Najera is Huge and Iverson is Outstanding While Running the Point as the Nuggets Beat the Spurs in Denver 109-96

TOP NBA POINT GUARDS OF 2011-2012 (complete regular season)
Each year QFTR publishes Real Player Ratings for every player in the NBA who has played at least 300 minutes. Real Player Ratings are comprehensive player ratings that are very carefully designed and quality controlled. Starting in 2012, the Ratings are supplemented by seven per 36 minutes charts which show player performance in seven of the very most important performance measures, all of which are components of Real Player Ratings (but there are other components that go into Real Player Ratings). These charts are stationed on the home page at all times. This is most likely the only place on the Internet where this key player information is shown in this optimal way.

Here we have the leading point guards of the NBA in 2011-2012 ranked according to number of plays made per 36 minutes playing time. This is "AST" in the chart. The assists and all other items shown in the chart other than the percentages and the minutes played are per 36 minutes, which is much smarter to use than per game numbers.

For this and all the other charts, a minimum of 300 minutes of playing time is required. A player must have made at least 6 assists per 36 minutes (or at least 1 assist every 6 minutes) to be shown here.

This is one of the seven "7/36 Charts". A short user guide for these is found in this Report.

Here now are how the best point guards in the NBA in 2011-2012 rated and ranked:

Player               Tm   MP   FG  FGA  3P 3PA  FT FTA ORB DRB  AST STL BLK TOV  PF  PTS  FG%  3P%  FT%
Steve Nash          PHO 1961  5.4 10.2 1.0 2.6 2.3 2.6 0.5 2.9 12.2 0.7 0.1 4.2 1.0 14.2 .532 .390 .894
Rajon Rondo         BOS 1957  4.7 10.5 0.2 0.8 2.0 3.3 1.1 3.6 11.4 1.7 0.1 3.6 1.8 11.6 .448 .238 .597
Jose Calderon       TOR 1799  4.4  9.5 1.2 3.2 1.2 1.4 0.4 2.8  9.4 0.9 0.1 2.1 1.9 11.1 .457 .371 .882
Chris Paul          LAC 2181  7.0 14.7 1.3 3.5 4.3 5.0 0.7 2.8  9.0 2.5 0.1 2.0 2.3 19.6 .478 .371 .861
Andre Miller        DEN 1809  4.8 11.0 0.4 1.7 2.7 3.4 1.1 3.3  8.8 1.3 0.2 3.5 2.6 12.7 .438 .217 .811
Tony Parker         SAS 1923  8.0 16.7 0.3 1.1 4.2 5.3 0.4 2.8  8.7 1.1 0.1 2.9 1.4 20.5 .480 .230 .799
Jamaal Tinsley      UTA  507  4.0 10.0 0.7 2.6 0.9 1.2 0.4 2.8  8.7 1.2 0.6 3.7 3.3  9.7 .404 .270 .765
Deron Williams      NJN 1999  7.0 17.3 2.1 6.2 4.6 5.5 0.4 2.9  8.7 1.2 0.4 3.9 2.2 20.8 .407 .336 .843
Ricky Rubio         MIN 1404  3.6 10.0 0.8 2.4 3.2 4.0 0.5 3.8  8.6 2.3 0.2 3.4 2.5 11.2 .357 .340 .803
Jonny Flynn         TOT  416  4.0 11.3 0.9 2.9 2.5 3.4 0.7 2.7  8.3 0.5 0.2 3.1 2.0 11.3 .351 .294 .744
Jeremy Lin          NYK  940  6.5 14.7 0.9 2.9 5.6 7.0 0.7 3.4  8.3 2.1 0.3 4.8 3.0 19.6 .446 .320 .798
Baron Davis         NYK  595  4.1 11.1 1.6 5.1 1.0 1.5 0.8 2.6  8.2 2.1 0.2 4.6 3.7 10.8 .370 .306 .667
Jose Barea          MIN 1032  5.8 14.6 1.8 5.0 2.7 3.4 0.5 3.5  8.1 0.7 0.0 3.6 2.1 16.2 .400 .371 .776
Derrick Rose        CHI 1375  7.9 18.2 1.4 4.5 5.1 6.3 0.7 2.7  8.0 0.9 0.7 3.1 1.4 22.3 .435 .312 .812
John Wall           WAS 2386  5.7 13.5 0.0 0.6 4.8 6.1 0.7 3.8  8.0 1.4 0.9 3.8 2.1 16.2 .423 .071 .789
D.J. Augustin       CHA 1408  4.7 12.5 1.6 4.6 2.7 3.1 0.6 2.2  7.8 0.9 0.0 2.8 1.7 13.6 .376 .341 .875
Beno Udrih          MIL 1080  4.9 11.1 0.6 2.0 1.3 1.8 0.9 2.5  7.6 1.2 0.0 2.6 2.3 11.6 .440 .288 .709
Greivis Vasquez     NOH 1706  4.7 11.0 0.9 2.8 2.0 2.5 0.5 3.2  7.6 1.3 0.2 3.1 2.7 12.4 .430 .319 .821
Earl Watson         UTA 1033  1.9  5.6 0.3 1.8 1.1 1.6 1.0 3.2  7.6 1.9 0.8 3.0 3.7  5.2 .338 .192 .674
Ramon Sessions      TOT 1707  5.1 11.9 0.9 2.0 4.1 5.2 0.7 3.8  7.5 0.9 0.1 3.0 2.1 15.2 .428 .443 .782
Player               Tm   MP   FG  FGA  3P 3PA  FT FTA ORB DRB  AST STL BLK TOV  PF  PTS  FG%  3P%  FT%
Raymond Felton      POR 1906  4.9 12.1 1.2 3.8 1.9 2.3 0.5 2.3  7.4 1.5 0.2 3.2 2.3 12.9 .407 .305 .806
Kyle Lowry          HOU 1510  5.0 12.2 1.9 5.0 4.1 4.7 0.9 4.2  7.4 1.7 0.3 3.1 3.2 16.0 .409 .374 .864
Goran Dragic        HOU 1752  5.7 12.3 1.4 4.2 3.1 3.9 1.1 2.4  7.2 1.7 0.2 3.2 3.4 15.9 .462 .337 .805
Nate Robinson       GSW 1192  6.2 14.6 2.0 5.5 2.8 3.4 0.5 2.6  7.0 1.8 0.1 2.3 3.6 17.2 .424 .365 .832
Manu Ginobili       SAS  792  6.8 13.0 2.4 5.7 4.0 4.6 0.8 4.5  6.9 1.1 0.5 2.9 2.5 20.0 .526 .413 .871
Charles Jenkins     GSW  893  5.2 11.7 0.1 0.8 1.4 1.6 0.3 2.4  6.9 1.3 0.2 2.4 3.4 12.0 .447 .150 .872
Jason Kidd          DAL 1379  2.6  7.1 2.1 5.8 0.6 0.7 0.4 4.8  6.9 2.1 0.3 2.4 2.2  7.8 .363 .354 .786
Jameer Nelson       ORL 1706  5.5 12.8 1.8 4.9 1.5 1.9 0.6 3.2  6.9 0.8 0.1 2.8 2.7 14.3 .427 .377 .807
Stephen Curry       GSW  732  7.1 14.6 2.7 6.0 1.9 2.3 0.7 3.6  6.8 1.9 0.4 3.2 3.0 18.8 .490 .455 .809
Ty Lawson           DEN 2124  6.3 13.0 1.2 3.4 3.0 3.7 0.9 2.9  6.8 1.4 0.1 2.5 1.6 16.9 .488 .365 .824
Mike Conley         MEM 2174  4.9 11.3 1.0 2.6 2.3 2.6 0.4 2.2  6.7 2.3 0.2 2.1 2.2 13.0 .433 .377 .861
Jarrett Jack        NOH 1530  6.3 13.7 0.9 2.6 3.0 3.5 0.5 3.6  6.7 0.7 0.2 2.5 2.2 16.5 .456 .348 .872
Devin Harris        UTA 1741  5.0 11.2 1.6 4.4 3.2 4.3 0.2 2.1  6.5 1.3 0.3 2.5 2.8 14.8 .445 .362 .746
Kyrie Irving        CLE 1558  8.1 17.3 1.7 4.2 4.0 4.5 1.0 3.4  6.4 1.2 0.5 3.7 2.5 21.8 .469 .399 .872
C.J. Watson         CHI 1159  5.0 13.6 2.1 5.4 2.6 3.2 0.7 2.6  6.2 1.4 0.2 3.0 3.2 14.7 .368 .393 .808
Shelvin Mack        WAS  779  4.1 10.2 0.6 1.9 1.9 2.7 0.6 3.7  6.1 1.3 0.1 2.2 2.3 10.6 .400 .286 .712
Jerryd Bayless      TOR  705  6.0 14.1 2.2 5.3 3.8 4.5 0.4 3.0  6.0 1.2 0.2 2.7 3.6 18.0 .424 .423 .852
LeBron James        MIA 2326  9.6 18.1 0.8 2.3 6.0 7.8 1.5 6.2  6.0 1.8 0.8 3.3 1.5 26.0 .531 .362 .771

Saturday, March 8, 2008

Najera is Huge and Iverson is Outstanding While Running the Point as the Nuggets Beat the Spurs in Denver 109-96

Few people know that the Spurs and the Nuggets are almost exactly equal in talent. Even fewer know that the Nuggets, if you adjust for their fast pace, are not vastly inferior to the Spurs on defense. The reason the Spurs almost always win, to put it bluntly, is that they are a lot smarter than the Nuggets.

So two of the NBA’s most talented teams, and two of the NBA’s best defensive teams, the Nuggets and Spurs, played in front of a national TV audience and in front of an unusually raucous thank God it’s Friday crowd at the Pepsi Center in Denver. In this clash of titans, Spurs Coach Greg Popovich tried every strategy, called every play, put every player in the game, called every timeout, yelled at every player, and cussed at every official that he could think of. But nothing could stop the extremely fired up Nuggets, who were aided substantially by their crowd for a change, from coming out in the 2nd half and taking no prisoners.

Although Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili were rock solid as usual, the third piece of the Spurs’ three-headed monster, PG Tony Parker, was almost a disaster, and nothing Popovich did could get the Spurs out of the huge hole that was created by Parker’s poor game.

Eduardo Najera defended well, rotated well, screened well, scrambled for loose balls, hustled from all over the place for rebounds, made 8/10 shots for 19 points in 25 minutes, worked extremely hard for 2 steals, worked smart for 2 assists, and played his game of the year and one of his all time greatest games as a Nugget, as the Denver Nuggets maintained their fighting chance to get one of the last two playoff spots in the West by defeating the San Antonio Spurs in Denver 109-96.

The Nuggets are most likely battling for the last playoff spot, unless the Suns collapse even worse than expected following their loss of Shawn Marion via a bad trade. However, before anyone gets carried away, and starts to think that the Nuggets made a statement, you must know that the Spurs were playing on back to back nights, so the Nuggets had both the home court and the extra rest advantages, and they were fired up even by thank God it’s Friday standards. It is pretty rare for the road team to win when it is playing on back to back nights, and the home team is not.

In one of the highlights of the whole season, Najera raced in from the right corner to grab an offensive rebound from the left side of the rim and pumped it way out to J.R. Smith, who swished a sweet long three. You almost never see that kind of play against the Spurs. As for Smith, he doesn’t even have to be on or near the line to make threes these days. On another Smith long 3 that was swished, the ESPN announcer remarked that the extremely high trajectory of the ball might have disturbed some pigeons in the rafters of the arena.

Both Najera and Smith were especially impulsive in this game. But George Karl thinks impulsiveness is a bad thing in basketball. He thinks that a player should always think for a second before he does anything. But players who have legendary status, such as Allen Iverson, are almost always given the benefit of the doubt by Karl regarding their thinking and decisions in games.

Other Coaches want to help direct the thoughts of their players while games are going on. In other words, they want to do some of the thinking for their players. But Karl perceives his role as limited to trying to get his players to think better in general, so that they can be better thinkers and decision makers during games. This sounds reasonable at first, and it sounds so normal, because that is what the objective of education is, to get students to be better thinkers. Unfortunately, basketball is not the same as life in general.

Karl will sometimes tell a player what he thinks he should do, but he won’t tell a player how to decide when or what he should do in different situations. For example, he will tell Melo to go the rim more, but he won’t tell him when he should instead go to the rim and when he should kick it out to J.R. Smith or Linas Kleiza on the perimeter. What Karl will not tell his players is very important in a basketball game, because most players can see only the trees, the other players, and can not see the forest, which is how the game as a whole is going and how it might be won.

With Karl, the thinking burden is almost all on the player. This helps explain why Karl does not feel the need to call offensive plays, either specifically or generally, in preparation for or during games. Karl thinks the players are supposed to think of offensive plays as they go. Or more precisely, players are supposed to be able to think of the right thing to try at any given time. And Karl holds all of his players responsible for their game decisions and reserves the right to criticize those decisions, even directly to the media, whereas most other Coaches in effect take some of the responsibility for decisions made by players in games, and almost never criticize a player’s decision making in public.

The approach of those other coaches has a more successful record than Karl’s approach in the NBA, particularly in hard fought playoff games. (Coach, I hate to tell you, but even A.I. doesn’t always think about what he is going to do next, even for 1 second. He’ll never tell, so I just revealed his little secret.)

Najera and Smith were key performers in this game precisely because they played impulsively, with instinct, without having to waste a second thinking. Players who have abilities and who have trained to make those abilities ready to rock and roll should be chock loaded with confidence, and a huge amount of confidence naturally leads to impulsive decisions. Unlike life in general, sports rewards those who make decisions extremely quickly, including in no time at all. In short, impulsiveness is not a bad thing in Sports, unless the player does not have the abilities and the training to allow impulsive decisions to pay off. But if that is the case, the player would not be a pro NBA player in the first place, would he? The fact that Karl will never understand this is a true shame.

It was Iverson playing both guard positions for most of the night. PG Anthony Carter did little in this game and PG Chucky Atkins did almost nothing. To say that Iverson was masterful while running things would be an understatement; he made 9 assists and only 2 turnovers while scoring 29 points on 10/16 shooting and 10/11 from the line. For those who think Iverson can’t play point guard: if you don’t think that’s good enough for a point guard, then you have your requirements set way to high, my friend. For those who think J.R. Smith is not a good enough 2-guard, please read some recent game reports, especially the last one for the Suns game, and see if you still think that way.

We have been discussing and proving the folly of having PG Anthony Carter and PG-SG Allen Iverson out on the floor at the same time in recent reports. In this game, it was obvious that Iverson was playing both guard positions for much of the time he was out there, and he was out there for virtually the whole game. Only when J.R. Smith was in the game did Iverson wisely step back a little and mostly limit himself to running the point. The reason for this is that The Answer has become a true believer in Smith’s ability to contribute huge scoring for the Nuggets. On the other hand, Iverson is more and more proceeding almost as if Carter is not even there.

Carter did very little in this game as a result of Iverson’s decisions, exactly as we predicted. Carter had his minutes limited to 19 minutes, down from his season average of 30. Was this because George Karl has finally understood this problem and is starting to address it? No, of course not. Carter’s reduced minutes were due almost entirely to the need to insert PG Chucky Atkins into a game for the first time in about two months.

However, there was a 3 minute stretch, in the middle of the 2nd quarter, when the Nuggets had only 1 point guard out there. Iverson was getting a rare breather, Carter was also out, and Chucky Atkins was the only PG out there at that time. Of course, Atkins did nothing to speak of during that time, but we have been begging for a one point guard offense, and we got it for 3 minutes, and we should be grateful just for that. Now maybe if we wait about 10 years, Karl will finally have realized that Iverson should be the point guard instead of Atkins or Carter.

Chucky Atkins, who was brought on to the team from the Grizzlies to be the starting PG for the Nuggets, played for the first time since early January after having missed 26 straight games due to a hernia.

Nuggets 1 has recently gone all out to point out the folly of having both Carter and Iverson, both very small guards, in the game at the same time, since Iverson is gradually taking over more and more of the point guard duties. Nuggets 1 has pointed out that it is borderline madness to have Carter and Iverson on the floor at the same time for more than about half a quarter, since Carter is close to worthless once Iverson has decided to go into the point guard mode.

The Spurs apparently didn’t get the memo about how Iverson is gradually taking over running the point for the Nuggets, so that he is essentially playing both guard positions at once, even while PG Carter is out there with him, so that there is a bigger payoff than ever if you double team A.I. They instead decided to double team Melo, and they did that well of course, but only in the 1st half. Bruce Bowen especially frustrated the heck out of Melo in the 1st half. Double teaming Melo is so old fashioned, Spurs! Come on, get with the times and double Iverson a lot more next time if the Nuggets have Iverson-Carter or Iverson-Atkins in the back court at the same time! Granted, Melo can still do a lot of damage, but Iverson is the guy from which almost every Nuggets play comes from these days.

George Karl urged Melo to take it to the rim more in the second half to get out of the rut Bowen and company had put him in, and that was exactly the right thing to do. If they are doubling and being physical to take away the midrange jumper, go to the spin moves, the stutter stepping, the pick and rolls, the kick outs. Don’t think you can still make ordinary midrange jumpers when the Spurs are draped all over you like a wet rag. Take it to the rim one way or another. So Melo and the Nuggets did this in the 3rd quarter, and the Spurs were then crushed in that quarter, which eliminated any chance they could win this game. Almost by accident, the way to beat the Spurs was discovered by the Nuggets. Abandon the midrange jumper, and replace it with dunks, layups, offensive rebounds, free throws, and kick outs to the perimeter for threes.

The Nuggets outscored the Spurs in the paint 42-30, and they got a nice 20 points off fast breaks versus 14 fast break points for the Spurs. At the same time, the Nuggets, who are not a good three-point shooting team by any stretch, nevertheless made an amazing 7/14 threes in this game. J.R. Smith was 3/5 and Iverson was 2/3 to lead the Nuggets.

Turnovers were about even, but the Nuggets prevailed in offensive rebounding 5-3 and in defensive rebounding 34-28. Camby made 13 rebounds, Anthony made 8 rebounds, Najera made 6 rebounds, and Martin made 5 rebounds.

Overall, the Nuggets were an astounding 40/74 or 54.1% from the field, while the Spurs were a not quite as astounding 37/75 or 49.3%.

Coach Popovich, realizing that the Spurs’ cause was lost in what is always a long shot situation, trying to win on the road while playing on back to back nights, while the home team is rested, pulled Duncan, Ginobili, Parker, and Bowen half way through the 4th quarter, with the Nuggets leading 96-81 and more fired up than anyone can remember them being this season. This was not a mistake as the ESPN announcer said it might be. Popovich recognizes a lost cause when he sees one.

When you look at this game closely, you can see that the truth is that the Nuggets became a rough, blue collar version of the Spurs for a night. They had to, because the Spurs always insist that you play their way if you want to beat them. The Nuggets changed their stripes, in other words, and were able to defeat the Spurs while playing at the Spurs’ slow pace, and while relying heavily on defense. The shock on Duncan and Parker’s faces late in the 4th after they had been pulled from the game was priceless. They were shocked that Popovich had tried almost everything in the Spurs’ book, and nothing worked well against the Nuggets on this night.

They were even more shocked that the Nuggets had a surface resemblance to themselves. How could this be? they asked themselves. How could a team that knows so little about how to win basketball games have overcome every trick that Popovich and the Spurs threw at them?

I’ll tell you the reasons. First, it was because not all games are won by those who know more about how to win. Some games are won by hard work, talent, and impulsiveness alone.

Second, The Answer has finally figured out that the answer for the Nuggets is for him to make sure that the crucial point guard position is run by someone who has enough talent to do it well, and that would be himself. Allen Iverson has crossed another river in the quest for the ring.

