Laugh Out Loud George Karl!: How Should Russell Westbrook be Notified When he is Forfeiting a Game?

What is the latest thinking at one of America’s most sophisticated basketball sites? We’re trying to determine whether Kevin Durant should rap Russell Westbrook up top the head or settle for a hand signal. (And you thought we spend all our time on complicated stuff laugh out loud). Specifically, QFTR is trying to determine what Kevin Durant should do from now on every time Russell Westbrook starts forfeiting a game due to refusing to play point guard in general and due to not getting the ball to him (Durant) enough times. The main alternatives are:

--Durant raps that boy up top the head, not very hard but hard enough to get his attention.

Or::

--Durant signals to Westbrook that he is blowing the game by raising his arm up with his hand open and all five fingers showing. The five fingers symbolize the five players on the court. If Durant signals Westbrook with the open hand, he is reminding the boy wonder that there are five players on the court at any time, not just one. This is to remind Westbrook that regardless of how great a scorer he is there is no way in hell that the Thunder can win key playoff games unless Westbrook respects the point guard concept, makes some plays, and gets the ball to Durant enough times so that Durant can get his share of scores and plays.

So what do you think, folks? When Westbrook starts dreaming of winning the game all by himself should he get the open hand signals or should he get a little rap up top the head? The debate about this continues on at QFTR headquarters!

While I was searching to see if there is a picture on the Internet of Kevin Durant rapping Russell Westbrook up top the head (yes, I actually was looking for one, laugh out loud) I came upon an article suggesting that the solution to the Thunder dilemma is to rely on shooting guard James Harden to make plays and throw the term “point guard” out the window. Laugh out loud! Here I am reminded that the Internet is totally lacking in quality reliability (and technical reliability as well by the way). Yeah right, solve the Thunder point guard problem by throwing the concept of point guard out the window and by having James Harden make a few plays in his spare time when he is taking a break from his 2-guard scoring. Laugh out loud indeed!

Sigh. But every time I see a goofy (or inane or absurd) article I am reminded of how QFTR is so very necessary as a beacon of light and intelligence in a sea of dark and dumbness.

HAND SIGNALS OR RAPS UP TOP THE HEAD???

EDITORIAL NOTE
Oh, and just why is this post a "Laugh Out Loud, George Karl!" type of post? After all, George Karl doesn't seem to be involved in this one.

Well, since Karl as a playoffs coach is ultimately nothing more than a joke, whenever we are joking about SOMETHING we might as well tag the posting using "Laugh Out Loud, George Karl!" (How's that for slightly twisted logic, laugh out loud). But I'm actually half serious. In my mind George Karl will forever be associated with the absurd and the humorous in basketball. His schemes to try to win playoff games are very much like the Wiley Coyote's schemes to catch the Road Runner: humorously doomed to failure every time. The mere mention of Karl's name is a signal that it's laugh time! So I don't think that it is too much of a stretch to associate Karl's humorous inability to succeed in the playoffs with any old basketball joking.

In other words starting with this one the Laugh Out Loud, George Karl! postings will not necessarily have to specifically have Karl in the subject matter.

The Banner is Changed but the Banner That Should Have Stayed Up for the Rest of 2011 is Posted Here

Well I held out as long as I could but I eventually was forced to succumb to the pressure and put the Mavericks’ and Heat’ team flags at the top of The Quest for the Ring (QFTR) banner. There was a lot of debate at QFTR headquarters about how the banner rules should be changed (or would be changed even if they shouldn’t be changed) but in the end the mavericks who were against the Mavericks being on top of the Thunder were forced to back down and the banner rules were not changed.

The banner rules do make a lot of sense (a lot more than Russell Westbrook sometimes does, laugh out loud). Under the rules, from when the Championship teams are determined until sometime in late December, the team flags at the top are the ones of the teams that were actually in the Championship (regardless of who should have been in the Championship if they had played smart). The flags in the second row have to be the ones for the two teams that lost the Conference finals. The flags in the third row are the flags of two of the four teams that lost in the semifinals (round two). For the two team flags in the third row, QFTR still has some leeway. For those, from each Conference we pick the better of the two semifinal losers. We picked the Celtics and the Lakers and passed on the Grizzlies and the Hawks.

The rebels here at QFTR who wanted the teams that were actually better teams (but played dumb and lost) to remain at the top of the banner for the six months plus between early June and late December did not go away empty handed. As a consolation prize, they were promised that the banner they wanted up for the six plus months would be placed in a fast break post. So that banner appears below.

