The Return of QFTR: What's Cooking at one of the World's Most Sophisticated and Important Basketball Sites

TOP NBA POINT GUARDS 2012
Later this year QFTR will publish Real Player Ratings for every player in the NBA who has played at least 300 minutes. In the meantime, we'll make do for now with a ranking of the leading point guards of the NBA ranked according to number of plays made per 36 minutes (playing time). All items shown are per 36 minutes (which is much smarter to use than per game).

PLAYER             Tm   MP   FG  FGA  3P 3PA  FT FTA ORB DRB  AST STL BLK TOV  PF  PTS  FG%  3P%  FT%
Steve Nash        PHO  860  6.6 11.8 1.3 3.1 2.1 2.3 0.3 2.7 12.1 0.7 0.1 4.1 0.7 16.5 .559 .419 .875
Jose Calderon     TOR 1049  4.7 10.0 1.1 3.1 1.2 1.4 0.5 3.0  9.3 0.8 0.1 2.1 1.9 11.8 .472 .371 .878
Jeremy Lin        NYK  318  8.0 16.2 0.6 2.3 6.3 8.5 0.9 3.4  9.2 1.6 0.2 5.1 2.7 23.0 .497 .250 .747
Rajon Rondo       BOS  784  5.8 11.8 0.2 0.7 2.9 4.8 1.3 3.5  9.2 1.7 0.0 3.5 2.0 14.7 .492 .250 .610
Ricky Rubio       MIN 1037  3.6  9.7 0.7 2.3 3.2 3.9 0.3 4.1  9.0 2.5 0.2 3.4 2.4 11.2 .374 .318 .823
Chris Paul        LAC  821  7.0 14.2 1.3 2.9 3.1 3.6 0.7 3.1  8.9 2.4 0.0 2.1 2.4 18.3 .492 .448 .843
T.J. Ford         SAS  155  3.5  8.1 0.5 1.6 2.3 2.8 0.7 2.6  8.8 1.4 0.5 4.2 4.2  9.8 .429 .286 .833
Tony Parker       SAS 1015  7.7 17.0 0.2 1.0 4.5 5.6 0.4 2.6  8.3 1.1 0.1 2.7 1.4 20.2 .454 .214 .805
Ramon Sessions    CLE  675  4.6 12.5 0.9 2.1 4.6 5.3 0.7 3.9  8.2 0.8 0.1 3.1 2.1 14.7 .372 .410 .869
Deron Williams    NJN 1118  7.0 16.8 2.0 5.8 4.7 5.5 0.5 2.9  8.1 1.0 0.4 4.1 2.1 20.6 .413 .343 .854
Andre Miller      DEN  870  4.8 10.4 0.5 1.7 2.4 3.1 1.0 3.6  8.0 1.4 0.2 3.0 2.2 12.5 .462 .286 .760
Kyle Lowry        HOU  975  5.0 12.3 1.7 4.8 3.6 4.2 1.1 4.5  7.9 2.1 0.4 3.3 2.8 15.2 .404 .351 .858
Derrick Rose      CHI  817  8.0 17.4 1.4 4.4 4.9 5.8 0.7 2.8  7.9 0.9 0.7 2.9 1.5 22.3 .462 .310 .841
Earl Watson       UTA  592  2.3  5.6 0.4 1.9 0.9 1.3 0.6 2.9  7.9 1.8 0.9 3.2 3.5  5.9 .413 .219 .667
John Wall         WAS 1103  5.6 13.5 0.1 0.6 5.0 6.3 0.9 3.9  7.5 1.2 1.0 4.0 2.2 16.3 .416 .111 .798
Stephen Curry     GSW  561  6.8 14.2 2.4 5.7 1.9 2.5 0.8 3.7  7.3 2.1 0.4 3.1 3.0 17.9 .480 .416 .769
D.J. Augustin     CHA  579  5.3 13.1 1.7 4.8 2.6 3.2 0.8 2.6  7.2 0.8 0.1 2.9 1.5 15.0 .408 .346 .808
Greivis Vasquez   NOH  671  4.6 11.3 0.9 3.1 2.2 2.7 0.5 3.2  7.2 1.9 0.3 2.9 2.8 12.2 .405 .281 .804
Mike Conley       MEM  992  5.0 11.7 0.8 2.4 2.5 2.8 0.3 2.5  7.0 2.4 0.1 2.4 2.2 13.2 .425 .348 .883
Raymond Felton    POR  985  4.1 11.5 0.8 3.7 1.9 2.3 0.4 2.0  6.9 1.4 0.1 3.2 2.4 10.9 .360 .206 .797
Player             Tm   MP   FG  FGA  3P 3PA  FT FTA ORB DRB  AST STL BLK TOV  PF  PTS  FG%  3P%  FT%
Beno Udrih        MIL  378  5.0 11.1 0.5 2.3 1.1 1.6 0.9 2.5  6.9 0.9 0.1 2.9 3.3 11.7 .453 .208 .706
Jason Kidd        DAL  565  2.0  6.2 1.6 5.3 0.4 0.5 0.4 5.4  6.8 2.0 0.2 2.8 2.2  6.0 .316 .301 .875
Jarrett Jack      NOH  785  5.8 13.3 0.8 2.4 2.9 3.4 0.6 3.1  6.7 0.8 0.2 2.3 1.9 15.4 .436 .327 .853
Nate Robinson     GSW  419  5.9 14.1 1.8 5.2 3.6 4.4 0.6 2.8  6.7 1.6 0.2 2.5 3.4 17.3 .421 .344 .824
LeBron James      MIA 1071  9.8 18.0 0.7 1.8 7.0 9.2 1.3 6.7  6.6 1.7 0.6 3.7 1.6 27.3 .545 .370 .762
Ty Lawson         DEN  919  6.1 13.1 0.9 3.0 3.2 4.0 0.9 2.7  6.6 1.5 0.0 2.5 1.7 16.2 .464 .299 .794
Jameer Nelson     ORL  714  4.3 10.7 1.0 3.4 1.5 1.9 0.4 2.9  6.6 0.7 0.1 2.8 2.6 11.0 .399 .299 .784
C.J. Watson       CHI  497  5.6 14.5 2.5 5.5 2.8 3.5 0.8 2.5  6.6 1.8 0.1 2.6 3.3 16.6 .390 .461 .792

Monday, October 3, 2011

The Return of QFTR: What's Cooking at one of the World's Most Sophisticated and Important Basketball Sites

Quest for the Ring (QFTR) the Site that explains in detail how high level basketball games are won and lost) is gradually coming back to life during October 2011 after a shutdown that lasted about 2 1/2 months. October will be a partial return and things will probably be kind of sluggish in October. But by sometime in the first half of November 2011 QFTR will be back to producing at standard speed. By sometime in the second half of November or at the very latest by the first of January 2012 QFTR will be in overdrive (producing at about 25% higher than standard speed). Overdrive will continue until the entire production deficit is wiped out. We strongly suspect that we will be able to wipe out the deficit by the end of 2012. So in other words 2012 is scheduled to be a very, very productive year here at QFTR, both because we are more productive than ever and because production time will be 25% higher than before.

