Spurs leading the league in unlikely places - a few early season stats

[GSH]

The Spurs are currently leading the league in two unlikely places: 3P% and FT%.

Sure it's early in the season, but the fact that this group is knocking down 3's, and Danny isn't even on the floor is good news. (Hopefully their 3P% doesn't go down when Danny comes back.) To add some perspective to how efficient they have been from the 3P line, they are 22nd in 3-point attempts, but 8th in 3-poiters made.

Over the years, the Spurs' games have been notorious for having fewer whistles blown on both sides. Even with Kawhi getting to the line much more often, the Spurs are still only 13th in FTA's. But they are 4th in the league in FTM.

Those are two pretty impressive stats. Even though they aren't jacking up as many 3's as a lot of teams, and even though they aren't getting as many opportunities at the FT line, their efficiency is so good that they are near the top in points generated off of both.
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A few other stats that are worth mentioning:

The Spurs are 7th in the league on Offensive Rebounds. Any serious Spurs fan of the last 15+ years knows that the Spurs usually rank at or near the bottom of the league in offensive boards. Pop's philosophy has always been for the players to get back on defense, rather than chasing offensive boards. At the same time, they are usually very good on the defensive boards, so that they usually rank in the top 8-10 in Total Rebounds. Right now they are 7th in Total Rebounds, but it's because they are excelling on the offensive glass. It will be interesting to see if that trend continues. If it does, it will be a significant departure for the Spurs under Pop.

At present, they are 11th in AST's, which probably comes as no surprise, with all the PG discussions we've had here. Add to that the fact that the starters have been more iso-heavy than past years, and it's likely that this year's team will not be an Assist leader. The good news is that they are also 5th (lowest) in Turnovers.

Surprisingly, the Spurs are currently 6th in Blocks.

The Spurs' Point Differential last season was unearthly, and they have picked up right where they left off. They are currently 3rd in the league with a +/- of 15.8. They also have the 2nd highest Net Rating in the league, thanks to the fact that they are tied for 3rd fewest opponents' points allowed.

Yes, it's early in the season, and the sample size is small. But the Spurs have come out of the gate playing much better than most of us had expected.

[NameLess Scrub]

Thanks for the info.

I guess the rebounding, blocking and assisting stats make sense by looking at the roster.

The 3pt stat surprises me, it might be the one that doesn't hold.

[BillMc]

Nice stats. Thanks for the research. :toast

I doubt its a big factor but I wonder if the offensive rebounding spike has anything to do with Kyle being in the startling lineup and not Green?

And, of course, Lee and Dedmon seem very good at getting offensive boards. We'll see if this is a change in philosophy for Pop.

[SAGirl]

Nice stats. Thanks for the research. :toast

I doubt its a big factor but I wonder if the offensive rebounding spike has anything to do with Kyle being in the startling lineup and not Green?

And, of course, Lee and Dedmon seem very good at getting offensive boards. We'll see if this is a change in philosophy for Pop.For the O rebounding, that is all Lee and Dedmon. They have been eating up benches. Kyle's role is on defensive boards, he needs to run back on defense same as Danny and would not affect O boarding in any way if he's doing his job (transition D).

[RD2191]

Anyone got our defensive ranking?

[RD2191]

Nvm. So we're around 3rd at the moment?

[SAGirl]

The Spurs are currently leading the league in two unlikely places: 3P% and FT%.

Sure it's early in the season, but the fact that this group is knocking down 3's, and Danny isn't even on the floor is good news. (Hopefully their 3P% doesn't go down when Danny comes back.) To add some perspective to how efficient they have been from the 3P line, they are 22nd in 3-point attempts, but 8th in 3-poiters made.

Over the years, the Spurs' games have been notorious for having fewer whistles blown on both sides. Even with Kawhi getting to the line much more often, the Spurs are still only 13th in FTA's. But they are 4th in the league in FTM.

