Grading the Hawks Players
(2011-2012)
In the next several
entries I’ll be grading the Hawks players for the 2011-2012 season. While it’s
a hassle and most people probably won’t read it, it is necessary that I post
this lengthy and extensive introductory entry concerning the entries to come.
The
Grades: An Explanation
The grades I give are
not based solely on the performance of the individual players as compared with
the rest of the league. The grades are also affected by expectations. If you
think about it, it wouldn’t make much sense to compare everyone on an even
plane.
If you didn’t take
expectations into account, any role player in the league would have to be given
a poor grade when compared with the stars of the NBA. It just doesn’t make
sense to compare James Jones to LeBron James without thinking about
expectations. A role player can’t be given a poor grade just because he doesn’t
finish in the top 20 in the league in points. The opposite is also true.
Players who are expected to be stars should be graded with that in mind.
I’m looking at whether
or not a player fulfilled their perceived role. I’m not saying that if we think
a player sucks and he has a terrible season I’m going to give him an “A.” What
I’m basically saying is that a role player doesn’t have to turn in an All-Star
caliber season to receive a good grade.
I also take into
account other realities such as experience, health, salary, etc. I look at how
a player did in comparison to his other seasons. Finally, for younger players,
I look at whether they improved, maintained their previous level, or declined.
Player
Summaries: A Breakdown
Each player’s summary
starts with some basic notes about the player: number of seasons; number of
seasons with the Hawks; age during this season; draft history; how the player
was acquired; salary during this season; and their contract status for next
season.
For each player I give
a regular season and postseason grade. Along with the grades, I break down each
player’s season in a few different ways. First there’s an overall section in
which I give a general review of the player’s season. Next is a statistical
section where I post various stats for the player and look at how they compare
to previous seasons and the rest of the team/league.
The next section is “Team
Leaderboard.” Here I’ll be listing any statistical category in which the player
ranked in the top 3 on the team. In the “NBA Leaderboard” section I’ll list any
appearances the player made in the top 50 (or so) in the NBA. Finally, the
season in review section covers how the player did throughout the course of the
season.
The playoff section is
obviously not as lengthy. I have one general statistical section and one
postseason review section. It’s pretty self-explanatory.
A
Rather Lengthy Note About the Stats Used
Most of the statistics used
here are simple, but I do use some of the advanced or less well-known
basketball stats as well. I won’t be able to explain each of the stats in
detail so you may have to look it up on your own if you are unfamiliar with
some of the statistics and need further info. Most of the general stats are
either total numbers, per game average, or per 48 minutes average. I do use
some of John Hollinger’s statistics like PER. I also have made some use of the
stats provided by 82games.com (although not many of them, as most of those
numbers are a bit too complex for me).
Remember that for the
leaderboard sections I’m only including players who “qualified” officially for
each stat. There are different requirements for each stat, so if you’re curious
about them you can look them up on ESPN.com or NBA Reference.com or your
preferred NBA site.
Almost all of the
“leaderboard” stats are “positive” stats (like points scored, rebounds, steals,
etc.) or at least they aren’t clearly negative (for example, you could look at
leading the team in FG Attempts per Game as positive, negative, or neutral
depending on the situation). Even for stats like fouls and turnovers, unless
I’ve prefaced the ranking with something like “on the negative side,” you can
assume I’m talking about “fewest turnovers” or “fewest fouls” or something like
that.
However, there are a
few statistical categories which are negative; in other words, you wouldn’t
want to end up leading those statistical categories (such as most fouls per 48
minutes or most technical fouls). For these rankings, I’ll make it clear that
being ranked high on the list is not a good thing.
Finally, it would take
forever to write these entries if I didn’t use some shorthand when presenting the
statistics. Likewise, it would be brutal if I were to list definitions for each
of the lesser-known or more complicated stats each time I used one. So I’m
going to have to create a “Glossary” of sorts right now in this introduction
entry. If you don’t recognize a statistical abbreviation or want clarification
on one of the more nuanced stats you can return to this entry and check out the
glossary. For the traditional and easy to comprehend stats I’ll only list the corresponding
abbreviation. For the more complex and lesser known stats I’ll list the
abbreviation as well as a brief definition. Here goes.