Unlike previous temporary shutdowns, this time the exact reasons for the shutdown were posted; see them in this Report. As with previous temporary shutdowns, the reasons for the shutdown were (a) completely beyond our control (meaning we are not in any way responsible!) and were (b) due to the failure of others to produce a competent, reliable service or product and were (c) due to losses and threats and mayhem created in the wake of the failures. To put it simply and using an analogy, there were big or huge messes created that we had to clean up.

HIGH LEVEL TEXT REPORTS
QFTR is introducing a new designator for the type of Report that (a) is at the very core of the reason for being of the Site, that (b) is ultimately the most important type of Report that we do (but keep in mind that there are other types of Reports that themselves are more important and useful than anything you see on most other basketball sites) and that (c) we wish we had far, far more time to produce. This type of Report is non-formatted and basically consists of text discussion supplemented by evidence. The evidence is often mathematical / statistical in nature.

As you are probably already aware, what we are doing with this project is determining and explaining exactly how basketball games (especially high level ones) are won and lost. So the type of Report referred to here is one that directly discusses the latest information we have about that core mission.

The new designator will be “High Level Text Report” or HLTR for short. In the future, if time ever permits we might go back into the archives and label the existing HLTRs as such. Google blogger has a built in labeling system that has never been used by QFTR and we are gradually building up motivation to spend a lot of time to retroactively use it.

However, anyone who is smart enough to read an HLTR is also smart enough to find them on his or her own right now. Lists of titles can be used to spot HLTRs and we have several lists of titles systems in place. Or, smart people can use the Google custom search; there are about four search boxes scattered throughout the QFTR home page. Although I can’t guarantee anything regarding Google Search and although in the early years Google completely ignored QFTR, in the last 18 months or so Google has been indexing many QFTR reports into the Google search engine, meaning I presume that the results you get from a custom search are much better now than they used to be.

If it were me looking for stuff I would use BOTH lists of titles AND Google custom search to find what I was looking for at QFTR. For example, after looking through some title lists I might type “point guard” into a custom search box and go from there. On another occasion, I might type “reserves” to see what QFTR has reported about non-starters. On another occasion, I might type “good coaching”. On another occasion, I might type “bad coaching”. And so on and so forth.

Again, HLTRs are NON-formatted (or free-flowing if you prefer). Formatted Reports are very carefully designed, hard wired presentations of information, generally statistical in nature. Real Player Ratings, Real Team Ratings, and Real Coach Ratings are the most important and most common types of formatted Reports. Formatted Reports efficiently and effectively feature a very large amount of information in a small amount of space.

Before we get back to regularly scheduled Reports there will be a High Level Text Report (HLTR) on Rick Carlisle.

SORRY HATERS, BUT QFTR WAS NOT CALLED INTO QUESTION WHEN CARLISLE WON THE 2011 QUEST
One annoying thing about both high level projects in general and about your writer/producer’s production experiences in particular is that things happen on a regular basis that at first glance seem to call into question the whole validity of the project. For many years, I have been thinking of myself as having the “worst luck of anyone”. And also, as being “the victim of my own success”.

For example, we had the 2009 “George Karl miracle” where seemingly by dumb luck Karl and the Nuggets stumbled onto a half way decent strategy and won two playoff series even though we had predicted that he would not win any playoff series that year (back before we realized that no one can possibly reliably predict the future in that way).

What just happened last year is another perfect example. In late 2010 we produced (at very high time cost by the way) and posted a much improved Coach Rating System, backed up by more hard information than ever. With great fanfare, it was reported that there was another current NBA head coach besides George Karl who has a track record as a terrible playoffs coach. And it was Rick Carlisle! Yes, that Rick Carlisle, the one who months later swept one of the all time best basketball coaches Phil Jackson and went on to win the 2011 NBA Championship! And QFTR reported about seven months prior to that that Carlisle was just about the worst playoffs coach in the NBA!

So doesn’t that mean that QFTR is worthless and should be shut down? No, only in the dreams of the haters does that make QFTR worthless.

QFTR CAN NOT BE AND IS NOT IN THE OFFICIAL PREDICTIONS BUSINESS
QFTR is mostly out of the prediction business, not because we don’t stand by our ratings but because the ratings can not officially or automatically predict the future. Players, coaches, managers, and owners sometimes change their ways, sometimes for the worse but more often for the better. Every single rating report we put out tells you how the player, coach, team, manager, or owner did for the time period covered, up to the present. At one time we thought it might be possible, but QFTR no longer pretends to know what is going to happen in the future.

Although basketball is more complicated than most people think it is, it is not so complicated that players, coaches, teams, managers, or owners can not change their ways and suddenly start to win games that they used to lose. Keep in mind that the core objective of QFTR is to tell people exactly how games and playoff series are won and lost. So the whole idea is to get the players, the coaches, the teams, the managers, and the owners who are doing the wrong thing(s) to change their ways and start doing the right thing(s). So for example if a player with a low Real Player Rating or a coach with a low Real Coach Rating changes what he is doing and becomes a much better player or a much better coach than that is exactly what QFTR wants to happen. If players and coaches were rarely going to change QFTR would be much less valuable, but players and coaches can and do change.

We can not and do not pretend to know which players and coaches are going to be smart enough to optimize their games or their coaching in the future. For one thing, we don’t really have any idea how smart these players and coaches are. For example, there have been numerous debates at QFTR headquarters about how smart or dumb Carmelo Anthony is, laugh out loud. And about how smart or dumb LeBron James is, and so on and so forth.

We pretty much know what the CURRENT basketball IQs of Carmelo Anthony and LeBron James etc. are (which by the way puts us way ahead of most other basketball sites) but we can’t predict how those IQs will be changing in the future because for one thing, whether a basketball IQ will go up or not in the future depends on how smart in general someone is and we just don’t have enough solid information on that. I mean, we might think that LeBron James is kind of dumb overall, but we don’t know exactly how dumb he is, and because as mentioned previously basketball is complicated but not extremely complicated, even a relatively dumb but very experienced basketball player might be able to play smarter in the future (because experience playing and winning and losing the game can teach someone the realities and the "secrets" of the game). And the same applies to coaches.

For another thing, we don’t really have any idea whether if those players and coaches and managers and owners did read QFTR whether these people would believe the information or not. (We provide more than enough evidence for everything we claim but chances are you would not believe how many doubting Thomas’s and haters there are out there). Finally, even if a player or coach or manager or owner reads QFTR and believes it, that still doesn’t guarantee they are going to change their ways. They might stick with doing things the wrong way because they think they can’t successfully change, or because they are worried that if they do change they will end up with less playing time, and/or a lower salary, and/or or a greater chance of being traded or fired.

