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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



Tuesday, March 25, 2008

The Denver Nuggets Shut Down and Defeat the Toronto Raptors 109-100

In a game where neither the Denver Nuggets nor the Toronto Raptors had a playmaking identity, the Nuggets trailed most of the way but made a few great defensive stops late and defeated the Raptors in Toronto 109-100. Raptor star PF Chris Bosh, back from knee problems that kept him out of 5 straight road games, all of which were losses for the Raptors, made too many assists and not enough scores. He was too unselfish. Denver playmaking was about as spread out among all players as much as you will ever see. If you try to beat the Nuggets while neither team has established playmakers, you are very likely to lose. The Nuggets love to use their huge talent bank in these kinds of games. Teams such as the Suns, the Rockets, and the Spurs would never be foolish enough to attempt to defeat the Nuggets without an offense with established playmakers. The Nuggets are the kings of scoring a lot of points against average and below average defenses while operating with no playmaking identity and with an almost totally unplanned offense. In other words, the Nuggets are the Kings of the local recreation center court.

The Raptors also, who are one of the best NBA jump shooting teams, and also one of the best 3-point shooting teams, need their best two playmaking guards to make at least half their assists, but in this game, PG Juan Calderon and PG T.J. Ford combined for just 10 of the 27 assists that Toronto made.

So with the Raptors you have a team that shoots well but doesn’t make plays well, a combination that almost makes your head spin. Oh wait, the Nuggets are another team like that, so no wonder my head spins a lot while I watch the games and report on the team. If you are keeping score, the Raptors are only the 10th best offense in the NBA adjusted for pace, while the Nuggets are the 11th best offense. Two peas in a pod, actually.

If the Nuggets are scoring more than 105 points a game and they are about 3rd out of 30 teams in gross scoring, then why do I spend so much time complaining that the team lacks this, that, and the other thing offensively? Because the Nuggets’ offense is very easy for the best teams in general, and for especially the best defensive teams in particular, to shut down.

So when you hear in the days ahead “No one wants to play the Nuggets in the playoffs, because this team is just plain dangerous,” don’t believe it. Teams like the Rockets, the Hornets, and the Lakers will be hoping to draw the Nuggets in the playoffs, because they know first hand how the Nuggets offense is built on a flimsy foundation, and can be severely throttled relatively easily with the extra motivation that comes from playing in the playoffs. Meanwhile, they don’t want to play the Warriors, who have a clear playmaking identity spearheaded by Baron Davis, and who demonstrated how dangerous such a well designed offense can be when they upset the Dallas Mavericks last year.

Neither the Nuggets nor the Raptors turned it over much in this game. The Nuggets, who are turning it over much less now that Iverson is running the point more often and running isolation scoring attempts less often, made just 7 turnovers in this game, while the Raptors made 11.

The game predictably started with the lineup that Karl has worshiped this year: Anthony Carter PG, Allen Iverson SG, Carmelo Anthony SF, Kenyon Martin PF, and Marcus Camby C. It has been rare for this starting lineup to be quick off the tip-off, and this game was no exception. The Raptors got off to a small but clear 15-10 lead half way through the 1st quarter. Since at least the start of 2008, the Nuggets have almost always looked clunky offensively and inept defensively in the early going, and it has often taken until J.R. Smith comes in before the juices start flowing and the offense shifts into high gear. The Nuggets made only 1 assist in the first 9 minutes of the game.

The Nuggets looked downright sleepy during an 8-2 Raptors run late in the 1st, before Smith came in; it was 23-14 Raptors with about 3 minutes left in the 1st. J.R. Smith finally came in at this juncture, ready to start cutting into the early Nuggets deficit as he has done in many games before.

With the score 35-18, Smith made his first three with less than a minute left in the 1st. Smith also drove to the hoop with a couple of seconds left on a fast break and was fouled and he made both free throws. Smith’s speed and intensity began to pick up the relatively sluggish and chronically unpredictable offense, and the uninspired defense, from the moment he came into the game. After Smith came in, the Nuggets stopped settling for jump shots too much and started cutting into the Toronto lead. After Smith went out late in the 2nd quarter, the Raptors started adding to their lead again.

Although Smith was no where near as successful in the 2nd half as he was in the 1st, he put the Nuggets on the right track offensively to eventually win this game. Meanwhile, Anthony Carter played poorly, both on offense and to some extent on defense. There is only so much magic you can get out of a player who has never been regarded a starter in the NBA until George Karl decided that everyone else was wrong.

I think I know another reason besides Smith not being in there why the Nuggets start badly almost every game. It’s because Carter is not a true starting PG in the NBA, and because Iverson uses the 1st quarter to feel everything out, including his team, the other team, and the referees, so that then he can decide how to divide his efforts between PG and SG the rest of the way. Iverson often looks strangely hesitant in the early going, which matches my theory.

At the half, it was 54-46 Raptors, as they shot 57% and the Nuggets only 41% in the 1st half. By the end of the game though, the Nuggets would almost catch the Raptors in shooting %, and they ended up beating the Raptors at their own game, three-point shooting, as they made 11/22 threes while Toronto only managed to make 8/24. Iverson was an amazing 5/8 from beyond the arc, and Smith was 2/4.

As the game went along, Kenyon Martin more and more put the Nuggets on the right track defensively. Martin was guarding Chris Bosh most of the time and his defending was outstanding. K-Mart’s shooting varies substantially from game to game, but overall it’s been outstanding this season as well. But the whole Nuggets squad came out in the 2nd half with defensive energy, while the Raptors were mostly standing around.

The Nuggets spent the whole 3rd quarter gradually eliminating the Raptors lead. Carmelo Anthony started hitting midrange jumpers, Iverson started hitting fade aways and making layups off picks, and J.R. Smith was busy doing “little things” like chasing down loose balls and taking a charge. It was 73-71 after three quarters.

Early in the 4th quarter, Iverson and the Nuggets in general started hitting a bunch of threes, which gave them an 85-80 lead with about 8 minutes to play. However, the Raptors scored the next 8, as the Nuggets overdid the three points shooting attempts. But Melo was still hitting, and with 5 1/2 minutes left, it was 89-88 Nuggets. Martin tied up Bosh with about 5 to play. Then Bosh was blocked by Martin, but committed his 5th foul by coming down on Bosh.

An Jose Calderon three with 3:45 left made it 95-94 Raptors. J.R. Smith was then way off on an extremely long three attempt. Calderon then tried another three and missed, and Martin snagged the rebound. Then with about 3 minutes to go, Carmelo Anthony jabbed stepped and moved in on SF Jamario Moon and made a sweet short jumper; it was 96-95 Nuggets. But then SG Anthony Parker from the left corner swished a three, for 98-96 Raptors with 2:36 left. Then Parker fouled Iverson, who made both free throws, which tied the game. Then Moon tried a three and missed. Then Iverson made a cross court pass to Melo, who was fouled by Jamario Moon. Melo made both free throws, so it was 100-98 Nuggets with 1:50 to go.

Late in the fourth quarter, it was all Nuggets, as Kenyon Martin led the almost total shut down of the easy to shut down Raptors offense. (See, it works the other way too sometimes.). The ultimate defensive highlight was when Kenyon Martin literally stole the ball away from Chris Bosh, who was dribbling too high on the baseline with 1:40 left. The Raptors would never recover from that. Iverson then passed to Melo in the left post, and Melo looked like he was going to shoot over Moon, but he changed his mind and fired back out to Iverson who was at the center of the three point arc. Iverson fired the dagger that killed the Raptors; it was 103-98 Nuggets with 1:17 left.

The Raptors were still confused offensively. That’s right, they didn’t have a playmaking identity, you know this stuff now. So Kenyon Martin himself intercepted an almost aimless pass by Parker near the paint and ran off on a fast break the other way. He was fouled and made 2 free throws, for 105-98 Nuggets with a minute to play. The Nuggets also got possession, because a clear path violation was called. Moon knocked the ball away from Carmelo Anthony, leading to a breakaway dunk, but the Nuggets were still leading 105-100 with 45 seconds to play. Then the Nuggets used most of the shot clock, and the Raptors defense broke down enough for Melo to get open moving into the paint for a running jumper, which iced the game. The fancy dragons were all dead and the Nuggets’ playoff hopes were still alive.

NEXT UP
The next game will be Monday, March 24 in Memphis to play the Grizzlies at 6 pm mountain time. The Nuggets will be playing on back to back nights, while the Grizzlies will not be. So the Grizzlies will enjoy both the home court and the extra rest advantages.

Monday, March 24, 2008

Ultimate Game Breakdown: Players: Mar. 23, 2008: Nuggets 109 Raptors 100

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

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

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

NUGGETS-RAPTORS PLAYER RATINGS
Ratings of 50+ indicate superstar power performers.
Ratings of 40-49 indicate star power performers
Ratings of 30-39 indicate power performers.
Ratings of 20-29 indicate key role player performers.
Ratings of 10-19 indicate ordinary role player performers.
Ratings of 0-9 indicate unimportant players

NUGGETS PLAYER RATINGS
Allen Iverson: Game 53.8 Season 41.4
Carmelo Anthony: Game 47.2 Season 39.2
Kenyon Martin: Game 26.3 Season 23.3
Marcus Camby: Game 21.4 Season 32.6
J.R. Smith: Game 20.7 Season 17.2
Anthony Carter: Game 10.9 Season 20.0
Eduardo Najera: Game 10.1 Season 13.2
Linas Kleiza: Game 8.9 Season 18.2
Chucky Atkins: Game 0.6 Season 8.9

Nene: Did Not Play-Illness

Chucky Atkins: Did Not Play-Coach’s Decision
Yakhouba Diawara: Did Not Play-Coach’s Decision
Taurean Green: Did Not Play-Coach’s Decision
Steven Hunter: Did Not Play-Coach’s Decision

RAPTORS PLAYER RATINGS
Chris Bosh: Game 38.7 Season 37.4
Jamario Moon: Game 37.2 Season 19.6
Jose Calderon: Game 33.0 Season 29.2
Anthony Parker: Game 23.3 Season 21.9
Andrea Bargnani: Game 22.4 Season 15.8
T.J. Ford: Game 20.5 Season 22.3
Rasho Nesterovic: Game 16.3 Season 14.0
Jason Kapono: Game 0.9 Season 11.3
Carlos Delfino: Game 0.6 Season 16.4

NOTE 1: these stats do not correct for the big differences in playing times. Players with small minutes would get a higher rating if they had more minutes.
NOTE 2: This performance measure does NOT include the quality and quantity of each player’s defending, including the number of shots that the player prevented from going in the basket. The best Nuggets defenders, which are the ones who consistently make the extra effort and have the strength and defensive talent to make that effort pay off, are Camby, Martin, Nene, Najera, and Diawara.