PROJECTIONS

Nuggets 1 Current odds, to the nearest 5%, of the Nuggets making the playoffs: 50%
Nuggets 1 Current odds, to the nearest 5%, that the Nuggets and their suffering fans will be stuck with George Karl for next season: 65%

The current odds of the Nuggets making the playoffs, according to Hollinger at ESPN’s excellent team analysis system, are 67%. However, and I know this is confusing, the Nuggets are projected to most likely be the 9th seed in the Western Conference, meaning that they will not make the playoffs. It seems right now that the Suns, the Warriors, and the Nuggets will be battling it out for the last 2 playoff spots in the West. All three of them are considered likely to make the playoffs, in statistical terms, but not all three are going to make it. Nuggets 1 agrees with Hollinger’s system, which is saying that the Suns and the Warriors are favored in that race, although the Warriors-Nuggets race is razor tight.

The Hollinger odds don’t take into account that, most likely, neither Nene nor Atkins is going to be available in top form for the Nuggets for the stretch run. Atkins was a disaster in his first time back in the Spurs game. If the Hollinger odds adjusted for injuries, it would show a lower percentage chance than 67% for the Nuggets to make the playoffs.

The Lakers, the Rockets, the Spurs, the Jazz, and the Hornets are currently considered locks to make the playoffs, and the Mavericks are currently considered near locks to make the playoffs. However, the Rockets are no longer really total locks, due to the loss of Yao Ming for the season. But they are still near locks. The Suns are in trouble, due to their terrible trade, which was Shawn Marion and Marcus Banks for Shaquille O’Neal.

PLAYOFF TEAMS PROJECTED FINAL RECORDS-HOLLINGER-ESPN
1. Lakers 59-23
2. Spurs 56-26
3. Rockets 55-27
4. Jazz 54-28
5. Hornets 53-29
6. Mavericks 51-31
7. Suns 51-31
8. Warriors 50-32

NON-PLAYOFF TEAMS PROJECTED FINAL RECORDS-HOLLINGER-ESPN
9. Nuggets 49-33
10. Trailblazers 42-40

The Rockets have just lost their best player, and one of the best players in the NBA, Yao Ming, for the rest of the season. Therefore, they will probably drop substantially below their current projection, since the projections do not take injuries into account. The Suns will probably drop a little more also, because they made a bad trade when they gave up “The Matrix,” Shawn Marion. At this time, however, Nuggets 1 does not believe that either the Rockets or the Suns will fail to win at least 50 games, so they will most likely finish ahead of the Nuggets despite their difficulties.

As for the Warriors, they have an easier schedule than the Nuggets the rest of the way, so Nuggets 1 agrees with Hollinger’s system, and thinks that the Warriors will finish very slightly ahead of the Nuggets. If the Warriors and the Nuggets finish with identical records, and the season series between them ends up tied 2-2, the Warriors are likely to get the playoff spot rather than the Nuggets, because it is likely that the Warriors will finish at least 1 game ahead of the Nuggets in Conference record, which would be the tie-breaker if the Warriors and the Nuggets split their 4 head to head games. If either the Nuggets or the Warriors win both of the remaining two head to head games that the teams play, then that winner will earn a big advantage toward securing the final playoff spot. The Nuggets-Warriors games are on Saturday, March 29 in Denver and on Thursday, April 10 in Oakland. Neither the Warriors nor the Nuggets will be playing on back to back nights in either of those games.

So overall, Nuggets 1 agrees with the Hollinger system; as of now, we think the Nuggets will fail to make the playoffs. But it will be an extremely close call, and it could go either way. One extra win by the Nuggets could easily be all that is needed for them to make the playoffs. Specifically, if the Nuggets can go 13-8 in their last 22 games, and finish 50-32, that is likely to be good enough for at least the 8th seed. All bets are off if the Nuggets are 12-9 in their last 22 games. If the Nuggets are 11-10 or worse, it is very unlikely that they will make the playoffs.

If you win a division you get into the playoffs regardless of how poor your record is. For the Nuggets, winning the Northwest Division is very unlikely at this point; the odds on that are at 12%. The odds that Utah will win the Northwest are 88% right now. The Nuggets would most likely have to beat the Jazz in both of their remaining games against them, both of which are in Salt Lake City, and one of which is this Saturday night, in order to have a shot at winning the Northwest.

PLAYERS WHO WERE NOT AVAILABLE
NUGGETS PLAYERS WHO WERE NOT AVAILABLE / INJURY REPORT
Chucky Atkins: returned to the lineup vs. San Antonio on 3/7 after missing the previous 26 games due to a surgically repaired right groin/abdominal strain (Sports Hernia). He is considered probable for tonight’s game against the Jazz.
Nene: underwent successful surgery to remove a testicular tumor on Jan. 14. A timeline for his return is still unknown. He is out until at least the middle of March, but could easily be out for the entire rest of the season. Nene has now missed 27 straight games this season. CBS Sportsline says Nene is likely to be out for the rest of the season.
Carmelo Anthony: suffered a left knee contusion in this game, but is probable for the Jazz game tonight.
Allen Iverson: suffered a sprained right ring finger in this game. X-Rays were negative and he is probable for tonight’s game. CBS Sportsline has Iverson as questionable.
Steven Hunter: A death in the family made him unavailable for last night’s Spurs game, and also for Saturday night’s Jazz game.

SPURS PLAYERS WHO WERE NOT AVAILABLE
None, all Spurs on the roster were available.

ALERT STATUS PROBLEMS
As of March 8, 2008

The Nuggets are under a GREY ALERT, on account of the following problems.

INJURIES, ILLNESSES, SUSPENSIONS, AND LEAVES
1. Nene illness 14 points
2. Steven Hunter 4 points

SEVERE AND UNEXPECTED CRUCIAL PLAYER SLUMPS
Chucky Atkins, 13 points

BAD OR INADEQUATE COACHING
1. George Karl has completely benched one or more players who should not be benched due to his incorrect calculation of the benefits and costs of that player, his hatred of the player, and/or his having the ulterior motive of forcing the player off the team. The problem points would be the points you would have if the player were injured.

No one is currently completely benched who should not be: 0 points.

2. One or more players are partially benched; their minutes are being artificially limited due to abstract and subjective factors that the Denver coaches believe are more important than performance on the court.

J.R. Smith was partially benched: 0 points. Smith was not partially benched.

3. George Karl over relies on his starters and won’t play the non-starters enough: 0-12 Points. The severity varies depending on the circumstances, mainly Karl’s beliefs and moods, and whether the other team is playing well enough to take advantage of the Nuggets playing with not enough breathers, with too many fouls, and so forth. The current points reported are for the use, or should I say the misuse, of the reserves for the most recent games, with the most weight being given to the game being reported on here.

The bad use of reserves score for this game is 0 points. Najera and Smith were huge from off the bench, and they both received their minimum reasonable minutes. Kleiza’s minutes have been cut, but that makes sense because Kleiza is in a slump. Wow, Karl did a great job in this game on the player rotations!

4. The Nuggets have extreme offensive inconsistency and an excessive number of turnovers because they have neither a system nor even a good partial system on offense. They over rely on fast pace and on isolation plays, especially isolation plays by Anthony and Iverson. The damage caused by this would be up to 20 points, except that Iverson’s intelligence in recognizing different situations and responding appropriately, in particular games, reduces the damage. At one time earlier this season, Iverson and Carter were marginalizing Anthony to some extent. That problem went away when Anthony ramped up his rebounding.

However, another problem has developed due to a combination of the unstructured offense and the Karl lineup, and it is not going to go away anytime soon. That would be the double point guard problem. The Nuggets don’t know in advance who is going to be the effective point guard in the game: Iverson, Carter, or both Iverson and Carter roughly equally. And in any case, it is foolish to have two point guards in the game for more than a small number of minutes.

In any event, the Nuggets lack enough tried and tested offensive plays that they can run game after game, perfecting them as they go, and having everyone automatically on the same page for those plays.

On defense a system is much less important than on offense. How good your defense is is determined much more by effort and skill than by strategy. On defense, the main strategic decision is whether you are playing zone or man to man defense. The choice varies during each game, and usually depends on a gut feeling of the coach and/or the defensive floor leader, as to which is better at a particular point in the game, and with a particular opposing lineup on the court. At least as important as whether a zone or a man to man defense is in effect is the quality of the actual defending.

Lack of an adequate number of offensive plays and patterns: 6 Points

INTENSITY, HUSTLE, AND HEART
1. The Nugget’s intensity, hustle and heart are lacking: 0 Points. It’s not anywhere near as bad as some fans think it is.

TOTAL PROBLEM POINTS: 37, which constitutes GREY ALERT.

GREY ALERT (30-39): There are relatively minor problems leading to a small threat against the success of the entire season. It is still possible to beat quality teams, but it will be a little more unusual to beat a quality team, because about 1/4 of what would have been wins against good teams will now be losses when there is a GREY ALERT.

OBSERVATIONS ON THE ALERT STATUS
George Karl has gotten the rotations within reason, for a change, and Iverson has taken over running the point more than ever so, all of the sudden, the Nuggets alert status has improved substantially.

The Nuggets would be all the way up to GREEN alert, except that Chucky Atkins is showing nothing so far in his return from a long injury out. So Nuggets 1 listed him in the “severe and unexpected crucial player slump” section. The points will be reduced as Atkins gets better.

The Nuggets have been unable to issue any prediction about when or whether Nene is going to return to the court. There was a rumor recently that he was going to return by mid-March, but there is no sign that that will become a reality yet. CBS Sportsline is saying that, most likely, Nene will not return to the court at all this season, including for the playoffs. If Nene in fact never returns, and Atkins continues to be a lost cause, and Karl goes back to making his usual mistakes, and if Carter starts to reassert himself at point guard, the Nuggets will return to YELLOW alert. In any event, George Karl is definitely not going to pull a few offensive set plays out of a hat any time soon.

The mid January losses to the Bobcats and the Hawks, and the close calls at home against the Wolves and the Hawks in January, in games that should have and probably would have been relatively easy wins had the alert status been green, grey, or even yellow, illustrate the usefulness and accuracy of the alert system. When you reach ORANGE ALERT and especially RED ALERT, you start losing a substantial number of games that you would normally win. It’s that simple, and there is little anyone can do about it.

RESERVE WATCH
Number of Players Who Played at Least 6 Minutes: Nuggets 9 Spurs 12
Number of Players Who Played at Least 10 Minutes: Nuggets 8 Spurs 9

Nuggets Non-Starters Points: 34
Spurs Non-Starters Points: 28

Nuggets Non-Starters Rebounds: 10
Spurs Non-Starters Rebounds: 8

Nuggets Non-Starters Assists: 8
Spurs Non-Starters Assists: 8

THE RESERVES IN THIS GAME
Coach Greg Popovich of the Spurs is one of the most intelligent basketball coaches in the NBA today, and he is one of only a few coaches who can manage a 9 or 9-plus player rotation in a game. In this game, Popovich played 9 players for 10 or more minutes, and 3 other players for 6, 9, and 9 minutes. Although Popovich pulled his stars half way through the 4th quarter, with the Nuggets leading 96-81, he through everything including the kitchen sink into the effort to win this back to back road game prior to that point. Of those 3 players who played less than 10 minutes, only 1 of them was limited to what Popovich decided was garbage time, Matt Bonner for 6 minutes. The other two, Jacque Vaughn and Fabricio Oberto, played much earlier in the game, for 9 minutes each. So Popovich came extremely close to playing 11 players for 10 or more minutes in non-garbage time basketball, an astounding feat that probably no other coach, even Phil Jackson, would be able to manage well. So the longstanding dispute about who is the smartest coach in basketball, Jackson or Popovich, may have been decided last night, at least pending fresh evidence, in favor of Popovich.

Since J.R. Smith and especially Eduardo Najera were on fire, the Nuggets’ non-starters were able to get relatively unusual wins over the opponent’s non-starters in both points and rebounds.

Nugget’s non-starters generally don’t get many assists at all, but in this game, they got 8, and tied the Spurs’ non-starters, who generally do get a good number of assists in most games. Having the Nuggets’ non-starters get a lot of assists counts as one of those “I thought I’d never see” that moments.

I hope to develop the reserve watch feature further in the future, because I want to try to expand what I already have in terms of a game coaching evaluation system. But the complications involved explain why there are no formal statistics anywhere on the internet on the subject of how much non-starters contribute to different teams, and also why coaches are not compared statistically the way players are. There are a lot of variables that come into the use of reserves that interfere with the objective of judging their use. Statisticians call this “statistical noise,” and if you have a substantial amount of it, then what you are trying to do with your statistics becomes very difficult or next to impossible.

GEORGE KARL CONFIDENCE IN HIS TEAM RATING (Scale of 0 to 10)
3: He's hiding under his seat on the sidelines

PLAYER RATINGS EXPLAINED
You can tell how well every player played at a glance. Of the advanced statistics I have seen on the internet, this one seems to have the best balance between offense and defense. While some are biased in favor of offensive players, such as the efficiency measure at the NBA site, many other advanced statistics are biased in favor of good defenders, and do not reflect the heavy importance of offense in basketball. Here is the formula for the ESPN rating of a player, which I think is a very good balance between offense and defense:

Points + Rebounds + 1.4*Assists + Steals + 1.4*Blocks - .7*Turnovers + # of Field Goals Made +1/2*# of 3-pointers Made - .8*# of Missed Field Goals - .8*# of Missed Free Throws + .25 *# of Free Throws Made

All players on each team who played at least 5 minutes are shown. The number after “game,” is how well the player did in this game, whereas the number after “season” is that player’s overall average for the entire season.

NUGGETS-SPURS PLAYER RATINGS
NUGGETS PLAYER RATINGS

Allen Iverson: Game 47.8 Season 41.5
Eduardo Najera: Game 36.5 Season 13.5
Carmelo Anthony: Game 34.9 Season 39.4
J.R. Smith: Game 24.0 Season 15.9
Marcus Camby: Game 18.6 Season 32.8
Kenyon Martin: Game 12.7 Season 22.4
Anthony Carter: Game 9.3 Season 20.8
Linas Kleiza: Game 7.8 Season 18.2
Chucky Atkins: Game -0.8 Season 5.4

Nene: Did Not Play-Illness
Steven Hunter: Did Not Play-Personal Leave

Yakhouba Diawara: Did Not Play-Coach’s Decision
Taurean Green: Did Not Play-Coach’s Decision

SPURS PLAYER RATINGS
Tim Duncan: Game 44.1 Season 38.9
Manu Ginobili: Game 38.9 Season 34.3
Bruce Bowen: Game 22.1 Season 11.0
Kurt Thomas: Game 16.0 Season 19.2
Ime Udoka: Game 10.6 Season 10.2
Robert Horry: Game 9.9 Season 6.4
Tony Parker: Game 9.9 Season 29.6
Damon Stoudamire: Game 8.8 Season 13.3
Matt Bonner: Game 8.7 Season 9.9
Michael Finley: Game 6.1 Season 15.7
Fabricio Oberto: Game 2.2 Season 13.3
Jacque Vaughn : Game -2.3 Season 8.3

NOTE 1: these stats do not correct for the big differences in playing times. Players with small minutes would get a higher rating if they had more minutes.
NOTE 2: This performance measure does NOT include the quality and quantity of each player’s defending, including the number of shots that the player prevented from going in the basket. The best Nuggets defenders are Camby, Martin, and Najera.

OBSERVATIONS ON THE PLAYER RATINGS:
It was the game of the year for Najera, who was almost 3 times as productive as usual, not even counting his quality defending. Iverson was Iverson plus in this game. The Spurs, despite their obsession with stopping Anthony, despite all of their double teaming and off the ball roughing up of Melo, were able to knock off only 10% from his usual performance level. That right there was pretty much game, set, and match. The Spurs very rarely get such a small return on their player shutdown efforts.

J.R. Smith continued his Amazing 2008 Tour from Fantasyland, by having yet anotherbig game; he was half again as much better than usual.

One of the most amazing things about this game was that, while Najera was huge, 3 of the 4 other front court players were not. Camby and Martin were only slightly more than half as productive as usual, and Kleiza was a little less than half as productive as usual. Seeing Najera far more productive than all but one of the other forwards (all except for Melo) is something that you will rarely, if ever, see again.

PF Duncan and SG Ginobili did about as well as you could expect in a back to back game on the road. SF Bowen was more offensive minded than usual, to go along with his stop Melo efforts, in 25 minutes, and he scored almost double his usual points, so he was twice as productive as usual.

Among the huge list of role players that Popovich played in this game, PF Horry was really the only one who stepped up to any extent.

SF Udoka and PF Bonner were average. C Thomas started at center over C Oberto, but he was 1/5 off his normal and was a key reason why the Spurs lost. Oberto didn’t do much of anything.

PG Stoudamire played fewer minutes than usual, which explains why he was only a little more than half as productive as usual. SG Finley doesn’t have that excuse; he was less than half as productive as usual, so he was a substantial disappointment for the Spurs in this game. PG Vaughn did nothing in 9 minutes.

Despite the long list of disappointments for the Spurs, there was one player who was by far the biggest disappointment of all for them: PG Tony Parker. Just as the Nuggets have three major stars: Iverson, Anthony, and Camby, the Spurs have three mega stars: Duncan, Ginobili, and Parker. But Parker was hardly a mega star in this game. In 29 minutes he was 2/7 for 4 points; he never got to the line once. He made his assist average, 6 assists, but he turned it over 5 times, about twice as much as usual, and he made only 1 steal and 2 rebounds. It could have been even worse, but Parker was only 1/3 as productive as he usually is. Parker created a deficit that, despite Popovich’s massive effort, the Spurs were unable to offset.

REAL PLAYER RATINGS EXPLAINED
The Real Player Rating reflects reality better than the gross player rating, since it washes out differences in playing times among the players. The straight up player rankings are obviously heavily affected by how many playing minutes the various players get. With many teams, you can rely on the coach to give his various players roughly the playing time that makes the most sense for his team. Unfortunately, some coaches bring other factors besides actual performance into their rotation decisions. Therefore, it makes good sense to introduce a new and extremely important statistic that Nuggets 1 calls the Real per Minute Player Rating. As the name implies, this is the gross ESPN player rating divided by the number of minutes. The statistic is called Real Player Rating for short.

This statistic allows anyone to see whether or not players who play only a small number of minutes are doing better than their low gross rating will indicate. You can spot diamond in the rough players who are not getting all the respect and playing time due to them. At the same time, it will allow anyone to see whether players with a lot of minutes are playing worse than, as well as, or better than their gross rating shows.

In summary, the Real Player Rating allows the reader, at a glance, to see exactly how well each player is doing without regard to playing time, which is subject to coaching error and subjective and less important factors such as a player's personality. The Real Player Rating provides the real truth-pure knowledge not available anywhere else.

SCALE FOR THE REAL PLAYER RATINGS
1.80 More Amazing Happens, but only certain players can ever fly this high
1.60 1.80 Superstar Plus-Above Normal Even For Michael Jordan
1.40 1.60 Superstar Performance-A Michael Jordan Type Game
1.20 1.40 Star Plus-Spectacular Performance
1.05 1.20 Star Performance
0.90 1.05 Outstanding Game
0.80 0.90 Very Good Game
0.70 0.80 Good Game
0.60 0.70 Mediocre Game
0.50 0.60 Poor Game
0.40 0.50 Very Poor Game
0.25 0.40 Extremely Poor-Near Disaster
Less 0.25 Total Disaster

NUGGETS-SPURS REAL PLAYER RATINGS
All players who played 5 minutes or more are included. Any player who played only 5-9 minutes is noted.