The point is, making predictions about how players or coaches or teams or managers or owners are going to change for the better or worse in the future is a mostly hopeless venture. Back in the early days of QFTR, it was nice to dream that you could predict some of this, but the reality is that you can not very successfully predict any changes in these people and teams.

So official, valid predictions are extremely difficult and so QFTR is just about completely and totally out of the official predictions business. The User Guides to the various QFTR Ratings Reports remind users that players, coaches, teams, managers, and owners can and do change so that the Reports are historical summaries and are not intended to be used for future predictions.

UNOFFICIAL PREDICTIONS
Of course, having said that, the Reports often do accurately and actually predict the future; for example, players with very high Real Player Ratings continue to be very good players in the years that follow. And QFTR can not resist the temptation to unofficially predict the future from time to time. But over the years we have gradually reduced the number of unofficial predictions that me make. We generally only predict the future when we know for sure that a player, coach, team, manager, or owner is so dumb or so stuck in a rut that he, she, or it will not be making any changes for the better (or worse) for the foreseeable future.

RICK CARLISLE
Therefore, when Rick Carlisle won the 2011 Quest for the Ring there was no hand wringing and there were no discussions at QFTR about “what went wrong” or about how QFTR should be shut down. Nothing went wrong because (a) the Real Coach Rating Report in question was the situation as it existed at the time and was not intended to precisely or automatically or officially predict the future and (b) Rick Carlisle could and actually did have a very different team in 2011 than he did in the years when he lost playoff games that he should have won and (c) Rick Carlisle could and actually did change his coaching from when he was losing games he was supposed to win to 2011.

As previously mentioned, before we get back to regularly scheduled Reports we will treat ourselves and our readers to a particularly important High Level Text Report (HLTR) on Rick Carlisle. We are determining and will be reporting exactly how Rick Carlisle’s 2011 Dallas Mavericks team was different from his 2002 Detroit Pistons team when Carlisle lost a series to the Boston Celtics 4-1 that he should have won by about 4-3. And we are determining and will be reporting exactly how Rick Carlisle changed his coaching from the one year and team to the other.
So we are actually quite happy that the Real Coach Rating Report from late 2010 reported Carlisle as almost as bad as George Karl and then nevertheless Carlisle won the 2011 Quest. This allows us to efficiently and effectively make progress on the core mission: to explain exactly how high level basketball games and playoff series are won and lost. So don’t miss the Report on Rick Carlisle that will be posted in early October.

RICK CARLISLE VERSUS GEORGE KARL
The Real Coach Ratings Report from late 2010 identified Rick Carlisle and George Karl as the worst playoffs coaches in the League: two peas in a pod statistically. But had we been asked at the time for an official statement, we would have stated that we are virtually 100% certain that George Karl can not possibly win the Quest but that we can’t know with that kind of certainty whether Carlisle will ever win the Quest or not. There is a very simple reason for this. At that time (and to a lesser extent right now) we knew George Karl in much more detail than we knew Rick Carlisle. So we would have said (and indirectly did say in the User Guide) that it is quite unlikely but not at all impossible that Carlisle will someday win the Quest.

So in general we can not and do not make official predictions. The one current exception is that, yes, we unofficially AND officially predict that George Karl can not ever and will not ever win The Quest for the Ring. At the moment, Karl is the only player, coach, manager or owner for which we will issue that statement. In the future, expect that it will be as rare as it is now. It’s not only that we know exactly what Karl does wrong. It’s also that we know Karl well enough to know that he REJECTS the strategies and tactics that allow players and teams and teams to win The Quest for the Ring. And we know that Karl is very stubborn about his beliefs in this area. Unless Karl radically changes (which is close to impossible) he will continue to follow bad and inferior strategies and tactics and will continue to refuse to follow good strategies and tactics for as long as he works in basketball. Right now we can’t say anything like that about any other coach.

By the way and for the record, at this point, QFTR has already in five years been so useful and successful overall that there is probably nothing that could happen (short of the end of the world or at least the end of the US) which would warrant even a discussion about shutting QFTR down. Not so long ago, specifically when the Denver Nuggets were chock loaded with offensive talent (before most of them left town for one reason or another) QFTR was theoretically in some jeopardy, but at this point, even if George Karl did win The Quest for the Ring we would most likely NOT shut down QFTR.

THE RETURN OF QFTR: REPORTS ON THE WAY
When the shutdown struck we were roughly two thirds of the way through posting the final 2010-11 Real Player Ratings by team. We will soon be posting the remaining teams (the ones alphabetically following Oklahoma Thunder). Besides those team Ratings Reports, we will be posting, during October and into November as necessary:

--How Dallas Mavericks Coach Rick Carlisle Went From Worst to First

--Real Player Ratings for NBA Players League Wide, Final 2010-11 Ratings

--Total Real Production of NBA Players League Wide, Final 2010-11 Ratings

--NBA Players Rated and Ranked by the Real Quality of Their Offense, 2010-11 Season, League Wide

--NBA Players Rated and Ranked by the Real Quality of Their Defense, 2010-11 Season, League Wide

--NBA Point Guards Final Real Player Ratings and Real Player Production, 2010-11

--NBA Point Guards Final Offensive and Defensive Sub Ratings, 2010-11

--NBA Shooting Guards Final Real Player Ratings and Real Player Production, 2010-11

--NBA Shooting Guards Final Offensive and Defensive Sub Ratings, 2010-11

--NBA Small Forwards Final Real Player Ratings and Real Player Production, 2010-11

--NBA Small Forwards Final Offensive and Defensive Sub Ratings, 2010-11

--NBA Power Forwards Final Real Player Ratings and Real Player Production, 2010-11

--NBA Power Forwards Final Offensive and Defensive Sub Ratings, 2010-11

--NBA Centers Final Real Player Ratings and Real Player Production, 2010-11

--NBA Centers Final Offensive and Defensive Sub Ratings, 2010-11

ENTIRE PROJECTS HAVE BEEN SLASHED AND BURNED!
I am happy to report that whatever needed to be cut in other Quest Internet projects (up to and including entire projects) has been cut to pave the way for the full preservation of this project. I’ll be damned if the failures of electric power, computer systems and services, or even the collapse of parts of society are going to leave me with no Internet production at all. I take a lot from the Internet and one way or another I am going to give something valuable back.

So welcome back y’all to Quest for the Ring (QFTR): “The World’s Most Sophisticated Basketball Site”.

POST SCRIPT
I am so happy that so many Nuggets players have escaped the George Karl trap. But J.R. Smith took it a little too far for my tastes by escaping the whole freaking country. He went to China. What bugs me is that since China likes to hide things and since I don't know Chinese I tend to doubt I am going to be able to track exactly how Smith is doing over there. (But if anyone among those who can't understand Chinese can dig that up it will be me). But I was looking forward to tracking J.R. Smith on a NBA team other than the Denver Nuggets and now I get denied that anticipated delight. So I am a little pissed, but just a little because at least he escaped George Karl, laugh out loud.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

ESPN NBA Message Board

TOP NBA SCORERS 2012
Later this year QFTR will publish Real Player Ratings for every player in the NBA who has played at least 300 minutes. In the meantime, we'll make do for now with a ranking of the leading scorers of the NBA ranked according to number of points scored per 36 minutes (playing time). All items shown are per 36 minutes (which is much smarter to use than per game).