OBSERVATIONS ON THE PLAYER RATINGS:
The most productive player on the court was Allen Iverson for the Nuggets, who was a superstar power performer. Carmelo Anthony was just behind the Answer and he was a star power performer for the Nuggets.

The Nuggets had no ordinary power performers, while the Raptors had 3 of those: Chris Bosh, Jamario Moon, and Jose Calderon.

In sum, among the 5 players who were power performers or better, the Raptors had 3 and the Nuggets had 2. But Iverson and Anthony were so extremely productive that combined together they practically equaled the combined production of Bosh, Moon, and Calderon.

For the Nuggets, the two most productive players ordinarily were not only the most productive in this game, but they were above their already sky high averages. Iverson was about 30% above normal to go into the stratosphere and Anthony was about 20% better than normal.

Key role player Kenyon Martin was about 1/10 better than normal and he made an incredible takeaway steal against Chris Bosh with very little time left in the game to help ice the game in favor of Denver. J.R. Smith was about 1/5 more productive than usual with moderate minutes.

But these four, Iverson, Anthony, Smith, and Martin, were the only 4 Nuggets who were more productive than usual in this game. 5 others were less productive than usual to one extent or another.

Power performer on the season Marcus Camby was only a little more than 60% as productive as usual. Ordinary role player Eduardo Najera was only about 75% as productive as usual.

Two other role players, Anthony Carter and Linas Kleiza, were way below normal; Carter was only about 55% as productive as usual and Kleiza was half as productive as usual.

In very limited minutes, Atkins was grossly less productive than normal although a normal has not really been established for him due to an extremely long injury absence.

Fortunately for the Nuggets, Iverson, Anthony, Martin and Smith stepped up enough to offset the serious down games of 5 other Nuggets.

By far the biggest upside for the Raptors was borderline key role player SF Jamario Moon, who by doubling his normal production became a power performer. The Raptors’ best player, high end power performer PF Chris Bosh, was almost exactly normal.

PG Jose Calderon, a borderline power performer, was about 1/10 more productive than usual, making him a definite power performer in this game. C Bargnani was about 40% more productive than usual, which made him a key role player for this game.. Key role player SG Parker was about 1/10 better than normal, while plain role player C Nesterovic was about 1/5 better than normal,

Key role player PG T.J. Ford was slightly below normal.

Lower level role players SF Kapono and SG Delfino were almost completely unproductive, which went a long way to causing the Raptors to lose this game. The Raptors had 6 important players above normal and only 1 important player slightly below normal. But they got almost nothing from either Kapono or Delfino, which hurt them a lot.

The Nuggets had 4 players above normal while the Raptors had 6. The Nuggets had 5 players below normal while the Raptors had only 2. But Iverson, Anthony, Martin, and Smith did some huge stepping up in this game to win it for the Nuggets.

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

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

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

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

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

1. Carmelo Anthony, Den 1.311
2. T.J. Ford, Tor 1.281
3. Allen Iverson, Den 1.251
4. Jose Calderon, Tor 1.031
5. Chris Bosh, Tor 0.921
6. Jamario Moon, Tor 0.907
7. J.R. Smith, Den 0.863
8. Andrea Bargnani, Tor 0.862
9. Kenyon Martin, Den 0.692
10. Linas Kleiza, Den 0.685
11. Rasho Nesterovic, Tor 0.652
12. Anthony Parker, Tor 0.630
13. Eduardo Najera, Den 0.561
14. Marcus Camby, Den 0.549
15. Anthony Carter, Den 0.495
16. Jason Kapono, Tor 0.069
17. Chucky Atkins, Den 0.086…Atkins played only 7 minutes.
18. Carlos Delfino, Tor 0.086…Delfino played only 7 minutes.

OBSERVATIONS ON THE REAL PLAYER RATINGS
The best player on the court was Carmelo Anthony and he was a star-plus. There were two other star-plus players, T.J. Ford for the Raptors and Allen Iverson for the Nuggets.

Since there were no ordinary stars, there were those 3 players who were stars or better, one Raptor and two Nuggets.

The Raptors had 3 outstanding players, Calderon, Bosh, and Moon, while the Nuggets had none.

Smith was very good for the Nuggets and Bargnani was very good for the Raptors.

Martin and Kleiza were mediocre for the Nuggets not counting their made you miss type defending. Nesterovic and Parker were mediocre for the Raptors.

Najera and Camby were poor for the Nuggets not counting their made you miss type defending.

Carter was very poor for the Nuggets.

There were 3 total disasters. Kapono for the Raptors was a total disaster in limited minutes. Delfino for the Raptors was a total disaster in very limited minutes. Atkins for the Nuggets was a total disaster in very limited minutes.

Among the 10 players who were mediocre or worse, the Nuggets had 6 and the Raptors 4. But with Iverson, Anthony, Martin, and Smith working their magic, the Nuggets snatched victory from the jaws of likely defeat.

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

J.R. Smith: +12
Linas Kleiza: +12
Eduardo Najera: +12
Marcus Camby: +9
Allen Iverson: +6
Carmelo Anthony: -1
Anthony Carter: -1
Kenyon Martin: -5

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

Turnovers: NBA Average: 14, Nuggets’ Total 7, Team 0, Anthony 3, Atkins 0, Camby 0, Carter 0, Iverson 4, Kleiza 0, Martin 0, Najera 0, Smith 0

Personal Fouls: NBA Average: 21, Nuggets’ Total 20, Anthony 4, Atkins 0, Camby 3, Carter 1, Iverson 3, Kleiza 2, Martin 5, Najera 1, Smith 1

Chucky Atkins played 7 minutes and was 0/1 for 0 points, and he made 1 assist.

Anthony Carter played 22 minutes and was 2/5 and 1/2 on 3’s for 5 points, and he made 2 assists, 2 rebounds, and 1 steal.

Marcus Camby played 39 minutes and was 1/4 and 3/4 from the line for 5 points, and he made 15 rebounds, 1 block, and 1 assist.

Eduardo Najera played 18 minutes and was 1/3 and 1/3 on 3’s for 3 points, and he made 3 assists and 3 rebounds.

Linas Kleiza played 13 minutes and was 1/4 and 1/4 on 3’s for 3 points, and he made 4 rebounds and 2 assists.

Kenyon Martin played 38 minutes and he was 4/8 and 2/2 from the line for 10 points, and he made 6 rebounds, 3 blocks, 2 steals, and 2 assists.

J.R. Smith played 24 minutes and was 5/12, 2/4 on 3’s, and 2/2 from the line for 14 points, and he made 2 assists, 2 rebounds, and 1 steal.

Allen Iverson played for most of the game, 43 minutes, and he was 11/16, 5/8 on 3’s, and 9/11 on 3’s for 36 points, and he made 6 assists and 2 rebounds.

Carmelo Anthony played 36 minutes and was 14/28, 1/1 on 3’s, and 4/5 from the line for 33 points, and he made 7 rebounds, 3 steals, and 2 assists.

Ultimate Game Breakdown: Coaching: Mar. 23, 2008: Nuggets 109 Raptors 100

PLAYOFF PROJECTIONS

Nuggets 1 Current odds, to the nearest 5%, of the Nuggets making the playoffs: 45%
Nuggets 1 Current odds, to the nearest 5%, that the Nuggets and their suffering fans will be stuck with George Karl for next season: 80%

The current odds of the Nuggets making the playoffs, according to Hollinger at ESPN’s excellent team analysis system, are 53%. However, at the same time the Nuggets are projected to most likely be the 9th seed in the Western Conference, and there is no 9th playoff seed. By far the main way the Nuggets can make the playoffs is by beating out the Golden State Warriors for the 8th and final seed in the West.

So it seems right now that the Warriors and the Nuggets will be battling it out for the last playoff spot in the West. Both of them are considered likely to make the playoffs in statistical terms, but most likely one of them will fail to make the playoffs. Nuggets 1 agrees with Hollinger’s system, which is saying that the Warriors are favored over the Nuggets to get the 8th spot.

The Hollinger odds don’t take into account that Nene is not going to be available in top form for the Nuggets for the stretch run. Also, there may not be enough time for Atkins to get back to full speed, especially since George Karl is notorious for taking forever to work a player he is not sold on back into the rotation following an injury. So it’s still unknown whether Atkins is ready to rescue the Nuggets from not making the playoffs, and whether Karl will give him enough minutes if he is ready. If the Hollinger system adjusted for the Atkins and the Nene situations, it would show a somewhat lower percentage chance than 53% for the Nuggets to make the playoffs, probably about 10% lower.