THE BANNER THAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN UP FROM JUNE THROUGH DECEMBER 2011 (BUT ALAS, NEITHER RUSSELL WESTBROOK NOR DERRICK ROSE ATTENDED QFTR POINT GUARD SCHOOL)

Real Player Ratings for the 2011 NBA Championship Game Two, Dallas Mavericks 95 Miami Heat 93

2011 NBA CHAMPIONSHIP MIAMI HEAT VS DALLAS MAVERICKS GAME TWO REAL PLAYER RATINGS
JUNE 2, 2011
MIAMI, FLORIDA
DALLAS MAVERICKS 95 MIAMI HEAT 93
BEST OF SEVEN SERIES TIED 1-1

KEY PLAYERS WHO DID NOT PLAY
--These are the above average players who would have or should have played but did not.

--The reason is shown after the player if and only if it is known with at least 85% certainty.

--Usually the reason is known with almost 100% certainty.

--If the reason is not known with at least 85% certainty, the reason "unknown" is given.

--Injuries are NEVER perfectly reported and information about them is archived nowhere on the Internet. Therefore, it is possible that when Quest for the Ring identifies "coaching error" or "unknown" as the reason, the real reason may have been an injury.

--If the reason "traded" is shown then in many cases a player who was obtained in that trade played instead.

MIAMI HEAT KEY PLAYERS WHO DID NOT PLAY
Eddie House >>> Did not play due to apparent coach error.

DALLAS MAVERICKS KEY PLAYERS WHO DID NOT PLAY
Caron Butler >>> Did not play due to injury.

REAL PLAYER RATINGS FOR THIS GAME
--Real Player Rating shows you the real basketball quality of players quickly and accurately.

--Players who played at least 7 minutes in the game are included.

--Each player's hidden defending rating from the regular season is used as the Hidden Defending Adjustment (HDA). Obviously, players in any individual game including this one were not exactly as good defenders as they were on the average during the regular season. But since there is no way to provide HDA for individual games and since it is better to have some reasonable HDA than none at all, we use the season HDA as a reasonable substitute.

--Beginning in 2011 we show just the combined listing; in prior years we separately showed the rank lists by team but this is now considered to be unnecessary.

Dwyane Wade, SG 1.559 HEAT
Mike Bibby, PG 1.169 HEAT
LeBron James, SF 0.978 HEAT
Shawn Marion, SF 0.912 MAVERICKS
Jason Terry, SG 0.910 MAVERICKS
DeShawn Stevenson, SG 0.908 MAVERICKS
Dirk Nowitzki, PF 0.905 MAVERICKS
Tyson Chandler, C 0.623 MAVERICKS
Mario Chalmers, PG 0.588 HEAT
Jason Kidd, PG 0.453 MAVERICKS
Jose Juan Barea, PG 0.443 MAVERICKS
Chris Bosh, PF 0.438 HEAT
Joel Anthony, C 0.383 HEAT
Mike Miller, SG 0.314 HEAT
Udonis Haslem, PF 0.195 HEAT
Brendan Haywood, C -0.154 MAVERICKS

SCALE FOR REGULAR SEASON REAL PLAYER RATINGS FOR A SINGLE GAME
Perfect Player for all Practical Purposes / Major Historic Super Star 1.200 and more
Historic Super Star 1.080 1.199
Super Star 0.960 1.079
A Star Player / A well above normal starter 0.860 0.959
Very Good Player / A solid starter 0.780 0.859
Major Role Player / Good enough to start 0.700 0.779
Good Role Player / Often a good 6th man, can possibly start 0.620 0.699
Satisfactory Role Player / Generally should not start 0.540 0.619
Marginal Role Player / Should not start except in an emergency 0.460 0.539
Poor Player / Should never start 0.380 0.459
Very Poor Player 0.300 0.379
Extremely Poor Player 0.299 and less

AVERAGE RATINGS BY POSITION
Not all positions are created equal. In pro basketball, point guard and center are the most important positions, power forward is in the middle, and small forward and shooting guard are the least important. (Some teams will have a different pattern.) The following are good estimates for average ratings by position among all NBA players who play 300 minutes or more. There are very few small forwards and shooting guards who don't fit at other positions who are superstars. Most superstars are players who can play point guard, power forward, or center.