PLAYER               Tm   MP   FG  FGA  3P 3PA  FT  FTA ORB  DRB AST STL BLK TOV  PF  PTS  FG%  3P%  FT%
LeBron James        MIA 1071  9.8 18.0 0.7 1.8 7.0  9.2 1.3  6.7 6.6 1.7 0.6 3.7 1.6 27.3 .545 .370 .762
Kobe Bryant         LAL 1111  9.8 22.5 1.4 4.7 6.0  7.1 1.2  4.2 4.7 1.1 0.3 3.5 1.9 26.9 .436 .292 .845
Kevin Durant        OKC 1095  9.3 18.5 1.4 4.3 5.6  6.8 0.5  7.2 3.0 1.2 1.3 3.5 1.8 25.7 .504 .328 .826
Dwyane Wade         MIA  685  9.1 18.7 0.0 0.5 5.9  7.4 1.4  3.3 5.3 1.8 1.5 2.9 2.3 24.1 .487 .000 .807
Russell Westbrook   OKC 1008  9.0 19.4 0.7 2.5 4.8  6.0 1.6  3.6 5.7 2.0 0.3 4.5 2.5 23.6 .467 .275 .799
Andrea Bargnani     TOR  469  8.4 17.6 1.4 4.1 5.4  6.4 0.8  5.5 2.1 0.4 0.7 2.2 1.6 23.5 .476 .340 .843
Carmelo Anthony     NYK  755  7.9 19.7 1.3 4.3 6.4  7.7 1.4  4.9 4.4 1.1 0.4 3.1 2.7 23.4 .399 .297 .827
Kevin Love          MIN 1111  7.5 16.3 1.5 4.1 6.7  8.1 3.7  9.0 1.6 0.9 0.5 2.4 2.4 23.1 .457 .362 .832
Jeremy Lin          NYK  318  8.0 16.2 0.6 2.3 6.3  8.5 0.9  3.4 9.2 1.6 0.2 5.1 2.7 23.0 .497 .250 .747
LaMarcus Aldridge   POR 1049  9.2 17.9 0.0 0.2 4.1  5.2 3.0  5.3 2.6 1.0 0.8 2.0 2.9 22.5 .512 .167 .795
Derrick Rose        CHI  817  8.0 17.4 1.4 4.4 4.9  5.8 0.7  2.8 7.9 0.9 0.7 2.9 1.5 22.3 .462 .310 .841
Louis Williams      PHI  779  7.4 17.7 2.0 5.2 5.4  6.7 0.7  2.4 5.3 1.0 0.2 1.4 2.3 22.3 .420 .393 .807
Kyrie Irving        CLE  723  8.3 16.6 1.4 3.4 3.8  4.6 1.2  2.9 6.1 0.9 0.5 3.7 2.7 21.8 .498 .426 .826
Manu Ginobili       SAS  178  7.3 12.9 3.0 6.5 4.0  4.7 0.4  4.7 5.5 1.2 0.6 2.4 2.4 21.6 .563 .469 .870
Monta Ellis         GSW  936  7.8 18.2 1.2 4.1 4.3  5.3 0.5  2.8 5.7 1.5 0.4 3.3 2.1 21.1 .430 .280 .804
Blake Griffin       LAC 1032  8.5 16.0 0.0 0.1 3.6  6.7 3.1  7.7 2.9 0.8 0.8 2.6 3.1 20.7 .534 .500 .528
Deron Williams      NJN 1118  7.0 16.8 2.0 5.8 4.7  5.5 0.5  2.9 8.1 1.0 0.4 4.1 2.1 20.6 .413 .343 .854
Dirk Nowitzki       DAL  838  7.5 16.5 0.7 3.1 4.7  5.4 0.6  6.2 2.6 0.9 0.7 1.8 2.4 20.4 .454 .236 .872
Al Jefferson        UTA  815  8.7 18.6 0.0 0.0 2.8  3.7 2.3  7.7 2.3 0.8 1.8 1.5 2.7 20.3 .470 .000 .759
Kevin Martin        HOU  907  6.8 16.0 2.3 6.6 4.3  4.7 0.4  2.9 2.9 0.9 0.1 1.9 2.1 20.3 .428 .353 .908
Player               Tm   MP   FG  FGA  3P 3PA  FT  FTA ORB  DRB AST STL BLK TOV  PF  PTS  FG%  3P%  FT%
Nick Young          WAS  944  7.2 17.4 2.1 5.5 3.7  4.2 0.6  2.3 1.3 0.8 0.3 1.6 2.7 20.3 .418 .386 .882
Tony Parker         SAS 1015  7.7 17.0 0.2 1.0 4.5  5.6 0.4  2.6 8.3 1.1 0.1 2.7 1.4 20.2 .454 .214 .805
DeMarcus Cousins    SAC  827  7.4 16.6 0.0 0.2 5.0  6.7 5.3  8.5 1.1 1.4 1.6 3.4 5.1 19.8 .446 .250 .735
Jamal Crawford      POR  825  6.9 17.8 1.9 5.7 4.0  4.2 0.2  2.4 5.3 1.3 0.3 2.9 2.1 19.6 .386 .336 .948