Stat
Glossary
Total
Stats
Games
Played (GP)
Games
Started (GS)
Minutes
Played (MIN)
Field
Goal Percentage (FG%)
Three
Point Field Goal Percentage (3PT%)
Free
Throw Percentage (FT%)
Field
Goals Made (FGM)
Field
Goal Attempts (FGA)
Three
Pointers Made (3PM)
Three
Point Attempts (3PA)
Free
Throws Made (FTM)
Free
Throw Attempts (FTA)
Two
Pointers Made (2PM)
Two
Point Attempts (2PA)
Two
Point Field Goal Percentage (2P%)
Offensive
Rebounds (OR)
Defensive
Rebounds (DR)
Total
Rebounds (REB)
Assists
(AST)
Steals
(STL)
Blocks
(BLK)
Turnovers
(TOV)
Personal
Fouls (PF)
Points
(PTS)
Flagrant
Fouls (Flagrants)
Technical
Fouls (Techs)
Ejections
(Ejections)
Foul
Outs (DQ’s)
Double-Doubles
(DD)
Triple-Doubles
(TD)
Per
Game Stats
Minutes
Per Game (MPG)
Field
Goals Made Per Game (FGM/G)
Field
Goal Attempts Per Game (FGA/G)
Three
Pointers Made Per Game (3PM/G)
Three
Point Attempts Per Game (3PA/G)
Free
Throws Made Per Game (FTM/G)
Free
Throw Attempts Per Game (FTA/G)
Two
Pointers Made Per Game (2PM/G)
Two
Point Attempts Per Game (2PA/G)
Offensive
Rebounds Per Game (OR/G)
Defensive
Rebounds Per Game (DR/G)
Total
Rebounds Per Game (R/G)
Assists
Per Game (A/G)
Steals
Per Game (S/G)
Blocks
Per Game (B/G)
Turnovers
Per Game (TOV/G)
Points
Per Game (P/G)
Personal
Fouls Per Game (PF/G)
Per
48 Minute Stats
Points
Per 48 Minutes (P/48)
Rebounds
Per 48 Minutes (R/48)
Assists
Per 48 Minutes (A/48)
Steals
Per 48 Minutes (S/48)
Blocks
Per 48 Minutes (B/48)
Personal
Fouls Per 48 Minutes (PF/48)
Ratio
Stats
Assist-toTurnover
Ratio (ATO)
Steal-to-Turnover
Ratio (STO)
Steal-to-Personal
Foul Ratio (SPF)
Block-to-Personal
Foul Ratio (BPF)
Points
Scored Per Shot Attempt (PPS)
Percentage
Stats
Offensive
Rebound Percentage (OR%) (% of available OR player grabbed while on floor)
Defensive
Rebound Percentage (DR%) (% of available DR player grabbed while on floor)
Total
Rebound Percentage (R%) (% of available REB player grabbed while on floor)
Assist
Percentage (A%) (% of teammate FG’s player assisted on while on floor)
Steal
Percentage (S%) (% of opp’s possessions ended with steal by player while on
floor)
Block
Percentage (B%) (% of opp’s 2-pt FGA’s block by player while on floor)
Turnover
Percentage (TOV%) (Turnovers per 100 possessions)
Hollinger
Stats
True
Shooting Percentage (TS%) (Takes into account value of 2-pt, 3-pt, and FT)
Assist
Ratio (ARAT) (% of possessions ended with Assist by player)
Turnover
Ratio (TOVRAT) (% of possessions ended with TOV by player)
Usage
Rate (USG%) (% of team plays used by player while on floor)
Player
Efficiency Rating (PER) (Player’s per minute statistical rating)
Value
Added (VA) (# of pts player adds to team above replacement level)
Estimated
Wins Added (EWA) (# of wins player adds above replacement level)
NBA
Reference.com Stats
Effective
Field Goal Percentage (EFG) (Adjusts for 3-pt being worth more than 2-pt)
Offensive
Rating (ORAT) (Points produced by player per 100 possessions)
Defensive
Rating (DRAT) (Points allowed by player per 100 possessions)
Offensive
Win Shares (OWS) (# of wins contributed by player due to offense)
Defensive
Win Shares (DWS) (# of wins contributed by player due to defense)
Win
Shares (WS) (# of wins contributed by player)
Win
Shares Per 48 Minutes (WS/48) (# of wins contributed by player per 48 minutes)
82games.com
Stats
Minutes
Percentage (MIN%) (% of team minutes player was on floor)
Net
Plus/Minus (+/-) (Net pts for team while player on floor)
Offensive
Points Per Possession (OFF-PPP) (Team OFF PPP while player on floor)
Defensive
Points Per Possession (DEF-PPP) (Team Def PPP while player on floor)
Net
Plus/Minus Per 48 Minutes (+/- Per 48) (Team net pts per 48 of PT for player)
Win
Percentage (Win%) (# of gms team outscored opp while player on floor)
Net
Production vs. Opponent (PRO/OPP) (How player fared vs. counterpart)
Net
On Court vs. Off Court (ON/OFF) (How team did when player on/off court)
Simple
Rating (SIMRAT) (Taken from PRO/OPP and ON/OFF)
So anyway, if you are
confused about an abbreviation or a stat you can check out this glossary. If
you want further explanation/info you can check out the sites listed within the
glossary. That’s it for this intolerable but totally necessary introduction
entry.
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