In summary, the Lakers, the Rockets, the Hornets, the Spurs, and the Jazz are currently considered locks to make the playoffs, and the Suns are virtual locks. Dirk Nowitzki was injured during Sunday action and this shocking development will endanger the Mavericks playoff hopes, how much so will depend on the details of the injury, especially the amount of time that Nowitzki will be unavailable. The Warriors are favored over the Nuggets for the final, 8th spot. The Rockets have become total locks now, despite the loss of Yao Ming for the season, thanks to their 22-game winning streak. The Suns are still in some trouble, due to their poor trade, which was Shawn Marion and Marcus Banks for Shaquille O’Neal, but they are in less trouble after their key early March wins at home over the Spurs and the Warriors.

PLAYOFF TEAMS PROJECTED FINAL RECORDS-HOLLINGER-ESPN
1. Lakers 58-24
2. Rockets 55-27
3. Hornets 55-27
4. Jazz 54-28
5. Suns 54-28
6. Spurs 53-29
7. Mavericks 52-30
8. Warriors 50-32

NON-PLAYOFF TEAMS PROJECTED FINAL RECORDS-HOLLINGER-ESPN
9. Nuggets 50-32

The Warriors are now 1 1/2 games ahead of the Nuggets for the last playoff spot. Golden State has a slightly more difficult schedule than the Nuggets do the rest of the way, making this race extremely close and too close to call. The Nuggets and Warriors have each won one game in the head to head series so far and there are two games left.

Now that the Nuggets are 1 1/2 games behind the Warriors, the two remaining Nuggets-Warriors games are more important than ever. If the Warriors win both games, the Nuggets are very likely out of the playoffs. If each team wins one game, the Warriors remain slightly more likely to make the playoffs than do the Nuggets. If the Nuggets win both games, then the Nuggets are a little more likely than the Warriors to get the last spot. The Nuggets-Warriors games are on Saturday, March 29 in Denver and on Thursday, April 10 in Oakland. Neither the Warriors nor the Nuggets will be playing on back to back nights in either of those games.

WARRIORS REMAINING SCHEDULE, All times, EDT
Mon, Mar 24 LA Lakers 10:30 PM
Thu, Mar 27 Portland 10:30 PM
Sat, Mar 29 @ Denver 9:00 PM
Sun, Mar 30 Dallas 9:00 PM
Tue, Apr 1 @ San Antonio 8:30 PM
Wed, Apr 2 @ Dallas 9:30 PM
Fri, Apr 4 @ Memphis 8:00 PM
Sun, Apr 6 @ New Orleans 7:00 PM
Tue, Apr 8 Sacramento 10:30 PM
Thu, Apr 10 Denver 8:00 PM
Sat, Apr 12 LA Clippers 10:30 PM
Mon, Apr 14 @ Phoenix 10:00 PM
Wed, Apr 16 Seattle 10:30 PM

NUGGETS REMAINING SCHEDULE, All times EDT
Mon, Mar 24 @ Memphis 8:00 PM
Thu, Mar 27 Dallas 10:30 PM
Sat, Mar 29 Golden State 9:00 PM
Mon, Mar 31 @ Phoenix 10:00 PM
Tue, Apr 1 Phoenix 9:00 PM
Sat, Apr 5 Sacramento 9:00 PM
Sun, Apr 6 @ Seattle 9:00 PM
Tue, Apr 8 @ LA Clippers 10:30 PM
Thu, Apr 10 @ Golden State 8:00 PM
Sat, Apr 12 @ Utah 9:00 PM
Sun, Apr 13 Houston 9:00 PM
Wed, Apr 16 Memphis 9:00 PM

At this point the odds for whether the Nuggets will make the playoffs are still close to 50%, creating the maximum possible drama. It is going to be a very close call. We think that the Warriors will finish with either 49 or 50 wins. The Nuggets would need to finish 8-4 to reach 50 wins. This is realistically the minimum they must do to have a decent chance of making the playoffs. 7-5 will probably not be good enough and 6-6 will definitely not be good enough. To be almost guaranteed a playoff spot, the Nuggets must go 9-3 in their last 12 games.

If you win a division you get into the playoffs regardless of how poor your record is. For the Nuggets, winning the Northwest Division is extremely unlikely at this point; the odds on that are at 8%. The odds that the Utah Jazz will win the Northwest are 92% right now. The Nuggets would have to beat the Jazz in their remaining game against them and they would also have to hope that the Jazz stumble down the stretch.

NUGGETS INJURY REPORT FOR PLAYERS WHO PLAYED IN THIS GAME
Allen Iverson: He suffered a non-displaced fracture on the end of his right ring finger vs. San Antonio on 3/7. He remains probable for upcoming games.

PLAYERS WHO WERE NOT AVAILABLE
NUGGETS PLAYERS WHO WERE NOT AVAILABLE
Nene: He underwent successful surgery to remove a testicular tumor on Jan. 14. A timeline for his return is still unknown. He has now missed 36 straight games. He is out until at least April, but could easily be out for the entire rest of the season. CBS Sportsline says Nene is most likely out for the rest of the season.

RAPTORS PLAYERS WHO WERE NOT AVAILABLE
Jorge Garbajosa: Ankle and leg injury; out for the season.

ALERT STATUS PROBLEMS
As of March 24, 2008

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

NUGGETS INJURIES, ILLNESSES, SUSPENSIONS, AND PERSONAL LEAVES
1. Nene illness 14 points

SEVERE AND UNEXPECTED CRUCIAL PLAYER SLUMPS
None.

BAD OR INADEQUATE COACHING
NOTICE: THIS SECTION NEW AND IMPROVED as of March 19, 2008
EXTREME PLAYING TIME DECISIONS CONSTITUTING AN ERROR
At any given time, Karl may be doing one or more of the following:

1. He may be imposing a draconian penalty by completely benching a player who should not be benched unless the Nuggets want to shoot themselves in the foot or the head.
2. He may be severely under playing a player, either due to an excessive penalty for some mistake the player has made, a miscalculation of the benefits and costs of that player, or due to subjective factors up to and including extreme dislike of a player and a desire to make sure that the player is removed from the team in the off-season.
3. He may be over playing and over relying on one or more very experienced and talented veterans. At the same time, he will be approximately the most stingy Coach in the League with respect to playing time allocated to non-starters.

The new system we will use will employ the ranges of playing time minutes that are considered reasonable for the Nuggets. These are plenty large enough ranges to allow for plenty of coaching discretion, but if the playing time is outside of these ranges, it is clearly a coaching error:

Allen Iverson: 32-42
Carmelo Anthony: 32-42
Marcus Camby: 28-38
Kenyon Martin: 28-38
J.R. Smith: 22-34
Linas Kleiza: 16-28
Eduardo Najera: 16-24
Chucky Atkins: 14-22
Anthony Carter: 12-20
Yakhouba Diawara: 0-16
Taurean Green: 0-10
Steven Hunter: 0-10

Playing times lower than the minimum or higher than the maximum are coaching errors, and are charged at the rate of 1 alert system point for each 2 minutes of error. If a player is injured or sick to any extent, then this rule does not apply. Nor will the rule apply in games in which there is garbage time, except in the case of players who are playing well below their minimum minutes on a heavily repeated basis.

EXTREME PLAYING TIMES CONSTITUTING COACHING ERROR FOR THIS GAME:

Chucky Atkins: Underplayed, 4 points
Linas Kleiza: Underplayed, 2 points

Anthony Carter: Overplayed, 1 point
Allen Iverson: Overplayed, 1 point
Marcus Camby: Overplayed, 1 point

This toll is a moderate for Karl 9 points; it can get much worse than this, up to about 35 alert points.

4. The Nuggets have extreme offensive inconsistency and an excessive number of turnovers because they have neither a system nor even a good partial system on offense. They over rely on fast pace and on isolation plays, especially isolation plays by Anthony and Iverson. The damage caused by this could be up to 20 points, except that Iverson’s intelligence in recognizing different situations in different games, and responding appropriately, usually reduces the damage. But Iverson does not control everything of course, and the lack of any real consistency in how the offense is run leads to damaging problems that can appear at any time. But these problems are much more likely to appear just when the Nuggets can least afford them, when they are playing one of the best teams in the NBA.

At one time earlier this season, Iverson and Carter were marginalizing Carmelo Anthony to some extent and Anthony, one of the top two scorers on the team, was not getting the ball enough. That problem went away when Anthony ramped up his rebounding. But the problem has shown signs of coming back again lately. If that problem appears when the Nuggets are playing an elite team, the Nuggets’ chances of winning the game go down substantially. The problem recently appeared in the March 18 Pistons game, and it helped to cause the Nuggets to lose.

Another big problem has developed due to a combination of the unstructured offense and the Karl lineup, and it is not going to go away anytime soon. That would be the double point guard problem. The Nuggets don’t know in advance who is going to be the main playmaker in the game: Iverson, Carter, Atkins, or some combination. More importantly, it is foolish to have two point guards in the game for more than a small number of minutes. If Iverson has decided to run the point, as he always does to one extent or another, he counts as a point guard whether he is labeled one by the coaching staff or not.

In general, and as always in the Karl era, 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. True, they have plays they commonly run on the fly, but the players obviously don’t know about them in advance; they happen randomly. The offense is pretty much an unscripted, recreation department pick-up game style of offense.

How good of a defense you have is determined more by effort and skill than by strategy. For defense, strategy and tactics are less important than on offense. But they are still important, especially in a close game versus a good team. One thing that determines how well a team can defend is whether it has matched up the best and most appropriate players to guard the various offensive threats of the other team. On defense, the main strategic decision is whether you are playing zone or man to man defense. The correct choice usually will vary during each game. The decision is frequently made 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. But despite the fact that strategy and tactics are relatively important, the most important things with respect to defending is overall effort, hustle, anticipation of where the play is going, skill in avoiding unnecessary fouls, and ability to rotate off screens and picks.

This games’ toll due to the lack of an adequate number of offensive plays and patterns: 6

INTENSITY, HUSTLE, AND HEART
The Nugget’s intensity, hustle and heart are lacking: 2 Points.