Danny Granger       IND  952  6.5 16.6 2.1 5.7 4.5  5.4 1.5  3.3 2.0 1.4 0.7 2.0 2.3 19.6 .390 .373 .845
Al Harrington       DEN  804  7.5 15.9 2.0 6.2 2.6  3.7 1.4  6.4 1.8 1.3 0.4 2.7 3.8 19.6 .469 .317 .720
Ryan Anderson       ORL  904  6.4 14.2 3.5 8.0 3.0  3.5 4.0  4.3 0.9 0.9 0.3 0.7 2.7 19.2 .448 .435 .852
James Harden        OKC  911  5.5 11.6 2.0 5.3 6.3  7.4 0.6  4.1 4.0 1.1 0.3 2.3 2.9 19.2 .469 .373 .860
Michael Redd        PHO  247  6.6 17.3 2.2 7.7 3.9  5.0 0.6  2.9 1.3 0.7 0.0 2.2 0.9 19.2 .378 .283 .794
Leandro Barbosa     TOR  660  7.3 17.4 1.3 3.9 3.3  4.0 0.9  2.1 2.2 1.4 0.3 2.7 3.7 19.1 .417 .324 .836
Amare Stoudemire    NYK  817  7.3 16.5 0.2 0.8 4.2  5.2 2.5  6.0 1.5 1.1 0.8 2.9 3.5 19.1 .443 .278 .814
Chris Bosh          MIA 1064  7.1 14.4 0.2 0.9 4.4  5.3 1.6  6.7 2.1 0.9 0.8 2.2 2.5 18.9 .495 .269 .816
Dwight Howard       ORL 1148  7.0 12.7 0.0 0.2 5.0 10.2 3.3 11.0 1.9 1.3 2.0 2.9 2.9 18.9 .550 .000 .492
Tobias Harris       MIL  197  6.6 14.1 0.5 1.6 5.1  6.4 3.3  3.5 1.3 1.3 0.5 2.2 3.8 18.8 .468 .333 .800
Antawn Jamison      CLE  865  7.4 17.5 1.5 4.4 2.5  4.1 1.6  5.3 2.0 1.2 1.0 1.2 2.9 18.8 .423 .333 .612
Carlos Boozer       CHI  961  8.4 15.8 0.0 0.0 1.9  2.7 2.1  7.9 2.1 1.2 0.5 1.9 3.3 18.7 .531 .000 .712
Drew Gooden         MIL  657  6.8 15.8 0.5 1.6 4.5  5.3 3.2  5.9 2.6 0.8 0.9 2.8 3.1 18.7 .433 .310 .856
Danilo Gallinari    DEN  824  5.7 12.8 1.5 4.9 5.6  6.3 0.8  4.9 2.8 1.3 0.7 1.7 2.1 18.6 .447 .313 .890
Brandon Jennings    MIL 1029  6.9 16.8 2.2 6.4 2.6  3.3 0.7  2.8 5.3 1.6 0.3 2.3 1.5 18.6 .412 .342 .796
David Lee           GSW  935  7.7 14.8 0.0 0.1 2.8  4.0 3.0  6.7 2.5 0.9 0.5 2.6 3.3 18.3 .523 .000 .718
Player               Tm   MP   FG  FGA  3P 3PA  FT  FTA ORB  DRB AST STL BLK TOV  PF  PTS  FG%  3P%  FT%
Greg Monroe         DET 1011  7.4 14.1 0.0 0.0 3.4  4.2 4.2  6.5 2.7 1.5 0.6 2.8 3.2 18.3 .529      .821
Chris Paul          LAC  821  7.0 14.2 1.3 2.9 3.1  3.6 0.7  3.1 8.9 2.4 0.0 2.1 2.4 18.3 .492 .448 .843
Tim Duncan          SAS  792  7.3 15.4 0.0 0.1 3.7  5.0 2.1  8.9 3.6 1.0 1.8 2.5 2.4 18.2 .472 .000 .736
C.J. Miles          UTA  524  6.3 16.1 1.4 5.2 4.3  5.8 0.8  3.1 2.1 1.6 0.5 1.9 4.3 18.2 .387 .267 .741
Paul Millsap        UTA  864  7.4 14.7 0.2 0.5 3.2  4.0 3.7  7.2 2.5 1.7 0.9 1.9 3.9 18.2 .506 .308 .811
Alec Burks          UTA  261  6.1 15.4 0.6 1.7 5.4  7.4 2.3  3.2 1.8 1.0 0.1 2.1 3.2 18.1 .393 .333 .722
Nikola Pekovic      MIN  482  7.7 12.5 0.0 0.0 2.8  3.8 5.7  4.9 0.6 1.1 1.0 3.3 4.0 18.1 .613      .725
Rudy Gay            MEM 1132  7.4 16.2 0.8 2.1 2.4  3.3 1.7  4.5 2.0 1.6 0.6 2.7 2.2 18.0 .457 .385 .728
Paul Pierce         BOS  899  5.9 14.3 1.6 4.5 4.6  5.5 0.7  4.6 5.6 1.1 0.5 2.9 2.2 18.0 .412 .366 .833