1. Eduardo Najera, Den 1.460
2. Matt Bonner, SA 1.450…Bonner played for only 6 minutes.
3. Manu Ginobili, SA 1.389
4. Tim Duncan, SA 1.336
5. Allen Iverson, Den 1.086
6. J.R. Smith, Den 0.923
7. Carmelo Anthony, Den 0.895
8. Bruce Bowen, SA 0.884
9. Kurt Thomas, SA 0.667
10. Robert Horry, SA 0.660
11. Damon Stoudamire, SA 0.629
12. Marcus Camby, Den 0.600
13. Linas Kleiza, Den 0.557
14. Anthony Carter, Den 0.489
15. Ime Udoka, SA 0.408
16. Kenyon Martin, Den 0.385
17. Tony Parker, SA 0.341
18. Michael Finley, SA 0.265
19. Fabricio Oberto, SA 0.244…Oberto played for only 9 minutes.
20. Chucky Atkins, Den -0.114…Atkins played for only 7 minutes.
21. Jacque Vaughn, SA -0.256…Vaughn played for only 9 minutes.

OBSERVATIONS ON THE REAL PLAYER RATINGS
Eduardo Najera was the best player on the court and was a superstar in this game. Matt Bonner for the Spurs was also a superstar, but only for very limited minutes. The Spurs had 2 players who were star-plus, Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili. Allen Iverson was a plain old star. Among the 4 players who were stars or better and who played at least 10 minutes, each team had 2.

J.R. Smith was outstanding for the Nuggets. Anthony for the Nuggets and Bowen for the Spurs were very good.

Thomas, Horry, and Stoudamire were all just mediocre for the Spurs, which was a big disappointment for them. Camby was mediocre for the Nuggets.

For the Nuggets, Kleiza was poor, Carter was very poor, and Martin, not counting his defending, was extremely poor. Martin fouled out late in the game, turned it over 3 times, and failed to get any assists or blocks. On the other hand, he was 4/6 for 8 points and he made 5 rebounds, so it could have been worse. Let’s face it, the Nuggets have no plays planned out in advance to get Martin the ball where he wants it on the court.

The Spurs also had 3 players who were huge disappointments. Udoka was very poor, and both Parker and Finley were extremely poor, with Finley just about a disaster.

NUGGET’S PLUS—MINUS
This tells you how the score changed while a player was on the court. All Nuggets who played at least 10 minutes are shown.

J.R. Smith: +16
Eduardo Najera: +15
Marcus Camby: +10
Linas Kleiza: +10
Allen Iverson: +9
Carmelo Anthony: +6
Kenyon Martin: +0
Anthony Carter: -7

OBSERVATIONS ON PLUS—MINUS
The two stars from off the bench, Smith and Najera, were the most damaging players as far as the Spurs were concerned. Martin and especially Carter were the weakest Nuggets in terms of how the game changed when they were out on the court.

NUGGETS MADE WHAT?
All Nuggets who played at least 5 minutes are shown. The order is from lowest to highest in real player rating.

Turnovers: NBA Average: 14, Nuggets’ Total 15, Team 0, Anthony 3, Atkins 0, Camby 2, Carter 1, Iverson 2, Kleiza 0, Martin 3, Najera 1, Smith 3

Personal Fouls: NBA Average: 21, Nuggets’ Total 20, Anthony 3, Atkins 0, Camby 1, Carter 1, Iverson 1, Kleiza 1, Martin 6, Najera 4, Smith 3

Chucky Atkins played 7 minutes and was 0/1 and 0/1 on 3’s for 0 points.

Kenyon Martin played 33 minutes and was 4/6, 0/1 on 3’s, and 0/2 from the line for 8 points, and he made 5 rebounds and 1 steal.

Anthony Carter played 19 minutes and was 1/2, 1/2 on 3’s, and 2/2 from the line for 5 points, and he made 2 assists and 1 rebound.

Linas Kleiza played 14 minutes and was 0/1 for 0 points, and he made 4 assists and 3 rebounds.

Marcus Camby played 31 minutes and was 4/11 and 0/1 from the line for 8 points, and he made 13 rebounds and 1 assist.

Carmelo Anthony played 39 minutes and was 7/17, 0/1 on 3’s, and 11/16 from the line for 25 points, and he made 8 rebounds, 3 assists, and 2 steals.

J.R. Smith played 26 minutes and was 6/10 and 3/5 on 3’s for 15 points, and he made 3 steals, 2 assists, and 1 rebound.

Allen Iverson played for virtually the whole game, 44 minutes, and was 10/16, 2/3 on 3’s, and 7/10 from the line for 29 points, and he made 9 assists and 2 rebounds.

Eduardo Najera played 25 minutes and was 8/10, 1/1 on 3’s, and 2/2 from the line for 19 points, and he made 6 rebounds, 2 steals, and 2 assists.

NEXT UP
The next game will be Saturday, March 8 in Salt Lake City to play the Jazz at 7 pm mountain time. Both the Nuggets and the Jazz will be playing on back to back nights.

QUEST FOR THE RING (QFTR) IS FREE AND IS PRODUCED REGARDLESS OF TRAFFIC BUT IF WE GET A LITTLE MORE TRAFFIC WE WILL INCREASE PRODUCTION TIME FOR IT
Although there is a guaranteed minimum rate of Report production regardless of traffic, IT IS IN YOUR POWER to help increase the number of and frequency of QFTR Reports (or to in other words increase the number of production hours that go into producing QFTR).

All Quest Internet sites including QFTR are developed and produced according to both superseding criteria and site traffic. Beginning in 2011 QFTR is the only Site that Quest Internet has a guaranteed production level for, meaning that QFTR is NOT in competition with other Sites for scarce production time. (In other words, other projects are treated like garbage compared to the treatment that QFTR gets.)

QFTR has a production base that is completely independent of traffic. On top of that there is a standing offer that production will increase if traffic increases above a certain level.

Unfortunately, a disturbingly large percentage of existing QFTR production time is used up by tasks that are best described as maintenance, infrastructure, research, and / or development in nature. These tasks are the kind of drudge work which on the one hand is absolutely necessary to produce one of the World's most important and highest quality basketball Sites. But on the other hand, there is so much of that work to do that the amount of time left over for actually producing content that visitors can consume is disturbingly limited. But if you link to QFTR and then traffic increases, most of the resulting production increase would go to Report production and very little of the additional work would go into those things you don't directly see when you visit QFTR.

Until recently this standing offer was really just hypothetical because QFTR traffic was not near the threshold beyond which we will increase production. But recently, thanks to Google Search, QFTR traffic is much closer to that threshold, which means that if as few as a handful of people link to QFTR and we get traffic from those links, it will result in more production.

QFTR NEEDS LINKS OTHER THAN GOOGLE SEARCH LINKS
Fortunately, QFTR is indexed by Google Search to a good extent and obviously, Google Search is who you most want to be producing links for you. So we are way ahead of the near zero traffic that most newer, independent, non-celebrity sites that started with zero traffic get. But the law of unintended consequences has struck and much of the traffic we are getting from Google Search is not exactly the traffic we are most looking for. But to be clear, a small percentage of the traffic we are getting from Google Search is exactly what we are looking for and maybe it's just a rule that you have to get a lot of unimportant traffic in order to get the important traffic.

We are getting a lot of traffic to Reports that are older and/or or not the very most important ones on the Site. And we are getting a lot of "hit and run" traffic. Many of the Site visitors QFTR is getting from Google Search are the hit and run type. But like any other site producer, QFTR values returning visitors much more than "hit and run and never come back" visitors.

Most hit and run visitors are not really looking for much to begin with, and then many of them run away so quickly that they don't even get what little they came for even though it was there in front of them. So it would appear that most hit and run visitors are wasting their time. What happens is Google Search leads them to QFTR but not exactly to the page they want. But then the hit and run losers run so fast that they don't put in the 1-5 minutes needed to locate exactly what they want at QFTR. So they leave empty handed. So again, this is the kind of traffic that is better than nothing, and we do count all traffic as traffic, but it is not exactly what we are looking for.

Given the high level and unique nature of QFTR, it is possible that the traffic we are looking for doesn't exist to any significant extent, but we can't know that for sure unless and until more links to QFTR appear in places other than at Google Search. Specifically, right now only a very small number of basketball and sports sites link to QFTR, and we are looking for more of those. Since QFTR is literally a one of a kind site, bridging various content gaps that exist, it is no surprise that we have very few other sites linking to QFTR. We want to do everything possible to change that, and this message is partly what allows us to rest easy from knowing that everything possible was done.

Our traffic wishes are ridiculously modest. The number of and the frequency of Quest Reports would be up to double what they are if traffic was higher. More specifically, if QFTR obtained the traffic we know it deserves, and given the production math discussed above, production would go from the equivalent of roughly four books about basketball a year to five, six or seven books a year. We will increase production within that range in a linear, pro rata way. So for example, if traffic were just a little bit higher than the threshold, we would produce a little more than four books a year.

WE NEED A GRAND TOTAL OF ABOUT 3 MINUTES OF YOUR TIME
So please take three or four minutes every now and then to recommend QFTR and post links to QFTR on your favorite sports and other sites. There are many contexts in which you can do this. For example, you can wherever possible link to a QFTR Report to back up what you are posting and writing. Or if you have a Site you can link to QFTR in the sidebar (or wherever you link to other Sites).

Here are some quick links that you can use to find a place where you might post a link to any QFTR Report or to QFTR in general....

AND HERE ARE MORE; HOVER YOUR MOUSE HERE TO EXPAND THIS MENU:

AFTER YOU LINK TO QFTR YOU CAN REQUEST ANOTHER REWARD
You can request a link at QFTR to your site. QFTR will on request strongly consider linking to your Site if you link to QFTR. If and when we get links to QFTR and people want QFTR to link back, we will do so in a new sidebar section. We can link to a home page or we can produce links to your latest content.

You may have something else in mind for a reward for linking to QFTR. If so, after linking to QFTR, feel free to e-mail QFTR at thequestforthering1. This is a gmail address, so you use @gmail.com after that address.

BASKETBALL FORUMS THAT ARE OPEN FOR CONTENT FROM ANYONE
Another place you can post links to QFTR Reports is at basketball forums. QFTR started out as a forum poster (and we wish we had the time to post at forums even now.)

As with everything else traffic varies widely from one forum to another. But basketball forums seem to have more staying power than basketball sites in general do.

Beware of "layered" sites. As far as we know, none of the following are layered sites, which are sites that allow contributions from the general public only in hard to find, low traffic areas, while the main areas are off limits for public input and are only for a chosen few. All of the following have at least some notable traffic, and all of them allow relatively equal and open participation. The order is from most recommended to least recommended, based on about half a dozen factors.

FORUMS THAT DO NOT USE TRADITIONAL FORUM TEMPLATES AKA OPEN POSTING SITES
Bleacher Report Open Posting Site
Armchair GM Open Posting Site

FORUMS THAT DO USE TRADITIONAL FORUM TEMPLATES
Inside Hoops NBA Forum
Real GM NBA and Team Forums
Pro Sports Daily NBA Forum
Hoops Hype NBA Forum
Sports Two NBA Forum
NBA Dimensions NBA Forum
NBA Boards NBA Forum
OTR Basketball Forums NBA Forum
Sporting News NBA Forum
KFFL NBA Forum

Notes: There may be a small number of newer forums not on this list (QFTR does not have the time for a full investigation here in 2012). Also, there were other forums when this list was first composed, but they were all very low traffic and low activity ones compared to the ones above. They may have much higher traffic now.

MESSAGE BOARDS AT HUGE COROPORATIONS
In general these are very high traffic but are largely worthless for getting getting quality traffic to sites like QFTR. The Fox NBA board is very low traffic, and the MSNBC NBA board doesn't exist anymore. The CBS Sports NBA Message Board is a layered site; you can NOT post topics nor expect to be considered seriously there until you have spent a few years posting there. We do not recommend CBS Sports. So the only real, fully open NBA forum hosted by a big corporation is the ESPN message board. Be forewarned though that the ESPN board is dominated by very young fans who make very short comments. On the other hand, it is a high traffic site, so we won't stop you from posting a Quest link at ESPN if you want to. (Welcome to the Internet, where the higher the traffic the more shallow the Site, and vice versa).

ESPN NBA Message Board

TOP NBA SCORERS CHART 1 OF 3 >>> TOP VOLUME SCORERS in 2011-2012 (complete regular season)
Each year QFTR publishes Real Player Ratings for every player in the NBA who has played at least 300 minutes. Real Player Ratings are comprehensive player ratings that are very carefully designed and quality controlled. Starting in 2012, the Ratings are supplemented by seven per 36 minutes charts which show player performance in seven of the very most important performance measures, all of which are components of Real Player Ratings (but there are other components that go into Real Player Ratings). These charts are stationed on the home page at all times. This is most likely the only place on the Internet where this key player information is shown in this optimal way.

Here we have the top scorers of the NBA in 2011-2012 as indicated by points per 36 minutes playing time. This is "PTS" in the chart. The points and all other items shown in the chart other than the percentages and the minutes played are per 36 minutes, which is much smarter to use than per game numbers.

For this and all the other charts, a minimum of 300 minutes of playing time is required. A player must have scored at least 18 points per 36 minutes (which is 1 point every 2 minutes) to be shown here. Also, a minimum shooting percentage (field goal percentage) of .400 is required. Players with field goal (shooting) percentages of .399 or less are disqualified from being on this list of top scorers.

This is one of the seven "7/36 Charts". A short user guide for these is found in this Report.

Here now are how the top scorers in the NBA in 2011-2012 rated and ranked:

Player               Tm   MP   FG  FGA  3P 3PA  FT FTA ORB  DRB AST STL BLK TOV  PF  PTS  FG%  3P%  FT%
Kevin Durant        OKC 2546  9.1 18.3 1.9 4.9 6.1 7.1 0.6  6.9 3.3 1.2 1.1 3.5 1.9 26.2 .496 .387 .860
Kobe Bryant         LAL 2232  9.3 21.5 1.4 4.6 6.1 7.3 1.1  4.0 4.3 1.1 0.3 3.3 1.7 26.1 .430 .303 .845
LeBron James        MIA 2326  9.6 18.1 0.8 2.3 6.0 7.8 1.5  6.2 6.0 1.8 0.8 3.3 1.5 26.0 .531 .362 .771
Russell Westbrook   OKC 2331  8.9 19.6 1.0 3.0 5.3 6.4 1.5  3.2 5.6 1.7 0.3 3.7 2.3 24.1 .457 .316 .823
Kevin Love          MIN 2145  8.0 17.8 1.8 4.7 6.4 7.7 3.8  8.5 1.9 0.8 0.5 2.1 2.6 24.0 .448 .372 .824
Dwyane Wade         MIA 1625  9.2 18.5 0.3 1.2 5.2 6.6 1.6  3.6 5.0 1.8 1.4 2.9 2.4 24.0 .497 .268 .791
Carmelo Anthony     NYK 1876  8.5 19.7 1.3 3.9 5.7 7.0 1.7  4.9 3.8 1.2 0.5 2.8 3.0 23.9 .430 .335 .804
Dirk Nowitzki       DAL 2079  8.2 17.9 1.4 3.7 5.5 6.1 0.8  6.5 2.4 0.7 0.5 2.0 2.2 23.2 .457 .368 .896
Derrick Rose        CHI 1375  7.9 18.2 1.4 4.5 5.1 6.3 0.7  2.7 8.0 0.9 0.7 3.1 1.4 22.3 .435 .312 .812
Kyrie Irving        CLE 1558  8.1 17.3 1.7 4.2 4.0 4.5 1.0  3.4 6.4 1.2 0.5 3.7 2.5 21.8 .469 .399 .872
LaMarcus Aldridge   POR 1994  8.7 17.0 0.0 0.2 4.0 4.9 2.7  5.3 2.4 0.9 0.8 2.0 2.8 21.5 .512 .182 .814
Eric Gordon         NOH  310  7.3 16.3 1.2 4.6 5.7 7.5 0.2  2.7 3.6 1.5 0.5 2.8 2.3 21.5 .450 .250 .754
DeMarcus Cousins    SAC 1950  8.3 18.4 0.0 0.3 4.8 6.9 4.9  8.1 1.9 1.7 1.4 3.1 4.7 21.4 .448 .143 .702
Andrea Bargnani     TOR 1032  7.3 16.9 1.2 4.0 5.3 6.0 0.8  5.2 2.1 0.6 0.5 2.4 1.8 21.0 .432 .296 .873
Deron Williams      NJN 1999  7.0 17.3 2.1 6.2 4.6 5.5 0.4  2.9 8.7 1.2 0.4 3.9 2.2 20.8 .407 .336 .843
Blake Griffin       LAC 2392  8.4 15.4 0.0 0.2 3.7 7.0 3.3  7.5 3.2 0.8 0.7 2.3 3.3 20.6 .549 .125 .521
Tony Parker         SAS 1923  8.0 16.7 0.3 1.1 4.2 5.3 0.4  2.8 8.7 1.1 0.1 2.9 1.4 20.5 .480 .230 .799
Paul Pierce         BOS 2075  6.8 15.4 1.7 4.7 5.1 6.0 0.6  4.9 4.8 1.2 0.5 3.0 2.6 20.5 .443 .366 .852
Louis Williams      PHI 1682  6.8 16.7 1.8 4.9 5.1 6.2 0.6  2.7 4.7 1.1 0.4 1.5 1.9 20.5 .407 .362 .812
Al Jefferson        UTA 2075  9.0 18.2 0.0 0.1 2.4 3.1 2.3  7.8 2.3 0.8 1.8 1.1 2.7 20.3 .492 .250 .774
Player               Tm   MP   FG  FGA  3P 3PA  FT FTA ORB  DRB AST STL BLK TOV  PF  PTS  FG%  3P%  FT%
Danny Granger       IND 2062  6.8 16.4 2.1 5.6 4.4 5.1 1.4  4.0 1.9 1.1 0.7 1.9 2.5 20.2 .416 .381 .873
Monta Ellis         TOT 2120  7.6 17.7 1.1 3.4 3.7 4.7 0.3  3.1 5.9 1.4 0.3 3.0 2.3 20.1 .433 .308 .796
Manu Ginobili       SAS  792  6.8 13.0 2.4 5.7 4.0 4.6 0.8  4.5 6.9 1.1 0.5 2.9 2.5 20.0 .526 .413 .871
Tim Duncan          SAS 1634  8.0 16.1 0.0 0.1 3.8 5.5 2.4  9.0 2.9 0.8 1.9 2.1 2.2 19.7 .492 .000 .695
Jeremy Lin          NYK  940  6.5 14.7 0.9 2.9 5.6 7.0 0.7  3.4 8.3 2.1 0.3 4.8 3.0 19.6 .446 .320 .798
Chris Paul          LAC 2181  7.0 14.7 1.3 3.5 4.3 5.0 0.7  2.8 9.0 2.5 0.1 2.0 2.3 19.6 .478 .371 .861
Brandon Jennings    MIL 2331  7.2 17.3 2.0 6.0 3.0 3.7 0.8  2.7 5.6 1.6 0.3 2.3 1.8 19.5 .418 .332 .808
David Lee           GSW 2121  7.9 15.6 0.0 0.1 3.7 4.8 2.9  6.3 2.7 0.9 0.4 2.5 3.0 19.5 .503 .000 .782
Michael Redd        PHO  770  6.7 16.8 2.0 6.2 4.1 5.2 0.7  2.9 1.5 0.6 0.0 1.7 1.4 19.5 .400 .318 .793
Dwight Howard       ORL 2070  7.2 12.6 0.0 0.1 4.9 9.9 3.5 10.2 1.8 1.4 2.0 3.0 2.8 19.4 .573 .000 .491
Kevin Martin        HOU 1264  6.3 15.3 2.2 6.4 4.6 5.1 0.4  2.6 3.1 0.8 0.1 2.0 2.0 19.4 .413 .347 .894
Jordan Crawford     WAS 1753  7.2 17.9 1.6 5.6 3.3 4.2 0.9  2.5 3.9 1.2 0.1 2.9 2.3 19.3 .400 .289 .793
James Harden        OKC 1946  5.7 11.6 2.1 5.4 5.8 6.8 0.6  4.1 4.2 1.1 0.3 2.5 2.8 19.3 .491 .390 .846
Marcus Thornton     SAC 1780  7.1 16.2 2.2 6.3 2.9 3.3 1.7  2.1 2.0 1.4 0.2 1.7 2.2 19.3 .438 .345 .865
Josh Smith          ATL 2329  7.8 17.0 0.4 1.7 3.1 5.0 2.1  7.7 4.0 1.4 1.8 2.5 2.7 19.2 .458 .257 .630
Amare Stoudemire    NYK 1543  7.4 15.3 0.1 0.5 4.3 5.7 2.5  6.1 1.2 0.9 1.0 2.6 3.2 19.2 .483 .238 .765
Andrew Bynum        LAL 2112  7.6 13.6 0.0 0.1 4.0 5.8 3.3  8.8 1.4 0.5 2.0 2.6 1.8 19.1 .558 .200 .692
Joe Johnson         ATL 2127  7.2 15.8 2.1 5.4 2.7 3.1 0.9  2.8 3.9 0.8 0.2 2.0 1.3 19.1 .454 .388 .849
Stephen Curry       GSW  732  7.1 14.6 2.7 6.0 1.9 2.3 0.7  3.6 6.8 1.9 0.4 3.2 3.0 18.8 .490 .455 .809
Drew Gooden         MIL 1469  7.0 16.1 0.4 1.3 4.3 5.1 3.2  5.7 3.5 1.1 0.8 2.7 2.7 18.8 .437 .291 .846
Player               Tm   MP   FG  FGA  3P 3PA  FT FTA ORB  DRB AST STL BLK TOV  PF  PTS  FG%  3P%  FT%
Antawn Jamison      CLE 2151  7.0 17.5 1.5 4.5 3.1 4.5 2.1  4.8 2.2 0.9 0.7 1.5 2.7 18.7 .403 .341 .683
Al Harrington       DEN 1761  7.1 15.8 2.1 6.2 2.4 3.6 1.5  6.5 1.8 1.2 0.2 2.3 3.7 18.6 .446 .333 .676
Nikola Pekovic      MIN 1264  7.3 12.9 0.0 0.0 4.0 5.3 5.2  4.7 0.9 0.8 0.9 2.5 2.8 18.5 .564      .743
Klay Thompson       GSW 1608  7.1 16.1 2.5 6.0 1.8 2.0 0.5  3.1 3.0 1.1 0.4 2.3 3.5 18.5 .443 .414 .868
Leandro Barbosa     TOT 1382  7.1 16.6 1.7 4.4 2.6 3.2 0.9  2.5 2.5 1.5 0.2 2.4 3.5 18.4 .425 .382 .815
Chris Bosh          MIA 2007  7.0 14.5 0.2 0.6 4.1 5.0 1.7  6.4 1.8 0.9 0.8 2.1 2.3 18.4 .487 .286 .821
Gerald Green        NJN  781  7.1 14.8 2.0 5.1 2.3 3.0 0.7  4.3 1.6 1.3 0.8 2.5 3.7 18.4 .481 .391 .754
Carl Landry         NOH  999  6.6 13.0 0.0 0.1 5.3 6.6 2.8  4.9 1.4 0.5 0.4 2.3 3.2 18.4 .503 .000 .799
Carlos Boozer       CHI 1948  8.3 15.6 0.0 0.0 1.8 2.5 2.1  8.3 2.3 1.2 0.4 2.1 3.1 18.3 .532 .000 .693
Kevin Garnett       BOS 1864  7.6 15.0 0.1 0.2 3.1 3.7 1.3  8.3 3.4 1.1 1.2 2.1 2.7 18.3 .503 .333 .857
Rudy Gay            MEM 2422  7.2 15.9 0.8 2.6 3.1 3.9 1.9  4.3 2.2 1.4 0.8 2.4 2.1 18.3 .455 .312 .791
Nick Young          TOT 1729  6.6 16.3 2.1 5.9 3.0 3.5 0.6  2.1 1.2 0.9 0.4 1.7 2.9 18.3 .403 .365 .852
Paul Millsap        UTA 2100  7.3 14.8 0.1 0.5 3.5 4.4 3.1  6.6 2.6 2.0 0.9 1.9 3.8 18.2 .495 .226 .792
Jerryd Bayless      TOR  705  6.0 14.1 2.2 5.3 3.8 4.5 0.4  3.0 6.0 1.2 0.2 2.7 3.6 18.0 .424 .423 .852

