Hustle Stats for the 2023-24 Season

[scott]

I found some hustle stats interesting to start the season, and some of them maybe even go counter to prevailing thought about some player's early performance.

I thought a thread to track them throughout the season would be interesting.

Through the Spurs first four games:


As a team, the Spurs rank 4th overall in Contested Shots Per Game at 52.5, and 8th overall at Contested Twos Per Game at 32.3
As a team, the Spurs are tied for 2nd in Screen Assists per Game at 12.8
Zach Collins ranks 3rd in the NBA in Screen Assists per Game at 6.5 (and 4th in Screen Assists Per 36)
Zach also ranks 5th in Contested Twos per Game (10.8) and 7th in Contested Twos Per 36 (though, as noted in another thread, Zach is actually giving up one of the league's worst opposing FG% right now - so he is contesting, but still getting scored on. Fits with the perception that he is constantly being posterized)
Jeremy Sochan leads the NBA with 5.0 Contested Threes Per Game (5.0), and is 3rd in Contested Threes per 36. Surprisingly, Andre Drummond of all people leads the league in Contested Threes Per 36
Zach is 5th in the league in Total Contested Shots per Game (12.8), and is 6th in the league at Box Outs Per Game (2.3). Close your eyes... Sengun leads the league in Box Outs Per Game.


I'll update this thread throughout the season

[BacktoBasics]

Good thread and post.

Sochan leading the league in contested 3’s would be an interesting look into whether or not he’s being forced(hung out to dry) to chase guys coming out of bad rotations… either by his teammates or his own. If I’m a coach I’d want the video guys to compile that for me.

[Chinook]

Good thread and post.

Sochan leading the league in contested 3’s would be an interesting look into whether or not he’s being forced(hung out to dry) to chase guys coming out of bad rotations… either by his teammates or his own. If I’m a coach I’d want the video guys to compile that for me.

Sochan's contests come from guarding the opposing team's best player. He's had time on Luka, Houston's guards, Kawhi and Durant. It's not too surprising they're shooting a lot on him.

[BacktoBasics]

Sochan's contests come from guarding the opposing team's best player. He's had time on Luka, Houston's guards, Kawhi and Durant. It's not too surprising they're shooting a lot on him.

I feel like he gets caught having to cover for his teammates making poor switches on pick and rolls though.

[MultiTroll]

Sochan's contests come from guarding the opposing team's best player. He's had time on Luka, Houston's guards, Kawhi and Durant. It's not too surprising they're shooting a lot on him.
Assuming he'll get BookerDashian or Durbetta tonight. Challenging cover either way.

[objective]

Everyone murders Collins at the rim, those stats matter also. He can't even keep Grayson Allen from getting it in.

[spursparker9]

Everyone murders Collins at the rim, those stats matter also. He can't even keep Grayson Allen from getting it in.

Tbh i think is due to lack of athleticism and lack of strength. Collins is not explosive and athletic enough to deter shots.

[scott]

Here's a hustle stat update for you, along with a very interesting note, that I've highlighted in bold.


The Spurs as a team rank #2 in Screen Assists per Game, and 3rd in Total Screen Assists. There is a big gulf between #1 and #2 though, as GSW is averaging 15.5 SA/gm and the Spurs are averaging 11.8
The Spurs as a team rank 6th in Contested 2's per game, and 9th in total contested 2's
The Spurs as a team rank 10th in Contested 3's per game, and 10th in total Contested 3's
The Spurs as a team rank 4th in Contested Shots per Game. However, they are also giving up a league worst Opposing FG% at 51.1%. So the Spurs are contesting shots, but those opposing shots are still going in. This is despite having Wemby lead the league in opposing FG% at 22.7% (min 25 attempts)
Zach Collins is 3rd in the league with 6.4 Screen Assists per game.
Zach is also 6th in Contested 2's per game. However, Zach's opponents are shooting 55.6% against him.
Jeremy Sochan is leading the league in Contested 3s per game at 5.0
Zach is 7th in the league in Contested Shots per Game
Zach is also tied for 7th in the league in Box Outs per game

It is interesting to see the hustle stats early in the season and the juxtaposition of contests and opp FG%. Are we on the wrong side of statistical variance right now? Or are our contests just ineffective? We'll see how this progresses.