TOTAL ALERT PROBLEM POINTS: 31, which constitutes GREY ALERT.

GREY ALERT (30-44): There are relatively minor problems leading to a small threat against the success of the entire season. It is still possible to beat quality teams, but it will be more unusual to beat a quality team, because about 1/4 of what would have been wins against good teams will now be losses. There should be no impact with respect to medium and poor teams.

IMPORTANT NOTE ABOUT ALERT STATUS
The description of the alert status the Nuggets are in is a worst case scenario one; it assumes that the other team is in GREEN or NO alert. All teams, of course, have an alert status, and the key thing that can swing games is not so much the actual status of the two teams, but the difference in the two statuses. The difference in the alert status is a third outside factor that impacts a game, joining home court advantage and extra rest advantage, if any. We use 15 alert status points as constituting one unit of difference.

OBSERVATIONS ON NUGGETS STATUS
The toll from players playing above the reasonable maximum or below the reasonable minimum was relatively light. J.R. Smith played so well Friday night in New Jersey and was playing so well in this game also that it was not possible for Karl to short his minutes like he usually does. For one thing, he would have been looked at as being insane by the assistant coaches had he done that in this game. The general offensive problem ticked up a little in importance, assists were sparse and the team dangerously lacked an offensive identity. But the Raptors lacked one also, as PF Chris Bosh made too many assists for the overall good of the team.

Atkins has been removed from the unusual player slump designation. The best news of the month for the Nuggets is that Atkins has, in effect, finally arrived in Denver. This might give the Nuggets just enough 3-point shooting firepower to keep up with the Warriors in the race for the final playoff spot, as long as Atkins gets playing time.

The Nuggets have been unable to issue any prediction about when or whether Nene is going to return to the court. There was a rumor recently that he was going to return by mid-March, but that never happened. CBS Sportsline is saying that, most likely, Nene will not return to the court at all this season, including for the playoffs. However, since all other injuries are history, and since J.R. Smith has played so well that he is neither benched nor severely shortchanged of minutes these days, the Nuggets might be able to stay in the NO alert to GREY alert range, avoiding being disadvantaged to all but the lucky and perfectly managed elite teams.

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

OUTSIDE FACTORS
Home Court Advantage: 4 Points
Extra Rest Advantage, if any: 4 Points
Lower Alert Level: 1 Point for each 4 Points of lesser alert level
Nothing to Play for due to Circumstances: As circumstances warrant.

IMPACT OF OUTSIDE FACTORS, INCLUDING ALERT STATUS, ON THIS GAME
The Raptors had just 1 relatively unimportant player unavailable, and they have last year’s Coach of the Year, so it is believed that their alert status was high NO Alert or low GREEN alert. The Raptors were therefore about 1 alert level or 15 points better off than the Nuggets, which constitutes about a 4-point advantage. The Raptors were home, giving them another 4-point edge or so. Neither team was playing on back to back nights. The Raptors were favored by about 8 points due to outside factors. The Nuggets won the game by 9, and we can confidently say that the Nuggets were playing so well that it would have been a full scale rout were it not for the outside factors.

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

Nuggets Non-Starters Points: 20
Raptors Non-Starters Points: 21

Nuggets Non-Starters Rebounds: 9
Raptors Non-Starters Rebounds: 3

Nuggets Non-Starters Assists: 8
Raptors Non-Starters Assists: 7

THE NON-STARTERS IN THIS GAME
There was no garbage time. Both coaches were relatively light on using non-starters in this game. Both Coaches played 8 players for 10 minutes or more, and 9 players for 6 minutes or more.

It is very unusual for Karl to play 9 players for 10 or more minutes. That he did so for several games in a row recently seems too good to be true now. In this game, Karl partly failed to meet his responsibility to see if Chucky Atkins can be readied for the last few games and the playoffs. Anthony Carter took over the PG position for the bulk of the season when Chucky Atkins went out for 2 months with hernia surgery and when Karl refused to name Iverson as the official point guard. Atkins was poor in limited games before he went out. Carter has been better than expected, but apparently even Karl agrees with most fans that Atkins will be eaten alive if the Nuggets make the playoffs. So Atkins, who has far more experience, including playoff experience, may be the Nuggets’ only hope at the position in the playoffs and in the stretch run to make the playoffs for that matter. So Karl has to give Atkins playing time in a last chance desperate bid to get Atkins up to speed. But since Atkins is inconsistent so far, Atkins minutes have to be limited, and so Carter still has to play a lot of minutes also.

The Raptors’ non-starters won a 1-point victory over the Nuggets’ non-starters 21-20. The Nuggets’ non-starters heavily out rebounded the Raptors’ non-starters 9-3. Although the Nuggets lacked playmaking identity, so did Toronto, and at least the Nuggets’ non-starters had a very unusually large number of assists, and they 1 more assist than did the Raptors’ non-starters.

STARTERS
Points: Nuggets 89 Raptors 79
Rebounds: Raptors 38 Nuggets 32
Assists: Raptors 20 Nuggets 13

The Nuggets starting five beat the Raptors starters 89-79. But the Raptors’ starting five out rebounded the Nuggets starters 38-32 and they were ahead of the Nuggets starters in playmaking by 20-13.

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

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

Sunday, March 23, 2008

The Denver Nuggets Avoid Going Over the Cliff by Beating the Nets 125-114 and Allen Iverson: What Could Have Been, Part 2

J.R. Smith, Linas Kleiza, and Allen Iverson led the offensive charge, and Marcus Camby, Kenyon Martin, and Eduardo Najera held down the fort defensively as the Denver Nuggets finally won a game on their 5-game road trip, on their third try. They defeated the reorganizing and lacking in depth New Jersey Nets 125-114. The Nets’ new point guard, Devin Harris and the one they already had, Marcus Williams were both outstanding. The team stars Vince Carter and Richard Jefferson were more than qualified to be considered stars in this game. And Carmelo Anthony was relatively limited. So everything was in place for, as my brother likes to call it, a “stunning upset.”

But the Nuggets have an uncanny ability to pull back from the brink of going over the season is over cliff every time they are standing on the edge of it. They have been doing it every time they come up to the edge of the cliff for the second straight season. Just when you think it is over, that it has to be over in fact, logically, that there has to be a Law of the Universe that it must be over, the Nuggets come roaring back and confound the doom and gloomers, who are the vast majority of fans at this point. This has happened so many times that I was simultaneously expecting the Nuggets to win and to lose this game at the same time. Logic was telling me that they would probably lose, but all the non-logical factors were telling me that the Nuggets would probably win.

It frequently seems to be a non-starter who provides the spark to win the on the edge of the cliff game, and this was no exception. Linas Kleiza scored a point a minute; he was 5/7 on threes and 9/11 overall for 23 points in 23 minutes. J.R. Smith was both scoring and passing the heck out of the ball in minutes that were little more than limited. Smith continued to mix his long range attempts and drives to the hoop almost as well as the Paris chefs mix the ingredients of their main dishes. Do you think there could be something supernatural about the Nuggets and how they win when they appear to have no right to win based on how the team is managed? Me too, but the non-supernatural explanation of sheer talent makes me a lot less nervous, so I usually stay with that one.

Yakhouba Diawara, the Nuggets’ best defending guard, is receding down the memory hole now, not played anymore by George Karl, and the entire improvement in the Nuggets’ defense, which many fans never understood or accepted in the first place, is starting to slip slide away with him. The Nuggets, other than Camby, Martin, Najera, and Smith on occasion, are relapsing to their totally all-out offensive juggernaut style. Whether they will be able to play good defense again when they have to is unknown, and I wouldn’t bet anything important either for or against that.

Carmelo Anthony is no longer the go-to guy offensively for the Nuggets as he was until Allen Iverson came on to the team, not because he is not as good a scorer as he always was, not because Iverson has stolen his shots or his minutes, not because he is not contributing in other ways besides scoring, and not because he has been written out of the offense by Coach George Karl, by Official but Unqualified Court Coach Anthony Carter, or by Unofficial and Qualified Court Coach Allen Iverson. It’s just by sheer accident. When the completely unstructured and unplanned Nuggets offense kicks into high gear, anyone other than the player unofficially and sort of secretly but actually running it, Iverson, the player officially running it, Carter, and J.R. Smith, who can not be denied possessions while playing as well as the best 2-guards in the League these days, can be left in the dust. Pretty much randomly, Anthony can be left with many fewer possessions than he normally and traditionally gets, thus endangering the Nuggets winning the game unless the players getting Melo’s shots make them to the same degree he would.

Fortunately, that is what happened in this game: Smith, Najera, and especially Kleiza were all outstanding scorers in this game. But that problem will come back to haunt the Nuggets when the opponent is too defensively tough for that kind of shooting magic to work, I can assure you. You do not want to downplay Melo in games against weak defenses because while other players will become ineffective to one extent or another against a tough defense, Melo will have roughly the same potential to score against the monster defenses as he does against the weak defenses.

This reminds me of why most fans of the Nuggets have come to agree that Anthony Carter will meltdown in the playoffs assuming the Nuggets ever get there. He is another example of a player who may do very well, even extremely well on occasion, against weak defenses, while dropping through the floor to poor or extremely poor against tough defenses and very well coached teams that can exploit match-ups to render Carter almost useless. In other words, players like Kleiza and Carter can be “blown away” by a very tough defensive team and/or a very competent and intelligent opposing coach. We are already suffering from the double point guard problem and from having Carter of limited value out there to the extent that Iverson is running the point. But as bad as this is, it is doomed to get worse.

