest mark in the league. If a player is using more possessions during his time on the floor you would expect see more of all the various outputs of those possessions, including free throw attempts. Is there a way we can measure if Rose’s rate of free throw attempts has increased relative to his shot attempts and turnovers?

As a matter of fact there is. The first step is to look at a player’s free throw attempts relative to their field goal attempts. This stat, known as Free Throw Rate (FTA/FGA), is used frequently at both the team and individual level. The second step is to incorporate turnovers. I adjusted my calculation slightly to represent trips to the free throw line as opposed to overall free throw attempts. I did this by multiplying free throw attempts by 0.4, which I believe is the generally accepted adjustment to account for two-shot shooting fouls as well as And1 situations. The formula I ended up using was (FTA*0.4)/(FGA+TO+(FTA*0.4).

Rose’s ratio worked out to 0.078 last season. This season he has upped it to 0.102. Converting those into percentages, roughly 7.8% of his possessions resulted in a trip to the line last season, compared to 10.2% this season. That’s an increase to be sure, but by this measure Rose’s increase doesn’t look quite as rosy. He’s 23rd in the league in FTA/36, but just 75th in the league by this ratio.

I was curious about how this ratio would change the evaluation of other players, so I ran the same calculations for the top 100 in FTA/36. The entire spreadsheet can be viewed here. The table below shows some of the results for the players at the top. The first third of the graph shows the top 20 by FTA/36. The middle section shows the top 20 by FTA/FGA, including their rank by FTA/36. The final third shows the top 20 by free throw trips by possession, with their FTA/36 rank.

There is quite a bit of movement between the first piece of the table, and the second and third sections. The only constants among all three are Dwight Howard, Danilo Gallinari, Chauncey Billups, Tiago Splitter and Kevin Martin. These would be players who use a significant portion of their possessions getting to the free throw line and who also have a high enough Usage Rate to show up in per minute statistics.

Rose is not the only player to drop significantly when we reorder the list by per possession trips to the line. Carmelo Anthony drops from 5th to 44th. Amare Stoudemire drops from 11th to 53rd. Kobe Bryant drops from 13th to 68th. Monta Ellis drops from 57th to 97th.

Note to Bulls fans – Please understand that this is not in any way a comment on Rose’s legitimacy as an MVP candidate. If you feel Rose is being disrespected in that regard I would have you direct you vitriol to ESPN’s John Hollinger. This post is to remind myself, my 3.2 regular readers, an anyone else who happens upon this post that the value of every statistic is only as great as your understanding of the context surrounding it.

Last Night’s Numbers – 3/30/11

This is Last Night’s Numbers, a daily feature where we run through the NBA games from the night before, highlighting one or two numbers I found particularly interesting from each game. All the stats are from Hoopdata’s box scores, which contain some additional advanced stats not available in traditional box scores.

Cleveland 102 – Miami 90

• With a FTR of 0.556, the Cavaliers gave themselves a 9 point advantage at the free throw line.
• The Heat knocked down 10 of 25 three-pointers. Mike Bibby led the way, hitting 7 of 11.
• Cleveland completely controlled the glass. They grabbed 59.6% of the total rebounds and held Miami to an ORR of 17.4%.

Houston 112 – New Jersey 87

• The Rockets made 11 of 23 three pointers in the game. Four different players made at least 2.
• Houston recorded an assist on 65.3% of their made baskets. They totalled 30 in the game and turned the ball over just 9 times.
• Brook Lopez scored 22 points for the Nets on 10 of 16 from the field. The rest of the team shot 27 of 73, 36.9%.

Sacramento 116 – Phoenix 113

• The Kings grabbed 56.1% of the available rebounds, with an ORR of 23.1%. Three different Kings finished the game with double-figure rebounds.
• Steve Nash had 14 assists for the Suns, 11 of which led to layups or three-pointers.
• Jason Thompson had a solid 14 points and 10 rebounds for the Kings. He also went 0 of 6 at the free throw line.

Oklahoma City 115 – Golden State 114 (OT)

• Stephen Curry scored 35 points for the Warriors on a 70.7 TS%. He was 5 of 8 on shots at the rim and 5 of 8 on three pointers.
• Kevin Durant scored 39 points for the Thunder on a 69.0 TS%. He was 6 of 8 on shots at the rim, 3 of 5 on three-pointers and 10 of 12 at the free throw line.
• As a team the Thunder made 25 of 31, or 80.7%, of their shots at the rim. 15 of those 25 made baskets were assisted on.

Last Night’s Numbers – 3/28/11

This is Last Night’s Numbers, a daily feature where we run through the NBA games from the night before, highlighting one or two numbers I found particularly interesting from each game. All the stats are from Hoopdata’s box scores, which contain some additional advanced stats not available in traditional box scores.

Atlanta 99 – Cleveland 83

• Marvin Williams scored 31 points for the Hawks on an 82.3 TS%. Williams was 10 of 11 at the free throw line, 3 of 5 on three pointers and added 7 rebounds and 2 assists.
• The Cavaliers just 36.8% for the game and made just 10 of their 44 shots from outside of 10ft.
• The Hawks were 14 of 16 on shots at the rim, with 13 of those 14 made baskets being assisted on.

Golden State 114 – Washington 104

• With a FTR of 0.337 the Wizards gave themselves a 13 point advantage at the free throw line. This advantage was mostly wiped away by allowing the Warriors to make 11 of 26 three-pointers.
• JaVale McGee scored 28 points for the Wizards on an 83.1 TS%. He was 10 of 11 at the free throw line and added 18 rebounds, 7 of which came at the offensive end.
• Monta Ellis scored 37 points for the Warriors on a 68.3 TS%. He also added 13 assists, 10 of which went for layups or three pointers.