TOP NBA SCORERS 2012 CHART 2 OF 3 >>> MOST EFFICIENT SCORERS in 2011-2012 (complete regular season)
Each year QFTR publishes Real Player Ratings for every player in the NBA who has played at least 300 minutes. Real Player Ratings are comprehensive player ratings that are very carefully designed and quality controlled. Starting in 2012, the Ratings are supplemented by seven per 36 minutes charts which show player performance in seven of the very most important performance measures, all of which are components of Real Player Ratings (but there are other components that go into Real Player Ratings). These charts are stationed on the home page at all times. This is most likely the only place on the Internet where this key player information is shown in this optimal way.

Here we have the most efficient scorers of the NBA in 2011-2012 as indicated by shooting percentage or in other words field goal percentage. This is "FG%" in the chart. All items shown in the chart other than the percentages and the minutes played are per 36 minutes, which is much smarter to use than per game numbers.

For this and all the other charts, a minimum of 300 minutes of playing time is required. To be on this chart, players had to have a shooting percentage of .500 or higher AND they have to have scored at least 9 points per 36 minutes.

This is one of the seven "7/36 Charts". A short user guide for these is found in this Report.

Here now are how the most efficient scorers in the NBA in 2011-2012 rated and ranked:

Player               Tm   MP   FG  FGA  3P 3PA  FT FTA ORB  DRB  AST STL BLK TOV  PF  PTS  FG%  3P%  FT%
Tyson Chandler      NYK 2061  4.2  6.2 0.0 0.0 3.8 5.5 3.7  7.0  1.0 1.0 1.6 1.8 3.2 12.2 .679 .000 .689
DeAndre Jordan      LAC 1798  4.1  6.5 0.0 0.0 1.5 2.8 4.0  6.9  0.3 0.6 2.7 1.5 3.8  9.7 .632 .000 .525
Tiago Splitter      SAS 1121  6.8 11.0 0.0 0.0 4.0 5.8 3.0  6.8  2.1 0.7 1.5 2.8 4.3 17.6 .618      .691
Brandan Wright      DAL  791  6.6 10.6 0.0 0.0 2.4 3.7 2.8  5.1  0.6 1.0 2.9 1.0 2.8 15.5 .618 .000 .634
Andris Biedrins     GSW  739  1.9  3.1 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.4 2.2  6.4  0.8 1.1 2.2 0.7 6.1  3.8 .609      .111
Kosta Koufos        DEN  792  5.2  8.7 0.0 0.0 1.5 2.5 4.3  7.4  0.7 1.1 1.9 1.5 4.4 12.0 .599      .600
Chris Wilcox        BOS  481  4.8  8.0 0.0 0.0 1.8 2.9 2.8  6.3  0.9 0.8 0.7 2.2 4.8 11.4 .598      .615
Nick Collison       OKC 1307  3.3  5.5 0.0 0.0 1.2 1.7 3.3  4.3  2.3 0.9 0.8 1.7 4.2  7.8 .597 .000 .710
Kenneth Faried      DEN 1037  6.3 10.7 0.0 0.0 3.8 5.7 4.9  7.3  1.2 1.2 1.6 1.9 4.0 16.4 .586      .665
Amir Johnson        TOR 1553  4.5  7.9 0.0 0.1 1.3 1.9 3.5  6.0  1.8 0.8 1.6 2.2 4.8 10.5 .576 .400 .690
Dwight Howard       ORL 2070  7.2 12.6 0.0 0.1 4.9 9.9 3.5 10.2  1.8 1.4 2.0 3.0 2.8 19.4 .573 .000 .491
Nikola Pekovic      MIN 1264  7.3 12.9 0.0 0.0 4.0 5.3 5.2  4.7  0.9 0.8 0.9 2.5 2.8 18.5 .564      .743
Joel Anthony        MIA 1349  2.3  4.1 0.0 0.0 1.3 1.9 2.7  4.0  0.2 1.0 2.2 1.2 3.4  5.8 .559      .690
Andrew Bynum        LAL 2112  7.6 13.6 0.0 0.1 4.0 5.8 3.3  8.8  1.4 0.5 2.0 2.6 1.8 19.1 .558 .200 .692
JaVale McGee        TOT 1535  7.2 12.9 0.0 0.0 1.8 3.9 3.8  7.4  0.7 0.8 3.1 2.0 3.9 16.2 .556      .461
Marcin Gortat       PHO 2114  7.3 13.1 0.0 0.0 2.8 4.3 3.2  8.1  1.0 0.8 1.7 1.5 2.4 17.3 .555 .000 .649
Al Horford          ATL  348  5.9 10.7 0.0 0.1 2.3 3.1 2.7  5.3  2.5 1.0 1.4 1.7 2.2 14.1 .553 .000 .733
Blake Griffin       LAC 2392  8.4 15.4 0.0 0.2 3.7 7.0 3.3  7.5  3.2 0.8 0.7 2.3 3.3 20.6 .549 .125 .521
Ryan Hollins        TOT  522  3.2  5.8 0.0 0.0 2.7 5.2 2.3  3.3  0.6 0.3 1.2 2.4 5.4  9.0 .548      .520
Chris Andersen      DEN  486  4.4  8.0 0.0 0.0 3.7 6.1 3.6  7.4  0.4 1.4 3.4 1.3 3.9 12.4 .546      .610
Player               Tm   MP   FG  FGA  3P 3PA  FT FTA ORB  DRB  AST STL BLK TOV  PF  PTS  FG%  3P%  FT%
Ian Mahinmi         DAL 1139  4.1  7.5 0.0 0.0 3.0 4.6 3.4  5.7  0.4 1.2 1.0 1.6 5.6 11.2 .546 .000 .639
Greg Stiemsma       BOS  766  3.1  5.7 0.0 0.0 1.4 1.9 2.3  6.1  1.3 1.7 4.0 1.6 6.8  7.6 .545      .707
Nene Hilario        TOT 1110  6.8 12.7 0.0 0.1 3.7 5.4 2.0  7.4  2.6 1.4 1.2 3.1 3.1 17.4 .537 .000 .673
Jan Vesely          WAS 1078  3.9  7.3 0.0 0.0 1.1 2.1 3.4  4.9  1.6 1.3 1.1 2.0 5.2  8.9 .537 .000 .532
Gustavo Ayon        NOH 1088  4.6  8.6 0.0 0.0 1.3 2.1 2.8  5.9  2.4 1.8 1.5 1.5 3.9 10.6 .536 .000 .619
Serge Ibaka         OKC 1792  5.3  9.8 0.0 0.1 1.6 2.4 3.9  6.1  0.6 0.7 4.8 1.6 3.6 12.1 .535 .333 .661
Jason Thompson      SAC 1657  5.1  9.6 0.0 0.0 2.4 3.9 3.6  6.0  1.7 0.9 1.0 1.5 3.2 12.7 .535 .000 .602
DeJuan Blair        SAS 1363  7.1 13.3 0.0 0.0 1.9 3.1 4.1  5.2  2.1 1.6 0.3 2.4 4.4 16.1 .534 .000 .613
Emeka Okafor        NOH  781  5.3  9.9 0.0 0.0 1.8 3.4 3.2  6.6  1.1 0.7 1.2 1.7 3.4 12.3 .533      .514
Carlos Boozer       CHI 1948  8.3 15.6 0.0 0.0 1.8 2.5 2.1  8.3  2.3 1.2 0.4 2.1 3.1 18.3 .532 .000 .693
Steve Nash          PHO 1961  5.4 10.2 1.0 2.6 2.3 2.6 0.5  2.9 12.2 0.7 0.1 4.2 1.0 14.2 .532 .390 .894
Trevor Booker       WAS 1261  5.2  9.7 0.0 0.1 1.6 2.7 3.4  5.9  1.1 1.4 1.2 1.7 3.9 12.0 .531 .500 .602
LeBron James        MIA 2326  9.6 18.1 0.8 2.3 6.0 7.8 1.5  6.2  6.0 1.8 0.8 3.3 1.5 26.0 .531 .362 .771
Kevin Seraphin      WAS 1176  6.2 11.7 0.0 0.0 1.4 2.1 3.2  5.4  1.0 0.6 2.3 2.0 4.1 13.9 .531 .000 .671
Semih Erden         CLE  333  4.2  8.0 0.0 0.0 2.3 4.4 2.2  5.6  1.0 1.1 0.5 1.7 6.5 10.7 .527      .512
Manu Ginobili       SAS  792  6.8 13.0 2.4 5.7 4.0 4.6 0.8  4.5  6.9 1.1 0.5 2.9 2.5 20.0 .526 .413 .871
Timofey Mozgov      DEN  687  5.2 10.0 0.0 0.0 2.0 3.0 2.8  6.6  1.2 0.8 2.2 2.8 4.5 12.5 .526      .684
Greg Monroe         DET 2082  7.0 13.5 0.0 0.0 3.5 4.7 4.1  6.9  2.6 1.4 0.8 2.8 3.1 17.6 .521 .000 .739
Jason Smith         NOH  947  6.9 13.2 0.0 0.3 1.3 1.8 2.7  4.7  1.3 0.8 1.6 1.5 3.9 15.1 .520 .111 .702
Derrick Brown       CHA 1443  5.3 10.2 0.1 0.6 2.3 3.5 2.4  3.5  1.7 1.2 0.3 1.4 2.4 13.1 .518 .250 .667
Player               Tm   MP   FG  FGA  3P 3PA  FT FTA ORB  DRB  AST STL BLK TOV  PF  PTS  FG%  3P%  FT%
Brendan Haywood     DAL 1146  3.7  7.2 0.0 0.0 1.4 3.0 4.4  5.8  0.6 0.8 1.7 1.4 3.8  8.8 .518      .469
Dante Cunningham    MEM 1124  4.6  8.9 0.0 0.1 1.4 2.2 2.9  5.0  1.2 1.3 1.1 0.9 3.1 10.7 .516 .000 .652
Aaron Gray          TOR  813  3.7  7.1 0.0 0.0 1.1 2.1 3.7  8.8  1.2 1.0 0.8 2.3 5.6  8.5 .516      .532
Anderson Varejao    CLE  785  5.2 10.2 0.0 0.2 2.0 2.9 5.0  8.2  2.0 1.6 0.8 2.1 2.8 12.4 .514 .000 .672
Ed Davis            TOR 1534  4.0  7.9 0.0 0.0 1.7 2.5 3.1  7.1  1.4 0.9 1.5 1.6 3.7  9.7 .513 .000 .670
Ivan Johnson        ATL  934  5.4 10.6 0.1 0.2 2.8 3.9 2.5  6.2  1.2 1.7 0.7 2.7 4.5 13.7 .513 .333 .720
LaMarcus Aldridge   POR 1994  8.7 17.0 0.0 0.2 4.0 4.9 2.7  5.3  2.4 0.9 0.8 2.0 2.8 21.5 .512 .182 .814
Luc Mbah a Moute    MIL 1009  4.7  9.3 0.0 0.1 2.4 3.7 2.7  5.4  1.0 1.4 0.8 1.4 3.3 11.9 .510 .250 .641
Jon Leuer           MIL  555  6.3 12.4 0.2 0.6 1.4 1.8 2.9  4.9  1.6 0.9 1.1 1.2 4.3 14.1 .508 .333 .750
Joakim Noah         CHI 1945  4.6  9.1 0.0 0.0 2.9 3.8 4.5  7.2  3.0 0.8 1.7 1.7 3.0 12.1 .508 .000 .748
Jordan Williams     NJN  635  4.4  8.6 0.0 0.0 2.4 3.7 3.7  5.1  0.6 1.2 0.9 1.3 3.5 11.2 .507      .652
Thaddeus Young      PHI 1755  7.1 14.1 0.0 0.1 2.3 3.0 2.8  3.9  1.5 1.3 0.8 1.1 2.6 16.6 .507 .250 .771
Omer Asik           CHI  971  2.9  5.8 0.0 0.0 1.7 3.8 4.7  8.3  1.2 1.1 2.5 2.5 4.5  7.6 .506      .456
Samuel Dalembert    HOU 1446  5.0  9.8 0.0 0.0 2.2 2.8 3.9  7.4  0.8 0.9 2.8 2.0 4.0 12.2 .506 .000 .796
Craig Smith         POR  464  4.6  9.1 0.0 0.1 2.9 4.1 2.6  6.0  1.5 1.2 0.4 1.9 4.3 12.1 .504 .000 .717
Kevin Garnett       BOS 1864  7.6 15.0 0.1 0.2 3.1 3.7 1.3  8.3  3.4 1.1 1.2 2.1 2.7 18.3 .503 .333 .857
Carl Landry         NOH  999  6.6 13.0 0.0 0.1 5.3 6.6 2.8  4.9  1.4 0.5 0.4 2.3 3.2 18.4 .503 .000 .799
David Lee           GSW 2121  7.9 15.6 0.0 0.1 3.7 4.8 2.9  6.3  2.7 0.9 0.4 2.5 3.0 19.5 .503 .000 .782
Pau Gasol           LAL 2430  6.8 13.6 0.1 0.4 3.0 3.9 2.7  7.3  3.5 0.5 1.3 2.1 1.9 16.7 .501 .259 .782
Brandon Rush        GSW 1717  4.9  9.8 2.1 4.6 1.4 1.7 0.7  4.6  1.8 0.7 1.2 1.4 1.3 13.3 .501 .452 .793

TOP NBA SCORERS CHART 3 OF 3 >>> BEST THREE-POINT SCORERS in 2011-2012 (complete regular season)
Each year QFTR publishes Real Player Ratings for every player in the NBA who has played at least 300 minutes. Real Player Ratings are comprehensive player ratings that are very carefully designed and quality controlled. Starting in 2012, the Ratings are supplemented by seven per 36 minutes charts which show player performance in seven of the very most important performance measures, all of which are components of Real Player Ratings (but there are other components that go into Real Player Ratings). These charts are stationed on the home page at all times. This is most likely the only place on the Internet where this key player information is shown in this optimal way.

Here we have the best 3-point scorers of the NBA in 2011-2012 as indicated by 3-point shooting percentage. This is "3P%" in the chart. All items shown in the chart other than the percentages and the minutes played are per 36 minutes, which is much smarter to use than per game numbers.

For this and all the other charts, a minimum of 300 minutes of playing time is required. Players who make at least 2.2 three-point shots per 36 minutes and who have at least a .300 (30%) three-point shot shooting percentage are the only ones qualified to be on this list.

This is one of the seven "7/36 Charts". A short user guide for these is found in this Report.