So is there a solution to the Anthony Carter doomsday that most Nuggets fans know awaits the Nuggets in the playoffs besides Allen Iverson starting at PG and J.R. Smith or even Yakhouba Diawara starting at shooting guard? Because we know that George Karl will never do either of those lineups unless hell freezes over, as has been explained in previous reports, and is being explained even more thoroughly in the current Special Report series. There is another possible solution, not as good as the others, but still better than no solution at all. But Karl is the kind of coach who prefers no solution to solutions, simply because he is the kind of Coach who doesn’t understand the magnitude of the problems on his team to begin with. Even retired coach television announcers seem to detect big Nuggets problems better than Karl does, which you can tell by listening carefully to their commentaries. When a retired NBA coach color commentator comes to town to broadcast a Nuggets game and the problem is so obvious to him that he remarks about it while broadcasting a nationally televised game, you know it’s a problem. Almost no one makes a comment on national television unless they are absolutely sure about what they are saying. I have heard several commentators mention that the Nuggets’ point guard situation is a huge problem, not something you can wish away like Karl thinks.

The only other possible solution to avoid the Anthony Carter train wreck is to work like crazy to make sure that Chucky Atkins, who was supposed to be the designated point guard, is at least ready to take over from Carter after 1 or 2 or 3 near or total disaster games by Carter in the playoff series. Although Atkins is a poor PG defender while Carter is a little above average, Atkins is a great 3-point shooter and scorer in general, and can get thread the needle type assists against smart defensive teams in situations where Carter would not be able to. But Karl is signaling that he is not responsible for whether Atkins is ready to play in the playoffs or not, by cutting his minutes to close to none in the last 2 games. I hope I am jumping the gun, but I have been fooled so many times on the downside by Karl that I have the perfect right to raise the warning flag whenever I see mismanagement in its very early stage.

A final note on Melo not getting the ball: If Iverson is not officially the point guard, how can he be held responsible for not getting the ball to Melo enough times? He can’t possibly be. Even if he was officially the point guard, there is a chance the Melo not getting the ball enough problem would still be there in lesser force in certain games, unless at least a tiny number of set plays involving Iverson to Melo or Iverson to the 2-guard to Melo were ready to be run.

ALLEN IVERSON: WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN, PART 2

In Part 2 of this series, we will start to look at the history of which position Allen Iverson has played, year by year. We will focus in this part on the earliest years, the high school years. We will eventually review the entire history, including a fascinating look at what happened with Team USA at the 2004 summer Olympics, with none other than Larry Brown calling the shots for Team USA, and none other than Allen Iverson not playing point guard for Brown, as usual.

HISTORY OF ALLEN IVERSON’S DESIGNATED POSITIONS IN FULL SEASONS
Year, Team, Coach, & Iverson’s Position
1992-93 Bethel High Junior, Mike Bailey, Point Guard
1993-94 Bethel High Senior, Mike Bailey, Point Guard
1994-95 Georgetown University Freshman, John Thompson, Point Guard
1995-96 Georgetown University Sophomore, John Thompson, Point Guard
1996-97 Philadelphia 76’ers, Johnny Davis, Point Guard
1997-98 Philadelphia 76’ers, Larry Brown, Point Guard
1998-99 Philadelphia 76’ers, Larry Brown, Shooting Guard
1999-00 Philadelphia 76’ers, Larry Brown, Shooting Guard
2000-01 Philadelphia 76’ers, Larry Brown, Shooting Guard
2001-02 Philadelphia 76’ers, Larry Brown, Shooting Guard
2002-03 Philadelphia 76’ers, Larry Brown, Shooting Guard
2003-04 Philadelphia 76’ers, Randy Ayers and Chris Ford, Shooting Guard
2004-05 Philadelphia 76’ers, Jim O’Brien, Point Guard
2005-06 Philadelphia 76’ers Maurice Cheeks, Point Guard and Shooting Guard
2006-07 Denver Nuggets, George Karl, Shooting Guard
2007-08 Denver Nuggets, George Karl, Shooting Guard

HISTORY OF IVERSON’S DESIGNATED POSITIONS IN SPECIAL GAMES
All-Star Games: Point Guard Iverson was named the starting point guard for the Eastern Conference in the NBA All-Star Game for seven consecutive seasons
2004 Olympics Team: Shooting Guard

Sometimes, those who claim that Iverson can not play the point guard position give the reason that he “can not run the offense.” They claim that he is so aggressive at possessing and scoring the ball, that he would never give himself enough space in his game to run the point effectively. Added to this is the implied rap that Iverson is not intelligent enough in general, or at least not intelligent enough to see the forest instead of just the trees in basketball games.

While watching Iverson at Denver, I have seen the opposite. I have seen him attempt 3-point shots when the Nuggets were striking out from long range and getting killed by the other team in this skill alone. I have seen him do his fade-away jumpers when the refs are not calling all the fouls and seen him pound it inside over and over when they are calling most of the fouls. I have seen him in many games, especially recently, maneuver between the two guard positions like a cat maneuvers in a high place, keeping perfect balance lest he fall to the ground or, in Iverson’s case, lest he err on the side of two much shooting or too much passing. Since Iverson can play both positions at once extremely well, how much sense does it make to claim that Iverson could not play the PG position very well if he were the designated PG? It makes no sense whatsoever.

To say that Iverson can’t properly play the PG position for any reason is dubious, but to say he can’t play the position because he “can not run an offense” is especially lacking in validity. The side which has been brainwashed by Larry Brown and George Karl playing A.I. at the SG position over many years into thinking that Iverson can not play the point frequently uses this vague expression “ability to run an offense,” which is never defined. What exactly do they mean by that? I am afraid that it’s one of those flashy lines that doesn’t really have any meaning. Do they mean that Iverson doesn’t run an offense the way they think it should be run? I think that is it, but lord knows that for every point guard, from Eric Snow to Chris Paul, there is a way to run an offense, and you will be lucky if one or tow point guards in the NBA at any given time closely match your idea of a point guard who knows how to run an offense the way you think they should run one.

Broadly but crucially speaking, basketball coaches must in most cases pick the best guard on the team who can play PG to play that position, which can easily be about half again more important than the SG position for many rosters. Once they have done that, they next have to choose offensive strategies and tactics that make the best use of the skills and talents of the starting five and of 2-3 key bench players in general, and of the starting PG in particular. If you have a high scoring PG as your starter, you set up plays that make it easier for him to score. If you have a low scoring PG, you set up few plays where he is the scorer, and more where other players are the scorers.

It is really not that complicated, but when a Coach like George Karl comes along, who doesn’t think you have to choose the best guard who can play PG as the PG, and who doesn’t think strategies and tactics have much value, you can fall into the trap of thinking that this stuff is more complicated than it is if you are not careful. For those who don’t know what they are doing, relatively simple things can easily get annoyingly difficult surprisingly quickly.

There are many ways to run an offense, and many types of point guards to run the numerous ways. This year, Chris Paul of the Hornets is proving, as other high scoring PGs before him have proved, that it is irrational to think that a high scoring PG makes it impossible or even very difficult to have a well run offense. The Hornets are 7th in pace-adjusted offense, while the Nuggets are only 11th. By the way, the Nuggets were 15th a week ago, but after a week of Iverson playing both positions at once, and playing PG at least as much as Anthony Carter, they have moved up 4 notches. The more Iverson decides to play more like a PG and less like a SG, the better the Nuggets offense is.

Iverson went to Bethel High School in Hampton, Virginia. Bethel is famous for the NBA superstar having attended there. At the point guard position, Allen Iverson led the basketball team to a 28-3 record, a ranking of 25th among all high school basketball teams in the USA Today newspaper, and to earning the Virginia AAA State Championship, the highest honor that a high school basketball team in Virginia can get.

But even that is not all. Astoundingly, in that same year, his junior year at Bethel, Iverson was also the starting quarterback for the football team. And that team won the State Championship as well. Aside from being the starting quarterback, Iverson played in the defensive secondary as needed, and he also returned kickoffs and punts. So aside from mostly quarterbacking Bethel High School's football team to the state championship title, he also played 5 different positions to help his team get to the State Championship: Quarterback, Wide Receiver, Safety, Running Back, and Special Teams Punt and Kick Returner.

In the very same year, Iverson ran his basketball team and his football team, and not one but both of those teams won the State Championship! This is at least as impressive as Carmelo Anthony leading his team to winning the NCAA Championship in his one year at Syracuse University. The fact is that Iverson ran both his basketball and his football team so well, that both of them won everything you can possibly win.

How many people know this Iverson history? Very, very few know of it, and that’s how Larry Brown and George Karl like it. They don’t want you to know about this, because they don’t want anyone second guessing their theory that Iverson could never be all that great at running his teams in the NBA. Once Larry Brown and, by extension, George Karl had decided that an NBA team is just too complicated for little old Allen Iverson to operate, they used the obvious fact that he likes to score to partially mothball his skills by putting him in the shooting guard position. But this position is considered by most coaches to be the spot where you put guards who do not have the kinds of passing and offense running skills that Iverson demonstrated to such a high degree in his early years, and that he still demonstrates to this day while he continuously plays both guard positions at once, to one extent or another.

An impressive of list of players have been coached by Mike Bailey. Allen Iverson (Georgetown) headlines a list of nine that went on to play Division I basketball. Others include Tony Rutland (Wake Forest University), Chevy Troutman (University of Pittsburgh), Corey Stewart (University of Virginia & UNC-Wilmington), Chris Jackson (College of Charleston), Taurance Johnson (Florida International), Aaron Sunderland (Cal-State Fullerton), Tahric Gosley (Cleveland State) and Cassin Diggs (University of Pittsburgh).

