02/17/08

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, February 23, 2008

J.R. Smith is Massive, but the Nuggets' Defense Runs off the Rails: Bulls 135 Nuggets 121

The Chicago Bulls are 20th in the NBA in actual points scored per game, and they are even worse, 26th, in offensive efficiency, which is where you take points and adjust for pace, which is the number of possessions a team averages per game. But the Nuggets could not even begin to slow down the Bulls’ scoring in this game, and since J.R. Smith played the game of his career, what resulted was a full scale ABA type of game, but played with NBA rules and in an NBA arena. The final score of the spectacle, which was too lopsided in favor of offense for even fans of offensive basketball to enjoy, except possibly Bulls fans, was Chicago 135, Denver 121. That was about the last result you would have expected following the Nuggets playing as close to perfect as they can and defeating the Celtics 3 nights earlier. The roller coaster practically ran off the tracks on this downhill.

For Nuggets fans, it was hard to say what was worse, losing to a lottery team that had just been partly blown up following a major trade, or losing a game which was played as if it was the ABA instead of the NBA. It’s tough when your team plays as if it is in another League in another time. Even if you win that way it’s disturbing.

So just when you thought that the victory over the mighty Celtics signaled that the Nuggets were going to avoid a titanic struggle for the rest of the season with the Warriors for the last playoff slot in the West, the Nuggets fell right back into that disturbing if not disgusting spectacle of having to battle the “no identity crises here, we are all offense and proud of it” Warriors for the last spot, with the loser becoming one of the all-time chump teams in the history of the NBA.

The Bulls were 56/98 in field goals, for 57.1%, while the Nuggets were 43/89, or 48.3%. But the Bulls literally doubled up the Nuggets on assists, 34-17, as the Nuggets reverted to an almost unbelievable number of isolation plays, with of course Smith, Allen Iverson, and Carmelo Anthony making most of them. But Iverson, who knows an offensive basketball disaster in the making when he sees one, took over for Anthony Carter completely, and made almost as many assists as he did shot attempts, 9 versus 10. After this game you would have to be blind not realize that he is the real point guard on this team, whether you like it or not, whether George Karl likes it or not, whether it is good enough for the Nuggets or not, and whether the Answer officially starts at PG or not.

So it was a truly bizarre game, even for the unstructured and now wildly inconsistent Nuggets. The spectacle of J.R. Smith having a career night while Martin did very little, and while Kleiza and Carter did almost nothing, was very strange even by Nuggets standards. Much more than most losses, this loss left a sinking feeling in Nuggets fans that, as my favorite football radio announcer used to say, when his team was losing and looking out of control in the process, “the wheels have come off, now.” That was the signal to the listeners to stop hoping that the team could possibly win the game, no matter how many aggressive passing plays with a good quarterback it tried. In the case of the Nuggets, the wheels were off, so no matter how many J.R. Smith 3-point shots were made, and no matter how many times the Nuggets cut the deficit to single digits, the Nuggets could not possibly stop a whole herd of Bulls from running off another series of consecutive scores. Shockingly, the Bulls had 7 players scoring in double digits, to just Smith, Iverson, Anthony, and Camby for the Nuggets.

Ironically, in the Celtics game report, I talked about how J.R. Smith tends to play better on the road and how he tends to play better when many of his teammates are playing worse than usual. Little did I know that the very next game would be the all-time biggest example of that, a road game where Smith played the best game of his career, while at the same time 4 of the other 7 Nuggets were small factors and a 5th, Carmelo Anthony, was only about 2/3 as productive as he usually is. Only Allen Iverson and Marcus Camby played well besides Smith, but I know for sure that neither of them is going to be pointing at this game as one of their career best. Smith played 33 minutes and had a Real Player Rating of 1.794, which put him right on the border between superstar-plus and “amazing happens, only certain players can ever fly this high.”

As long as you don’t forget games like this, you can tolerate Smith’s occasional defensive lapses, turnovers, and crazy missed dunks. If you are a coach, why should you deny yourself games like this simply because the kid makes boneheaded plays from time to time? You have to keep looking at the forest while you study the trees. Instead of benching Smith completely or limiting his minutes overall, mainly by refusing to start him, you need to do the opposite. Start him, but if he is having one of his boneheaded nights, simply take him out at the half and let your team go on to win or lose without any interference from the “Bad J.R. Smith.” Why deny yourself the Good J.R. Smith because you are afraid of the Bad J.R. Smith? Just see which one you have out there on different nights and allow him to play or not play in the 2nd half accordingly. It would be the most obvious half time adjustment any Nuggets coach could make, but one that George Karl has seldom if ever made, because he thinks he knows all the truth about the mysterious J.R. Smith up front, and I don’t think anyone knows it.

In this game, J.R. Smith played 33 minutes, and was 15/25, 8/14 on 3’s, and 5/8 from the line for 43 points, and he made 5 rebounds, 2 steals, and 1 assist. The downside was 3 turnovers and 3 personal fouls. Despite Smith’s career night, after the game, Karl showed his fangs against the player who is too impulsive and inconsistent for him to tolerate, by claiming that Smith was “living in fantasyland” with his shooting, and that a team can not hope to win like that. Ironically, this statement was made exactly 10 days after the Nuggets did win because of Smith’s “fantasyland,” shooting. 10 days earlier in Miami, J.R. Smith was by a huge margin the best Nugget on the court, and the Nuggets defeated the Heat in overtime 114-113. In that game, Smith played 27 minutes and was 9/16, 8/14 on 3’s, and 2/3 from the line for 28 points, and he made 3 assists, 1 steal, and 1 rebound. On the downside, he made 2 turnovers and 4 personal fouls.

The Nuggets the other day made what most are looking at as a yawner of a trade; they traded away SG Von Wafer for rookie PG Taurean Green. Although not a blockbuster trade, this was a good little trade for the Nuggets, and since there is no such thing as a good but meaningless trade in competitive pro sports, it was significant and meaningful. The Nuggets needed any pure PG they could get, even a rookie, much more than they needed a totally unproven SG, a position they are set on if AI is going to play it. Furthermore, the move saves the Nuggets almost half a million dollars, which is important because the Nuggets are over the limit right now and the owner is paying the luxury tax for having an excessive player payroll.

Taurean Green played on the University of Florida Gators Men's Basketball team, which won the 2006 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament in April 2006 and the 2007 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament in April, 2007, as well as the 2006 and 2007 SEC Tournaments. Green also passed the 1,000-point benchmark in his career at Florida, racking up over 1,170 points in just 3 seasons, the first of which he did not play much. He is only 6 feet tall, 177 pounds. So the Nuggets have another short PG who likes to score. Although possibly problematic, there is no huge sin in that when you have one of the better defensive front courts in the game. I think that the front office did another nice job here.

In 44 NBA minutes so far this season, Green is averaging 13.9 points, 6.5 assists, 3.3 rebounds, and 5.7 turnovers per 36 minutes. Carter is averaging 9.6 points, 7.3 assists, 3.9 rebounds, and 2.4 turnovers per 36 minutes. So Carter is much more careful with the ball, and he is a slightly better distributor and rebounder, but Green makes up partly for all this by being a much better scorer.