Here now are how the best 3-point scorers in the NBA in 2011-2012 rated and ranked:

Player                 Tm   MP   FG  FGA  3P  3PA  FT FTA ORB DRB AST STL BLK TOV  PF  PTS  FG%  3P%  FT%
Steve Novak           NYK 1020  5.7 11.9 4.7 10.0 0.8 0.9 0.3 3.4 0.4 0.6 0.3 0.7 2.1 16.8 .478 .472 .846
Stephen Curry         GSW  732  7.1 14.6 2.7  6.0 1.9 2.3 0.7 3.6 6.8 1.9 0.4 3.2 3.0 18.8 .490 .455 .809
Ray Allen             BOS 1565  5.2 11.3 2.4  5.4 2.2 2.4 0.3 2.9 2.5 1.1 0.2 1.6 1.9 15.1 .458 .453 .915
Mike Miller           MIA  752  4.4 10.0 2.5  5.6 0.1 0.2 1.1 5.1 2.0 0.7 0.3 1.4 2.8 11.3 .435 .453 .400
Jordan Farmar         NJN  831  6.4 13.6 2.4  5.4 2.5 2.7 0.3 2.3 5.6 1.0 0.1 2.9 2.1 17.6 .467 .440 .905
Danny Green           SAS 1522  5.0 11.3 2.4  5.5 1.9 2.4 1.3 4.1 2.0 1.4 1.1 1.6 2.5 14.3 .442 .436 .790
Kyle Korver           CHI 1469  4.4 10.1 2.9  6.6 1.3 1.6 0.6 3.3 2.7 0.9 0.4 1.3 2.7 13.0 .432 .435 .833
Luke Babbitt          POR  537  4.8 11.6 2.9  6.7 1.1 1.3 1.1 5.3 1.1 0.7 0.3 1.8 3.1 13.5 .410 .430 .850
Jerryd Bayless        TOR  705  6.0 14.1 2.2  5.3 3.8 4.5 0.4 3.0 6.0 1.2 0.2 2.7 3.6 18.0 .424 .423 .852
Matt Bonner           SAS 1326  4.2  9.5 2.9  6.8 0.4 0.6 0.8 5.0 1.7 0.4 0.6 0.4 1.8 11.6 .440 .420 .762
Richard Jefferson     TOT 1748  4.2 10.1 2.3  5.5 1.2 1.8 0.5 4.0 1.8 0.8 0.4 1.0 2.5 11.9 .416 .420 .694
Gary Neal             SAS 1206  6.3 14.5 2.5  5.9 1.5 1.9 0.4 3.2 3.5 0.8 0.1 1.8 2.2 16.6 .436 .419 .781
J.J. Redick           ORL 1765  5.1 11.9 2.3  5.5 2.9 3.2 0.4 2.7 3.3 0.6 0.1 1.4 1.9 15.3 .425 .418 .911
Klay Thompson         GSW 1608  7.1 16.1 2.5  6.0 1.8 2.0 0.5 3.1 3.0 1.1 0.4 2.3 3.5 18.5 .443 .414 .868
Manu Ginobili         SAS  792  6.8 13.0 2.4  5.7 4.0 4.6 0.8 4.5 6.9 1.1 0.5 2.9 2.5 20.0 .526 .413 .871
James Jones           MIA  666  3.1  8.1 2.5  6.2 1.4 1.6 0.3 2.3 1.0 0.9 0.5 0.5 2.4 10.0 .380 .404 .833
Chase Budinger        HOU 1298  5.8 13.1 2.4  6.1 1.5 1.9 1.1 5.0 2.1 0.8 0.2 1.5 1.8 15.5 .442 .402 .771
Ryan Anderson         ORL 1964  6.1 13.9 3.0  7.7 2.7 3.1 4.1 4.5 1.0 0.9 0.5 1.0 2.7 18.0 .439 .393 .877
John Lucas            CHI  726  7.1 17.8 2.7  6.9 1.4 1.6 1.1 2.7 5.4 0.9 0.0 2.1 2.1 18.3 .399 .393 .875
Mo Williams           LAC 1472  6.4 14.9 2.3  5.8 1.8 2.0 0.6 1.9 3.9 1.2 0.2 2.1 2.5 16.8 .426 .389 .900
Player                 Tm   MP   FG  FGA  3P  3PA  FT FTA ORB DRB AST STL BLK TOV  PF  PTS  FG%  3P%  FT%
Cartier Martin        WAS  391  5.4 12.3 2.7  6.9 1.0 1.7 1.1 4.2 0.9 1.0 0.2 1.2 3.2 14.5 .440 .387 .579
Randy Foye            LAC 1682  5.5 13.8 2.7  7.0 1.6 1.8 0.5 2.4 3.1 1.0 0.5 1.6 2.8 15.2 .398 .386 .859
Chauncey Billups      LAC  607  4.9 13.5 2.8  7.4 5.0 5.6 0.2 2.7 4.7 0.5 0.2 2.3 2.4 17.7 .364 .384 .895
Jannero Pargo         ATL  671  5.6 13.6 2.8  7.4 1.0 1.1 0.5 3.4 5.2 1.1 0.1 2.6 3.4 15.1 .415 .384 .950
Roger Mason           WAS  697  5.3 13.3 3.0  8.0 1.1 1.4 0.4 3.2 2.4 0.7 0.3 1.7 1.7 14.8 .399 .383 .778
Jason Terry           DAL 2000  6.4 14.9 2.5  6.6 1.8 2.0 0.3 2.4 4.1 1.3 0.2 2.3 1.2 17.1 .430 .378 .883
Andrew Goudelock      LAL  419  5.8 14.9 2.4  6.4 0.9 1.0 0.4 2.2 1.7 0.3 0.0 1.8 2.7 15.0 .391 .373 .917
Anthony Morrow        NJN 1636  6.0 14.5 2.3  6.3 2.1 2.3 0.7 2.1 1.3 1.0 0.2 1.5 1.9 16.4 .413 .371 .933
Vladimir Radmanovic   ATL  755  3.5  9.4 2.4  6.4 1.0 1.4 1.6 5.2 2.6 1.0 0.7 1.7 3.0 10.5 .376 .370 .759
Jason Richardson      ORL 1591  5.5 13.5 2.3  6.3 0.9 1.6 0.8 3.6 2.4 1.2 0.5 1.4 2.1 14.2 .408 .368 .594
Jimmer Fredette       SAC 1135  5.5 14.1 2.5  6.9 1.3 1.5 0.5 1.8 3.4 1.0 0.1 2.1 2.3 14.7 .386 .361 .833
Dorell Wright         GSW 1650  4.8 11.5 2.3  6.4 1.7 2.1 1.3 4.8 2.1 1.3 0.6 1.1 2.1 13.7 .422 .360 .816
Kevin Martin          HOU 1264  6.3 15.3 2.2  6.4 4.6 5.1 0.4 2.6 3.1 0.8 0.1 2.0 2.0 19.4 .413 .347 .894
J.R. Smith            NYK  967  6.1 15.1 2.5  7.2 1.5 2.0 1.1 4.0 3.1 2.0 0.2 1.7 3.2 16.2 .407 .347 .709
Daequan Cook          OKC  989  4.0 10.8 2.9  8.3 0.5 0.8 0.4 4.0 0.5 0.8 0.4 0.6 2.5 11.3 .368 .346 .636
Mickael Pietrus       BOS  921  4.1 10.6 2.4  7.1 0.8 1.2 0.7 4.4 1.0 0.8 0.4 1.3 3.2 11.3 .385 .335 .645

CONTACT QFTR BY EMAIL WITH THIS ADDRESS
thequestforthering1 @ gmail dot com [Remove the spaces and replace "dot" with an actual (.)

Use this address for anything, including:
--To comment about a single Report
--To comment about more than one Report
--To comment about QFTR as a whole
--To comment about any QFTR feature, resource, or tool
--To comment about the primary or the secondary objectives of QFTR

--To get a question about basketball answered.
--To get a question about QFTR answered.
--To get a question about a QFTR Report answered.
--To get instructions on how to use a feature, resource, or tool found at QFTR

--To request a link exchange, which will probably be accepted if you have a Site related to basketball as long as that Site is not a predominantly hype Site.
--To request a free ad placement; No, you are not seeing things; QFTR will consider requests for a free ad from money making enterprises related to basketball, for example, basketball schools and camps.
--To request authority to use a QFTR Report on another site up to and including extensively quoting the Report. If you are willing to get permission, to not modify the content, to correctly attribute, and if you are willing to exchange site links if requested, then you can extensively quote just about any Quest report you want.

IMPORTANT: MENTION IN THE EMAIL WHETHER YOU WANT TO HAVE YOUR COMMENT OR QUESTION APPEAR IN A REPORT
If you mention in the Email that you want to have your comment or question appear in a Report and if QFTR thinks it is interesting, important, and/or useful enough to appear, then your comment or question will appear in a Report (and QFTR will send the link to that Report to you in a return email). If you do not mention whether you want your comment or question to appear, we will probably not have it appear. Remember that if you do mention that you want it to appear, it will appear only if it has one or more of the characteristics mentioned just above. In any case, and this should go without saying, neither your email address nor any other identifying information you may have included in the email will ever appear at QFTR.

THE GOOD NEWS AND THE BAD NEWS REGARDING EMAILS SENT TO QFTR
The good news is:

--That every email will get a response.
--All of the FREE offers mentioned above are really on the table.
--If you have a good question or something important, interesting and /or useful to contribute, we will definitely present it in a QFTR Report (unless you say you don't want it to appear).

In any event, QFTR will keep your email address 100% private (never to be published or used for anything ever except possibly for an email response from QFTR).

AND THE BAD NEWS IS...
The bad news is that because QFTR has only roughly 1/10 of the time it would like for producing content and getting the background work done, and because we always have at least five things going on and roughly fifty other things we would like to be doing, we do not read or answer emails on a very timely basis. So allow up to 60 days for a response, but roughly 80% of emails should be read and answered within 30 days.

TOP NBA DEFENDERS CHART 1 OF 3 >>> TOP REBOUNDERS in 2011-2012 (complete regular season)
Each year QFTR publishes Real Player Ratings for every player in the NBA who has played at least 300 minutes. Real Player Ratings are comprehensive player ratings that are very carefully designed and quality controlled. Starting in 2012, the Ratings are supplemented by seven per 36 minutes charts which show player performance in seven of the very most important performance measures, all of which are components of Real Player Ratings (but there are other components that go into Real Player Ratings). These charts are stationed on the home page at all times. This is most likely the only place on the Internet where this key player information is shown in this optimal way.

Here we have the best defensive rebounders of the NBA in 2011-2012 as indicated by defensive rebounds per 36 minutes playing time. This is "DRB" in the chart. All items shown in the chart other than the percentages and the minutes played are per 36 minutes are per 36 minutes, which is much smarter to use than per game numbers.

For this and all the other charts, a minimum of 300 minutes of playing time is required. Only players who made at least 6.5 defensive rebounds per 36 minutes are shown here.

This is one of the seven "7/36 Charts". A short user guide for these is found in this Report.

Here now are how the best defensive rebounders in the NBA in 2011-2012 rated and ranked:

Player              Tm   MP   FG  FGA  3P 3PA  FT FTA ORB  DRB AST STL BLK TOV  PF  PTS  FG%  3P%  FT%
Dwight Howard      ORL 2070  7.2 12.6 0.0 0.1 4.9 9.9 3.5 10.2 1.8 1.4 2.0 3.0 2.8 19.4 .573 .000 .491
Marcus Camby       TOT 1352  3.4  7.6 0.1 0.1 0.8 1.7 4.2  9.9 2.8 1.3 2.3 1.5 3.4  7.6 .446 .400 .453
Tim Duncan         SAS 1634  8.0 16.1 0.0 0.1 3.8 5.5 2.4  9.0 2.9 0.8 1.9 2.1 2.2 19.7 .492 .000 .695
Andrew Bynum       LAL 2112  7.6 13.6 0.0 0.1 4.0 5.8 3.3  8.8 1.4 0.5 2.0 2.6 1.8 19.1 .558 .200 .692
Aaron Gray         TOR  813  3.7  7.1 0.0 0.0 1.1 2.1 3.7  8.8 1.2 1.0 0.8 2.3 5.6  8.5 .516      .532
Joel Przybilla     POR  449  1.8  3.8 0.0 0.0 0.9 1.4 2.3  8.7 0.5 0.3 1.3 1.8 5.3  4.4 .458      .611
Kevin Love         MIN 2145  8.0 17.8 1.8 4.7 6.4 7.7 3.8  8.5 1.9 0.8 0.5 2.1 2.6 24.0 .448 .372 .824
Jamaal Magloire    TOR  374  1.6  4.3 0.0 0.0 0.7 2.6 2.4  8.5 0.6 0.4 1.0 2.1 6.4  3.9 .378      .259
Omer Asik          CHI  971  2.9  5.8 0.0 0.0 1.7 3.8 4.7  8.3 1.2 1.1 2.5 2.5 4.5  7.6 .506      .456
Carlos Boozer      CHI 1948  8.3 15.6 0.0 0.0 1.8 2.5 2.1  8.3 2.3 1.2 0.4 2.1 3.1 18.3 .532 .000 .693
Kevin Garnett      BOS 1864  7.6 15.0 0.1 0.2 3.1 3.7 1.3  8.3 3.4 1.1 1.2 2.1 2.7 18.3 .503 .333 .857
Jordan Hill        TOT  551  5.4 10.8 0.0 0.2 2.0 3.1 4.0  8.2 1.0 0.9 1.8 2.0 4.6 12.7 .497 .000 .638
Anderson Varejao   CLE  785  5.2 10.2 0.0 0.2 2.0 2.9 5.0  8.2 2.0 1.6 0.8 2.1 2.8 12.4 .514 .000 .672
DeMarcus Cousins   SAC 1950  8.3 18.4 0.0 0.3 4.8 6.9 4.9  8.1 1.9 1.7 1.4 3.1 4.7 21.4 .448 .143 .702
Marcin Gortat      PHO 2114  7.3 13.1 0.0 0.0 2.8 4.3 3.2  8.1 1.0 0.8 1.7 1.5 2.4 17.3 .555 .000 .649
Reggie Evans       LAC  771  1.6  3.4 0.0 0.0 1.7 3.3 4.7  8.0 0.8 1.4 0.3 2.1 5.5  4.9 .472      .507
Udonis Haslem      MIA 1589  3.4  8.1 0.0 0.0 1.9 2.3 2.7  8.0 1.0 0.8 0.5 1.4 3.2  8.7 .423      .814
Al Jefferson       UTA 2075  9.0 18.2 0.0 0.1 2.4 3.1 2.3  7.8 2.3 0.8 1.8 1.1 2.7 20.3 .492 .250 .774
Andrew Bogut       MIL  364  6.0 13.5 0.0 0.1 1.4 2.3 2.2  7.7 3.1 1.2 2.4 2.4 3.6 13.5 .449 .000 .609
Josh Smith         ATL 2329  7.8 17.0 0.4 1.7 3.1 5.0 2.1  7.7 4.0 1.4 1.8 2.5 2.7 19.2 .458 .257 .630
Player              Tm   MP   FG  FGA  3P 3PA  FT FTA ORB  DRB AST STL BLK TOV  PF  PTS  FG%  3P%  FT%
Blake Griffin      LAC 2392  8.4 15.4 0.0 0.2 3.7 7.0 3.3  7.5 3.2 0.8 0.7 2.3 3.3 20.6 .549 .125 .521
Spencer Hawes      PHI  920  6.1 12.5 0.1 0.5 1.6 2.2 3.1  7.5 3.8 0.6 1.9 2.2 3.9 13.9 .489 .250 .727
Kris Humphries     NJN 2162  5.4 11.2 0.0 0.0 3.5 4.6 3.9  7.5 1.5 0.8 1.2 2.0 2.9 14.2 .481      .752
Chris Andersen     DEN  486  4.4  8.0 0.0 0.0 3.7 6.1 3.6  7.4 0.4 1.4 3.4 1.3 3.9 12.4 .546      .610
Samuel Dalembert   HOU 1446  5.0  9.8 0.0 0.0 2.2 2.8 3.9  7.4 0.8 0.9 2.8 2.0 4.0 12.2 .506 .000 .796
Nene Hilario       TOT 1110  6.8 12.7 0.0 0.1 3.7 5.4 2.0  7.4 2.6 1.4 1.2 3.1 3.1 17.4 .537 .000 .673
Kosta Koufos       DEN  792  5.2  8.7 0.0 0.0 1.5 2.5 4.3  7.4 0.7 1.1 1.9 1.5 4.4 12.0 .599      .600
JaVale McGee       TOT 1535  7.2 12.9 0.0 0.0 1.8 3.9 3.8  7.4 0.7 0.8 3.1 2.0 3.9 16.2 .556      .461
Kenneth Faried     DEN 1037  6.3 10.7 0.0 0.0 3.8 5.7 4.9  7.3 1.2 1.2 1.6 1.9 4.0 16.4 .586      .665
Pau Gasol          LAL 2430  6.8 13.6 0.1 0.4 3.0 3.9 2.7  7.3 3.5 0.5 1.3 2.1 1.9 16.7 .501 .259 .782
Evan Turner        PHI 1713  5.5 12.4 0.2 1.0 1.5 2.3 0.6  7.3 3.8 0.8 0.4 2.2 2.5 12.8 .446 .224 .676
Lavoy Allen        PHI  624  4.6  9.6 0.0 0.0 0.6 0.8 2.7  7.2 2.0 0.7 1.0 1.2 4.2  9.7 .473      .786
Ersan Ilyasova     MIL 1655  6.4 13.0 1.1 2.4 3.1 4.0 4.3  7.2 1.5 0.9 1.0 1.7 2.9 17.0 .492 .455 .781
Chris Kaman        NOH 1372  7.0 15.7 0.0 0.0 2.2 2.8 2.3  7.2 2.7 0.7 2.0 3.4 2.8 16.2 .446      .785
Joakim Noah        CHI 1945  4.6  9.1 0.0 0.0 2.9 3.8 4.5  7.2 3.0 0.8 1.7 1.7 3.0 12.1 .508 .000 .748
Zach Randolph      MEM  735  6.5 14.0 0.1 0.4 2.8 4.3 3.8  7.2 2.4 1.0 0.2 2.0 2.8 15.9 .463 .250 .659
Ed Davis           TOR 1534  4.0  7.9 0.0 0.0 1.7 2.5 3.1  7.1 1.4 0.9 1.5 1.6 3.7  9.7 .513 .000 .670
Tyson Chandler     NYK 2061  4.2  6.2 0.0 0.0 3.8 5.5 3.7  7.0 1.0 1.0 1.6 1.8 3.2 12.2 .679 .000 .689
Derrick Favors     UTA 1376  5.8 11.6 0.0 0.0 3.3 5.1 4.1  7.0 1.1 1.0 1.7 2.7 3.8 14.9 .499      .649
Marc Gasol         MEM 2370  5.4 11.2 0.0 0.2 3.6 4.8 1.8  7.0 3.1 0.9 1.8 1.8 3.1 14.5 .482 .083 .748
Player              Tm   MP   FG  FGA  3P 3PA  FT FTA ORB  DRB AST STL BLK TOV  PF  PTS  FG%  3P%  FT%
Enes Kanter        UTA  874  4.8  9.7 0.0 0.0 2.9 4.3 4.4  7.0 0.3 0.7 0.9 2.2 3.6 12.5 .496 .000 .667
Nikola Vucevic     PHI  812  5.8 12.9 0.1 0.4 0.8 1.5 3.9  7.0 1.4 0.9 1.5 1.5 4.9 12.5 .450 .375 .529
Kevin Durant       OKC 2546  9.1 18.3 1.9 4.9 6.1 7.1 0.6  6.9 3.3 1.2 1.1 3.5 1.9 26.2 .496 .387 .860
DeAndre Jordan     LAC 1798  4.1  6.5 0.0 0.0 1.5 2.8 4.0  6.9 0.3 0.6 2.7 1.5 3.8  9.7 .632 .000 .525
Greg Monroe        DET 2082  7.0 13.5 0.0 0.0 3.5 4.7 4.1  6.9 2.6 1.4 0.8 2.8 3.1 17.6 .521 .000 .739
Ben Wallace        DET  980  1.2  3.2 0.0 0.1 0.6 1.7 3.0  6.9 1.6 1.7 1.9 1.2 2.2  3.1 .395 .250 .340
Tiago Splitter     SAS 1121  6.8 11.0 0.0 0.0 4.0 5.8 3.0  6.8 2.1 0.7 1.5 2.8 4.3 17.6 .618      .691
Roy Hibbert        IND 1937  6.2 12.4 0.0 0.0 3.2 4.4 4.0  6.7 2.0 0.6 2.4 2.4 3.6 15.5 .497 .000 .711
Zaza Pachulia      ATL 1640  3.7  7.4 0.0 0.0 2.6 3.5 3.4  6.7 1.7 1.2 0.6 1.8 3.8 10.0 .499      .741
Kurt Thomas        POR  803  3.3  7.0 0.0 0.0 0.6 0.9 1.7  6.7 2.1 1.1 1.4 1.4 5.5  7.2 .465      .700
Channing Frye      PHO 1669  5.5 13.2 2.0 5.7 1.6 1.8 1.5  6.6 1.9 0.9 1.5 1.4 3.8 14.5 .416 .346 .890
Paul Millsap       UTA 2100  7.3 14.8 0.1 0.5 3.5 4.4 3.1  6.6 2.6 2.0 0.9 1.9 3.8 18.2 .495 .226 .792
Timofey Mozgov     DEN  687  5.2 10.0 0.0 0.0 2.0 3.0 2.8  6.6 1.2 0.8 2.2 2.8 4.5 12.5 .526      .684
Emeka Okafor       NOH  781  5.3  9.9 0.0 0.0 1.8 3.4 3.2  6.6 1.1 0.7 1.2 1.7 3.4 12.3 .533      .514
Al Harrington      DEN 1761  7.1 15.8 2.1 6.2 2.4 3.6 1.5  6.5 1.8 1.2 0.2 2.3 3.7 18.6 .446 .333 .676

TOP NBA DEFENDERS CHART 2 OF 3 >>> TOP BLOCKERS in 2011-2012 (complete regular season)
Each year QFTR publishes Real Player Ratings for every player in the NBA who has played at least 300 minutes. Real Player Ratings are comprehensive player ratings that are very carefully designed and quality controlled. Starting in 2012, the Ratings are supplemented by seven per 36 minutes charts which show player performance in seven of the very most important performance measures, all of which are components of Real Player Ratings (but there are other components that go into Real Player Ratings). These charts are stationed on the home page at all times. This is most likely the only place on the Internet where this key player information is shown in this optimal way.