MIKE BAILEY’S HEAD COACHING EXPERIENCE:
1997 - 2004 Williamsport Area High School in Williamsport, PA
Elite Eight Finish in 2002 Final Record 23 - 7
Elite Eight Finish in 2001 Final Record 27 - 2
Elite Eight Finish in 2000 Final Record 23 - 7
PENNSYLVANIA AAAA STATE CHAMPS in 1999
Final Record 29 - 2 / National Ranking 20th, USA TODAY
Final Overall Record 137 - 32

1994 - 1997 Tullahoma High School in Tullahoma, Tennessee

1985 - 1994 Bethel High School in Hampton, VA
VIRGINIA AAA STATE CHAMPS in 1993
Final Record 28 - 3 / National Ranking 25th, USA TODAY

1979 - 1985 Delaware Valley High School in Milford, PA

MIKE BAILEY’S COACHING HONORS:
* Born 2 Run Pennsylvania Coach (Pennsylvania vs. USA) in 2000
* Pennsylvania Big School Coach of the Year in 1999
* Selected to the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame in 1999
* East Coach (Virginia High School League All-Star Game) in 1993

MIKE BAILEY PLAYERS WHO WERE ALL-STATE SELECTIONS:
* Darrell Blackman, 2003 Second Team, 2002 First Team
* Ayyub Ali, 2001 Second Team
* Chevy Troutman, 2000 First Team, 1999 First Team
* Tony Rutland, 1994 First Team
* Allen Iverson, 1993 First Team

MIKE BAILEY PLAYERS WHO WERE NIKE TOP 100 ALL-AMERICAN CAMP:
* Allen Iverson
* Tony Rutland
* Chevy Troutman
* Taurance Johnson
* Darrell Blackman

MIKE BAILEY PLAYERS WHO WERE PLAYER OF THE YEAR
* Chevy Troutman, Mr. Basketball in Pennsylvania, 2000
* Tony Rutland, Gatorade Player of the Year in Virginia, 1994
* Allen Iverson, Player of the Year in Virginia, 1993

MIKE BAILEY PLAYER WHO WAS PARADE ALL-AMERICAN:
* Allen Iverson, Parade All-American First Team, 1993

MIKE BAILEY PLAYERS WHO BECAME PROFESSIONAL PLAYERS:
* Allen Iverson of the Denver Nuggets
* Tony Rutland in Korea, Austria, Venezuela, Cyprus, NBDL, Syria
* Corey Stewart in South America
* Chevy Troutman in Italy and France

In summary, Mike Bailey, an extremely successful coach over many, many years, was Allen Iverson’s first coach. History shows that he thought Allen Iverson was a great point guard in those early years. Bailey never played Iverson at the shooting guard spot to any extent. It would have been ridiculous had Bailey not taken full advantage of the best high school guard that he would ever have by assigning him to the point guard position, where guards who can both score and pass extremely well should go barring rare roster circumstances.

Bailey thought correctly by following the textbook on who should be your point guard, because his team won everything a team can possibly win while he and Iverson were running it.

PROJECTIONS

Nuggets 1 Current odds, to the nearest 5%, of the Nuggets making the playoffs: 45%
Nuggets 1 Current odds, to the nearest 5%, that the Nuggets and their suffering fans will be stuck with George Karl for next season: 75%

The current odds of the Nuggets making the playoffs, according to Hollinger at ESPN’s excellent team analysis system, are 48%. However, at the same time the Nuggets are projected to most likely be the 9th seed in the Western Conference, and there is no 9th playoff seed. By far the main way the Nuggets can make the playoffs is by beating out the Golden State Warriors for the 8th and final seed in the West. If the Nuggets and the Warriors finish with identical records though, the Warriors will most likely be the team that makes the playoffs, not the Nuggets. This is because the tie breaker, assuming the two split their season series 2-2, will be who has the better Western Conference record, and the Warriors are 2 games ahead in the loss column on that right now.

So it seems right now that the Warriors and the Nuggets will be battling it out for the last playoff spot in the West. Both of them are considered likely to make the playoffs in statistical terms, but most likely one of them will fail to make the playoffs. Nuggets 1 agrees with Hollinger’s system, which is saying that the Warriors are favored over the Nuggets to get the 8th spot.

The Suns made a poor trade, but they have been on a winning streak lately, and they have won several key games, which means they may not be in a lot of danger of falling out of the playoffs after all. Key recent Suns’ victories include a win over the Spurs on March 9 and a win over the Warriors on March 13. But it is way too early to claim that the trade was not a mistake after all and that Shaquille O’Neal will work out for the Suns.

The Hollinger odds don’t take into account that Nene is not going to be available in top form for the Nuggets for the stretch run. Also, there may not be enough time for Atkins to get back to full speed, especially since George Karl is notorious for taking forever to work a player he is not sold on back into the rotation following an injury. So it’s still unknown whether Atkins is ready to rescue the Nuggets from not making the playoffs, and whether Karl will give him enough minutes if he is ready. If the Hollinger system adjusted for the Atkins and the Nene situations, it would show a slightly lower percentage chance than 48% for the Nuggets to make the playoffs.

In summary, the Lakers, the Rockets, the Hornets, the Spurs, the Jazz, and the Mavericks are currently considered locks to make the playoffs, the Suns are virtual locks, and the Warriors are favored over the Nuggets for the final, 8th spot. The Rockets have become total locks now, despite the loss of Yao Ming for the season, thanks to their 22-game winning streak. The Suns are still in some trouble, due to their poor trade, which was Shawn Marion and Marcus Banks for Shaquille O’Neal, but they are in less trouble after their key early March wins at home over the Spurs and the Warriors.

PLAYOFF TEAMS PROJECTED FINAL RECORDS-HOLLINGER-ESPN
1. Lakers 58-24
2. Rockets 55-27
3. Hornets 55-27
4. Jazz 54-28
5. Suns 54-28
6. Spurs 53-29
7. Mavericks 53-29
8. Warriors 50-32

NON-PLAYOFF TEAMS PROJECTED FINAL RECORDS-HOLLINGER-ESPN
9. Nuggets 49-33

The Warriors are now 1 1/2 games ahead of the Nuggets for the last playoff spot. Golden State has a slightly more difficult schedule than the Nuggets do the rest of the way, making this race closer than it appears. However, if the Nuggets make up the 1 1/2 games, so that the Warriors and the Nuggets finish with identical records, and the season series between them ends up tied 2-2, the Warriors are likely to get the playoff spot rather than the Nuggets, because it is likely that the Warriors will finish at least 1 game ahead of the Nuggets in Conference record, which would be the tie-breaker if the Warriors and the Nuggets split their 4 head to head games. The Nuggets and Warriors have each won one game in the head to head series so far.

Now that the Nuggets are 2 1/2 games behind the Warriors, the two remaining Nuggets-Warriors games are more important than ever. If the Warriors win both games, the Nuggets are almost certainly out of the playoffs. If each team wins one game, the Warriors remain slightly more likely to make the playoffs than do the Nuggets. If the Nuggets win both games, then the Nuggets are a little more likely than the Warriors to get the last spot. The Nuggets-Warriors games are on Saturday, March 29 in Denver and on Thursday, April 10 in Oakland. Neither the Warriors nor the Nuggets will be playing on back to back nights in either of those games.

WARRIORS REMAINING SCHEDULE, All times, EDT
Sun, Mar 23 @ LA Lakers 9:30 PM
Mon, Mar 24 LA Lakers 10:30 PM
Thu, Mar 27 Portland 10:30 PM
Sat, Mar 29 @ Denver 9:00 PM
Sun, Mar 30 Dallas 9:00 PM
Tue, Apr 1 @ San Antonio 8:30 PM
Wed, Apr 2 @ Dallas 9:30 PM
Fri, Apr 4 @ Memphis 8:00 PM
Sun, Apr 6 @ New Orleans 7:00 PM
Tue, Apr 8 Sacramento 10:30 PM
Thu, Apr 10 Denver 8:00 PM
Sat, Apr 12 LA Clippers 10:30 PM
Mon, Apr 14 @ Phoenix 10:00 PM
Wed, Apr 16 Seattle 10:30 PM

NUGGETS REMAINING SCHEDULE, All times EDT
Sun, Mar 23 @ Toronto 3:30 PM
Mon, Mar 24 @ Memphis 8:00 PM
Thu, Mar 27 Dallas 10:30 PM
Sat, Mar 29 Golden State 9:00 PM
Mon, Mar 31 @ Phoenix 10:00 PM
Tue, Apr 1 Phoenix 9:00 PM
Sat, Apr 5 Sacramento 9:00 PM
Sun, Apr 6 @ Seattle 9:00 PM
Tue, Apr 8 @ LA Clippers 10:30 PM
Thu, Apr 10 @ Golden State 8:00 PM
Sat, Apr 12 @ Utah 9:00 PM
Sun, Apr 13 Houston 9:00 PM
Wed, Apr 16 Memphis 9:00 PM

At this point the odds for whether the Nuggets will make the playoffs are still close to 50%, creating the maximum possible drama. It is going to be a very close call. We think that the Warriors will finish with either 49 or 50 wins. The Nuggets would need to finish 9-4 to reach 50 wins. This is realistically the minimum they must do to have a decent chance of making the playoffs. 8-5 will probably not be good enough and 7-6 will definitely not be good enough. To be almost guaranteed a playoff spot, the Nuggets must go 10-3 in their last 13 games.

If you win a division you get into the playoffs regardless of how poor your record is. For the Nuggets, winning the Northwest Division is extremely unlikely at this point; the odds on that are at 3%. The odds that the Utah Jazz will win the Northwest are 97% right now. The Nuggets would have to beat the Jazz in their remaining game against them and they would also have to hope that the Jazz stumble down the stretch.

NUGGETS INJURY REPORT FOR PLAYERS WHO PLAYED IN THIS GAME
Allen Iverson: suffered a non-displaced fracture on the end of his right ring finger vs. San Antonio on 3/7. X-rays were negative, and he remains probable for the Nets game on March 21.