Those are two pretty impressive stats. Even though they aren't jacking up as many 3's as a lot of teams, and even though they aren't getting as many opportunities at the FT line, their efficiency is so good that they are near the top in points generated off of both.
-------------

A few other stats that are worth mentioning:

The Spurs are 7th in the league on Offensive Rebounds. Any serious Spurs fan of the last 15+ years knows that the Spurs usually rank at or near the bottom of the league in offensive boards. Pop's philosophy has always been for the players to get back on defense, rather than chasing offensive boards. At the same time, they are usually very good on the defensive boards, so that they usually rank in the top 8-10 in Total Rebounds. Right now they are 7th in Total Rebounds, but it's because they are excelling on the offensive glass. It will be interesting to see if that trend continues. If it does, it will be a significant departure for the Spurs under Pop.

At present, they are 11th in AST's, which probably comes as no surprise, with all the PG discussions we've had here. Add to that the fact that the starters have been more iso-heavy than past years, and it's likely that this year's team will not be an Assist leader. The good news is that they are also 5th (lowest) in Turnovers.

Surprisingly, the Spurs are currently 6th in Blocks.

The Spurs' Point Differential last season was unearthly, and they have picked up right where they left off. They are currently 3rd in the league with a +/- of 15.8. They also have the 2nd highest Net Rating in the league, thanks to the fact that they are tied for 3rd fewest opponents' points allowed.

Yes, it's early in the season, and the sample size is small. But the Spurs have come out of the gate playing much better than most of us had expected.

:tu
Thanks for sharing. It's worth noting that it's only been 4 games. The guys who are slumping (mostly Tony) will likely bounce back, the guys who are shooting an ungodly amount will have their cold shooting games. It will all even out eventually.

The 3 pt shot is probably sustainable. Lamarcus and Pau are taking the 3. Kyle and Tony are shooting the 3 well, they are just not taking enough. Simmons had the GSW hot from 3 game, and he's streaky but he can hit it, Patty started on fire, Bertans is making his shots when he's out there. In fact, the team is shooting the 3 well with Manu shooting the 3 at 30%, Danny still out and Kawhi at 26% from 3. Those 3s will bounce back and contribute, so even when the ones currently hitting the 3 cool off a little bit, it should be sustainable.

One thing to note is that they play a slow pace still in the SL and the bench while faster likes to get to the basket, so it's not going to be a thing where they will take the most 3s out of other teams in comparison, but the quality of their looks should be good, and they have more shooters than they had last season, so they don't have to rely on 3 guys to carry the 3 ball (last season it was Kawhi, Patty and Manu)... They have more guys shooting the 3 if they are open.

[GSH]

Anyone got our defensive ranking?


DefRtg is 95.2 - 5th in the league. Strangely, NetRtg is different in two different places on the NBA.com website. The other shows that their NetRtg is higher (17.5) but that they rank 4th. Not a big difference, but kind of sloppy for the NBA's own stat source.


The Spurs' pace is still among the slowest in the league. Currently, 97.07 pace, which is 6th slowest. Even though it seems like the bench is playing at a much faster pace, overall the Spurs are still a grind-it-out team.

Their OREB% is 27.9 - which means that they are grabbing 27.9% of available offensive rebounds. To the best of my memory, that is unheard-of under Pop.
Their DREB% is 83.7, which is good for second place in the league. Probably a better indicator than the raw number of Defensive RB's, because of pace effect. That's actually pretty impressive. Bottom line, they are scraping the glass on both ends.

[UNT Eagles 2016]

Duncan leaving helped out the free throws because they're no longer just watching him shoot them all day in practice.

[Solid D]

Interesting stats. I doubt the Spurs will rank very high in 3-pt field goal attempts per game. At least, not as long as they have the good-to-great shot mentality.

[buttsR4rebounding]

3 point % will be interesting. Kawhi will no doubt improve from his 4 for 15 start. We should be shooting more 3's. KA, Bertans, Simmons have all been passing up wide open 3's so far. Bertans especially just needs to let it fly. He has one of the purest jump shots I have ever seen.