Here we have the best (defensive) blockers of the NBA in 2011-2012 as indicated by blocks per 36 minutes playing time. This is "BLK" in the chart. All items shown in the chart other than the percentages and the minutes played are per 36 minutes, which is much smarter to use than per game numbers.

For this and all the other charts, a minimum of 300 minutes of playing time is required. Only players who made at least 1.5 blocks per 36 minutes are shown here.

This is one of the seven "7/36 Charts". A short user guide for these is found in this Report.

Here now are how the best blockers in the NBA in 2011-2012 rated and ranked:

Player              Tm   MP   FG  FGA  3P 3PA  FT FTA ORB  DRB AST STL BLK TOV  PF  PTS  FG%  3P%  FT%
Serge Ibaka        OKC 1792  5.3  9.8 0.0 0.1 1.6 2.4 3.9  6.1 0.6 0.7 4.8 1.6 3.6 12.1 .535 .333 .661
Larry Sanders      MIL  643  4.7 10.3 0.0 0.1 1.0 2.1 3.5  5.5 1.8 1.8 4.3 2.4 7.4 10.4 .457 .000 .474
Greg Stiemsma      BOS  766  3.1  5.7 0.0 0.0 1.4 1.9 2.3  6.1 1.3 1.7 4.0 1.6 6.8  7.6 .545      .707
Chris Andersen     DEN  486  4.4  8.0 0.0 0.0 3.7 6.1 3.6  7.4 0.4 1.4 3.4 1.3 3.9 12.4 .546      .610
JaVale McGee       TOT 1535  7.2 12.9 0.0 0.0 1.8 3.9 3.8  7.4 0.7 0.8 3.1 2.0 3.9 16.2 .556      .461
Brandan Wright     DAL  791  6.6 10.6 0.0 0.0 2.4 3.7 2.8  5.1 0.6 1.0 2.9 1.0 2.8 15.5 .618 .000 .634
Bismack Biyombo    CHA 1455  3.2  6.9 0.0 0.0 1.7 3.5 2.8  6.3 0.7 0.5 2.8 1.8 3.6  8.1 .464      .483
Samuel Dalembert   HOU 1446  5.0  9.8 0.0 0.0 2.2 2.8 3.9  7.4 0.8 0.9 2.8 2.0 4.0 12.2 .506 .000 .796
Ekpe Udoh          TOT 1290  3.5  8.2 0.0 0.1 2.4 3.2 2.8  4.3 1.6 1.1 2.8 1.5 4.9  9.5 .431 .000 .754
DeAndre Jordan     LAC 1798  4.1  6.5 0.0 0.0 1.5 2.8 4.0  6.9 0.3 0.6 2.7 1.5 3.8  9.7 .632 .000 .525
Jermaine ONeal     BOS  570  3.3  7.6 0.0 0.0 1.3 2.0 2.3  6.2 0.6 0.5 2.7 1.3 5.1  7.9 .433      .677
Omer Asik          CHI  971  2.9  5.8 0.0 0.0 1.7 3.8 4.7  8.3 1.2 1.1 2.5 2.5 4.5  7.6 .506      .456
Andrew Bogut       MIL  364  6.0 13.5 0.0 0.1 1.4 2.3 2.2  7.7 3.1 1.2 2.4 2.4 3.6 13.5 .449 .000 .609
Roy Hibbert        IND 1937  6.2 12.4 0.0 0.0 3.2 4.4 4.0  6.7 2.0 0.6 2.4 2.4 3.6 15.5 .497 .000 .711
Robin Lopez        PHO  895  5.0 10.8 0.0 0.0 4.0 5.6 3.6  4.8 0.8 0.7 2.4 1.7 5.1 14.0 .461      .714
Anthony Randolph   MIN  517  6.5 13.9 0.0 0.1 4.5 5.8 2.9  5.6 1.3 0.9 2.4 2.8 3.9 17.5 .470 .000 .762
Marcus Camby       TOT 1352  3.4  7.6 0.1 0.1 0.8 1.7 4.2  9.9 2.8 1.3 2.3 1.5 3.4  7.6 .446 .400 .453
Taj Gibson         CHI 1284  5.6 11.3 0.0 0.0 2.4 3.8 3.8  5.5 1.3 0.8 2.3 1.7 3.7 13.6 .495      .622
Kevin Seraphin     WAS 1176  6.2 11.7 0.0 0.0 1.4 2.1 3.2  5.4 1.0 0.6 2.3 2.0 4.1 13.9 .531 .000 .671
Joel Anthony       MIA 1349  2.3  4.1 0.0 0.0 1.3 1.9 2.7  4.0 0.2 1.0 2.2 1.2 3.4  5.8 .559      .690
Player              Tm   MP   FG  FGA  3P 3PA  FT FTA ORB  DRB AST STL BLK TOV  PF  PTS  FG%  3P%  FT%
Andris Biedrins    GSW  739  1.9  3.1 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.4 2.2  6.4 0.8 1.1 2.2 0.7 6.1  3.8 .609      .111
Timofey Mozgov     DEN  687  5.2 10.0 0.0 0.0 2.0 3.0 2.8  6.6 1.2 0.8 2.2 2.8 4.5 12.5 .526      .684
Louis Amundson     IND  753  4.3  9.9 0.0 0.0 1.7 3.9 4.5  6.1 0.7 1.3 2.1 2.2 6.0 10.2 .430      .427
Earl Clark         ORL  559  3.3  9.0 0.0 0.0 1.4 1.9 2.3  5.7 1.2 0.8 2.1 1.6 4.6  7.9 .367      .724
Tyrus Thomas       CHA 1013  4.3 11.6 0.0 0.1 2.2 2.9 1.7  5.4 1.2 1.3 2.1 1.9 5.1 10.8 .367 .333 .759
Elton Brand        PHI 1732  6.0 12.1 0.0 0.0 1.8 2.4 3.0  5.9 2.0 1.2 2.0 1.4 3.7 13.7 .494 .000 .733
Andrew Bynum       LAL 2112  7.6 13.6 0.0 0.1 4.0 5.8 3.3  8.8 1.4 0.5 2.0 2.6 1.8 19.1 .558 .200 .692
Dwight Howard      ORL 2070  7.2 12.6 0.0 0.1 4.9 9.9 3.5 10.2 1.8 1.4 2.0 3.0 2.8 19.4 .573 .000 .491
Chris Kaman        NOH 1372  7.0 15.7 0.0 0.0 2.2 2.8 2.3  7.2 2.7 0.7 2.0 3.4 2.8 16.2 .446      .785
Tim Duncan         SAS 1634  8.0 16.1 0.0 0.1 3.8 5.5 2.4  9.0 2.9 0.8 1.9 2.1 2.2 19.7 .492 .000 .695
Spencer Hawes      PHI  920  6.1 12.5 0.1 0.5 1.6 2.2 3.1  7.5 3.8 0.6 1.9 2.2 3.9 13.9 .489 .250 .727
James Johnson      TOR 1561  5.4 11.9 0.4 1.4 1.9 2.7 1.7  5.0 2.8 1.6 1.9 2.3 4.1 13.1 .450 .317 .704
Kosta Koufos       DEN  792  5.2  8.7 0.0 0.0 1.5 2.5 4.3  7.4 0.7 1.1 1.9 1.5 4.4 12.0 .599      .600
Darko Milicic      MIN  472  4.5  9.9 0.0 0.0 1.2 2.8 2.7  4.7 1.3 0.7 1.9 2.4 4.5 10.2 .454      .432
Nazr Mohammed      OKC  692  4.1  8.8 0.0 0.1 0.7 1.2 3.1  5.8 0.7 1.0 1.9 1.4 5.3  8.9 .467 .000 .565
Ben Wallace        DET  980  1.2  3.2 0.0 0.1 0.6 1.7 3.0  6.9 1.6 1.7 1.9 1.2 2.2  3.1 .395 .250 .340
Marc Gasol         MEM 2370  5.4 11.2 0.0 0.2 3.6 4.8 1.8  7.0 3.1 0.9 1.8 1.8 3.1 14.5 .482 .083 .748
Jordan Hill        TOT  551  5.4 10.8 0.0 0.2 2.0 3.1 4.0  8.2 1.0 0.9 1.8 2.0 4.6 12.7 .497 .000 .638
Al Jefferson       UTA 2075  9.0 18.2 0.0 0.1 2.4 3.1 2.3  7.8 2.3 0.8 1.8 1.1 2.7 20.3 .492 .250 .774
Josh Smith         ATL 2329  7.8 17.0 0.4 1.7 3.1 5.0 2.1  7.7 4.0 1.4 1.8 2.5 2.7 19.2 .458 .257 .630
Player              Tm   MP   FG  FGA  3P 3PA  FT FTA ORB  DRB AST STL BLK TOV  PF  PTS  FG%  3P%  FT%
Derrick Favors     UTA 1376  5.8 11.6 0.0 0.0 3.3 5.1 4.1  7.0 1.1 1.0 1.7 2.7 3.8 14.9 .499      .649
Francisco Garcia   SAC  798  3.9 10.3 1.7 5.9 1.1 1.4 0.5  4.0 1.4 1.6 1.7 1.0 3.3 10.6 .376 .290 .800
Marcin Gortat      PHO 2114  7.3 13.1 0.0 0.0 2.8 4.3 3.2  8.1 1.0 0.8 1.7 1.5 2.4 17.3 .555 .000 .649
Brendan Haywood    DAL 1146  3.7  7.2 0.0 0.0 1.4 3.0 4.4  5.8 0.6 0.8 1.7 1.4 3.8  8.8 .518      .469
Joakim Noah        CHI 1945  4.6  9.1 0.0 0.0 2.9 3.8 4.5  7.2 3.0 0.8 1.7 1.7 3.0 12.1 .508 .000 .748
Tyson Chandler     NYK 2061  4.2  6.2 0.0 0.0 3.8 5.5 3.7  7.0 1.0 1.0 1.6 1.8 3.2 12.2 .679 .000 .689
Kenneth Faried     DEN 1037  6.3 10.7 0.0 0.0 3.8 5.7 4.9  7.3 1.2 1.2 1.6 1.9 4.0 16.4 .586      .665
Amir Johnson       TOR 1553  4.5  7.9 0.0 0.1 1.3 1.9 3.5  6.0 1.8 0.8 1.6 2.2 4.8 10.5 .576 .400 .690
Kenyon Martin      LAC  940  3.7  8.4 0.1 0.5 0.8 2.1 1.9  5.1 0.7 1.7 1.6 1.2 3.9  8.3 .441 .231 .370
Jason Smith        NOH  947  6.9 13.2 0.0 0.3 1.3 1.8 2.7  4.7 1.3 0.8 1.6 1.5 3.9 15.1 .520 .111 .702
Tristan Thompson   CLE 1424  4.9 11.2 0.0 0.1 2.7 4.9 4.7  5.1 0.7 0.7 1.6 2.0 3.4 12.5 .439 .000 .552
Gustavo Ayon       NOH 1088  4.6  8.6 0.0 0.0 1.3 2.1 2.8  5.9 2.4 1.8 1.5 1.5 3.9 10.6 .536 .000 .619
Channing Frye      PHO 1669  5.5 13.2 2.0 5.7 1.6 1.8 1.5  6.6 1.9 0.9 1.5 1.4 3.8 14.5 .416 .346 .890
Travis Outlaw      SAC  500  4.3 12.6 1.2 4.3 2.2 3.3 1.4  3.0 1.2 1.4 1.5 1.4 2.4 12.0 .343 .267 .674
Kendrick Perkins   OKC 1744  2.6  5.4 0.0 0.0 1.5 2.3 2.5  6.3 1.6 0.5 1.5 2.4 3.9  6.8 .489      .652
Tiago Splitter     SAS 1121  6.8 11.0 0.0 0.0 4.0 5.8 3.0  6.8 2.1 0.7 1.5 2.8 4.3 17.6 .618      .691
Nikola Vucevic     PHI  812  5.8 12.9 0.1 0.4 0.8 1.5 3.9  7.0 1.4 0.9 1.5 1.5 4.9 12.5 .450 .375 .529

TOP NBA DEFENDERS CHART 3 OF 3 >>> TOP THIEVES / FAST BREAKERS in 2011-2012 (complete regular season)
Each year QFTR publishes Real Player Ratings for every player in the NBA who has played at least 300 minutes. Real Player Ratings are comprehensive player ratings that are very carefully designed and quality controlled. Starting in 2012, the Ratings are supplemented by seven per 36 minutes charts which show player performance in seven of the very most important performance measures, all of which are components of Real Player Ratings (but there are other components that go into Real Player Ratings). These charts are stationed on the home page at all times. This is most likely the only place on the Internet where this key player information is shown in this optimal way.

Here we have the best thieves / fast breakers of the NBA in 2011-2012 as indicated by steals per 36 minutes playing time. This is "STL" in the chart. All items shown in the chart other than the percentages and the minutes played are per 36 minutes, which is much smarter to use than per game numbers.

For this and all the other charts, a minimum of 300 minutes of playing time is required. Only players who made at least 1.7 steals per 36 minutes are shown here.

This is one of the seven "7/36 Charts". A short user guide for these is found in this Report.

Here now are how the best thieves / fast breakers in the NBA in 2011-2012 rated and ranked:

Player               Tm   MP   FG  FGA  3P 3PA  FT FTA ORB DRB  AST STL BLK TOV  PF  PTS  FG%  3P%  FT%
Tony Allen          MEM 1525  5.0 10.6 0.2 0.6 3.3 4.1 2.3 3.2  1.9 2.5 0.8 2.2 3.4 13.4 .469 .308 .800
Sundiata Gaines     NJN  793  4.6 12.3 1.3 3.7 2.7 4.4 1.2 3.7  5.7 2.5 0.1 2.4 2.6 13.2 .376 .341 .615
Chris Paul          LAC 2181  7.0 14.7 1.3 3.5 4.3 5.0 0.7 2.8  9.0 2.5 0.1 2.0 2.3 19.6 .478 .371 .861
Eric Bledsoe        LAC  464  3.8  9.8 0.5 2.3 2.2 3.4 1.7 3.3  5.1 2.4 1.1 3.6 4.5 10.2 .389 .200 .636
Ronnie Price        PHO  517  3.4  9.1 0.9 3.1 1.4 1.7 1.3 2.6  4.7 2.4 0.2 3.2 5.0  9.1 .377 .295 .800
Mike Conley         MEM 2174  4.9 11.3 1.0 2.6 2.3 2.6 0.4 2.2  6.7 2.3 0.2 2.1 2.2 13.0 .433 .377 .861
Ricky Rubio         MIN 1404  3.6 10.0 0.8 2.4 3.2 4.0 0.5 3.8  8.6 2.3 0.2 3.4 2.5 11.2 .357 .340 .803
Baron Davis         NYK  595  4.1 11.1 1.6 5.1 1.0 1.5 0.8 2.6  8.2 2.1 0.2 4.6 3.7 10.8 .370 .306 .667
Jason Kidd          DAL 1379  2.6  7.1 2.1 5.8 0.6 0.7 0.4 4.8  6.9 2.1 0.3 2.4 2.2  7.8 .363 .354 .786
Jeremy Lin          NYK  940  6.5 14.7 0.9 2.9 5.6 7.0 0.7 3.4  8.3 2.1 0.3 4.8 3.0 19.6 .446 .320 .798
Iman Shumpert       NYK 1705  4.5 11.3 1.0 3.3 1.8 2.3 0.9 3.0  3.5 2.1 0.2 2.3 3.7 11.9 .401 .306 .798
Corey Brewer        DEN 1287  5.6 13.0 0.9 3.6 2.5 3.6 1.2 3.0  2.5 2.0 0.5 1.6 3.2 14.7 .434 .260 .692
Paul George         IND 1958  5.2 11.7 1.7 4.3 2.7 3.3 1.0 5.8  2.9 2.0 0.7 2.2 3.5 14.7 .440 .385 .802
Kawhi Leonard       SAS 1534  4.7  9.5 1.0 2.6 1.6 2.1 2.4 5.2  1.6 2.0 0.6 1.0 2.1 11.9 .493 .376 .773
Paul Millsap        UTA 2100  7.3 14.8 0.1 0.5 3.5 4.4 3.1 6.6  2.6 2.0 0.9 1.9 3.8 18.2 .495 .226 .792
J.R. Smith          NYK  967  6.1 15.1 2.5 7.2 1.5 2.0 1.1 4.0  3.1 2.0 0.2 1.7 3.2 16.2 .407 .347 .709
Delonte West        DAL 1060  5.6 12.2 0.9 2.6 2.1 2.4 0.4 3.0  4.7 2.0 0.4 2.6 2.3 14.3 .461 .355 .886
Mario Chalmers      MIA 1825  4.4  9.8 2.0 5.1 1.6 2.0 0.3 3.1  4.4 1.9 0.2 2.8 3.3 12.4 .448 .388 .792
Stephen Curry       GSW  732  7.1 14.6 2.7 6.0 1.9 2.3 0.7 3.6  6.8 1.9 0.4 3.2 3.0 18.8 .490 .455 .809
Carlos Delfino      MIL 1537  4.3 10.6 2.0 5.6 0.9 1.1 0.5 4.4  2.9 1.9 0.2 1.5 2.3 11.4 .402 .360 .792
Player               Tm   MP   FG  FGA  3P 3PA  FT FTA ORB DRB  AST STL BLK TOV  PF  PTS  FG%  3P%  FT%
Earl Watson         UTA 1033  1.9  5.6 0.3 1.8 1.1 1.6 1.0 3.2  7.6 1.9 0.8 3.0 3.7  5.2 .338 .192 .674
Trevor Ariza        NOH 1350  4.5 10.7 0.8 2.3 2.1 2.7 1.1 4.6  3.6 1.8 0.7 2.0 1.9 11.8 .417 .333 .775
Gustavo Ayon        NOH 1088  4.6  8.6 0.0 0.0 1.3 2.1 2.8 5.9  2.4 1.8 1.5 1.5 3.9 10.6 .536 .000 .619
Rodrigue Beaubois   DAL 1151  5.9 13.9 1.2 4.1 1.8 2.2 0.6 4.1  4.8 1.8 0.9 2.2 3.1 14.8 .422 .288 .841
Reggie Jackson      OKC  501  3.7 11.4 0.9 4.5 1.8 2.1 1.0 2.8  5.1 1.8 0.1 2.6 2.2 10.1 .321 .210 .862
LeBron James        MIA 2326  9.6 18.1 0.8 2.3 6.0 7.8 1.5 6.2  6.0 1.8 0.8 3.3 1.5 26.0 .531 .362 .771
Nate Robinson       GSW 1192  6.2 14.6 2.0 5.5 2.8 3.4 0.5 2.6  7.0 1.8 0.1 2.3 3.6 17.2 .424 .365 .832
Walker Russell      DET  357  3.3  9.6 0.4 1.3 1.4 2.2 0.7 1.9  5.8 1.8 0.1 3.3 2.9  8.5 .347 .308 .636
Larry Sanders       MIL  643  4.7 10.3 0.0 0.1 1.0 2.1 3.5 5.5  1.8 1.8 4.3 2.4 7.4 10.4 .457 .000 .474
Chris Singleton     WAS 1431  2.9  7.8 1.1 3.2 0.8 1.1 1.1 4.8  1.2 1.8 0.8 1.0 4.4  7.7 .372 .346 .682
Dwyane Wade         MIA 1625  9.2 18.5 0.3 1.2 5.2 6.6 1.6 3.6  5.0 1.8 1.4 2.9 2.4 24.0 .497 .268 .791
DeMarcus Cousins    SAC 1950  8.3 18.4 0.0 0.3 4.8 6.9 4.9 8.1  1.9 1.7 1.4 3.1 4.7 21.4 .448 .143 .702
Goran Dragic        HOU 1752  5.7 12.3 1.4 4.2 3.1 3.9 1.1 2.4  7.2 1.7 0.2 3.2 3.4 15.9 .462 .337 .805
Andre Iguodala      PHI 2209  4.7 10.3 1.2 3.1 2.0 3.2 0.9 5.3  5.5 1.7 0.5 1.9 1.5 12.6 .454 .394 .617
Kyle Lowry          HOU 1510  5.0 12.2 1.9 5.0 4.1 4.7 0.9 4.2  7.4 1.7 0.3 3.1 3.2 16.0 .409 .374 .864
Rajon Rondo         BOS 1957  4.7 10.5 0.2 0.8 2.0 3.3 1.1 3.6 11.4 1.7 0.1 3.6 1.8 11.6 .448 .238 .597
Lance Stephenson    IND  442  3.8 10.2 0.3 2.4 0.7 1.4 1.0 3.3  3.7 1.7 0.4 2.9 2.4  8.6 .376 .133 .471
Greg Stiemsma       BOS  766  3.1  5.7 0.0 0.0 1.4 1.9 2.3 6.1  1.3 1.7 4.0 1.6 6.8  7.6 .545      .707
Jeff Teague         ATL 2183  5.3 11.1 0.8 2.5 2.3 3.1 0.3 2.3  5.3 1.7 0.6 2.2 2.4 13.7 .476 .342 .757
Ben Wallace         DET  980  1.2  3.2 0.0 0.1 0.6 1.7 3.0 6.9  1.6 1.7 1.9 1.2 2.2  3.1 .395 .250 .340
Player               Tm   MP   FG  FGA  3P 3PA  FT FTA ORB DRB  AST STL BLK TOV  PF  PTS  FG%  3P%  FT%
Russell Westbrook   OKC 2331  8.9 19.6 1.0 3.0 5.3 6.4 1.5 3.2  5.6 1.7 0.3 3.7 2.3 24.1 .457 .316 .823

From day one we knew that QFTR would never be a hang out place, a place where people come to comment on basketball news and blogs and what not. For one thing, we knew it could never possibly be even a moderate traffic Site (let alone a high traffic Site) regardless of the quality or quantity of basketball content loaded on to it. (It took years and about 15 books worth of content just to go from zero traffic to low traffic). Although you wouldn't expect it to be all that popular, it seems that a serious and unique basketball Site has even a lower potential audience than one would expect.

For another thing, QFTR is too serious for the quick little comments that are a dime a dozen at basketball Sites and blogs around the Internet. And most people who comment like to make only short little comments.

And of course it is well known that only a tiny percentage of blogs get more than a tiny number of comments and that essentially all of the blogs that do get comments are part of blog networks and/or they are run by celebrities.

And there are other reasons but those are the main ones.

The truth though is that your QFTR producer never had the resources to moderate and / or to participate in discussions at QFTR. Before there was a QFTR we participated in forums, and for about 18 months after there was a QFTR we still posted at a couple of forums, but we had to discontinue due to lack of time and because posting at forums was useless for getting traffic to QFTR that would return for future visits. As mentioned above in "Your Ball, Take Your Best Shot, Option 3," QFTR has only roughly 1/10 of the time it would like for producing content and for getting the background work done. So we are not even close to having the time to deal with comments that would go directly onto QFTR. So actually, we are glad that there has been very little interest.

Having said that, until January 2012 there was an option for commenting on Reports etc.. There was a page called "QFTR Discussions" where all comments on all Reports would appear in one place. These were going to be more serious and lengthy comments than the ones you see around the Internet.

Along with the discussion page there was to be an "open blog" called "My Quest for the Ring". Anyone who demonstrated the ability to make important, interesting, and/or useful contributions toward explaining how playoff games are won and lost would be given the keys and would be allowed to post whatever whenever. These would be full posts and not just comments. This would be a collaboration blog.

Both Discussions and My Quest for the Ring were nice, creative ideas, but there were no takers because of some combination of the following:

--Hardly anyone is qualified to discuss basketball at a high level.
--No one who is qualified has the time.
--QFTR traffic has been too low and/or it has the wrong people visiting, so therefore those who might have posted have never seen the option.

Although all of the links to these pages are removed from the QFTR home page as of January 2012 (except for the ones just above) the pages themselves are not being taken down. So if anyone (and it can be just one single person) is interested in posting to either of these Sites, please send an email to:
thequestforthering1 @ gmail dot com
[Remove the spaces and replace "dot" with an actual (.)

If even one person is interested and posts at either of those sites, we will restore all of the links that were removed.

>>>I WANT TO STICK WITH THE WAY OTHER SITES PRESENT POSTS
Due to the number of, uniqueness of, and importance of the many other home page features we have, only one Report loads at a time, currently the one just above. To see the next Report (which would be the one that came out just before the one above) on this home page, click "Older Posts" that is at the very bottom of the Report showing above, just above the section header "Your Ball: Take Your Best Shot".

>>ALTERNATIVE HOME PAGES
There are three home pages, all of which have all of the Reports but which have completely different features appearing on the sidebar and below the one Report that is shown at a time. These pages have been designed so that they fully load in about 10 seconds (no more super long load times we used to be known for.)

HOME PAGE A: ALL REPORTS, READERS CONTAINING REPORTS 1-100, AND UNIQUE FEATURES
HOME PAGE B: ALL REPORTS, READERS CONTAINING REPORTS 1-100, AND UNIQUE FEATURES
HOME PAGE C: ALL REPORTS, READERS CONTAINING REPORTS 1-100, AND UNIQUE FEATURES

>>REPORT READERS: Complete freedom to rapidly choose and read what you need or want to read. The latest 40 Reports are found near the top of all three of the primary home pages (linked to just above) while Reports #41-#100 are found in three separate readers placed at various points down the page on all three primary home pages.

>>EXPRESS VERSION: Every Single Report but no Features: a Fast Loading Page: Click Here

>>FAST BREAK VERSION: The Latest 100 Reports via Report Readers Only; no Features, a Fast Loading Page: Click Here

>>QUEST ARCHIVE HOME PAGES--REPORT ARCHIVES AND A SMALL NUMBER OF CLASSIC FEATURES THAT WON'T FIT ON OTHER HOME PAGES
QUEST 4: REPORTS 101-200
QUEST 5: REPORTS 201-300
QUEST 6: REPORTS 301-400
QUEST 7: REPORTS 401-500
QUEST 8: REPORTS 501-600
QUEST 9: REPORTS 601-700
QUEST 10: REPORTS 701-800

>>FEATURES ONLY HOME PAGES: NO REPORTS, JUST FEATURES THAT WE CAN'T FIT ANYWHERE ELSE
QUEST OVERTIME
QUEST CLASSIC

>>COMPLETE TITLE INDEX: : A Complete Report Title Index, with Express Version Links to all Reports

>>LATEST 25 Reports: Direct links to the latest 25 Reports (with no truncated titles as you find with the poorly designed Google archive). This is located near the very bottom of this page.

>>GOOGLE ARCHIVE you will find this, with Reports shown by week not very far below.

>>I'M NEW AND I DON'T KNOW WHERE I WANT TO GO: Welcome to the Real Zone. Simply browse the page and see for yourself what is here. You will not be disappointed.

>>OR YOU CAN DO A CUSTOM GOOGLE SEARCH OF THE 20 BOOKS AND COUNTING CONTAINED ON THIS SITE>>>>>

TWO WAYS TO LOOK AT HOW LONG QUEST FOR THE RING HAS BEEN KEEPING IT REAL >>>

The above shows you in two different ways the exact amount of time since The Quest for the Ring began to completely explain how the Quest is won, while having as much fun as possible at the expense of basketball pretenders and player haters. The first panel shows how long it has been in each of seven units. The second panel shows how long it has been in the more usual "remainder" way.

QUEST FOR THE RING SOMETIMES GOES INTO HIATUS
Regardless of any temporary unavoidable absences, the Quest is in this project to explain in detail for the very long term--indefinitely, for many, many, many years ahead. At this writing we have the equivalent of 15 basketball books under our belt and we plan on doing dozens more. Count on us being right where basketball is at, which is here, actually.

WELCOME TO THE QUEST--THINGS ARE VERY DIFFERENT HERE

WELCOME TO THE QUEST FOR THE RING, ALSO KNOWN AS THE REAL ZONE
This is one of the most serious basketball sites on the internet, focusing on how and why playoff games and NBA Championships are won and lost. We also love to take comedy and music breaks, but not every day.

WELCOME TO THE QUEST FOR THE RING (QFTR). YOU HAVE LEFT THE HYPE ZONE AND HAVE ARRIVED IN THE REAL ZONE. Please check any rose colored glasses at the door. The Hype Zone that you most likely just came from is where you can find out about the personalities and the styles and how popular they are and what they are up to lately. The QFTR Real Zone is where we DO NOT think personalities and styles and how popular or unpopular they are things to waste time on just for ratings or traffic.

Instead of hype, here we post as much truth about how NBA playoff games and Championships are won as we can 365 days a year and at at any hour of the day or night. Please have a productive visit, and a nice trip back to the Hype Zone when your visit is over.

UNIQUE SITE DESIGN
The Quest is organized in a completely different way from what you are used to on the Internet. We have combined the best features of the blog and the conventional web site formats, the latter being the norm for large organizations. However, since we do not like the idea of using flash to "wow" visitors, we do not use flash except within video and other discrete components. So we are state of the art in terms of expanding the power of visitors to get exactly what they want very quickly, but we do not have the latest flash gadgetry just to "keep up with the Joneses".

More broadly, you will find that Quest for the Ring never seeks to keep up with the Joneses, simply because the Joneses never had the nerve and the intelligence to do what we do.

Unlike many Internet operations QFTR is never going to quit due to low traffic; we have learned over the last decade that traffic is about 95% determined by variables completely out of our control. The 5% that we do control is not enough to change traffic in any significant way. The corporate, hype, and porn sites get all the easy (and sleazy!) traffic. QFTR gets a relatively small amount of traffic but how could it possibly be otherwise? QFTR gets high quality traffic from serious, intelligent people (who are in limited supply) and that is exactly how it was inevitably going to be.

2009: A PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATION COMES TO QUEST
The QFTR Home Page consists of numerous types of content, organized carefully into clearly labelled sections. Features can be any educational and / or entertaining basketball content you can think of, including everything from music players to videos to photos to breaking NBA news readers to top teams performance breakdown pages.

Quest for the Ring has a world class link system for easy access to many of the Worlds' most important basketball resources. (We don't give a damn that all the outbound links might hurt our placement in search results, because we are not going to cheat visitors just to get more "fly by night" visitors.) But the Quest visitor does not HAVE to hunt for links to have an intelligent and entertaining experience because QFTR is a massive resource in and of itself.

THERE MUST BE FIFTY WAYS TO READ REPORTS [AS PAUL SIMON SANG YEARS AGO, LOL]
Well, maybe not fifty, but there are close to ten ways to find out about, select, and read Quest Reports! The standard, traditional blog presentation is available as one of the many ways to choose, access, and read reports. On the Home Page, only one report loads in the traditional format in order to keep this page as quick loading as possible. See the "Total Freedom of Navigation" section not far below the main Report you have loaded for complete details about how to find, choose, and read reports.

THE QUEST USER GUIDE VERSUS THE MERE ABOUT PAGE
Other sites very often have undeveloped and limited in scope "about pages" which is usually all they have for what we call a "User Guide". The QFTR User Guide is a little blog in itself with several dozen articles explaining aspects of the Site and how you can benefit from them. This approach is a vast improvement, quantitatively and qualitatively, over a mere "about page" While many other sites don't help their visitors to make the best use of the content, we do. Also, the User Guide is chock loaded with invitations to visitors to participate in all kinds of ways, including for example advertising for free, link exchange, and getting a team site supported by Quest. You can access User Guide articles either by visiting the User Guide dedicated page or by locating the list of User Guide articles right on the primary QFTR Home Page.

MOST RECENT LEAGUE WIDE REAL PLAYER RATINGS

Note: This is generally a once a year, end of season Report. For many teams and players, more recent ratings are often available.

NBA REAL PLAYER RATINGS
2009-10 REGULAR SEASON

POSITION AND TEAM CODES
In the Real Player and related ratings shown for the League, two codes follow each players' name (and before his rating). The first code tells you the players' team and the second one tells you his position.

TEAM CODES
ATLA Atlanta Hawks
BOST Boston Celtics
CHAR Charlotte Bobcats
CHIC Chicago Bulls
CLEV Cleveland Cavaliers
DALL Dallas Mavericks
DENV Denver Nuggets
DETR Detroit Pistons
GOLS Golden State Warriors
HOUS Houston Rockets
INDI Indiana Pacers
LACL Los Angeles Clippers
LALK Los Angeles Lakers
MEMP Memphis Grizzlies
MIAM Miami Heat
MILW Milwaukee Bucks
MINN Minnesota Timberwolves
NJRS New Jersey Nets
NORL New Orleans Hornets
NWYR New York Knicks
OKLA Oklahoma Thunder
ORLA Orlando Magic
PHIL Philadelphia 76'ers
PHNX Phoenix Suns
PORT Portland Trailblazers
SACR Sacramento Kings
SANA San Antonio Spurs
TORO Toronto Raptors
UTAH Utah Jazz
WASH Washington Wizards

POSITION CODES
PG Point Guard
SG Shooting Guard
SF Small Forward
PF Power Forward
C Center

SCALE FOR REGULAR SEASON REAL PLAYER RATINGS
Perfect for all Practical Purposes / Major Historic Super Star 1.100 and more
Historic Super Star 1.000 1.099
Super Star 0.900 0.999
A Star Player / A well above normal starter 0.820 0.899
Very Good Player / A solid starter 0.760 0.819
Major Role Player / Good enough to start 0.700 0.759
Good Role Player / Often a good 6th man 0.640 0.699
Satisfactory Role Player / Preferably should not start 0.580 0.639
Marginal Role Player / Generally should not start 0.520 0.579
Poor Player / Should never start 0.460 0.519
Very Poor Player 0.400 0.459
Extremely Poor Player .399 and less

NBA REAL PLAYER RATINGS
2009-10 REGULAR SEASON
--Shows the real quality of players
--Includes all tracked actions and also includes untracked or hidden defending
--The average Real Player Rating for all players who play 300 minutes or more is about .700.
--All players who have played at least 300 minutes are included here and in all other ratings to follow in coming days

MAJOR HISTORIC SUPERSTARS
1 LeBron James CLEV SF 1.382
2 Tim Duncan SANA PF 1.254
3 Chris Paul NORL PG 1.202
4 Dwight Howard ORLA C 1.121
5 Andrew Bogut MILW C 1.112

HISTORIC SUPERSTARS
6 Steve Nash PHNX PG 1.095
7 Jason Kidd DALL PG 1.092
8 Rajon Rondo BOST PG 1.084
9 Deron Williams UTAH PG 1.076
10 Dwyane Wade MIAM SG 1.075
11 Marcus Camby LACL C 1.071
12 Pau Gasol LALK PF 1.065
13 Greg Oden PORT C 1.060
14 Kevin Durant OKLA SF 1.051
15 Dirk Nowitzki DALL PF 1.034
16 Josh Smith ATLA SF 1.033
17 Kevin Garnett BOST PF 1.033
18 Manu Ginobili SANA SG 1.023
19 Kobe Bryant LALK SG 1.005

SUPERSTARS
20 Carlos Boozer UTAH PF 0.994
21 Lamar Odom LALK PF 0.982
22 Andrei Kirilenko UTAH SF 0.976
23 Chris Bosh TORO PF 0.972
24 David Lee NWYR C 0.971
25 Al Horford ATLA C 0.970
26 Marcus Camby PORT C 0.967
27 Jameer Nelson ORLA PG 0.959
28 Joakim Noah CHIC C 0.955
29 John Salmons MILW SF 0.937
30 Andrew Bynum LALK C 0.936
31 Troy Murphy INDI PF 0.934
32 Kevin Love MINN PF 0.934
33 Anderson Varejao CLEV C 0.933
34 Brendan Haywood DALL C 0.929
35 Vince Carter ORLA SG 0.928
36 Gerald Wallace CHAR SF 0.918
37 Sergio Rodriguez SACR PG 0.908
38 Tyrus Thomas CHIC PF 0.904
39 Derrick Rose CHIC PG 0.903