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THE GOOD NEWS AND THE BAD NEWS REGARDING EMAILS SENT TO QFTR
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In any event, QFTR will keep your email address 100% private (never to be published or used for anything ever except possibly for an email response from QFTR).

AND THE BAD NEWS IS...
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TOP NBA DEFENDERS 2012
Later this year QFTR will publish Real Player Ratings for every player in the NBA who has played at least 300 minutes. In the meantime, we'll make do for now with a ranking of the leading defenders of the NBA ranked according to number of defensive rebounds pulled down per 36 minutes (playing time). But to be on the list, a defender must also be making at least one block per 36 minutes (playing time). All items shown are per 36 minutes (which is much smarter to use than per game).

PLAYER              Tm   MP   FG  FGA  3P 3PA  FT  FTA ORB  DRB AST STL BLK TOV  PF  PTS  FG%  3P%  FT%
Dwight Howard      ORL 1148  7.0 12.7 0.0 0.2 5.0 10.2 3.3 11.0 1.9 1.3 2.0 2.9 2.9 18.9 .550 .000 .492
Marcus Camby       POR  679  2.4  6.3 0.0 0.0 0.7  1.5 4.3  9.9 3.3 1.4 2.3 2.0 3.7  5.6 .390      .500
Andrew Bynum       LAL  871  6.9 12.5 0.0 0.1 3.1  5.4 3.6  9.4 1.3 0.5 2.1 2.5 2.1 16.9 .548 .000 .585
Tim Duncan         SAS  792  7.3 15.4 0.0 0.1 3.7  5.0 2.1  8.9 3.6 1.0 1.8 2.5 2.4 18.2 .472 .000 .736
Jamaal Magloire    TOR  257  1.3  4.1 0.0 0.0 0.7  2.8 2.0  8.8 0.4 0.1 1.1 2.1 6.2  3.2 .310      .250
DeMarcus Cousins   SAC  827  7.4 16.6 0.0 0.2 5.0  6.7 5.3  8.5 1.1 1.4 1.6 3.4 5.1 19.8 .446 .250 .735
Omer Asik          CHI  492  3.3  6.4 0.0 0.0 1.2  3.2 4.6  8.4 1.2 1.2 2.3 2.9 4.6  7.8 .517      .386
Jordan Hill        HOU  427  5.0  9.7 0.0 0.3 1.9  2.9 3.5  8.3 1.0 0.8 1.5 1.9 4.5 11.8 .513 .000 .647
Marcin Gortat      PHO  983  7.1 12.9 0.0 0.0 2.5  3.8 2.9  8.2 1.1 0.7 1.9 1.7 2.3 16.7 .551      .663
Spencer Hawes      PHI  387  6.2 11.0 0.2 0.7 1.0  1.7 2.6  8.2 3.6 0.7 2.0 1.8 3.7 13.7 .568 .250 .611
Chris Kaman        NOH  517  7.0 16.3 0.0 0.0 1.9  2.5 2.9  8.1 2.1 0.7 1.9 3.7 2.9 15.9 .427      .778
Josh Smith         ATL 1039  6.9 14.8 0.3 1.0 2.6  4.9 1.9  8.0 3.6 1.5 2.2 2.6 2.5 16.7 .463 .310 .543
Kosta Koufos       DEN  353  4.9  8.8 0.0 0.0 2.0  3.3 4.4  7.8 0.4 1.5 1.7 2.3 4.7 11.8 .558      .625
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
Ersan Ilyasova     MIL  665  5.2 12.4 0.8 2.0 2.8  3.8 4.2  7.7 1.5 0.9 1.1 1.8 2.7 14.0 .419 .405 .743
Al Jefferson       UTA  815  8.7 18.6 0.0 0.0 2.8  3.7 2.3  7.7 2.3 0.8 1.8 1.5 2.7 20.3 .470 .000 .759
Enes Kanter        UTA  416  4.8 10.4 0.0 0.0 2.7  4.0 4.9  7.7 0.3 0.9 1.1 2.2 3.2 12.4 .467      .674
Kevin Garnett      BOS  855  6.7 13.6 0.1 0.2 3.1  3.6 1.5  7.6 3.2 0.9 1.3 2.2 2.4 16.7 .495 .750 .849
Chris Andersen     DEN  312  4.6  8.3 0.0 0.0 3.8  6.0 3.7  7.5 0.2 1.6 3.2 1.3 3.8 13.0 .556      .635
Timofey Mozgov     DEN  364  4.9  9.3 0.0 0.0 1.9  3.0 1.9  7.5 1.4 0.5 2.5 2.7 4.6 11.8 .532      .633
Player              Tm   MP   FG  FGA  3P 3PA  FT  FTA ORB  DRB AST STL BLK TOV  PF  PTS  FG%  3P%  FT%
Samuel Dalembert   HOU  704  4.7  9.6 0.0 0.0 2.0  2.4 4.7  7.4 1.0 1.1 3.1 2.1 3.8 11.3 .487      .848
Roy Hibbert        IND  909  6.7 13.6 0.0 0.0 2.4  3.4 3.8  7.4 2.0 0.5 2.1 2.7 3.7 15.8 .493 .000 .698
Joakim Noah        CHI  925  4.4  8.8 0.0 0.0 3.0  3.9 4.4  7.4 2.7 0.8 1.5 1.9 3.2 11.9 .507 .000 .772
Nikola Vucevic     PHI  348  6.0 11.7 0.3 0.6 0.2  0.7 3.3  7.4 1.4 0.9 1.6 1.3 4.7 12.5 .513 .500 .286
Andris Biedrins    GSW  402  2.5  3.9 0.0 0.0 0.1  0.4 2.7  7.3 0.5 1.3 2.4 0.7 5.8  5.1 .636      .200
Marc Gasol         MEM 1135  5.4 10.8 0.0 0.2 3.5  4.7 2.0  7.3 2.6 1.0 2.0 1.8 2.9 14.3 .499 .143 .738
JaVale McGee       WAS  865  6.6 12.4 0.0 0.0 1.8  3.7 3.8  7.3 0.7 0.9 3.4 2.1 3.9 15.0 .530      .500
Kevin Durant       OKC 1095  9.3 18.5 1.4 4.3 5.6  6.8 0.5  7.2 3.0 1.2 1.3 3.5 1.8 25.7 .504 .328 .826
Pau Gasol          LAL 1074  6.7 13.4 0.1 0.5 2.8  3.5 3.1  7.2 2.9 0.4 1.3 1.7 2.0 16.4 .501 .214 .798
Kevin Seraphin     WAS  285  3.5  8.3 0.0 0.0 1.6  2.7 3.2  7.2 1.0 0.8 3.0 2.0 4.8  8.7 .424      .619
Ed Davis           TOR  698  3.8  7.8 0.0 0.1 1.7  2.4 2.9  7.0 1.0 1.3 1.4 1.5 4.0  9.2 .483 .000 .702
Channing Frye      PHO  710  5.2 13.2 1.9 6.1 1.3  1.4 1.4  7.0 1.7 0.9 1.5 1.3 4.0 13.7 .395 .317 .929
Tyson Chandler     NYK 1009  4.2  6.0 0.0 0.0 4.2  5.8 3.4  6.9 1.1 1.1 1.4 1.6 3.4 12.6 .702      .724
Brendan Haywood    DAL  642  3.5  6.4 0.0 0.0 1.6  3.4 4.1  6.8 0.6 0.8 1.7 1.7 3.9  8.6 .553      .459
Kris Humphries     NJN  986  5.3 10.6 0.0 0.0 3.4  4.6 4.0  6.8 1.3 0.8 1.3 1.9 3.2 14.0 .505      .736
Kurt Thomas        POR  514  3.7  7.0 0.0 0.0 0.5  0.8 1.4  6.8 1.9 1.1 1.5 1.5 5.7  7.9 .530      .583
DeAndre Jordan     LAC  818  4.1  6.2 0.0 0.0 1.7  3.4 4.0  6.7 0.4 0.6 3.3 1.5 4.0  9.9 .660 .000 .487
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
Tiago Splitter     SAS  638  6.4 10.3 0.0 0.0 3.5  5.1 2.5  6.6 2.1 0.8 1.4 3.0 4.2 16.4 .623      .681
Gustavo Ayon       NOH  354  5.2  8.8 0.0 0.0 1.5  2.3 2.9  6.5 1.7 2.0 2.0 1.7 3.8 11.9 .586      .652

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.

TOP NBA THIEFS / FAST BREAKERS 2012
Later this year QFTR will publish Real Player Ratings for every player in the NBA who has played at least 300 minutes. In the meantime, we'll make do for now with a ranking of the leading thiefs / fast breakers of the NBA ranked according to number of steals made per 36 minutes (playing time). All items shown are per 36 minutes (which is much smarter to use than per game)