[Mr. Body]

The offensive boards are awesome. I expect Pop to let one guy (Lee) stick in there. LMA and Leonard had success against the Dubs and it potentially drags their transition plus forces Kerr to play his bad bigs.

[rastaspur]

Thanks for posting.

[SpursFan86]

Us being high in 3P% isn't too surprising...last year we were 2nd only behind Golden State. Our problem wasn't shooting poorly from 3 - it was that we weren't taking enough 3s (we were 26th in 3PA).

Same goes for FT%. Last year we were 2nd in FT%. But just as it was with 3-point shooting, we just weren't getting enough attempts. The Spurs were 28th last year in FTA.

Like you said, though, if you're efficient enough you can kind of make up for a lack of attempts.

[Chinook]

Nice stats. Thanks for the research. :toast

I doubt its a big factor but I wonder if the offensive rebounding spike has anything to do with Kyle being in the startling lineup and not Green?.

I don't believe so. Kyle's a great rebounder for his position, but his boards are coming at the expense of Kawhi, whereas Leonard is boarding at about the same level as Green usually does. This does to go show how much position plays into rebounding number, even between two "interchangeable" positions.

[Spur|n|Austin]

Good stuff, thanks for posting GSH

[Solid D]

I don't believe so. Kyle's a great rebounder for his position, but his boards are coming at the expense of Kawhi, whereas Leonard is boarding at about the same level as Green usually does. This does to go show how much position plays into rebounding number, even between two "interchangeable" positions.

Isn't it a bit early in the season (too small a sample size) to make that assessment just yet?

[dabom]

Kyle is a shit rebounder when the chips are high.

[Solid D]

Kyle is a s*** rebounder when the chips are high.

Bait. :fishing

[All Mighty Janitor]

We are a big team and should be going after offensive rebounds. When you are good at getting offensive rebounds it forces teams to gang rebound and limits their transition opportunities. And for those rare transition opportunities they do get, we've Danny, Kawhi, and Simmons back on D to stop them. We have a very versatile team and greatly look forward to the rest of the season.

[wildbill2u]

Bait. :fishing

Ah, let's see if the SAGirl is biting today.

[SAGirl]

Ah, let's see if the SAGirl is biting today.lol nah I am chilling on Kyle. I have been upset he came up in a passive mindset, and I still hope for his development. Where it's relevant and interesting I chip in, but I am not biting on trolling. lol

[GSH]

I don't believe so. Kyle's a great rebounder for his position, but his boards are coming at the expense of Kawhi, whereas Leonard is boarding at about the same level as Green usually does. This does to go show how much position plays into rebounding number, even between two "interchangeable" positions.


That's going to be a tough one to confirm or deny. I don't know any way to look at it directly through the stats offhand. But:


TRB/36:

Lee - 14.5
Dedmon - 14.3
Gasol - 11.3
Aldridge - 9.8
Anderson - 7.5

ORB/36

Dedmon - 6.4
Lee - 5.4
Aldridge - 4.3
Gasol - 1.6
Anderson - .7

To me, it just looks like Dedmon and Lee are rebounding their asses off. The other guys are doing pretty much what should be expected of them. But our two backup bigs (so far at least) are doing some great work.

[BillMc]

I don't believe so. Kyle's a great rebounder for his position, but his boards are coming at the expense of Kawhi, whereas Leonard is boarding at about the same level as Green usually does. This does to go show how much position plays into rebounding number, even between two "interchangeable" positions.

Interesting.Thanks.

[dabom]

lol nah I am chilling on Kyle. I have been upset he came up in a passive mindset, and I still hope for his development. Where it's relevant and interesting I chip in, but I am not biting on trolling. lol

Quality post. No joke.

[cariocaz]

Thanks, GSH! :flag:

[Chinook]

Isn't it a bit early in the season (too small a sample size) to make that assessment just yet?

No, not really. It's too soon to think that Kawhi can't be an effect rebounder at the two, but it's relatively easy to see what has already occurred. Kawhi managed to pick up seven rebounds tonight without a lot of effort since Simmons replaced Anderson in the first unit.

[ElNono]

thanks GSH!