Let’s kill two birds with one stone. Let’s check out how all 6 of the Nuggets’ guards are doing so far this season, and so far in their careers. At the same time, we will directly compare Taurean Green and the player who went to Portland in exchange for Green, Von Wafer.

DENVER NUGGETS GUARDS PRODUCTION PER 36 MINUTES

POINT GUARDS POINTS PER 36 MINUTES
Chucky Atkins: Career 14.6 Season 9.2
Anthony Carter: Career 9.0 Season 9.6
Taurean Green: Career 13.9 Season 13.9
SHOOTING GUARDS POINTS PER 36 MINUTES
Allen Iverson: Career 23.9 Season 22.5
J.R. Smith: Career 17.4 Season 20.3
Yakhouba Diawara: Career 8.9 Season 9.3

POINT GUARDS FIELD GOAL SHOOTING %
Chucky Atkins: Career .415 Season .228
Anthony Carter: Career .393 Season .449
Taurean Green: Career .250 Season .250
SHOOTING GUARDS FIELD GOAL SHOOTING %
Allen Iverson: Career .424 Season .442
J.R. Smith: Career .414 Season .427
Yakhouba Diawara: Career .361 Season .416

POINT GUARDS 3-POINT SHOOTING %
Chucky Atkins: Career .368 Season .244
Anthony Carter: Career .182 Season .292
Taurean Green: Career .125 Season .125
SHOOTING GUARDS 3-POINT SHOOTING %
Allen Iverson: Career .312 Season .335
J.R. Smith: Career .359 Season .389
Yakhouba Diawara: Career .302 Season .346

POINT GUARDS ASSISTS PER 36 MINUTES
Chucky Atkins: Career 5.0 Season 3.9
Anthony Carter: Career 7.1 Season 7.3
Taurean Green: Career 6.5 Season 6.5
SHOOTING GUARDS ASSISTS PER 36 MINUTES
Allen Iverson: Career 5.4 Season 6.2
J.R. Smith: Career 2.5 Season 3.1
Yakhouba Diawara: Career 1.8 Season 2.1

POINT GUARDS TURNOVERS PER 36 MINUTES
Chucky Atkins: Career 2.1 Season 0.7
Anthony Carter: Career 2.9 Season 2.4
Taurean Green: Career 5.7 Season 5.7
SHOOTING GUARDS TURNOVERS PER 36 MINUTES
Allen Iverson: Career 3.2 Season 2.8
J.R. Smith: Career 2.2 Season 2.9
Yakhouba Diawara: Career 1.1 Season 1.1

POINT GUARDS ASSIST/TURNOVER RATIO
Chucky Atkins: Career 2.38 Season 5.57
Anthony Carter: Career 2.45 Season 3.04
Taurean Green: Career 1.14 Season 1.14
SHOOTING GUARDS ASSIST/TURNOVER RATIO
Allen Iverson: Career 1.69 Season 2.21
J.R. Smith: Career 1.14 Season 1.07
Yakhouba Diawara: Career 1.64 Season 1.91

POINT GUARDS REBOUNDS PER 36 MINUTES
Chucky Atkins: Career 2.5 Season 2.3
Anthony Carter: Career 3.8 Season 3.9
Taurean Green: Career 3.3 Season 3.3
SHOOTING GUARDS REBOUNDS PER 36 MINUTES
Allen Iverson: Career 3.3 Season 2.6
J.R. Smith: Career 3.5 Season 3.9
Yakhouba Diawara: Career 3.4 Season 3.6

POINT GUARDS STEALS PER 36 MINUTES
Chucky Atkins: Career 1.0 Season 0.9
Anthony Carter: Career 1.7 Season 1.9
Taurean Green: Career 0.8 Season 0.8
SHOOTING GUARDS STEALS PER 36 MINUTES
Allen Iverson: Career 2.0 Season 1.8
J.R. Smith: Career 1.2 Season 1.4
Yakhouba Diawara: Career 0.8 Season 0.6

POINT GUARDS PERSONAL FOULS PER 36 MINUTES
Chucky Atkins; Career 2.7 Season 3.4
Anthony Carter: Career 3.3 Season 3.1
Taurean Green: Career 2.5 Season 2.5
SHOOTING GUARDS PERSONAL FOULS PER 36 MINUTES
Allen Iverson: Career 1.7 Season 1.1
J.R. Smith: Career 3.2 Season 3.8
Yakhouba Diawara: 4.1 Season 4.3

TAUREAN GREEN VERSUS VON WAFER

POINTS PER 36 MINUTES
Taurean Green: Career 13.9 Season 13.9
Von Wafer: Career 10.3 Season 10.8

FIELD GOAL SHOOTING %
Taurean Green: Career .250 Season .250
Von Wafer: Career .208 Season .263

3-POINT SHOOTING %
Taurean Green: Career .125 Season .125
Von Wafer: Career .091 Season .067

ASSISTS PER 36 MINUTES
Taurean Green: Career 6.5 Season 6.5
Von Wafer: Career 2.0 Season 2.0

TURNOVERS PER 36 MINUTES
Taurean Green: Career 5.7 Season 5.7
Von Wafer: Career 2.6 Season 4.4

ASSIST/TURNOVER RATIO
Taurean Green: Career 1.14 Season 1.14
Von Wafer: Career 0.77 Season 0.45

REBOUNDS PER 36 MINUTES
Taurean Green: Career 3.3 Season 3.3
Von Wafer: Career 4.0 Season 4.0

STEALS PER 36 MINUTES
Taurean Green: Career 0.8 Season 0.8
Von Wafer: Career 1.1 Season 0.8

PERSONAL FOULS PER 36 MINUTES
Taurean Green: Career 2.5 Season 2.5
Von Wafer: Career 3.5 Season 1.6

Green is technically too new to make this comparison fully valid, but you can see that, despite being a good true point guard, Green is so far a better scorer than Von Wafer. Notice too that Green is relatively close to Wafer in rebounding, and very close in steals. When Wafer’s turnovers went south this season, the Nuggets, who are way “over the limit” in turnovers as a team, needed Wafer any longer like they needed a hole in the head.

Regarding Taurean Green from Gatorzone.com:
A true point guard with a quick first step and ability to penetrate into the lane…Came up with an impressive freshman campaign where he demonstrated an ability to direct the Gators on the offensive end of the floor, while proving a tenacious defender… Underrated jump shot with solid range from beyond the arc…Son of former UNLV star and NBA player Sidney Green, also the former coach at Florida Atlantic University…AS A FRESHMAN 2004- 05: Showed tremendous potential during his freshman season, becoming a regular in the Gators’ rotation and one of the first off the bench in every game…Averaged 2.2 assists per game and showed an ability to get teammates involved in transition and half court situations…A tenacious defender with quick hands, he was third on the team in steals at 1.0 per game …Posted five points, three assists, and three boards while effectively running the point in 22 minutes of action in his Florida debut vs. Jacksonville…

PLAYERS WHO WERE NOT AVAILABLE

NUGGETS PLAYERS WHO WERE NOT AVAILABLE
Chucky Atkins: He was diagnosed with a right groin/abdominal strain (sports hernia) on Jan. 9 and underwent successful surgery on Jan. 11. He is expected to be sidelined a minimum of eight weeks. Atkins is out until at least March 10. With any luck, he will be back in the Nuggets lineup by late March.
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 first week of March, but could easily be out for the entire rest of the season.
Steven Hunter: He missed the last several games because of soreness and inflammation in his right knee.