Point Guard .750
Shooting Guard .635
Small Forward .645
Power Forward .715
Center .755
All Positions / All Players (NBA Overall Average) .700

To quickly and fairly compare two players who play different positions, convert their Ratings as follows:

Point Guards: Subtract .050; for example, .700 becomes .650
Shooting Guards: Add .065; for example, .700 becomes .765
Small Forwards: Add .055; for example, .700 becomes .755
Power Forwards: Subtract .015; for example, .700 becomes .685
Centers: Subtract .055; for example, .700 becomes .645

REAL PLAYER PRODUCTION FOR THIS GAME
--Shows the real basketball production (or quantity) of players.

--Players who played at least 7 minutes in the game are included.

--An estimate of the value of hidden defending production is included in the total production for all players shown; as described above hidden defending ratings from the regular season are used.

--Beginning in 2011 we show just the combined listing; in prior years we separately showed the rank lists by team but this is now considered to be unnecessary.

Dwyane Wade, SG 65.48 HEAT
LeBron James, SF 39.12 HEAT
Dirk Nowitzki, PF 38.01 MAVERICKS
Shawn Marion, SF 37.39 MAVERICKS
Jason Terry, SG 28.21 MAVERICKS
Mike Bibby, PG 25.72 HEAT
Tyson Chandler, C 23.66 MAVERICKS
DeShawn Stevenson, SG 19.97 MAVERICKS
Chris Bosh, PF 17.50 HEAT
Jason Kidd, PG 17.21 MAVERICKS
Mario Chalmers, PG 14.70 HEAT
Joel Anthony, C 10.34 HEAT
Jose Juan Barea, PG 6.20 MAVERICKS
Udonis Haslem, PF 5.66 HEAT
Mike Miller, SG 4.71 HEAT
Brendan Haywood, C -1.24 MAVERICKS

=============== OFFENSIVE AND DEFENSIVE SUB RATINGS FOR THIS GAME ===============

OFFENSIVE SUB RATINGS FOR THIS GAME
--Shows the real quality of players' offense.

--Players who played at least 7 minutes in the game are included.

--The hidden defending component is not a part of the offensive sub rating.

--Beginning in 2011 we show just the combined listing; in prior years we separately showed the rank lists by team but this is now considered to be unnecessary.

Dwyane Wade, SG 1.083 HEAT
Jason Terry, SG 0.702 MAVERICKS
Mike Bibby, PG 0.619 HEAT
Shawn Marion, SF 0.596 MAVERICKS
Dirk Nowitzki, PF 0.399 MAVERICKS
Tyson Chandler, C 0.379 MAVERICKS
DeShawn Stevenson, SG 0.365 MAVERICKS
LeBron James, SF 0.342 HEAT
Mario Chalmers, PG 0.272 HEAT
Jose Juan Barea, PG 0.098 MAVERICKS
Jason Kidd, PG 0.075 MAVERICKS
Chris Bosh, PF 0.011 HEAT
Joel Anthony, C 0.000 HEAT
Brendan Haywood, C -0.087 MAVERICKS
Udonis Haslem, PF -0.096 HEAT
Mike Miller, SG -0.203 HEAT

THE AVERAGE OFFENSIVE SUB RATING
for all NBA players who play 300 minutes or more is about .385

DEFENSIVE SUB RATINGS FOR THIS GAME
--Shows the real quality of players' defense.

--Players who played at least 7 minutes in the game are included.

--The hidden defending component is included as described above.

--Beginning in 2011 we show just the combined listing; in prior years we separately showed the rank lists by team but this is now considered to be unnecessary.

LeBron James, SF 0.636 HEAT
Mike Bibby, PG 0.550 HEAT
DeShawn Stevenson, SG 0.543 MAVERICKS
Mike Miller, SG 0.516 HEAT
Dirk Nowitzki, PF 0.506 MAVERICKS
Dwyane Wade, SG 0.476 HEAT
Chris Bosh, PF 0.426 HEAT
Joel Anthony, C 0.383 HEAT
Jason Kidd, PG 0.378 MAVERICKS
Jose Juan Barea, PG 0.345 MAVERICKS
Shawn Marion, SF 0.316 MAVERICKS
Mario Chalmers, PG 0.316 HEAT
Udonis Haslem, PF 0.291 HEAT
Tyson Chandler, C 0.244 MAVERICKS
Jason Terry, SG 0.207 MAVERICKS
Brendan Haywood, C -0.067 MAVERICKS

THE AVERAGE DEFENSIVE SUB RATING
for all NBA players who play 300 minutes or more is about .315

The breakdown between hidden and unhidden defending is available on request.