[CorrectCrusader]

Here's a hustle stat update for you, along with a very interesting note, that I've highlighted in bold.


The Spurs as a team rank #2 in Screen Assists per Game, and 3rd in Total Screen Assists. There is a big gulf between #1 and #2 though, as GSW is averaging 15.5 SA/gm and the Spurs are averaging 11.8
The Spurs as a team rank 6th in Contested 2's per game, and 9th in total contested 2's
The Spurs as a team rank 10th in Contested 3's per game, and 10th in total Contested 3's
The Spurs as a team rank 4th in Contested Shots per Game. However, they are also giving up a league worst Opposing FG% at 51.1%. So the Spurs are contesting shots, but those opposing shots are still going in. This is despite having Wemby lead the league in opposing FG% at 22.7% (min 25 attempts)
Zach Collins is 3rd in the league with 6.4 Screen Assists per game.
Zach is also 6th in Contested 2's per game. However, Zach's opponents are shooting 55.6% against him.
Jeremy Sochan is leading the league in Contested 3s per game at 5.0
Zach is 7th in the league in Contested Shots per Game
Zach is also tied for 7th in the league in Box Outs per game

It is interesting to see the hustle stats early in the season and the juxtaposition of contests and opp FG%. Are we on the wrong side of statistical variance right now? Or are our contests just ineffective? We'll see how this progresses.

This is what my eyes were telling me. They are hitting shots they shouldn't. This should go down, our defense is ranked like 3rd when Wemby is on the floor.
We're a playoff team

[Fizziksman]

This is what my eyes were telling me. They are hitting shots they shouldn't. This should go down, our defense is ranked like 3rd when Wemby is on the floor.
We're a playoff team

luck based shots should regress.

[scott]

A small Hustle Stats update through 7 games:

As a team, the Spurs are 3rd in Screen Assists per Game
As a team, the Spurs are slightly towards the bottom half of the league in Deflections Per Game
As a team, the Spurs are middle of the pack in Loose Balls recovered and interestingly have a perfect 50% Offensive Loose Balls Recovered and 50% Defensive Loose Balls Recovered. This is actually a pretty cool coincidence at this point. One inference is that the Spurs level of hustle isn't really impacting which way loose balls are going.
As a team, we've fallen back a little bit and now only rank 5th in the league in contested shots (I didn't see the Indy game, but that may explain that score quite nicely)

[R. DeMurre]

Where are you getting these numbers? It'd be interesting to see what players have the biggest or smallest discrepancies between something like contests and blocks, or contests and deflections. Contest might be relatively arbitrary, since a McDermott or KJ contest isn't going to be as effective as, say, a Giannis contest, or a Wemby contest. Cool thread idea.

[scott]

Where are you getting these numbers? It'd be interesting to see what players have the biggest or smallest discrepancies between something like contests and blocks, or contests and deflections. Contest might be relatively arbitrary, since a McDermott or KJ contest isn't going to be as effective as, say, a Giannis contest, or a Wemby contest. Cool thread idea.

Hustle Stats by Player: https://www.nba.com/stats/players/hustle
Hustle Stats by Team: https://www.nba.com/stats/teams/hustle
Hustle Stats Leaders: https://www.nba.com/stats/players/hustle-leaders

[Dex]

I found some hustle stats interesting to start the season, and some of them maybe even go counter to prevailing thought about some player's early performance.

I thought a thread to track them throughout the season would be interesting.

Through the Spurs first four games:


As a team, the Spurs rank 4th overall in Contested Shots Per Game at 52.5, and 8th overall at Contested Twos Per Game at 32.3
As a team, the Spurs are tied for 2nd in Screen Assists per Game at 12.8
Zach Collins ranks 3rd in the NBA in Screen Assists per Game at 6.5 (and 4th in Screen Assists Per 36)
Zach also ranks 5th in Contested Twos per Game (10.8) and 7th in Contested Twos Per 36 (though, as noted in another thread, Zach is actually giving up one of the league's worst opposing FG% right now - so he is contesting, but still getting scored on. Fits with the perception that he is constantly being posterized)
Jeremy Sochan leads the NBA with 5.0 Contested Threes Per Game (5.0), and is 3rd in Contested Threes per 36. Surprisingly, Andre Drummond of all people leads the league in Contested Threes Per 36
Zach is 5th in the league in Total Contested Shots per Game (12.8), and is 6th in the league at Box Outs Per Game (2.3). Close your eyes... Sengun leads the league in Box Outs Per Game.