BULLS PLAYERS WHO WERE NOT AVAILABLE
Jameson Curry: Out indefinitely, Thumb as of 1/31/08. He is scheduled to undergo surgery on his left thumb. Is likely out for the season.

ALERT STATUS PROBLEMS
As of February 23, 2008

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

INJURIES & SUSPENSIONS
1. Chucky Atkins injury 18 points
2. Nene illness 14 points
3. Steven Hunter injury 4 points

SEVERE AND UNEXPECTED PLAYER PERFORMANCE PROBLEMS
There are none at this time: 0 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. (He wasn’t 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. Reserve use was good.

4. The Nuggets have extreme inconsistency and a truly excessive number of turnovers because they have neither a system nor even a partial system on offense. The damage caused by this would be up to 20 points, except that Iverson reduces the damage. In broad terms, the team has failed to decide whether it wants Melo alone, Iverson alone, Melo and Iverson together, or neither of them to be firstly responsible for scoring enough points to keep the Nuggets in games. If it were neither, I call the name of that strategy the "share the wealth" strategy. More specifically, 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. 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. More important than whether a zone or man to man defense is in effect is the quality of the actual defending.

Lack of an adequate number of offensive plays and patterns: 5 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: 41, which constitutes YELLOW ALERT.

YELLOW ALERT (40-54): Minor damage is occurring to the season. The entire season is under medium threat. Beating quality teams is much more difficult and will be pretty rare. About 1/2 of all wins against good teams will now be losses. Beating mid-level teams is a little more difficult. About 1/4 of games that would be wins against mid-level teams will now be losses. Beating low level teams is still relatively easy, but no longer almost a sure bet. A good team has become in between a good team and a mid-level team when it is under this alert.

The damage description assumes that Nuggets opponents are in a GREY ALERT or better status. When the Nuggets play teams that are in yellow alert or worse, the damage they suffer from being in a significant alert status will be substantially reduced. In other words, opponents who are themselves in significant alert situations will obviously be more beatable, even when the Nuggets are in a significant alert situation.

OBSERVATIONS ON THE ALERT STATUS
Linas Kleiza was playing as if he was still injured from the ankle sprain he suffered in the Boston game 3 nights ago. Since Kleiza’s alert system point value is 17, the Nuggets alert points may actually be 58, which would bump up the Nuggets to an ORANGE alert. While the Nuggets had 3 significant players actually or effectively unavailable in this game, the Bulls had only 1 relatively insignificant player unavailable. On the other hand, the Bulls have an interim coach and a partly blown up team to contend with. I would estimate that the Bulls alert status would probably be YELLOW, so the Bulls had both the home court and a one level alert status advantage in this game.

J.R. Smith’s playing time surged to 33 minutes in this game, the theoretical maximum under Karl. Karl had no choice but to play Smith for as many minutes as he would under any circumstances, because the circumstances were as pro-Smith as you can get. Smith was in his maximum zone while Martin, Carter and Kleiza were miserable, and only 2 of the Nuggets’ starters were getting it done in this game: Camby and Iverson. The only other guards on the roster available were Diawara, whose star has fallen so far that I look for him to be waived by the Nuggets this summer, and Taurean Green, the rookie PG just acquired from Portland. So now there will be one game this year where Smith played a few more minutes than what his average playing time should be. Wow, wonders never cease.

Both Atkins and Nene are definitely going to be out for many more weeks and either one of them or both of them could easily be out for the entire rest of the season. And George Karl is definitely not going to pull a few offensive set plays out of a hat any time soon. Therefore, the Nuggets, unless they make a trade and/or acquire a diamond in the rough player, are doomed to be in ORANGE ALERT or YELLOW ALERT for most or all of the rest of the season, which endangers their chances of making the playoffs. Hollinger at ESPN has the odds that the Nuggets will make the playoffs at about 65% right now though, which is a big improvement from just a two weeks ago, when the odds were about 50%. But the 65% chance is dumb with respect to the indefinite unavailability of Nene and Atkins, so the real odds could be less, say, around 55%.

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 8 Bulls 9
Number of Players Who Played at Least 10 Minutes: Nuggets 8 Bulls 9

Nuggets Non-Starters Points: 47
Bulls Non-Starters Points: 52

Nuggets Non-Starters Rebounds: 13
Bulls Non-Starters Rebounds: 14

Nuggets Non-Starters Assists: 1
Bulls Non-Starters Assists: 9

OBSERVATIONS ON HOW THE RESERVES WERE USED AND PLAYED
George Karl is boxed in these days in terms of the number of players. Even he rarely plays just 7 players, and since the Nuggets have only 13 active players right now, and 3 of them are injured, if you play 8 players, you are leaving only 2 on the bench, to be played in garbage time only. You can almost never fault a coach for leaving 2 reserves unused. If you look at the two who were not played here, Yakhouba Diawara and Taurean Green, you have in Diawara a player who is kept completely out of the offense by both Carter and Iverson, and in Green a rookie PG who just arrived on the team a day or so ago. So you can’t argue with Karl’s selections at all but, unfortunately, that is mainly because no coach could possibly select the wrong players in the situation the Nuggets find themselves in right now.

Notice how in assists the Nugget’s non-starters were destroyed by the Bull’s non-starters. Although worse than usual, this is happening in almost every game. It is practically getting to the point that the Nuggets have an unwritten rule: only starters are allowed to make good passes leading to scores. Denver non-starters are lucky to get the ball much at all, and they had better jack up shots most every chance they get, if they want to score enough points to avoid being benched. And if they happen to hit a few shots, they might get an improvement on their limited playing time. Najera, however, gets about the same playing time whether he gets some scores and assists or not, because he is valued as a defensive specialist. For the record, though, it should be noted that Najera is well below normal, for a PF, in both scoring and assisting.

The reserve watch feature is under development, and it will be gradually expanded. 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. 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:

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-BULLS PLAYER RATINGS
J.R. Smith: Game 59.2 Season 15.6
Allen Iverson: Game 48.6 Season 40.9
Marcus Camby: Game 44.0 Season 33.3
Carmelo Anthony: Game 28.2 Season 39.2
Eduardo Najera: Game 9.0 Season 13.1
Kenyon Martin: Game 6.7 Season 22.4
Anthony Carter: Game 3.0 Season 20.6
Linas Kleiza: Game -0.6 Season 19.1

Chucky Atkins: Did Not Play-Injury
Nene: Did Not Play-Illness
Steven Hunter: Did Not Play-Injury

Yakhouba Diawara: Did Not Play-Coach’s Decision
Von Wafer: Did Not Play-Coach’s Decision

BULLS PLAYER RATINGS
Ben Gordon: Game 56.7 Season 28.1
Tyrus Thomas: Game 45.9 Season 13.0
Kirk Hinrich: Game 40.4 Season 25.3
Joakim Noah: Game 35.1 Season 11.9
Andres Nocioni: Game 29.6 Season 22.2
Thabo Sefolosha: Game 26.9 Season 12.6
Luol Deng: Game 13.0 Season 28.2
Aaron Gray: Game 6.1 Season 7.3
Chris Duhon: Game 3.1 Season 13.2
NOTE: 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.