STARS
40 Baron Davis LACL PG 0.899
41 Russell Westbrook OKLA PG 0.897
42 Zach Randolph MEMP PF 0.885
43 Danny Granger INDI SF 0.885
44 Marc Gasol MEMP C 0.885
45 Joe Johnson ATLA SG 0.883
46 Chauncey Billups DENV PG 0.883
47 Roy Hibbert INDI C 0.880
48 Ben Wallace DETR C 0.877
49 Andre Miller PORT PG 0.874
50 Carmelo Anthony DENV SF 0.874
51 Brandon Jennings MILW PG 0.870
52 Tyrus Thomas CHAR PF 0.870
53 A.J. Price INDI PG 0.868
54 Paul Millsap UTAH PF 0.866
55 Craig Smith LACL PF 0.865
56 Samuel Dalembert PHIL C 0.864
57 Andre Iguodala PHIL SG 0.858
58 Raymond Felton CHAR PG 0.857
59 Delonte West CLEV SG 0.856
60 Al Jefferson MINN C 0.856
61 Eric Maynor OKLA PG 0.856
62 Serge Ibaka OKLA PF 0.855
63 Nene Hilario DENV C 0.852
64 Chris Andersen DENV PF 0.849
65 Shaquille O'Neal CLEV C 0.842
66 Brandon Roy PORT SG 0.842
67 Ryan Anderson ORLA PF 0.840
68 Antonio McDyess SANA PF 0.839
69 Tony Parker SANA PG 0.837
70 Paul Pierce BOST SF 0.836
71 Mo Williams CLEV PG 0.835
72 Kyle Lowry HOUS PG 0.835
73 Ersan Ilyasova MILW SF 0.828
74 Amare Stoudemire PHNX PF 0.828
75 Luke Ridnour MILW PG 0.827
76 Erick Dampier DALL C 0.826
77 Tyreke Evans SACR PG 0.825
78 Andris Biedrins GOLS C 0.825
79 Kyle Korver UTAH SG 0.824
80 Anthony Randolph GOLS PF 0.820

VERY GOOD PLAYERS / SOLID STARTERS
81 Eric Maynor UTAH PG 0.819
82 Carlos Arroyo MIAM PG 0.819
83 Antawn Jamison CLEV PF 0.819
84 Nazr Mohammed CHAR C 0.818
85 Luol Deng CHIC SF 0.817
86 Dorell Wright MIAM SG 0.817
87 LaMarcus Aldridge PORT PF 0.817
88 Carl Landry HOUS PF 0.816
89 Luis Scola HOUS PF 0.816
90 Nick Collison OKLA PF 0.812
91 Carlos Delfino MILW SG 0.809
92 Kendrick Perkins BOST C 0.807
93 Jermaine O'Neal MIAM C 0.805
94 Nate Robinson NWYR PG 0.804
95 Goran Dragic PHNX PG 0.803
96 Mike Bibby ATLA PG 0.803
97 Stephen Curry GOLS PG 0.803
98 Mehmet Okur UTAH C 0.800
99 Jose Calderon TORO PG 0.797
100 Jason Terry DALL SG 0.791
101 Ronnie Price UTAH PG 0.784
102 DeJuan Blair SANA PF 0.784
103 Chris Kaman LACL C 0.783
104 Shaun Livingston WASH PG 0.783
105 Joel Przybilla PORT C 0.782
106 David West NORL PF 0.781
107 John Salmons CHIC SF 0.776
108 Matt Barnes ORLA SF 0.775
109 Darren Collison NORL PG 0.775
110 Ronny Turiaf GOLS C 0.774
111 Udonis Haslem MIAM PF 0.774
112 Shawn Marion DALL SF 0.772
113 Jason Williams ORLA PG 0.771
114 Keyon Dooling NJRS PG 0.771
115 Andray Blatche WASH C 0.770
116 James Harden OKLA SG 0.770
117 Brook Lopez NJRS C 0.770
118 Ray Allen BOST SG 0.770
119 Amir Johnson TORO SF 0.769
120 Ty Lawson DENV PG 0.768
121 Beno Udrih SACR PG 0.768
122 Chuck Hayes HOUS PF 0.765
123 Matt Bonner SANA PF 0.763
124 Reggie Evans TORO PF 0.763
125 Gilbert Arenas WASH PG 0.760

MAJOR ROLE PLAYERS / GOOD ENOUGH TO START
126 Zydrunas Ilgauskas CLEV C 0.758
127 Rasheed Wallace BOST PF 0.757
128 Lou Williams PHIL SG 0.756
129 Stephen Jackson CHAR SF 0.754
130 Dan Gadzuric MILW C 0.754
131 Jamario Moon CLEV SF 0.754
132 Ron Artest LALK SF 0.752
133 Rodney Stuckey DETR PG 0.749
134 Shelden Williams BOST PF 0.748
135 Oleksiy Pecherov MINN C 0.748
136 Aaron Brooks HOUS PG 0.747
137 Boris Diaw CHAR PF 0.746
138 C.J. Watson GOLS PG 0.746
139 Brendan Haywood WASH C 0.744
140 Emeka Okafor NORL C 0.742
141 Taj Gibson CHIC PF 0.741
142 J.R. Smith DENV SG 0.738
143 Mike Miller WASH SF 0.732
144 Channing Frye PHNX C 0.731
145 Louis Amundson PHNX PF 0.731
146 Elton Brand PHIL PF 0.726
147 D.J. Mbenga LALK C 0.725
148 Tayshaun Prince DETR SF 0.724
149 Francisco Garcia SACR SG 0.724
150 Tyler Hansbrough INDI PF 0.724
151 Trevor Ariza HOUS SG 0.723
152 Allen Iverson PHIL SG 0.722
153 Rashard Lewis ORLA PF 0.721
154 Richard Jefferson SANA SF 0.721
155 Luc Richard Mbah a Moute MILW SF 0.721
156 Jamal Crawford ATLA SG 0.721
157 Brad Miller CHIC C 0.720
158 Josh Boone NJRS C 0.718
159 Jason Richardson PHNX SG 0.718
160 Sebastian Telfair LACL PG 0.717
161 Marvin Williams ATLA PF 0.716
162 David Andersen HOUS C 0.715
163 Caron Butler DALL SF 0.715
164 Michael Beasley MIAM PF 0.714
165 George Hill SANA PG 0.713
166 Ronnie Brewer UTAH SG 0.712
167 D.J. Augustin CHAR PG 0.712
168 Monta Ellis GOLS PG 0.711
169 Sean May SACR PF 0.710
170 Anthony Tolliver GOLS PF 0.709
171 Kenyon Martin DENV PF 0.709
172 Tyson Chandler CHAR C 0.709
173 Rodrigue Beaubois DALL PG 0.707
174 Stephen Jackson GOLS SF 0.704
175 Shane Battier HOUS SF 0.703
176 Stephen Graham CHAR SF 0.702
177 Mike Conley MEMP PG 0.702
178 Earl Watson INDI PG 0.701
179 T.J. Ford INDI PG 0.700

GOOD ROLE PLAYERS / OFTEN GOOD 6TH MAN PLAYERS
180 Ramon Sessions MINN PG 0.699
181 Corey Maggette GOLS SF 0.699
182 Marcin Gortat ORLA PF 0.698
183 Terrence Williams NJRS SG 0.698
184 Jarrett Jack TORO PG 0.698
185 James Singleton WASH SF 0.696
186 JaVale McGee WASH C 0.694
187 Jose Juan Barea DALL PG 0.694
188 Marcus Thornton NORL SG 0.693
189 Daequan Cook MIAM SG 0.691
190 Jordan Farmar LALK PG 0.689
191 Kirk Hinrich CHIC PG 0.689
192 Carl Landry SACR PF 0.689
193 Shannon Brown LALK PG 0.687
194 Anthony Carter DENV PG 0.686
195 Jason Thompson SACR PF 0.686
196 Mike Dunleavy INDI SF 0.686
197 Robin Lopez PHNX C 0.684
198 Spencer Hawes SACR C 0.680
199 Rudy Fernandez PORT SG 0.678
200 Drew Gooden LACL PF 0.678
201 Steve Blake LACL PG 0.677
202 Bobby Simmons NJRS SF 0.676
203 Larry Hughes NWYR SG 0.675
204 Jerry Stackhouse MILW SF 0.675
205 Quentin Richardson MIAM SG 0.675
206 Rudy Gay MEMP SF 0.675
207 Darko Milicic MINN C 0.674
208 Drew Gooden DALL PF 0.674
209 Reggie Williams GOLS SF 0.673
210 Ronald Murray CHAR SG 0.671
211 Grant Hill PHNX SF 0.669
212 Nate Robinson BOST PG 0.668
213 Travis Outlaw LACL SF 0.668
214 Steve Blake PORT PG 0.667
215 Devin Harris NJRS PG 0.665
216 Antawn Jamison WASH PF 0.665
217 Danilo Gallinari NWYR SF 0.664
218 Wilson Chandler NWYR SF 0.664
219 Gerald Henderson CHAR SG 0.664
220 Tony Allen BOST SG 0.663
221 Kyrylo Fesenko UTAH C 0.662
222 Anthony Morrow GOLS SG 0.661
223 Jordan Hill HOUS PF 0.661
224 Jared Dudley PHNX SF 0.660
225 Daniel Gibson CLEV PG 0.660
226 Jeff Green OKLA PF 0.659
227 Josh McRoberts INDI PF 0.659
228 Anthony Johnson ORLA PG 0.658
229 J.J. Redick ORLA SG 0.658
230 Al Harrington NWYR PF 0.655
231 Luther Head INDI PG 0.654
232 Nicolas Batum PORT SF 0.653
233 Theo Ratliff CHAR C 0.650
234 Mario Chalmers MIAM PG 0.648
235 Brandon Bass ORLA PF 0.648
236 Kris Humphries NJRS PF 0.646
237 Chris Duhon NWYR PG 0.643
238 Nenad Krstic OKLA C 0.642
239 Kris Humphries DALL PF 0.642

SATISFACTORY ROLE PLAYERS / USUALLY DO NOT START
240 Rasho Nesterovic TORO C 0.637
241 Hedo Turkoglu TORO SF 0.635
242 Johan Petro DENV C 0.635
243 Randy Foye WASH PG 0.634
244 Jrue Holiday PHIL PG 0.633
245 Mickael Pietrus ORLA SG 0.631
246 Jared Jeffries NWYR PF 0.627
247 Leandro Barbosa PHNX SG 0.626
248 Joel Anthony MIAM C 0.624
249 O.J. Mayo MEMP SG 0.622
250 Chase Budinger HOUS SF 0.621
251 Roger Mason SANA SG 0.619
252 Caron Butler WASH SF 0.617
253 Peja Stojakovic NORL SF 0.615
254 Marreese Speights PHIL PF 0.613
255 Jamaal Tinsley MEMP PG 0.613
256 Bobby Brown NORL PG 0.611
257 Jonas Jerebko DETR SF 0.610
258 Omri Casspi SACR SF 0.609
259 Kurt Thomas MILW PF 0.608
260 Thaddeus Young PHIL SF 0.607
261 Brandon Rush INDI SG 0.606
262 Hasheem Thabeet MEMP C 0.605
263 Damien Wilkins MINN SG 0.601
264 Rodney Carney PHIL SF 0.601
265 Earl Boykins WASH PG 0.599
266 J.J. Hickson CLEV PF 0.599
267 Willie Green PHIL SG 0.598
268 Anthony Parker CLEV SG 0.596
269 Jamaal Magloire MIAM C 0.594
270 Wesley Matthews UTAH SG 0.592
271 Devean George GOLS SG 0.592
272 Richard Hamilton DETR SG 0.592
273 Kevin Martin SACR SG 0.591
274 Andrea Bargnani TORO C 0.591
275 Ryan Gomes MINN SF 0.589
276 Thabo Sefolosha OKLA SF 0.589
277 Rafer Alston NJRS PG 0.589
278 Tracy McGrady NWYR SG 0.588
279 Marco Belinelli TORO SG 0.587
280 Michael Finley BOST SF 0.585
281 Marcus Williams MEMP PG 0.583
282 Martell Webster PORT SG 0.583
283 Charlie Villanueva DETR PF 0.582

MARGINAL ROLE PLAYERS / RARELY START
284 Derek Fisher LALK PG 0.578
285 Jannero Pargo CHIC PG 0.577
286 Toney Douglas NWYR PG 0.577
287 Chris Hunter GOLS PF 0.576
288 Derrick Brown CHAR SF 0.575
289 Yi Jianlian NJRS PF 0.575
290 Nathan Jawai MINN PF 0.575
291 Ime Udoka SACR SG 0.574
292 Sergio Rodriguez NWYR PG 0.574
293 Arron Afflalo DENV SG 0.573
294 Kevin Martin HOUS SG 0.572
295 Hakim Warrick MILW PF 0.571
296 Al Thornton WASH SF 0.569
297 Will Bynum DETR PG 0.568
298 Jonny Flynn MINN PG 0.568
299 James Posey NORL SF 0.564
300 Mikki Moore GOLS C 0.561
301 Darius Songaila NORL PF 0.561
302 Jerryd Bayless PORT PG 0.556
303 Jon Brockman SACR PF 0.554
304 Sasha Vujacic LALK SG 0.554
305 Dante Cunningham PORT SF 0.551
306 Michael Redd MILW SG 0.551
307 Eric Gordon LACL SG 0.550
308 C.J. Miles UTAH SF 0.549
309 Al Thornton LACL SF 0.547
310 Julian Wright NORL SF 0.545
311 Jeff Teague ATLA PG 0.544
312 Marquis Daniels BOST SG 0.543
313 Dahntay Jones INDI SG 0.542
314 Chris Douglas-Roberts NJRS SG 0.541
315 Zaza Pachulia ATLA C 0.538
316 Etan Thomas OKLA C 0.538
317 Sonny Weems TORO SG 0.537
318 Devin Brown NORL SG 0.533
319 Jason Maxiell DETR PF 0.532
320 Bill Walker NWYR SG 0.532
321 Courtney Lee NJRS SG 0.528
322 James Jones MIAM SF 0.525
323 Donte Greene SACR SF 0.524
324 Kenny Thomas SACR PF 0.523
325 Wayne Ellington MINN SG 0.521
326 Juwan Howard PORT PF 0.520

POOR PLAYERS / SHOULD NEVER START
327 Charlie Bell MILW SG 0.518
328 Corey Brewer MINN SF 0.518
329 Hakim Warrick CHIC PF 0.514
330 DeAndre Jordan LACL C 0.512
331 Rasual Butler LACL SG 0.509
332 Glen Davis BOST PF 0.508
333 Sam Young MEMP SF 0.508
334 Austin Daye DETR SF 0.507
335 Ronald Murray CHIC SG 0.504
336 Vladimir Radmanovic GOLS SF 0.494
337 Solomon Jones INDI PF 0.493
338 Ben Gordon DETR SG 0.491
339 James Johnson CHIC PF 0.487
340 Rafer Alston MIAM PG 0.482
341 Eduardo Najera DALL PF 0.482
342 Chucky Atkins DETR PG 0.477
343 Earl Clark PHNX SF 0.474
344 Joey Graham DENV SF 0.473
345 Fabricio Oberto WASH C 0.468
346 Jason Smith PHIL PF 0.466
347 Andres Nocioni SACR SF 0.464
348 Jared Jeffries HOUS PF 0.462
349 Nick Young WASH SG 0.462
350 Maurice Evans ATLA SF 0.462
351 Keith Bogans SANA SG 0.462
352 Josh Howard DALL SF 0.460

VERY POOR PLAYERS
353 Eddie House NWYR SG 0.454
354 Joe Smith ATLA PF 0.453
355 Kwame Brown DETR C 0.452
356 Antoine Wright TORO SF 0.451
357 Darrell Arthur MEMP PF 0.443
358 Jarvis Hayes NJRS SF 0.438
359 Ricky Davis LACL SF 0.437
360 Mardy Collins LACL PG 0.436
361 Malik Hairston SANA SG 0.433
362 Jeff Pendergraph PORT PF 0.432
363 Jermaine Taylor HOUS SG 0.428
364 Chris Wilcox DETR C 0.417
365 DeMar DeRozan TORO SG 0.414
366 Jodie Meeks MILW SG 0.413
367 Quinton Ross DALL SF 0.406

EXTREMELY POOR PLAYERS
368 Morris Peterson NORL SG 0.394
369 Josh Powell LALK PF 0.386
370 Jason Kapono PHIL SG 0.383
371 Jawad Williams CLEV SF 0.369
372 DeMarre Carroll MEMP SF 0.357
373 Ryan Hollins MINN C 0.351
374 Steve Novak LACL SF 0.345
375 Trenton Hassell NJRS SF 0.342
376 Brian Scalabrine BOST C 0.329
377 Michael Finley SANA SF 0.321
378 Sasha Pavlovic MINN SG 0.314
379 DeShawn Stevenson WASH SG 0.287
380 Malik Allen DENV PF 0.282
381 DaJuan Summers DETR SF 0.266

SCALE FOR REGULAR SEASON REAL PLAYER RATINGS
Perfect for all Practical Purposes / Major Historic Super Star 1.100 and more
Historic Super Star 1.000 1.099
Super Star 0.900 0.999
A Star Player / A well above normal starter 0.820 0.899
Very Good Player / A solid starter 0.760 0.819
Major Role Player / Good enough to start 0.700 0.759
Good Role Player / Often a good 6th man 0.640 0.699
Satisfactory Role Player / Usually do not start 0.580 0.639
Marginal Role Player / Rarely start 0.520 0.579
Poor Player / Should never start 0.460 0.519
Very Poor Player 0.400 0.459
Extremely Poor Player .399 and less

AVERAGE RATINGS BY POSITION
Not all positions are created equal. These are the average ratings by position among all NBA players who play 300 minutes or more. There are very few small forwards and shooting guards who are superstars. Most (but definitely not all) superstars are players who can play point guard, power forward, or center.

Point Guard .750
Shooting Guard .640
Small Forward .640
Power Forward .720
Center .750
All Positions / All Players (NBA Overall Average) .700

PLAYOFF GRADE PLAYERS
Playoff Grade Players have ratings of .560 and higher. Players with ratings below .560 should not play in the playoffs unless the team is forced to play them so that they have two players at a position and/or so that the team has at least eight players playing in the playoffs and/or because the coach is absolutely certain the low rating player will play better in the playoffs than he did in the regular season.

REGULAR SEASON STARTING PLAYERS
All starters on all teams should have ratings of .575 and higher. If a team has no player at a postion with at least a .575 rating, then it is extremely deficient at that position due to injuries or due to management incompetence.

THE ALL IMPORTANT, AWARD WINNING REAL PLAYER RATINGS USER GUIDE
The above are a few hightlights from the User Guide for Real Player Ratings. For complete details regarding how the Real Player Ratings are designed, how and why they work, and how exactly you can use them, see the User Guide. The User Guide for Real Player Ratings is a necessary reference for anyone who wants to truly understand the value of, the validity of, and the ways you can use the Real Player Rating performance measures.

Also, you should become a regular visitor to Quest for the Ring if you want to get the full advantage of reading and using Real Player Ratings Series performance measures. The more you visit and check out ratings, the more quickly and easily you will be able to evaluate what you are seeing.

Copyright © 2006 through 2013 by QFTR. All rights reserved.

THE QUEST FOR THE RING IS COPYRIGHTED. ALL RIGHTS ARE RESERVED. Original content is copyrighted. All reports (postings) and certain features are original content and are copyrighted. No original content appearing on either the main home page or on any other page operated by the owner, Basketball Winning, a non-profit organization, may be reproduced without prior approval. All copyright law rights are reserved.

PERMITTED USES
Since we want to increase knowledge about this website, we are likely to grant certain reproduction rights upon written request, provided that you agree to give attribution and to exchange links. If you operate a website and want some of our content for your site, simply get approval and instructions by emailing your request to: thequestforthering1. This is a gmail address, so add "@gmail" at the end. Allow up to 100 days for response although we will try to respond more quickly.

No permission is needed for widgets that (using RSS) contain titles of our Reports that link to this Site; permission is needed only when the Reports themselves are to be shown on another Site.