duncan228
02-16-2011, 06:51 PM
Just the intro and the Spurs, hit the link for the others.
Pretender or Contender: A look inside the NBA numbers that matter (http://www.foxsportssouthwest.com/02/16/11/Pretender-or-Contender-A-look-inside-the/landing_spurs.html?blockID=412013&feedID=3742)
By Michael Dugat
FOXSportsSouthwest.com
The trade deadline looms just over a week away (Feb. 24), and the All-Star game arrives this Saturday. Hope, once plush, now withers stale and stagnant for a handful of teams who have seen their playoff wishes vanish, while others scramble amongst the fray of the select few with title aspirations.
When wading through the predictions conceived at a national level we hear little more than regurgitated opinions juggling championship rings between the Boston Celtics, Los Angeles Lakers and Miami Heat; not that there’s anything wrong with that. However, when looking at a few of the surface trends from the last 20 years, should others be thrown into the conversation?
More importantly, at a local level, how do cities like Dallas, San Antonio and Oklahoma City stand in the eyes of these trends?
Reaching back to the year Michael Jordan won his first of six championships, the 1990-91 season, there have been 20 championship crowns worn by a total of seven different franchises: the Chicago Bulls, Houston Rockets, Spurs, Lakers, Detroit Pistons, Heat and Celtics.
While cyclical in nature, the NBA has not been dominated by the unpredictability of parity. As the names on the front of the jerseys tend to remain the same those on the back evolve around an unchanging centerpiece such as Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, Hakeem Olajuwan or Tim Duncan, players holding a combined 17 of the past 20 rings.
Ignoring the names for a moment, let’s look into the statistical rankings over a few broad categories. Averages can vary greatly from season-to-season, note that the team leading the league in scoring at the time of this writing with 107.8 points-per-game, the Denver Nuggets, would have ranked ninth in the 1991-92 campaign, while the Celtics’ defense allowing an NBA low 91.4 points would rank 11th in 2003-04 or 15th back in the lockout-shortened 1998-99 season.
Due to this, we’ll look at rankings within a season rather than raw numbers.
For the past 20 champions, here are the average rankings within their respective seasons in four categories.
Points Scored: 9.2
Points Allowed: 6.4
Opponent’s Field-Goal Percentage: 5.35
Point Differential: 3.1
From this, you can begin to find justification for the cliché of defense winning championships, as well as the importance of point differential (the number of points, on average, that a team outscores their opponent).
For this 20-year stretch, the team with the highest scoring offense won two titles. The team giving up the fewest points also holds two championships. Whoever held their opponent to the lowest field-goal percentage took four. Surprisingly, there is no overlap with these three categories.
Meanwhile, the squad with the highest point differential holds nine Finals’ victories, or one more than the other three combined.
An ancillary observation from this is the fact that a team does not need both an elite offense and defense, only to excel enough at one to hide the possible weaknesses of the other. Point differential can often be act as a quick reference point to catch this in a glimpse.
For example, the Pistons won the 2003-04 championship with a scoring offense ranked 24, but hid this weakness beneath the force of their second ranked defense (by points allowed), as well as third in opponent’s field-goal percentage. By the strength of the defense the Pistons ranked second in point differential.
At the other end of the spectrum, the 2000-01 Lakers finished the season with the 23 ranked scoring defense, but countered with the third highest scoring offense. Despite the strength of their offense, they ranked eighth in point differential, and stand as one of only four champions in the last 20 to finish outside the top five in this category.
How do the three teams from Dallas, San Antonio and Oklahoma City compare with the averages of the last 20 championship teams in these categories?
*********************
San Antonio Spurs: 6th in points scored, 10th in points allowed, 12th in opponent’s field-goal percentage and 2nd in point differential.
When discussing the Spurs, you may have heard the following more than once: “The Spurs are playing exactly like the teams they’ve always beaten in the playoffs.”
This is in reference to the up-tempo style of offense they’ve embraced while becoming a middle of the pack defensive team. Yet, this ignores the fact that this is a common trait of many championship squads, statistically excelling at one end of the court while wading through mediocrity at the other during the regular season.
Only five teams have ranked in single digits (1 through 9) across the four statistics mentioned above, and four of them were the Bulls.
As evidenced by their elite point differential, second in the NBA, and their league-best record, the Spurs have enough power on one side of the ball to carry an average performance on the other. And, is it impossible to assume they may be capable of stepping up their defensive play once the playoffs arrive?
They’ve been blessed with remarkable health within their core contributors, and have been able to effectively limit Tim Duncan’s minutes.