OBSERVATIONS ON THE PLAYER RATINGS:
J.R. Smith, in the game of his career so far, exploded for 4 times his usual performance in about 2 times his usual time. But Iverson and Camby were the only two other Nuggets above their normals for this season. Anthony and Najera came up a little short. Martin was almost a no-show, and Carter, and Kleiza were total no-shows. But Kleiza may have been still impacted by the painful ankle sprain he suffered in the Boston game 3 nights earlier.

While the Nuggets had 4 high output players, Smith, Iverson, Camby, and Anthony, the Bulls had 6: Gordon, Thomas, Hinrich, Noah, Nocioni, and Sefolosha. Astoundingly, all 6 of these Bulls players were well above their seasonal averages. Noah and Thomas stepped up huge and produced at roughly triple their averages, Gordon and Sefolosha stepped up big, to roughly double their averages, and Hinrich and Nocioni also were well ahead of their seasonal normals. These 6 Bulls crushed the Nuggets’ defenders and did almost any damage they wanted to the score and to the Nuggets’ playoff hopes all night long.

Luol Deng was well below normal, yet still contributed. The only Chicago disappointment in this game was Chris Duhon. The Nuggets had 3 disappointments, 4 of them if you count Najera and 5 of them if you count Najera and Anthony.

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 Bad Game-Near Disaster
Less 0.25 Total Disaster

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

1. J.R. Smith, Den 1.794
2. Ben Gordon, Chi 1.668
3. Tyrus Thomas, Chi 1.350
4. Thabo Sefolosha, Chi 1.281
5. Marcus Camby, Den 1.128
6. Kirk Hinrich, Chi 1.122
7. Allen Iverson, Den 1.105
8. Andres Nocioni, Chi 1.096
9. Joakim Noah, Chi 0.924
10. Carmelo Anthony, Den 0.742
11. Luol Deng, Chi 0.650
12. Aaron Gray, Chi 0.508
13. Eduardo Najera, Den 0.375
14. Kenyon Martin, Den 0.231
15. Anthony Carter, Den 0.214
16. Chris Duhon, Chi 0.172
17. Linas Kleiza, Den -0.032

OBSERVATIONS ON THE REAL PLAYER RATINGS
J.R. Smith missed the rare highest rating by a tiny amount, One more of anything good or one fewer of anything bad would have gotten him the very highest rating. Carmelo Anthony did reach the highest possible rating on Feb. 8 against the Wizards. J.R. Smith did reach the highest possible rating on Jan. 7 against the Suns, but he only played 5 minutes, the minimum needed to be rated, so that is not really a huge accomplishment. Carmelo Anthony came extremely close to the highest possible rating on Dec. 2 in Denver against the Heat. J.R. Smith did reached the highest possible level in Denver on Nov. 12 against the Cavaliers.

So technically, there have been 3 times when a Nugget has reached the highest possible level this year, two times by Smith and 1 time by Anthony. But one of the Smith instances was where he played only 5 minutes. Also, both Anthony and now Smith have had 1 instance where they just barely missed reaching the highest possible level.

While this game was Smith’s game of the year in terms of total production, his game of the year in terms of production per minute was when he played 24 minutes and earned a real player rating of 2.000 in the Nov. 12 game in Denver against the Cavaliers. Either of these two games could be considered as the game of the year for the extremely explosive player known as J.R. Smith.

Smith for Denver and Gordon for Chicago were superstars-plus. Thomas and Sefolosha for the Bulls and no one for the Nuggets were stars-plus. There were 4 plain old stars, Hinrich and Nocioni for the Bulls, and Camby and Iverson for the Nuggets. Also, Joakim Noah was outstanding for the Bulls. The Bulls had 6 of the 9 players who were outstanding or better. So the Nuggets were saved by J.R. Smith’s threes from having been routed by about 25-30 points in this game.

At the low end, the Nuggets had 4 players who were very poor or worse: Najera, Martin, Carter, and Kleiza. The Bulls had just one, Duhon.

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.

Eduardo Najera: +19
Linas Kleiza: +14
J.R. Smith: +8
Marcus Camby: -14
Allen Iverson: -16
Anthony Carter: -19
Carmelo Anthony: -28
Kenyon Martin: -34

OBSERVATIONS ON PLUS—MINUS
Even though Kleiza was not a force either offensively or defensively, he had a good plus-minus, at least partly by luck. Najera clearly was a very good defender in this game, whereas Marin’s defending was shockingly poor in this game. Anthony is known for relatively poor defending, and this game will bolster that reputation. Carter had a flat-out miserable outing, and Camby was overwhelmed defensively by the Bulls, though he was actually very good on offense. J.R. Smith earned his weight with all his fantastic scoring; defensively he could not keep up too well with the Bulls onslaught. .

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: Total 15, Team 0, Anthony 3, Camby 2, Carter 2, Iverson 3, Kleiza 0, Martin 1, Najera 1, Smith 3

Personal Fouls: Total 21, Anthony 2, Camby 4, Carter 2, Iverson 0, Kleiza 2, Martin 4, Najera 4, Smith 3

Linas Kleiza played 19 minutes and was 0/7 and 0/4 on 3’s for 0 points, and he made 5 rebounds.

Anthony Carter played 14 minutes and was 0/1 for 0 points, and he made 3 assists and 1 steal.

Kenyon Martin played 29 minutes and was 2/5 for 4 points, and he made 1 block, 1 assist, and 1 rebound.

Eduardo Najera played 24 minutes and was 1/2, 0/1 on 3’s, and 2/2 from the line for 4 points, and he made 3 rebounds and 2 steals.

Carmelo Anthony played 38 minutes, and was 7/20, 1/4 on 3’s, and 7/7 from the line for 22 points, and he made 8 rebounds and 1 assist.

Allen Iverson played virtually the whole game, 44 minutes, and was 10/17, 0/3 on 3’s, and 9/11 from the line for 29 points, and he made 9 assists and 4 rebounds.

Marcus Camby played 39 minutes and was 8/12, 1/2 on 3’s, and 2/4 from the line for 19 points, and he made 11 rebounds, 6 blocks, and 2 assists.

J.R. Smith played 33 minutes, and was 15/25, 8/14 on 3’s, and 5/8 from the line for 43 points, and he made 5 rebounds, 2 steals, and 1 assist.

NEXT UP
The next game will be Saturday, February 23 in Milwaukee to play the Bucks at 6:30 pm mountain time. Both the Nuggets and the Bucks will be playing on back to back nights.

Friday, February 22, 2008

Nuggets 1 Welcomes Taurean Green to the Nuggets

Nuggets 1 welcomes Taurean Green to the Nuggets.