L.A. Lakers 102 – New Orleans 84

• Both teams made 3 of 17 three-pointers. However the Lakers shot 55.9% on their two-pointers, compared to 45.7% for the Hornets.
• The Hornets backcourt players, Chris Paul, Marco Belinelli, Wille Green and Jarrett Jack, combined for 33 points on 14 of 45 shooting. They also were 3 of 13 on three-pointers.
• Pau Gasol scored 23 points on a 69.1 TS%. He also added 16 rebounds and 4 blocks.

Miami 125 – Houston 119

• Miami dominated the glass, grabbing 59.2% of the available rebounds with an ORR of 41.5%. Chris Bosh led the way with 8 of their 17 offensive rebounds.
• LeBron, Wade and Bosh each scored more than 30 points for the Heats. They also each had more than 10 rebounds, combining for 33 total.
• Kyle Lowry scored 25 points for the Rockets on a 58.1 TS%. He also had 7 rebounds, 9 assists and just 2 turnovers in 44 minutes.

Boston 85 – Minnesota 82

• Michael Beasley scored 28 points for the Timberwolves, but it took him 28 shots to get there.
• Even without Kevin Love the Timberwolves totalled 17 offensive rebounds for an ORR of 37.0%.
• Without Rajon Rondo, the Celtics turned the ball over on just 12.9% of their possessions, compared to 16.5% for the Timberwolves.

Sacramento 114 – Philadelphia 111

• The Kings completely destroyed Philadephia on the glass. They grabbed 61.8% of the available rebounds with an ORR of 32.5%. Samuel Dalembert led the way with 19 rebounds against his former team.
• Making 9 of 15 three pointers helped the Kings offset turning the ball over on 19.5% of their possessions.
• Thaddeus Young and Lou Williams came off the bench to shoot 3 of 23 for the 76ers, providing 9 points and 4 turnovers.

Oklahoma City 99 – Portland 90

• With a FTR of 0.387 and some hot shooting, the Thunder gave themselves an 8 point advantage at the free throw line.
• Gerald Wallace scored 40 points for Portland on a 62.6 TS%. He also added 7 rebounds and drew 4 charges.
• The Thunder won despite recording just 13 assists and turning the ball over 14 times.

Memphis 111 – San Antonio 104

• Memphis completely controlled the glass, grabbing 59.7% of the available rebounds with an ORR of 43.3%.
• Tony Parker shot 8 of 20 for the Spurs and had 5 turnovers to go with his 6 assists.
• Tony Allen scored 23 points for the Grizzlies on a 91.0 TS%. He was a perfect 9 of 9 on two-pointers and added 5 steals.

Last Night’s Numbers – 3/22/11

This is Last Night’s Numbers, a daily feature where we run through the NBA games from the night before, highlighting one or two numbers I found particularly interesting from each game. All the stats are from Hoopdata’s box scores, which contain some additional advanced stats not available in traditional box scores.

Chicago 132 – Sacramento 92

• The theme for last night was blowouts and this was the flagship effort. The Bulls shot 61.3% from the field and made 12 of 17 three pointers. They also scored at least 30 points in every quarter and dropped 48 points on shots at the rim.
• Sacramento turned the ball over 23.4% of their possessions. DeMarcus Cousins has 8 turnovers.
• The Bulls recorded and assist on 69.4% of their shots and totalled 34 for the game.

Orlando 97 – Cleveland 86

• Dwight Howard scored 28 points on an 86.0 TS%. He also added 18 rebounds, 4 assists, 4 steals, 4 blocks and 4 turnovers.
• Cleveland’s frontcourt players combined to shoot 11 of 29 and grab just 20 rebounds.
• The Magic grabbed 55.3% of the available rebounds with an ORR of 30.0%.

Denver 123 – Toronto 90

• Seven different Nuggets scored in double figures in the game. Ty Lawson led the way score 23 points on an 87.9 TS%.
• The Nuggets recorded an assist on 72.1% of their possessions, totalling 31 for the game. Ty Lawson and J.R. Smith each had 8.
• Toronto shot 40.3% for the game, made just 11 of 26 shots at the rim and had 10 of their shots blocked.

Indiana 102 – New Jersey 98

• With a FTR of 0.417 the Pacers gave themselves a 15 point advantage at the free throw line. Darren Collison and Danny Granger combined to go 13 of 13 at the line.
• Roy Hibbert scored 24 points on a 70.3 TS%. He was 7 of 11 from inside of 10ft. and added 5 rebounds and 3 blocks.
• New Jersey was outrebounded overall, but did grab 17 offensive rebounds to keep the game close. Those 17 offensive rebounds worked out to an ORR of 30.9%.

Boston 96 – New York 86

• The Knicks shot just 40.6% for the game and turned the ball over on14.6% of their possessions compared to just 10.1% for the Celtics.
• The Celtics grabbed 55.9% of the available rebounds with an ORR of 25.6%.
• The Knicks attempted just 16 shots at the rim and 39 shots from outside of 15ft.

San Antonio 111 – Golden State 96

• Tony Parker scored 17 points and had 15 assists to just 3 turnovers. 10 of his 15 assists went for either three pointers or layups.
• The Spurs made 11 of 32 three pointers. Manu Ginobili led the way making 4 of 9.
• The Warriors turned the ball over on 17.5% of their possessions, compared to just 12.4% for the Spurs.

Memphis 103 – Utah 85

• The Jazz turned the ball over on 21.3% of their possessions, compared to just 10.1% for the Grizzlies. Andrei Kirilenko had 4 turnovers in just 17 minutes of play.
• Darrell Arthuer scored 14 points in 19 minutes for the Grizzlies on a 63.6 TS%. Arthur also chipped in 4 blocked shots.
• Mike Conley had 11 assists for the Grizzlies, 9 of which went for layups or three pointers.