PLAYER               Tm   MP   FG  FGA  3P 3PA  FT FTA ORB DRB AST STL BLK TOV  PF  PTS  FG%  3P%   FT%
Tony Allen          MEM  707  5.3 11.4 0.2 0.5 4.4 5.3 2.2 3.1 1.4 2.7 0.8 2.1 3.4 15.2 .466 .444  .819
Sundiata Gaines     NJN  360  5.6 12.8 1.3 3.4 3.4 5.2 1.2 3.9 6.1 2.5 0.2 2.5 2.3 15.9 .438 .382  .654
Ricky Rubio         MIN 1037  3.6  9.7 0.7 2.3 3.2 3.9 0.3 4.1 9.0 2.5 0.2 3.4 2.4 11.2 .374 .318  .823
Iman Shumpert       NYK  799  4.9 12.7 0.9 3.3 1.8 2.1 0.7 3.3 3.9 2.5 0.3 3.0 3.8 12.4 .383 .274  .848
Delonte West        DAL  659  5.0 11.7 0.9 2.7 2.2 2.4 0.5 3.4 5.5 2.5 0.4 2.7 2.3 13.1 .428 .327  .909
Corey Brewer        DEN  425  6.0 13.0 1.1 3.0 3.5 5.3 1.5 4.4 1.6 2.4 0.8 2.0 3.1 16.6 .461 .361  .651
Mike Conley         MEM  992  5.0 11.7 0.8 2.4 2.5 2.8 0.3 2.5 7.0 2.4 0.1 2.4 2.2 13.2 .425 .348  .883
Chris Paul          LAC  821  7.0 14.2 1.3 2.9 3.1 3.6 0.7 3.1 8.9 2.4 0.0 2.1 2.4 18.3 .492 .448  .843
A.J. Price          IND  213  4.1 11.8 1.9 6.1 2.2 2.2 0.3 3.0 4.2 2.2 0.3 2.5 2.5 12.2 .343 .306 1.000
Ronnie Price        PHO  433  3.2  8.7 1.0 3.1 1.4 1.7 1.2 2.4 5.0 2.2 0.2 3.5 4.5  8.9 .371 .324  .850
Louis Amundson      IND  239  3.6  9.9 0.0 0.0 2.0 4.4 4.4 4.5 0.6 2.1 2.7 2.6 6.0  9.2 .364       .448
Rodrigue Beaubois   DAL  431  5.8 14.3 1.4 4.3 1.5 1.8 0.8 4.8 5.0 2.1 1.8 2.2 3.5 14.6 .409 .327  .857
Stephen Curry       GSW  561  6.8 14.2 2.4 5.7 1.9 2.5 0.8 3.7 7.3 2.1 0.4 3.1 3.0 17.9 .480 .416  .769
Reggie Jackson      OKC  274  3.9 11.7 1.2 4.6 1.6 2.0 0.8 2.5 5.0 2.1 0.1 2.8 3.0 10.6 .337 .257  .800
Kyle Lowry          HOU  975  5.0 12.3 1.7 4.8 3.6 4.2 1.1 4.5 7.9 2.1 0.4 3.3 2.8 15.2 .404 .351  .858
Chris Singleton     WAS  577  2.8  7.5 0.9 2.9 0.6 0.9 0.9 4.5 1.2 2.1 0.7 1.0 4.9  7.1 .372 .304  .667
Gustavo Ayon        NOH  354  5.2  8.8 0.0 0.0 1.5 2.3 2.9 6.5 1.7 2.0 2.0 1.7 3.8 11.9 .586       .652
Jason Kidd          DAL  565  2.0  6.2 1.6 5.3 0.4 0.5 0.4 5.4 6.8 2.0 0.2 2.8 2.2  6.0 .316 .301  .875
Jeff Teague         ATL  965  5.4 11.4 1.0 2.3 2.0 2.7 0.4 1.9 5.3 2.0 0.5 2.2 2.4 14.0 .479 .459  .740
Sebastian Telfair   PHO  300  4.3 14.0 1.3 4.3 2.0 2.5 0.7 2.0 4.8 2.0 0.1 3.1 5.3 12.0 .308 .306  .810
Player               Tm   MP   FG  FGA  3P 3PA  FT FTA ORB DRB AST STL BLK TOV  PF  PTS  FG%  3P%   FT%
Russell Westbrook   OKC 1008  9.0 19.4 0.7 2.5 4.8 6.0 1.6 3.6 5.7 2.0 0.3 4.5 2.5 23.6 .467 .275  .799
Carlos Delfino      MIL  715  4.6 11.2 2.5 6.1 1.1 1.5 0.6 4.1 2.8 1.9 0.4 1.5 2.5 12.8 .414 .405  .759
James Johnson       TOR  732  4.8 11.3 0.4 1.3 1.1 2.0 1.7 4.9 2.7 1.9 2.2 1.9 4.4 11.1 .424 .333  .575
Dominic McGuire     GSW  250  2.9  7.1 0.0 0.0 1.7 2.3 2.6 5.6 2.4 1.9 1.3 1.7 3.2  7.5 .408       .750
Greivis Vasquez     NOH  671  4.6 11.3 0.9 3.1 2.2 2.7 0.5 3.2 7.2 1.9 0.3 2.9 2.8 12.2 .405 .281  .804
Francisco Garcia    SAC  313  3.1  9.1 1.6 5.5 1.7 2.3 0.3 3.5 1.4 1.8 1.3 1.4 2.8  9.5 .342 .292  .750
Alonzo Gee          CLE  730  4.3  9.1 1.0 2.9 3.4 4.4 1.4 3.6 2.1 1.8 0.2 2.6 3.5 13.0 .470 .362  .764
George Hill         IND  469  4.8 10.6 1.5 3.8 2.4 2.9 0.8 3.2 2.4 1.8 0.5 1.4 3.1 13.5 .457 .380  .816
Andre Iguodala      PHI 1044  4.7 10.7 1.2 3.1 2.3 3.8 1.0 5.7 5.5 1.8 0.5 2.0 1.4 12.9 .442 .378  .609
Kawhi Leonard       SAS  701  4.3  9.5 0.7 2.0 1.1 1.7 2.5 4.9 1.3 1.8 0.6 1.0 1.8 10.4 .454 .368  .636
Chandler Parsons    HOU  725  4.5 10.8 0.9 3.1 0.3 1.1 2.0 4.9 2.5 1.8 0.8 1.3 3.1 10.3 .417 .290  .318
Dwyane Wade         MIA  685  9.1 18.7 0.0 0.5 5.9 7.4 1.4 3.3 5.3 1.8 1.5 2.9 2.3 24.1 .487 .000  .807
C.J. Watson         CHI  497  5.6 14.5 2.5 5.5 2.8 3.5 0.8 2.5 6.6 1.8 0.1 2.6 3.3 16.6 .390 .461  .792
Earl Watson         UTA  592  2.3  5.6 0.4 1.9 0.9 1.3 0.6 2.9 7.9 1.8 0.9 3.2 3.5  5.9 .413 .219  .667
Trevor Booker       WAS  662  5.3  9.2 0.0 0.1 1.3 2.3 3.0 5.7 1.0 1.7 1.6 1.5 4.4 11.9 .571 .000  .558
Vince Carter        DAL  589  6.1 13.4 2.1 4.6 2.4 3.0 0.5 4.2 3.9 1.7 0.6 2.3 3.5 16.7 .457 .461  .796
Mario Chalmers      MIA  811  5.0  9.8 2.5 5.5 1.6 1.9 0.4 2.8 4.6 1.7 0.2 2.8 3.6 14.1 .511 .463  .814
Paul George         IND  938  4.8 10.9 1.9 4.8 2.4 3.1 0.7 5.7 2.5 1.7 0.7 2.3 3.4 13.9 .437 .400  .788
LeBron James        MIA 1071  9.8 18.0 0.7 1.8 7.0 9.2 1.3 6.7 6.6 1.7 0.6 3.7 1.6 27.3 .545 .370  .762
Courtney Lee        HOU  552  5.6 12.3 1.5 4.0 1.2 1.4 0.4 3.1 2.1 1.7 0.5 1.4 2.2 14.0 .457 .377  .864
Player               Tm   MP   FG  FGA  3P 3PA  FT FTA ORB DRB AST STL BLK TOV  PF  PTS  FG%  3P%   FT%
Paul Millsap        UTA  864  7.4 14.7 0.2 0.5 3.2 4.0 3.7 7.2 2.5 1.7 0.9 1.9 3.9 18.2 .506 .308  .811
Rajon Rondo         BOS  784  5.8 11.8 0.2 0.7 2.9 4.8 1.3 3.5 9.2 1.7 0.0 3.5 2.0 14.7 .492 .250  .610
Walker Russell      DET  274  2.9  9.3 0.4 1.4 1.2 1.8 0.8 1.7 5.6 1.7 0.1 2.6 2.6  7.4 .310 .273  .643
Craig Smith         POR  313  5.2  9.9 0.0 0.1 3.0 4.6 2.9 6.6 1.5 1.7 0.3 2.0 3.9 13.3 .523 .000  .650
Lance Stephenson    IND  291  3.6  9.8 0.1 2.2 1.0 1.9 1.2 3.8 3.5 1.7 0.5 3.1 2.4  8.3 .367 .056  .533
Ben Wallace         DET  439  1.3  3.4 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.8 2.7 6.4 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.2 2.2  3.0 .390 .500  .400
Martell Webster     MIN  173  4.2 11.4 1.2 4.0 1.9 2.7 1.2 4.4 0.6 1.7 0.6 1.9 4.0 11.4 .364 .316  .692
Thaddeus Young      PHI  828  7.3 14.0 0.0 0.1 2.1 2.8 2.2 3.7 1.6 1.7 0.7 0.9 2.6 16.7 .519 .000  .754