Thursday, February 21, 2008

The Nuggets Stake Claim on the Playoffs in the Game of the Year: Nuggets 124 Celtics 118, and Why Basketball is Better Than Real Life

The Nuggets brought it all to the important first game after the all-star break, and defeated the Celtics, who almost everyone has penciled in for the East Conference finals, and who many have penciled in for this year’s NBA Championship series. The Nuggets were aggressive and relentless in most all aspects of the game that a bound and determined team uses to win as an underdog. They drove to the hoop, they made shots they miss on lesser occasions, even including a Camby three, they kept turnovers in check despite moving the ball enough to keep defenders off balance and to get a huge 29 assists, they directly blocked the Celtics by making a massive 12 blocks, and they relied on the strongest side of the team, the offensive side, much more than the defensive, which is definitely not the Nuggets’ preferred side of basketball. The final score of what will likely be the game of the year for the Nuggets was Nuggets 124, Celtics 118.

The Nuggets won it their offensive way and, as I have said before, this is the only way the Nuggets can win in the playoffs. Trying to win defensive struggles is a lost cause for the Nuggets in a playoff series. If you can’t win in the playoffs with offense, due to different officiating or just due to greater intensity defensively, then it’s just too bad for the Nuggets, because they are definitely not going to win if that is the case. But I think that is one of those generalities for which you can find exceptions in history. A team that is truly great offensively can eventually cause a team trying to grind out defensive wins to first lose their confidence, then their morale, then their energy, then some games, and then the series.

Denver is 22-6 at the Pepsi Center this season. The Nuggets have lost fewer games at home than any other team in the West except for the Mavericks, the Jazz, and the Spurs. I think there is some kind of law in Texas that says you have to pay a fine and your coach has to spend the night in lockup if you beat the Spurs or the Mavericks on Texas soil. So that would explain the Mavericks and the Spurs almost never losing at home. As for the Jazz, teams get the creepies when they visit Salt Lake City, and their basketball suffers as a result. The Nuggets had 19,894 fans in attendance, the largest regular season crowd in franchise history. They picked the best game of the season to come watch.

Every single Nugget starter, along with Kleiza among the non-starters, put one of their better performances of the season so far out there. That is rare, and a team will almost always win when that happens. The fact it was a roughly close game shows you how a good a team they were playing. The Nuggets were truly out to slay a dragon in this one. PG Rajon Rondo, SG Ray Allen, and especially SF Paul Pierce were outstanding for the Celtics, and there were no fewer than three Celtics non-starters who were big well: SF James Posey, SG Tony Allen, and, especially PF Leon Powe. Were it not for the rustiness of Kevin Garnett, who was back starting following 9 games out with an abdominal strain, this game would have been a NBA classic rather than simply a Nuggets classic; it would have been a photo finish, and very possibly an overtime game to boot.

The Nuggets’ relentless aggression resulted in their getting a season high 49 free throws, but they made only 34 of them. Adrenalin will do that to you sometimes; you expend it all earning the free throw and then miss one of the free throws.

Linas Kleiza, who had a very painful ankle sprain in the first half, nevertheless came back in the second half and, in the 4th quarter, added 2 extremely important threes to the one he made in the 2nd quarter. So he finished a perfect 3/3 from long range. He shook off the pain, got quality assistance from the overworked Nuggets’ trainers, and came back to deliver what the Nuggets usually lack, great three point shooting.

Iverson delivered his intelligence and drive, and powered his way to 20 free throws, of which he made 14. Just as importantly, Iverson beat out Carter in assisting, 9-8, and was just one assist short of achieving the 10 Iverson assists and the Nuggets almost always win reality.

Carmelo Anthony was not too far behind his older superstar brethren; he made 12/13 free throws. 8/17 shots, 7 rebounds, and 4 assists. Marcus Camby made 13 rebounds, scored 11 points, and made 9 blocks. I give the man a triple double, because clearly blocks are more difficult to get than anything else in basketball, since so many attempted blocks turn into personal fouls.

Kenyon Martin was extremely efficient on offense and a power defensively as usual. PG Anthony Carter is inconsistent but is overall much better than expected this season; he rose to this occasion with 8 assists and 14 points on 5/10 shooting.

In short, the Nuggets were as solid as the Rocky Mountains in this game, while the Celtics could only blame the relatively thin air for their defense in general and Garnett in particular coming up short. Sorry, but the real reason the Celtics lost was because the Nuggets were not going to lose to anyone that night, pure and simple. Rumors that the quest for the ring has died have been a little premature.

I like the way Iverson thinks because, for some strange reason, I think like he does most of the time. So let me let him do the talking, because he is saying exactly what I am saying following this historic win: “Winning this game puts a lot of pressure on us, because if you can beat a team like this, then you can beat all the other teams,” Iverson said. “We have enough talent to scare some people, but we just have to bring it night in and night out. I don’t look at it as we beat the best team in the league, a win is a win. Obviously, we can compete with anybody. No one seems to know how much talent we have.” Allen, Nuggets 1 and Nuggets 1 readers are the exception; we do know that the Nuggets are approximately the most talented team in the NBA. Why do you think these reports are so damn long and detailed?

The Nuggets win was a big step away from the nightmare scenario where they end up being the ultimate chump team this season. There will be a chump team this year in the West, a team that finishes with a very nice record but does not make the playoffs. This will be the team that finishes as the 9th seed, also known as the demon seed from hell.

Assuming the Hornets, the Lakers, the Suns, the Mavericks, the Spurs, and the Jazz are playoff locks, if the Nuggets lose out to both the Warriors and the Rockets, they miss the playoffs! Someone is going to be left holding the chump bag: they are going to be a good winning team but they are not going to get a playoff series. Right now, the Nuggets are 1-1 vs. Golden State with 2 games against them left, on March 29 and April 10. The Nuggets are also 1-1 against the Rockets with 2 games against them left, on March 2 and April 13. The April 13 game against the Rockets will be back to back for the Nuggets but not for the Rockets, making that one a very likely Rockets win. There are no other back to back circumstances for any team among the 4 Nuggets games left versus the Warriors and the Rockets.

For my reader’s reference, here from wikipedia is an excellent and relatively brief description of how the playoff matchups are decided in the NBA:

Following the NBA regular season, eight teams in each conference qualify for the playoffs and are seeded one to eight.

The team that has the best record in each of the three divisions in each conference is declared division champion. The three champions and the one other team in the conference with the best record are seeded one through four by their records. This guarantees that the division champions will be no lower than fourth seed, and also ensures that a conference's two best teams (by record) are ranked as the top two. Of the remaining 11 conference teams, the four with the best records are seeded fifth through eighth based on their records.

In the event that two teams end up tied for the same seed, the following tiebreakers are employed:

1. Head-to-head
2. Division record (if the teams are in the same division)
3. Conference record
4. Record vs. Playoff teams, own conference
5. Record vs. Playoff teams, other conference
6. Net points, all games

The first round of the playoffs, or Conference Quarterfinals, consists of four matchups in each conference, based on the seedings (1-8, 2-7, 3-6, and 4-5). The eight winners advance to the second round, or Conference Semifinals, in which, unlike other leagues such as the NHL, matchups are set in advance as between the winners of the 1-8 and 4-5 series, and the winners of the 2-7 and 3-6 series, and not based on the seeds of the winners of those series. The winners of these series advance to the NBA Conference Finals, which determines which team in each conference will advance to the NBA Finals, the winner of which is declared the NBA champion.