PLAYERS WHO WERE NOT AVAILABLE
NUGGETS PLAYERS WHO WERE NOT AVAILABLE
Nene: He underwent successful surgery to remove a testicular tumor on Jan. 14. A timeline for his return is still unknown. He has now missed 32 straight games. He is out until at least April, but could easily be out for the entire rest of the season. CBS Sportsline says Nene is most likely out for the rest of the season.

NETS PLAYERS WHO WERE NOT AVAILABLE
All players on the roster were available.

ALERT STATUS PROBLEMS
As of March 22, 2008

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

NUGGETS INJURIES, ILLNESSES, SUSPENSIONS, AND PERSONAL LEAVES
1. Nene illness 14 points

SEVERE AND UNEXPECTED CRUCIAL PLAYER SLUMPS
None.

BAD OR INADEQUATE COACHING
NOTICE: THIS SECTION NEW AND IMPROVED as of March 19, 2008
EXTREME PLAYING TIME DECISIONS CONSTITUTING AN ERROR
At any given time, Karl may be doing one or more of the following:

1. He may be imposing a draconian penalty by completely benching a player who should not be benched unless the Nuggets want to shoot themselves in the foot or the head.
2. He may be severely under playing a player, either due to an excessive penalty for some mistake the player has made, a miscalculation of the benefits and costs of that player, or due to subjective factors up to and including extreme dislike of a player and a desire to make sure that the player is removed from the team in the off-season.
3. He may be over playing and over relying on one or more very experienced and talented veterans.

The new system we will use will employ the ranges of playing time minutes that are considered reasonable for the Nuggets. These are plenty large enough ranges to allow for plenty of coaching discretion, but if the playing time is outside of these ranges, it is clearly a coaching error:

Allen Iverson: 32-42
Carmelo Anthony: 32-42
Marcus Camby: 28-38
Kenyon Martin: 24-34
J.R. Smith: 22-34
Linas Kleiza: 16-28
Eduardo Najera: 16-24
Chucky Atkins: 14-22
Anthony Carter: 12-20
Yakhouba Diawara: 0-16
Taurean Green: 0-10
Steven Hunter: 0-10

Playing times lower than the minimum or higher than the maximum are coaching errors, and are usually charged at the rate of 1 alert system point for each 2 minutes of error. If a player is injured or sick to any extent, then this rule does not apply. Nor will the rule apply in games in which there is garbage time, except in the case of players who are playing below their minimum minutes on a repeated basis.

EXTREME PLAYING TIMES CONSTITUTING COACHING ERROR FOR THIS GAME:

Chucky Atkins: Underplayed, 7 points
Anthony Carter: Overplayed, 4 points
J.R. Smith: Underplayed, 3 points
Kenyon Martin: Overplayed, 2 points
Allen Iverson: Overplayed, 2 points
Marcus Camby: Overplayed, 1 point

This toll is bad, but it could be even worse than this with Karl, up to about 35 alert points.

4. The Nuggets have extreme offensive inconsistency and an excessive number of turnovers because they have neither a system nor even a good partial system on offense. They over rely on fast pace and on isolation plays, especially isolation plays by Anthony and Iverson. The damage caused by this would be up to 20 points, except that Iverson’s intelligence in recognizing different situations in different games, and responding appropriately, usually reduces the damage. But Iverson does not control everything of course, and the lack of any real consistency in how the offense is run leads to damaging problems that can appear at any time. But these problems are much more likely to appear just when the Nuggets can least afford them, when they are playing one of the best teams in the NBA.

At one time earlier this season, Iverson and Carter were marginalizing Carmelo Anthony to some extent and Anthony, one of the top two scorers on the team, was not getting the ball enough. That problem went away when Anthony ramped up his rebounding. But the problem has shown signs of coming back again lately. If that problem appears when the Nuggets are playing an elite team, the Nuggets’ chances of winning the game go down substantially. The problem recently appeared in the March 18 Pistons game, and it helped to cause the Nuggets to lose.

Another big problem has developed due to a combination of the unstructured offense and the Karl lineup, and it is not going to go away anytime soon. That would be the double point guard problem. The Nuggets don’t know in advance who is going to be the main playmaker in the game: Iverson, Carter, Atkins, or some combination. More importantly, it is foolish to have two point guards in the game for more than a small number of minutes. If Iverson has decided to run the point, as he always does to one extent or another, he counts as a point guard whether he is labeled one by the coaching staff or not.

In general, and as always in the Karl era, 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. True, they have plays they commonly run on the fly, but the players obviously don’t know about them in advance; they happen randomly. The offense is pretty much an unscripted, recreation department pick-up game style of offense.

How good of a defense you have is determined more by effort and skill than by strategy. For defense, strategy and tactics are less important than on offense. But they are still important, especially in a close game versus a good team. One thing that determines how well a team can defend is whether it has matched up the best and most appropriate players to guard the various offensive threats of the other team. On defense, the main strategic decision is whether you are playing zone or man to man defense. The correct choice usually will vary during each game. The decision is frequently made 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. But despite the fact that strategy and tactics are relatively important, the most important things with respect to defending is overall effort, hustle, anticipation of where the play is going, skill in avoiding unnecessary fouls, and ability to rotate off screens and picks.

This games’ toll due to the lack of an adequate number of offensive plays and patterns: 3

INTENSITY, HUSTLE, AND HEART
The Nugget’s intensity, hustle and heart are lacking: 3 Points.

TOTAL PROBLEM POINTS: 39, which constitutes GREY ALERT.

GREY ALERT (30-44): There are relatively minor problems leading to a small threat against the success of the entire season. It is still possible to beat quality teams, but it will be more unusual to beat a quality team, because about 1/4 of what would have been wins against good teams will now be losses. There should be no impact with respect to medium and poor teams.

IMPORTANT NOTE ABOUT ALERT STATUS
The description of the alert status the Nuggets are in is a worst case scenario one; it assumes that the other team is in GREEN or NO alert. All teams, of course, have an alert status, and the key thing that can swing games is not so much the actual status of the two teams, but the difference in the two statuses. The difference in the alert status is a third outside factor that impacts a game, joining home court advantage and extra rest advantage, if any. We use 15 alert status points as constituting one unit of difference.

OBSERVATIONS ON NUGGETS STATUS
Chucky Atkins was totally benched for no known reason, and J.R. Smith’s minutes were substantially below the minimum reasonable amount. Carter was grossly overplayed, and Iverson was worked to death.

Atkins has been removed from the unusual player slump designation. The best news of the month for the Nuggets is that Atkins has, in effect, finally arrived in Denver. This might give the Nuggets just enough 3-point shooting firepower to keep up with the Warriors in the race for the final playoff spot, as long as Atkins gets playing time.

The Nuggets have been unable to issue any prediction about when or whether Nene is going to return to the court. There was a rumor recently that he was going to return by mid-March, but that never happened. CBS Sportsline is saying that, most likely, Nene will not return to the court at all this season, including for the playoffs. However, since all other injuries are history, and since J.R. Smith has played so well that he is neither benched nor severely shortchanged of minutes these days, the Nuggets might be able to stay in the NO alert to GREY alert range, avoiding being disadvantaged to all but the lucky and perfectly managed elite teams.

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

EXPLANATION OF OUTSIDE FACTORS
The alert status system is still relatively new, but a preliminary estimate of what the game points advantage will be for each 15 points of alert status points difference has been made, and that estimate is 3-5 points. For now we will use 4 points for each 15 alert status points. The Home court advantage has also been estimated to be 3-5 points and we use 4 points for it. The extra rest advantage is very uncertain, and would differ a little from team to team, but it must be at least as much as the home court advantage. For now, until we can study it more, we will use 4 points for the extra rest advantage. In summary, we are using 4 points for each of the three outside factors.

IMPACT OF OUTSIDE FACTORS, INCLUDING ALERT STATUS, ON THIS GAME
The Nets had every player on the roster available, but they are still adjusting to a major point guard trade, which would be a disruptive factor, so they were probably in GREEN alert. With the Nuggets in GREY alert, this would have given the Nets about a 4-point edge over the Nuggets. The Nets were home, giving them another 4 points of advantage. Neither team was playing on back to back nights. In summary, the Nets had about an 8-point advantage over the Nuggets due to outside factors. Since the Nuggets won by 11, we can confidently say that this game would have been a rout in favor of the Nuggets had there been no outside factors.

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

Nuggets Non-Starters Points: 41
Nets Non-Starters Points: 19

Nuggets Non-Starters Rebounds: 8
Nets Non-Starters Rebounds: 18

Nuggets Non-Starters Assists: 6
Nets Non-Starters Assists: 5

THE NON-STARTERS IN THIS GAME
There was no garbage time. George Karl returned to his notorious scrooge policies regarding non-starters, and failed to put who is supposed to be the Nuggets’ point guard starter, Chucky Atkins, in the game. So the Nets had a 2-player advantage in players who played 6 minutes or more, and a 1-player advantage in players who played 10 minutes or more. Nuggets starters Camby and Martin were slightly overworked and Allen Iverson was overworked to the point of stupidity.

It is very unusual for Karl to play 9 players for 10 or more minutes. That he did so for several games in a row recently seems too good to be true now. In this game, Karl failed to meet his responsibility to see if Chucky Atkins can be readied for the last few games and the playoffs. Anthony Carter took over the PG position for the bulk of the season when Chucky Atkins went out for 2 months with hernia surgery and when Karl refused to name Iverson as the official point guard. Atkins was poor in limited games before he went out. Carter has been better than expected, but apparently even Karl agrees with most fans that Atkins will be eaten alive if the Nuggets make the playoffs. So Atkins, who has far more experience, including playoff experience, may be the Nuggets’ only hope at the position in the playoffs and in the stretch run to make the playoffs for that matter. So Karl has to give Atkins playing time in a last chance desperate bid to get Atkins up to speed. But since Atkins is inconsistent so far, Atkins minutes have to be limited, and so Carter still has to play a lot of minutes also.