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

CURRENT PER 36 MINUTES PERFORMANCE OF MINNESOTA TIMBERWOLVES PLAYERS

                                                                                               
PLAYER               MP  FG  FGA  FG%  3P 3PA  3P%  FT FTA  FT% ORB DRB AST STL BLK TOV  PF  PTS
Kevin Love         1111 7.5 16.3 .457 1.5 4.1 .362 6.7 8.1 .832 3.7 9.0 1.6 0.9 0.5 2.4 2.4 23.1
Ricky Rubio        1037 3.6  9.7 .374 0.7 2.3 .318 3.2 3.9 .823 0.3 4.1 9.0 2.5 0.2 3.4 2.4 11.2
Luke Ridnour        876 4.9 11.0 .448 1.2 3.4 .349 1.8 2.1 .827 0.3 2.4 4.0 1.1 0.3 1.8 3.1 12.8
Wesley Johnson      636 4.0 10.6 .372 0.9 4.1 .219 0.6 1.0 .588 0.6 4.1 1.2 0.8 0.7 2.1 2.7  9.4
Derrick Williams    557 5.4 12.5 .430 0.7 3.0 .239 3.0 4.8 .635 2.5 5.7 1.1 1.0 0.6 2.1 2.5 14.5
Michael Beasley     516 7.0 16.4 .426 1.3 3.0 .419 2.3 3.3 .688 1.5 6.0 1.4 0.8 0.4 2.8 2.9 17.5
Nikola Pekovic      482 7.7 12.5 .613 0.0 0.0      2.8 3.8 .725 5.7 4.9 0.6 1.1 1.0 3.3 4.0 18.1
Wayne Ellington     451 4.2 10.9 .387 1.3 3.6 .356 1.1 1.4 .778 0.5 2.7 1.0 1.1 0.4 0.7 1.7 10.9
Anthony Tolliver    429 2.2  6.3 .347 1.1 3.9 .283 1.8 2.4 .759 1.8 3.6 0.6 0.6 0.8 1.3 3.5  7.3
Darko Milicic       370 4.8 10.9 .438 0.0 0.0      1.4 3.0 .452 2.9 5.2 0.7 0.8 2.3 2.4 4.4 10.9
Jose Barea          310 5.5 15.0 .364 1.9 5.5 .340 4.9 5.8 .840 0.6 3.6 5.2 0.8 0.0 3.6 2.1 17.7
Anthony Randolph    219 6.6 13.2 .500 0.0 0.2 .000 4.1 5.3 .781 2.6 4.8 0.5 1.2 1.6 2.6 4.4 17.3
Martell Webster     173 4.2 11.4 .364 1.2 4.0 .316 1.9 2.7 .692 1.2 4.4 0.6 1.7 0.6 1.9 4.0 11.4

CURRENT PER 36 MINUTES PERFORMANCE OF DENVER NUGGETS PLAYERS

                                           
PLAYER              MP  FG  FGA  FG%  3P 3PA  3P%  FT FTA  FT% ORB DRB AST STL BLK TOV  PF  PTS
Ty Lawson          919 6.1 13.1 .464 0.9 3.0 .299 3.2 4.0 .794 0.9 2.7 6.6 1.5 0.0 2.5 1.7 16.2
Andre Miller       870 4.8 10.4 .462 0.5 1.7 .286 2.4 3.1 .760 1.0 3.6 8.0 1.4 0.2 3.0 2.2 12.5
Danilo Gallinari   824 5.7 12.8 .447 1.5 4.9 .313 5.6 6.3 .890 0.8 4.9 2.8 1.3 0.7 1.7 2.1 18.6
Arron Afflalo      808 4.7 10.9 .430 1.5 4.0 .371 3.1 4.1 .758 0.7 2.4 1.8 0.7 0.3 1.6 2.6 13.9
Al Harrington      804 7.5 15.9 .469 2.0 6.2 .317 2.6 3.7 .720 1.4 6.4 1.8 1.3 0.4 2.7 3.8 19.6
Nene Hilario       704 6.1 11.7 .520 0.0 0.1 .000 3.6 5.6 .636 1.8 7.3 2.4 1.4 0.9 3.1 2.6 15.8
Rudy Fernandez     628 5.1 11.4 .449 2.1 6.2 .333 1.7 2.5 .698 0.5 2.9 3.7 1.6 0.2 2.0 1.9 14.0
Corey Brewer       425 6.0 13.0 .461 1.1 3.0 .361 3.5 5.3 .651 1.5 4.4 1.6 2.4 0.8 2.0 3.1 16.6
Timofey Mozgov     364 4.9  9.3 .532 0.0 0.0      1.9 3.0 .633 1.9 7.5 1.4 0.5 2.5 2.7 4.6 11.8
Kosta Koufos       353 4.9  8.8 .558 0.0 0.0      2.0 3.3 .625 4.4 7.8 0.4 1.5 1.7 2.3 4.7 11.8
Chris Andersen     312 4.6  8.3 .556 0.0 0.0      3.8 6.0 .635 3.7 7.5 0.2 1.6 3.2 1.3 3.8 13.0

WELCOME TO THE QUEST--THINGS ARE VERY DIFFERENT HERE

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

MOST RECENT LEAGUE WIDE REAL PLAYER RATINGS

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

NBA REAL PLAYER RATINGS
2009-10 REGULAR SEASON

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Monday, October 3, 2011

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