Each round is a best-of-seven series. All series except the NBA Finals are played in a 2-2-1-1-1 format, meaning the team with home-court advantage hosts games 1, 2, 5 and 7, while their opponent hosts games 3, 4, and 6, with games 5-7 being played if needed. The NBA Finals are played in a 2-3-2 format, meaning the team with home-court advantage hosts games 1, 2, 6 and 7, and their opponent hosts games 3, 4 and 5. The home-court advantage is determined in all four rounds by record, regardless of seed.

I think the team deserves better acceptance for what it’s done,” Karl said. No Coach, the team was always accepted as a true though long-shot contender. It deserves better acceptance from you. And I think, if only unconsciously, that is exactly what Karl was actually saying to us. You need to come out from under your seat now, Mr. Karl.

Why do college educated brainiacs like me like sports? Because they are often the way we think life in the real world should be, has to be in my case in fact, but isn’t, because life in the real world is distorted, poisoned, and rotted by powerful forces such as greed, incompetence, corruption, and inequality.

In sports, greed does not get you anywhere important. Greedy, selfish players are marginalized and disliked, sometimes even hated. The more excessively greedy a player is, the more his playing time is cut. If untreated and unadjusted, selfishness can lead to a player being repeatedly traded, and even to a once promising career crashing and burning into a very early retirement. Greedy players cost their teams, and the team will take action until the greed is reduced to a tolerable level.

Some very talented players are not by pure nature greedy, but greedy only to the extent they think this will get their team wins. Such players, by definition, are relatively intelligent, because they are thinking strategically, like good coaches do. Such players respond to evidence that they are trying to do too much by ramping back their selfishness, until they can get as close to the optimum balance between what they do and what the rest of the team does as they can. The Nuggets have at least as many talented players of this type as any other NBA team: Allen Iverson, Carmelo Anthony, and Marcus Camby are all players of this type. Camby hogs rebounding and defensive positioning to one extent or another. Anthony hogs shots taken to one extent or another. Iverson hogs handling the ball and sometimes shooting as well, to one extent or another. Fortunately, each of these three understand what I am talking about here, that they should keep working to get the balance right between trying to do what they do well too often and the right number of times.

By contrast, it is not clear to me certain players, such as Tracy McGrady, Dirk Nowitzki and LeBron James, understand this as much as they need to, and nor is it clear that they are capable of reducing their selfhishness into the safe range were they to try. But writers and fans for the Rockets, the Mavericks, and the Cavaliers are going to probably dispute that.

In sports incompetence is continuously and powerfully attacked. In sports the talent always rises to the top. The starters are almost always the best players on a team. When there is an exception, such as J.R. Smith on the Nuggets, writers and fans are all over the issue, which to me is a mistake, strongly and in detail. Those who think it is correct that J.R. Smith not start, and even those who think Smith should not play at all, are all over the debate themselves, precisely because almost all of them agree with the overall rule that talent is supposed to be at the top at all times in sports, no exceptions. The argument is about how talented J.R. Smith is, not about whether talent should be the most important thing. In the real world, though, talent does not always win, and arguments do not always assume that talent should prevail.

In sports, uncorrected incompetence is punished every time. A player who is incompetent at something important is going to lose playing time and fan recognition to one extent or another, even if he is super talented otherwise.

Corruption ruins the atmosphere and the fan devotion to sports, as the periodic baseball investigations of steroid abuse and the basketball referee scandal illustrate. Corruption is so anathema to sports that just a rumor of it generates a vigorous investigation of it every time. And when corruption is found, it is cut down to nothing, or at least cut down to next to nothing, fast enough to make the heads spin of those who follow real world corruption and the seeming helplessness of anyone, powerful or not, to do anything about it. In short, the world can really suck sometimes and, just as bad, no one seems to be able to, even for a short time, bring the world back to an uncorrupted state.

Corruption in a basketball game would be planning to and committing flagrant fouls continuously, without penalty, until the other team was terrorized into submission. But in basketball, everyone has to play by and, like them or not, agree to be bound and judged by the same rules, equally. If you try to cheat to win in a basketball game, you get penalized by the referee. If you try to bribe the referee, you will get fined and suspended by the commissioner. If you are a referee and you try to fix a game you will be found out and fired. In basketball, anyone who cheats loses, usually instantly, always eventually. Everyone pays a price for doing wrong. The real world is not at all like that.

The real world is hopelessly unequal. The rich man has thousands of options with which he can make more money; the poorer man has maybe a few dozen, most or all of which he is unaware of. And the poorest man has almost or literally no options at all. A basketball player with the ball is theoretically equal to any other basketball player with the ball. Any basketball player with the ball can choose to do anything any other basketball player with the ball can: dribble and move, dribble and not move, bounce pass, lob pass, pass, drive to the hoop, jump shoot, and so forth. It’s all the same for everybody.

Successful teams have to play together, without greed, incompetence, corruption, and inequality, one for all and all for one. In most games though, of course, there will still be traces of greed, incompetence, corruption, and inequality in the play of a team. Whichever team has less of these four bad features will most of the time win the game.

But in basketball, on rare occasions, and when you least expect them, a team will play seemingly with no greed, no incompetence, no corruption, and no inequality at all. They have entered a zone that you will never see in the real world, a world which can not even keep the bad stuff limited let alone eliminate it to the point where it can not be detected. Your team in the zone puts you into euphoria, the experience is indescribably great. I can not really describe to you how happy I was when the Nuggets won a game I had penciled in as a loss.

At that time, when your team is pure, when everything is good, when everything is damn near perfect, your soul is healed and you are pure again, like the day you were born. You and your team are innocent and pure, you have been raised above all the bad, and you are flying high above all the rot of the world below. You get to breath the air up there, where everything is the way it should be.

You and your team are invincible at that moment in time, and you are unbelievably satisfied and happy that you spent whatever you spent in following your team until they finally reached this moment, and you will remember and treasure it forever, come what may.

PLAYERS WHO WERE NOT AVAILABLE

NUGGETS PLAYERS WHO WERE NOT AVAILABLE
Chucky Atkins: He was diagnosed with a right groin/abdominal strain (Sports Hernia) on Jan. 9 and underwent successful surgery on Jan. 11. He is expected to be sidelined a minimum of eight weeks. Atkins is out until at least mid March. With any luck, he will be back in the Nuggets lineup by early April.
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 first of March, but could easily be out for the entire rest of the season.
Linas Kleiza: suffered a sprained left ankle in this game. His status will be evaluated on a day-to-day basis. Kleiza was held to 18 minutes in this game, though he played until half way through the 4th quarter.
Steven Hunter: He missed the last three games because of soreness and inflammation in his right knee.

CELTICS PLAYERS WHO WERE NOT AVAILABLE
Scot Pollard: He is out indefinitely with a sprained ankle
Brian Scalabrine: Day to day; missed last two games with a pulled groin.

ALERT STATUS PROBLEMS
As of February 20, 2008

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

INJURIES & SUSPENSIONS
1. Chucky Atkins injury 18 points
2. Nene illness 14 points
3. Linas Kleiza 4 points
3. Steven Hunter injury 4 points

SEVERE AND UNEXPECTED PLAYER PERFORMANCE PROBLEMS
There are none at this time: 0 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: 5 points.

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.