I'll update this thread throughout the season

Great summary.

Still mad we passed on Sengun for pretty boy Primo. :cry

Feels like a lot of teams (particularly the Pacers) are just getting hot against us despite decent defense and close-outs. I know that's not expert analysis, but still feel hoping things regress to the mean

[RC_Drunkford]

So we are 5th in contests and 29th in defensive rating? Shows you that we have a bunch of bad defenders

[objective]

Bassey's season so far is the unusually bad opponent's scoring in the restricted area %. Worst in the league among players with at least 5.0 attempts against, like shockingly bad

I'm hoping that's a small sample fluke but it does kind of track my eyetest memory of him not really contesting at all compared to last year

[scott]

10 game update:


Zach still ranked 7th in the NBA in Screen Assists per game at 4.6, though does not crack the top 10 in Screen Assists/36
Tre Jones has snuck into the top 10 in Charges Drawn per Game, tied for 9th at 0.33. Manu and Derrick White would be proud.
Zach Collins still ranks 3rd in Contested 2's per Game and 5th in Contested 2's/36. Opponents are shooting 54.7% on 2's versus Zach. The league average is 53.8%
Jeremy Sochan still comes in at 3rd per game and 8th/36 Contested 3's. Jeremy is allowing a DFG% on 3s of 32.7%. The league average is 35.5%
Zach Collins ranked 4th per game and 5th/36 in Total Contested Shots.
Zach also ranks 10th in Box Outs/Game. SpursTalk one-who-got-away Alperen Sengun still ranks 2nd in this stat.
As a team, the Spurs are 6th in Screen Assists/game
As a team, Spurs are 7th in Contested 2's. Spurs are 6th worst in the league at 2pt DFG% at 56.2%
As a team, Spurs are 10th in Contested 3's. Spurs are league worst at 40.6% 3pt DFG%
As a team, Spurs are 3rd in Contested Shots per game. Yet, Spurs are allowing a league worst 49.8% DFG%

[scott]

Bassey's season so far is the unusually bad opponent's scoring in the restricted area %. Worst in the league among players with at least 5.0 attempts against, like shockingly bad

I'm hoping that's a small sample fluke but it does kind of track my eyetest memory of him not really contesting at all compared to last year

Indeed, opponents are shooting 74.2% against Bassey in the restricted area, which is 18th worst in the league. Lots of guards and wings on the list though, so if we only look at Bigs, the worst in the league are:

Chris Boucher - 79.6%
Mike Muscala - 78.6%
Jeremiah Robinson-Earl - 76.5%
Danilo Gallinari - 76.3%
Draymond Green - 74.4%
Bassey
Alperen Sengun - 73.8

[rjv]

Great summary.

Still mad we passed on Sengun for pretty boy Primo. :cry

Feels like a lot of teams (particularly the Pacers) are just getting hot against us despite decent defense and close-outs. I know that's not expert analysis, but still feel hoping things regress to the mean

it pisses me off too. i still remember that evening, thinking i was about to hear sengun's name called out and instead hearing "Joshua Primo" and saying "who the f is josh primo?" lol but, then i think that if we had sengun, our record may have been better and we would not have won the wemby sweepstakes.

[rjv]

Indeed, opponents are shooting 74.2% against Bassey in the restricted area, which is 18th worst in the league. Lots of guards and wings on the list though, so if we only look at Bigs, the worst 5 in the league are:

Chris Boucher - 79.6%
Mike Muscala - 78.6%
Jeremiah Robinson-Earl - 76.5%
Danilo Gallinari - 76.3%
Draymond Green - 74.4%
Bassey
Alperen Sengun - 73.8

and this is the other side of the coin with sengun.