Should this carry on, and considering the trends, they appear primed for title contention.
http://www.foxsportssouthwest.com/02/16/11/Pretender-or-Contender-A-look-inside-the/landing_spurs.html?blockID=412013&feedID=3742
Pretender or Contender: A look inside the NBA numbers that matter (http://www.foxsportssouthwest.com/02/16/11/Pretender-or-Contender-A-look-inside-the/landing_spurs.html?blockID=412013&feedID=3742)
By Michael Dugat
FOXSportsSouthwest.com
The trade deadline looms just over a week away (Feb. 24), and the All-Star game arrives this Saturday. Hope, once plush, now withers stale and stagnant for a handful of teams who have seen their playoff wishes vanish, while others scramble amongst the fray of the select few with title aspirations.
When wading through the predictions conceived at a national level we hear little more than regurgitated opinions juggling championship rings between the Boston Celtics, Los Angeles Lakers and Miami Heat; not that there’s anything wrong with that. However, when looking at a few of the surface trends from the last 20 years, should others be thrown into the conversation?
More importantly, at a local level, how do cities like Dallas, San Antonio and Oklahoma City stand in the eyes of these trends?
Reaching back to the year Michael Jordan won his first of six championships, the 1990-91 season, there have been 20 championship crowns worn by a total of seven different franchises: the Chicago Bulls, Houston Rockets, Spurs, Lakers, Detroit Pistons, Heat and Celtics.
While cyclical in nature, the NBA has not been dominated by the unpredictability of parity. As the names on the front of the jerseys tend to remain the same those on the back evolve around an unchanging centerpiece such as Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, Hakeem Olajuwan or Tim Duncan, players holding a combined 17 of the past 20 rings.
Ignoring the names for a moment, let’s look into the statistical rankings over a few broad categories. Averages can vary greatly from season-to-season, note that the team leading the league in scoring at the time of this writing with 107.8 points-per-game, the Denver Nuggets, would have ranked ninth in the 1991-92 campaign, while the Celtics’ defense allowing an NBA low 91.4 points would rank 11th in 2003-04 or 15th back in the lockout-shortened 1998-99 season.
Due to this, we’ll look at rankings within a season rather than raw numbers.
For the past 20 champions, here are the average rankings within their respective seasons in four categories.
Points Scored: 9.2
Points Allowed: 6.4
Opponent’s Field-Goal Percentage: 5.35
Point Differential: 3.1
From this, you can begin to find justification for the cliché of defense winning championships, as well as the importance of point differential (the number of points, on average, that a team outscores their opponent).
For this 20-year stretch, the team with the highest scoring offense won two titles. The team giving up the fewest points also holds two championships. Whoever held their opponent to the lowest field-goal percentage took four. Surprisingly, there is no overlap with these three categories.
Meanwhile, the squad with the highest point differential holds nine Finals’ victories, or one more than the other three combined.
An ancillary observation from this is the fact that a team does not need both an elite offense and defense, only to excel enough at one to hide the possible weaknesses of the other. Point differential can often be act as a quick reference point to catch this in a glimpse.
For example, the Pistons won the 2003-04 championship with a scoring offense ranked 24, but hid this weakness beneath the force of their second ranked defense (by points allowed), as well as third in opponent’s field-goal percentage. By the strength of the defense the Pistons ranked second in point differential.
At the other end of the spectrum, the 2000-01 Lakers finished the season with the 23 ranked scoring defense, but countered with the third highest scoring offense. Despite the strength of their offense, they ranked eighth in point differential, and stand as one of only four champions in the last 20 to finish outside the top five in this category.
How do the three teams from Dallas, San Antonio and Oklahoma City compare with the averages of the last 20 championship teams in these categories?
*********************
San Antonio Spurs: 6th in points scored, 10th in points allowed, 12th in opponent’s field-goal percentage and 2nd in point differential.
When discussing the Spurs, you may have heard the following more than once: “The Spurs are playing exactly like the teams they’ve always beaten in the playoffs.”
This is in reference to the up-tempo style of offense they’ve embraced while becoming a middle of the pack defensive team. Yet, this ignores the fact that this is a common trait of many championship squads, statistically excelling at one end of the court while wading through mediocrity at the other during the regular season.
Only five teams have ranked in single digits (1 through 9) across the four statistics mentioned above, and four of them were the Bulls.
As evidenced by their elite point differential, second in the NBA, and their league-best record, the Spurs have enough power on one side of the ball to carry an average performance on the other. And, is it impossible to assume they may be capable of stepping up their defensive play once the playoffs arrive?
They’ve been blessed with remarkable health within their core contributors, and have been able to effectively limit Tim Duncan’s minutes.
Should this carry on, and considering the trends, they appear primed for title contention.
http://www.foxsportssouthwest.com/02/16/11/Pretender-or-Contender-A-look-inside-the/landing_spurs.html?blockID=412013&feedID=3742