4. The Nuggets have extreme inconsistency and a truly excessive number of turnovers because they have neither a system nor even a partial system on offense. The damage caused by this would be up to 20 points, except that Iverson reduces the damage. In broad terms, the team has failed to decide whether it wants Melo alone, Iverson alone, Melo and Iverson together, or neither of them to be firstly responsible for scoring enough points to keep the Nuggets in games. If it were neither, I call the name of that strategy the "share the wealth" strategy. More specifically, 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.

Lack of an adequate number of offensive plays and schemes: 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 sometime think it is.

TOTAL PROBLEM POINTS: 51, which constitutes YELLOW ALERT.

YELLOW ALERT (40-54): Minor damage is occurring to the season. The entire season is under medium threat. Beating quality teams is much more difficult and will be pretty rare. About 1/2 of all wins against good teams will now be losses. Beating mid-level teams is a little more difficult. About 1/4 of games that would be wins against mid-level teams will now be losses. Beating low level teams is still relatively easy, but no longer almost a sure bet. A good team has become in between a good team and a mid-level team when it is under this alert.

The damage description assumes that Nuggets opponents are in a GREY ALERT or better status. When the Nuggets play teams that are in yellow alert or worse, the damage they suffer from being in a significant alert status will be substantially reduced. In other words, opponents who are themselves in significant alert situations will obviously be more beatable, even when the Nuggets are in a significant alert situation.

OBSERVATIONS ON THE ALERT STATUS
Both Scalabrine and Pollard are deep bench players for the Celtics, so their absence was not very significant, and Boston was most likely in a GREY or even a GREEN alert. So, the Nuggets defeated the Celtics with one hand tied behind the back. Ok, that may be too boasting, I’ll come clean. How about: “The Nuggets defeated the Celtics with one eye shut.”? Ears plugged? With a weight in their sneakers? Oh well, you get the idea. J.R. Smith was not hitting his threes well in this game, so his partial benching didn’t really hurt at all. This game was so close to perfect, that even the things that are generally bad for the Nuggets, such as J.R. Smith not playing enough, were good in this situation.

Both Atkins and Nene are definitely going to be out for many more weeks and either one of them or both of them could easily be out for the entire rest of the season. And George Karl is definitely not going to pull a few offensive set plays out of a hat any time soon. Therefore, the Nuggets, unless they make a trade and/or acquire a diamond in the rough player, are doomed to be in ORANGE ALERT or YELLOW ALERT for most or all of the rest of the season, which endangers their chances of making the playoffs. Hollinger at ESPN has the odds that the Nuggets will make the playoffs at about 65% right now though, which is a big improvement from just a two weeks ago, when the odds were about 50%. But the 65% chance is dumb with respect to the indefinite unavailability of Nene and Atkins, so the real odds could be less, say, around 55%.

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 8 Celtics 10
Number of Players Who Played at Least 10 Minutes: Nuggets 8 Celtics 9

Nuggets Non-Starters Points: 23
Celtics Non-Starters Points: 46

Nuggets Non-Starters Rebounds: 8
Celtics Non-Starters Rebounds: 24

Nuggets Non-Starters Assists: 4
Celtics Non-Starters Assists: 6

OBSERVATIONS ON HOW THE RESERVES WERE USED AND PLAYED
The Celtics’ non-starters heavily dominated the Nuggets’ non-starters in points and especially rebounding. The Celtics played 10 players and the Nuggets played 8, but since every one of the five Nuggets starters, Carter, Iverson, Anthony, Martin, and Camby, played better than usual, it didn’t matter that the Celtics had more potential surprise contributors.

The reserve watch feature is under development, and it will be gradually expanded. 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. 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:

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-CELTICS PLAYER RATINGS
Allen Iverson: Game 43.3 Season 40.9
Marcus Camby: Game 43.3 Season 33.2
Carmelo Anthony: Game 42.9 Season 39.4
Kenyon Martin: Game 31.5 Season 22.5
Anthony Carter: Game 29.5 Season 21.1
Linas Kleiza: Game 23.2 Season 19.5
Eduardo Najera: Game 12.2 Season 13.1
J.R. Smith: Game 8.7 Season 14.4

Chucky Atkins: Did Not Play-Injury
Nene: Did Not Play-Illness
Steven Hunter: Did Not Play-Injury

Yakhouba Diawara: Did Not Play-Coach’s Decision
Von Wafer: Did Not Play-Coach’s Decision

CELTICS PLAYER RATINGS
Paul Pierce: Game 40.1 Season 34.4
Ray Allen: Game 31.9 Season 28.7
Rajon Rondo: Game 29.1 Season 23.2
Leon Powe: Game 25.9 Season 11.4
James Posey: Game 24.0 Season 14.7
Tony Allen: Game 18.3 Season 11.9
Eddie House: Game 11.8 Season 13.5
Kevin Garnett: Game 9.2 Season 38.5
Kendrick Perkins: Game 6.4 Season 15.7
Glen Davis: Game 5.4 Season 8.6

NOTE: 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.

OBSERVATIONS ON THE PLAYER RATINGS:
You rarely see all 5 of your starters above normal, and this is another major clue that this was as perfect a game as you will see played by the Nuggets all this season, unless they shock the world and start playing with this intensity and effort from time to time the rest of the season. This was the type of game you see played by Championship teams in a Championship series.

Three Celtics non-starters, SF James Posey, PF Leon Powe, and SG Tony Allen, did come through for Coach Doc Rivers, but it was not enough against the Nuggets’ royal flush, where all five starters stepped up.

Among the Celtics’ starters, PG Rondo, SG Ray Allen, and especially SF Pierce delivered for Rivers, but C Perkins and PF Garnett couldn’t get the packages to their destinations. Garnett was grossly below normal due to bench rust from having missed the last 9 straight games due to an abdominal strain.

The Nuggets had only one player substantially below normal, and you know who it had to be, don’t you? Of course, it was J.R. Smith, who is kind of like the Nugget from the alternate universe. Generally speaking, and much of the time, the better the Nuggets as a whole are playing, the worse Smith plays. But, on the other hand, the worse the Nuggets as a whole are playing, the better Smith plays. Since the Nuggets this season, unlike last season, have played much better at home than on the road, Smith has played much better on the road than at home this season, which has had the unfortunate effect of making local Denver fans who go to games, but who don’t read my reports, more negative toward Smith than they should be, becoming unwitting allies of Karl, who most of the most extreme Nuggets fans agree is biased against Smith. Smith has helped win a few important road games for the Nuggets this year, including most recently the game at Miami just before the all-star break.

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 Bad Game-Near Disaster
Less 0.25 Total Disaster

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

1. Linas Kleiza, Den 1.289
2. Leon Powe, Bos 1.233
3. Kenyon Martin, Den 1.125
4. Carmelo Anthony, Den 1.100
5. Marcus Camby, Den 1.083
6. Paul Pierce, Bos 0.978
7. Rajon Rondo, Bos 0.970
8. Tony Allen, Bos 0.963
9. Allen Iverson, Den 0.962
10. Anthony Carter, Den 0.922
11. Ray Allen, Bos 0.886
12. Glen Davis, Bos 0.771…Davis played just 7 minutes.
13. Eddie House, Bos 0.656
14. James Posey, Bos 0.649
15. Kendrick Perkins, Bos 0.640
16. Eduardo Najera, Den 0.581
17. J.R. Smith, Den 0.512
18. Kevin Garnett, Bos 0.438

OBSERVATIONS ON THE REAL PLAYER RATINGS
Kleiza and Powe, both star-plus, were the somewhat unlikely leaders for the Nuggets and Celtics, respectively. There were 3 plain old stars in this game, and all of them were Nuggets: Camby, Anthony and Martin.