In scoring, the Nuggets’ non-starters, led by Kleiza and J.R. Smith, buried the Nets’ non-starters 41-19. The Nets’ non-starters buried the Nuggets’ non-starters in rebounding, 18-8. Assisting was about even; J.R. Smith made all 6 of the Nuggets’ non-starters assists.

STARTERS
Points: Nets 97 Nuggets 84
Rebounds: Nets 28 Nuggets 26
Assists: Nuggets 25 Nets 25

The Nets’ starters defeated the Nuggets’ starters in scoring 97-84. The Nets’ starters defeated the Nuggets’ starters in rebounding 28-26. Each starting five made 25 assists.

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

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

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

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

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

NUGGETS-NETS PLAYER RATINGS
Ratings of 50+ indicate superstar power performers.
Ratings of 40-49 indicate star power performers
Ratings of 30-39 indicate power performers.
Ratings of 20-29 indicate key role player performers.
Ratings of 10-19 indicate ordinary role player performers.
Ratings of 0-9 indicate unimportant players

NUGGETS PLAYER RATINGS
Allen Iverson: Game 43.9 Season 41.3
Linas Kleiza: Game 35.3 Season 18.2
Marcus Camby: Game 34.8 Season 32.5
Kenyon Martin: Game 28.8 Season 23.5
Carmelo Anthony: Game 27.7 Season 39.0
J.R. Smith: Game 24.8 Season 17.1
Anthony Carter: Game 22.0 Season 20.0
Eduardo Najera: Game 12.4 Season 13.2

Nene: Did Not Play-Illness

Chucky Atkins: Did Not Play-Coach’s Decision
Yakhouba Diawara: Did Not Play-Coach’s Decision
Taurean Green: Did Not Play-Coach’s Decision
Steven Hunter: Did Not Play-Coach’s Decision

NETS PLAYER RATINGS
Vince Carter: Game 49.3 Season 35.4
Richard Jefferson: Game 46.0 Season 32.1
Devin Harris: Game 39.9 Season 26.3
Josh Boone: Game 25.2 Season 17.5
Marcus Williams: Game 14.5 Season 10.8
DeSagana Diop: Game 10.0 Season 10.1
Nenad Kristic: Game 9.9 Season 10.8
Sean Williams: Game 7.4 Season 13.4
Stromile Swift: Game 6.0 Season 11.1
Bostian Nachbar: Game 4.3 Season 15.2

NOTE 1: these stats do not correct for the big differences in playing times. Players with small minutes would get a higher rating if they had more minutes.
NOTE 2: This performance measure does NOT include the quality and quantity of each player’s defending, including the number of shots that the player prevented from going in the basket. The best Nuggets defenders, which are the ones who consistently make the extra effort and have the strength and defensive talent to make that effort pay off, are Camby, Martin, Nene, Najera, and Diawara.

OBSERVATIONS ON THE PLAYER RATINGS:
The most productive player on the court was Vince Carter of the Nets, who was a star power performer and almost a superstar power performer. Richard Jefferson of the Nets was the second most productive, and he was a star power performer. Allen Iverson of the Nuggets was the third star power performer.

Devin Harris of the Nets was right on the border between power performer and star power performer. Linas Kleiza and Marcus Camby were power performers for the Nuggets.

Among the 6 power performers in this game, each team had 3.

Linas Kleiza was about twice as productive as usual for the Nuggets. J.R. Smith was about half again more productive than usual for the team. Kenyon Martin was about 1/5 more productive than usual, which got him very close to the power performer level.

Iverson and Camby met their sky high and high averages, respectively. At the role player level, Carter, and Najera about matched their averages.

There was only 1 Nugget who was well below normal and it was one of the most important ones. Carmelo Anthony was only about 70% as productive as usual, which took him out of the power performer range and made him only a key role player for this game.

Literally all of the most important Nets players were well above normal in this game. SG Carter and SF Jefferson were both about 40% more productive than usual, while PG Harris was half again more productive than usual.

At the role player level, C Boone became a key role player by being half again more productive than usual. At a lower level, PG Marcus Williams was about 40% more productive than normal.

Among other Nets role players, C Diop and PF Kristic were both almost exactly normal.

Nets disappointments were among less important role players. PF Sean Williams and PF Swift were both only about 60% as productive as usual. The Biggest problem for the Nets was SF Nachbar, who was only about 30% as productive as usual.

In summary, the Nuggets had just 1 player substantially below normal but a very important one, while the Nets had 3, although all 3 were role players.

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

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

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

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

NUGGETS-NETS 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 1.550
2. Linas Kleiza, Den 1.535
3. Richard Jefferson, NJ 1.314
4. Vince Carter, NJ 1.264
5. Marcus Williams, NJ 1.036
6. Stromile Swift, NJ 1.000…Swift played only 6 minutes.
7. Allen Iverson, Den 0.998
8. Devin Harris, NJ 0.998
9. Marcus Camby, Den 0.916
10. Kenyon Martin, Den 0.873
11. Anthony Carter, Den 0.846
12. DeSagana Diop, NJ 0.833
13. Carmelo Anthony, Den 0.791
14. Josh Boone, NJ 0.764
15. Eduardo Najera, Den 0.689
16. Sean Williams, NJ 0.673
17. Nenad Krstic, NJ 0.660
18. Bostjan Nachbar, NJ 0.253

OBSERVATIONS ON THE REAL PLAYER RATINGS
The best two players on the court were definitely J.R. Smith and Linas Kleiza for the Nuggets; both of them were superstars. Vince Carter and Richard Jefferson were star-plus for the Nets.

Among the 4 players who were stars or better, each team had 2.

Iverson and Camby were outstanding for the Nuggets. Marcus Williams and Harris were outstanding for the Nets. Swift was outstanding for the Nets in very limited minutes.

Martin and Carter were very good for the Nuggets. Diop was very good for the Nets. Anthony for the Nuggets and Boone for the Nets were good.

Najera for the Nuggets was only mediocre. Sean Williams and Kristic for the Nets were only mediocre.

The only player on the court who was below mediocre was Nachbar, who was on the border between total disaster and extremely poor.

Among players who were mediocre or worse, the Nuggets had only 1 while the Nets had 3.

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: +23
J.R. Smith: +20
Linas Kleiza: +17
Allen Iverson: +15
Marcus Camby: +3
Kenyon Martin: -4
Anthony Carter: -7
Carmelo Anthony: -12

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

Turnovers: NBA Average: 14, Nuggets’ Total 9, Team 0, Anthony 3, Camby 2, Carter 0, Iverson 2, Kleiza 0, Martin 1, Najera 0, Smith 1

Personal Fouls: NBA Average: 21, Nuggets’ Total 23, Anthony 2, Camby 4, Carter 3, Iverson 4, Kleiza 1, Martin 2, Najera 5, Smith 2

Eduardo Najera played 18 minutes and was 2/4, 1/1 on 3’s, and 1/2 from the line for 6 points, and he made 3 steals and 3 rebounds.

Carmelo Anthony played 37 minutes and was 7/12 and 3/5 from the line for 17 points, and he made 5 rebounds and 4 assists.

Anthony Carter played 27 minutes and was 4/7 and 0/2 on 3’s for 8 points, and he made 6 assists, 2 steals, and 2 rebounds.

Kenyon Martin played 33 minutes and was 8/15, 0/1 on 3’s, and 1/4 from the line for 17 points, and he made 8 rebounds, 2 assists, and 1 block.

Marcus Camby played 39 minutes and was 6/14, 0/1 on 3’s, and 4/5 from the line for 16 points, and he made 10 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 blocks, and 2 steals.

Allen Iverson played for virtually the whole game, 45 minutes, and was 8/18, 0/1 on 3’s, and 10/11 from the line for 26 points, and he made 9 assists, 4 steals, and 1 rebound.

Linas Kleiza played 23 minutes and was 9/11, 5/7 on 3’s, and 0/2 from the line for 23 points, and he made 4 rebounds.

J.R. Smith played 17 minutes and was 4/7, 1/2 on 3’s, and 3/4 from the line for 12 points, and he made 6 assists, 2 steals, and 1 rebound.

NEXT UP
The next game will be Sunday, March 23 in Toronto to play the Raptors at 1:30 pm mountain time. Neither the Nuggets nor the Raptors will be playing on back to back nights.

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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
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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
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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....


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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

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

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


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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.

RICKY RUBIO, MINNESOTA TIMBERWOLVES POINT GUARD

RICKY RUBIO, MINNESOTA TIMBERWOLVES POINT GUARD

>>>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>>>>>

SEARCH QFTR, THE EQUIVALENT OF ABOUT 20 BOOKS ABOUT BASKETBALL

Custom Search
SEARCH THE 20 BOOKS / 2.0 MILLION WORDS

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.

GOOGLE ARCHIVE



QUEST FOR THE RING USER GUIDE

QUEST FOR THE RING USER GUIDE: YOU CAN QUICKLY LOCATE AND GET THE SITE INFORMATION YOU NEED OR WANT RIGHT HERE






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.

SEARCH QFTR, THE EQUIVALENT OF ABOUT 20 BOOKS ABOUT BASKETBALL

Custom Search
SEARCH THE 20 BOOKS / 2.0 MILLION WORDS

RECOMMENDED SCHOOL--CLICK FOR DETAILS


QUEST FOR THE RING VIDEOS--The primary Quest video page with video juke boxes for all 30 teams

QUEST FOR THE RING VIDEOS #2--Specially chosen video juke boxes and individual videos

QUEST FOR THE RING PRIMARY HOME PAGE B--A few key video players are here

LATEST NBA.COM NBA VIDEOS
LATEST YAHOO SPORTS NBA / BASKETBALL VIDEOS
LATEST CBS SPORTSLINE NBA VIDEOS

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.

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