There were 5 outstanding players in this game, three Celtics and two Nuggets. Pierce, Rondo, and Tony Allen were outstanding for Boston, while the Nugget’s starting guards, Carter and Iverson, were both outstanding.

There were, count them, 10 players who were outstanding or better, which is about as many as you ever see in an NBA game. Of those, the Nuggets had 6 and the Celtics had 4. Of the 5 players who were stars or better, the Nuggets dominated with 4 out of 5 of them.

There were very few players at the low levels of performance. Smith and Najera were poor for the Nuggets, while Garnett was very poor for Boston. Garnett never plays this way normally. He was rusty after missing 9 straight games with an abdominal strain. Coach Doc Rivers wisely limited Garnett’s playing time to 21 minutes compared with his usual 35 minutes a game.

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.

Carmelo Anthony: +16
Allen Iverson: +12
Anthony Carter: +12
Marcus Camby: +9
Kenyon Martin: +6
Linas Kleiza: -5
Eduardo Najera: -8
J.R. Smith: -12

OBSERVATIONS ON PLUS—MINUS
It doesn’t get any better than this on the plus-minus, all Nuggets’ starters heavily on the plus side against what is most likely the best team in the Eastern Conference. Kleiza was slowed down, especially defensively, during this game from a painful, though apparently not very severe, ankle sprain. So he was more of a liability on defense than he would have been without the sprain. Najera and Smith were the only two Nuggets who missed the party. This was normal for Smith, who in Karl’s mind is the black sheep of the Nuggets, and is not allowed at Nuggets parties. As for Najera, he is a fairly good defender, but the Celtics are better than a fairly good offensive team, so Najera was not as effective defensively as he can frequently be against lesser teams.

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: Total 16, Team, Anthony 6, Camby 1, Carter 2, Iverson 4, Kleiza 1, Martin 1, Najera 1, Smith 0

Personal Fouls: Total 26, Anthony 5, Camby 5, Carter 4, Iverson 3, Kleiza 2, Martin 6, Najera 1, Smith 0

J.R. Smith played 17 minutes and was 3/9 and 1/6 on 3’s for 7 points, and he made 2 rebounds and 1 steal.

Eduardo Najera played 21 minutes and was 2/3 and 1/2 on 3’s for 5 points, and he made 2 blocks, 2 rebounds, and 1 assist.

Anthony Carter played 32 minutes and was 5/10, 1/3 on 3’s, and 3/5 from the line for 14 points, and he made 8 assists, 4 rebounds, and 1 steal.

Allen Iverson played virtually the whole game, 45 minutes, and was 7/16, 0/1 on 3’s, and 14/20 from the line for 28 points, and he made 9 assists and 7 rebounds.

Marcus Camby played most of the game, 40 minutes, and was 4/8, 1/1 on 3’s, and 2/4 from the line for 11 points, and he made 13 rebounds, 9 blocks, 3 steals, and 3 assists.

Carmelo Anthony played 39 minutes and was 8/17, 1/1 on 3’s, and 12/13 from the line for 29 points, and he made 7 rebounds, 4 assists, and 2 steals.

Kenyon Martin played 28 minutes and was 8/12 and 3/7 from the line for 19 points, and he made 6 rebounds, 2 steals, 1 block, and 1 assist.

Linas Kleiza played 18 minutes and was 4/5 and 3/3 on 3’s for 11 points, and he made 4 rebounds and 3 assists.

NEXT UP
The next game will be Friday, February 20 in Chicago to play the Bulls at 6 pm mountain time. Neither the Nuggets nor the Bulls will be playing on back to back nights.

Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)

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.

WORD IS BOND

Saturday, February 23, 2008

J.R. Smith is Massive, but the Nuggets' Defense Runs off the Rails: Bulls 135 Nuggets 121

Friday, February 22, 2008

Nuggets 1 Welcomes Taurean Green to the Nuggets

Thursday, February 21, 2008

The Nuggets Stake Claim on the Playoffs in the Game of the Year: Nuggets 124 Celtics 118, and Why Basketball is Better Than Real Life

SEARCH QFTR, THE EQUIVALENT OF ABOUT 20 BOOKS ABOUT BASKETBALL

Laugh Out Loud, George Karl: Have You Seen the News Lately?

RICKY RUBIO, MINNESOTA TIMBERWOLVES POINT GUARD

SEARCH QFTR, THE EQUIVALENT OF ABOUT 20 BOOKS ABOUT BASKETBALL

COMPLETE AND ALWAYS UPDATED DIRECTORY OF ALL QUEST FOR THE RING REPORTS ON ONE PAGE

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

GOOGLE ARCHIVE

QUEST FOR THE RING USER GUIDE

WELCOME TO THE QUEST--THINGS ARE VERY DIFFERENT HERE

SEARCH QFTR, THE EQUIVALENT OF ABOUT 20 BOOKS ABOUT BASKETBALL

RECOMMENDED SCHOOL--CLICK FOR DETAILS

MOST RECENT LEAGUE WIDE REAL PLAYER RATINGS

COPYRIGHT 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013

SEARCH THE QFTR--THE EQUIVALENT OF ABOUT 20 BOOKS ABOUT BASKETBALL

STAT COUNTER IS THE PRIMARY QUEST TRAFFIC COUNTER SINCE IT IS TRULY EXCELLENT

SITE METER: THE BACKUP QUEST TRAFFIC COUNTER

GA GC

PM AM GS HS

THE QUEST FOR THE RING FEED

GEOGRAPHY OF QFTR VISITORS

QFTR IS HOSTED AND POWERED BY GOOGLE BLOGGER

TRANSLATE QFTR TO ANOTHER LANGUAGE

GEORGE KARL TO BE HUMILIATED BY THE KNICKS COUNTDOWN

2013 CONTENDERS WITH LINKS TO COMPLETE TEAM INFO

QUICK LINKS TO CRUCIAL RESOURCES

MUSIC SITES

LAST NIGHT'S AND LATEST SCORES

LIVE AND RECORDED NBA GAMES

WATCH AND LISTEN TO LIVE NBA GAMES, AND DOWNLOAD COMPLETED GAMES

ESPN TEAM RANKINGS

POWER RANKINGS

ADVANCED TEAM STATISTICS AND RANKS

ADVANCED TEAM MEASUREMENTS

KEY AND HIGH LEVEL PLAYER STATISTICS

CLASSIC QFTR PLAYER PAGES MENU (These pages are mostly no longer maintained)

LAUGH OUT LOUD, GEORGE KARL!

BREAKING NBA NEWS AND RUMORS--UPDATED AT LEAST DAILY

FOLLOW BY EMAIL POWERED BY FEEDBLITZ

MAKE SURE YOU GET THE QUEST RIGHT WHERE YOU NEED IT

BIG CORPORATION NBA HOME PAGES

David Aldridge Articles