THE ALL IMPORTANT, AWARD WINNING REAL PLAYER RATINGS USER GUIDE
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.

ABOUT REAL PLAYER RATINGS REPORTS
Of the several dozen types of Reports that Quest for the Ring (QFTR) produces, Team Real Player Rating Reports are among the most important. A Real Player Rating Report gives you four very important ratings for every player in the Report:

--Overall Real Player Rating
--Real Player Production
--Offensive Sub Rating
--Defensive Sub Rating

These Reports are formatted reports. Formatted reports have a pre-set format and there is little or no custom commentary included. The whole idea of formatted reports is to provide a very large amount of important information very efficiently. The carefully planned and long evolved and perfected formatting eliminates the need for time-consuming custom text reporting in contexts where there is really no need for it and where there may be no time for it. But to fully understand a formatted Report you need to be familiar with the User Guide for it.

In contrast to formatted reports, QFTR breaks new ground in general and reveals its latest discoveries about basketball in particular in free form (non-formatted) text reports. While formatted posts are "on the reservation", non-formatted text reports are where QFTR "goes off the reservation". Both types of reports are essential; having just one type without the other type would reduce the value of QFTR by MORE than half.

QFTR is considering some kind of labelling system for posts that will allow visitors to even more easily than ever get to content they want or need.

There are two things you can do to get the full value out of RPR Reports. First, you can read parts or all of the User Guide for them (the link to the Guide is below). Second, you can simply visit a lot and see a lot of Reports and then you will automatically become better at interpreting what you see.

During the regular season beginning in late January (when we can first validly calculate the hidden defending adjustments) QFTR posts Team Real Player Ratings for major contending teams and other selected teams as time permits. Between the end of the regular season and before the Conference Finals begin (in late April and in early May) QFTR posts the final ratings for approximately the ten best teams as of the beginning of the playoffs. If there is a major upset in round one and/or round two by a team whose ratings were not yet posted, QFTR will make sure to post those asap.

These final ratings can be used in team grids that are very important parts of any playoff series preview.

Unfortunately, production time limits that are caused partly by limited traffic mean that only a small number of playoff series previews can be produced. Remember, you can help QFTR get more production time by posting links to QFTR wherever you can, and then QFTR will link back to you on request (click the contact link under the banner).

Game Real Player Ratings Reports are produced for every NBA Championship game, every NBA Conference Final game, and for selected NBA semifinal games. For the semifinals, normally, the most interesting semifinal (round two) series will be selected (out of the four of them) and Real Player Ratings for every game in that series will be posted.

After the playoffs are completely over and the off-season arrives, QFTR has enough time to produce and publish a final annual Real Player Ratings Report for all thirty NBA teams. These annual records of who was really the best and who really did what are scheduled to be posted in late June and in early July. They are posted in alphabetic order by team starting with the Atlanta Hawks and ending with the Washington Wizards. The ones for the top teams that were posted in late April-early May are repeated so there is a complete set in alpha and chronological sequence.

If you ever spend quality time at QFTR you will discover that there are other types of Real Player Rating Reports. Many of these appear in the summer. Among the most important ones that come out in the summer are the League-Wide Real Player Ratings Reports. Also, don't miss the Real Player Ratings Reports by position if you are a serious basketball person.

This section was a limited and brief overview of Real Player Ratings Reports in general. What you need if you want to understand how the Ratings are constructed and why QFTR knows they are the best possible ratings is the User Guide for Real Player Ratings. This User Guide was last revised and updated in May 2010; a new revision is "on order" and is expected to be completed in May or June of 2011. The May 2010 edition is still very useful; the only section of it that is not completely accurate is the one where the specific factors are shown; the factors have been adjusted a little to reflect the latest information and understanding QFTR has about exactly how playoff games are won. There has also been a significant improvement in the calibration and validation of Real Player Ratings components.

So 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.

Real Player Ratings for the 2011 NBA Championship Game One: Miami Heat 92 Dallas Mavericks 84

2011 NBA CHAMPIONSHIP MIAMI HEAT VS DALLAS MAVERICKS GAME ONE REAL PLAYER RATINGS
MAY 31 2011
MIAMI, FLORIDA
MIAMI HEAT 92 DALLAS MAVERICKS 84
MIAMI LEADS BEST OF SEVEN SERIES 1-0

KEY PLAYERS WHO DID NOT PLAY
--These are the above average players who would have or should have played but did not.

--The reason is shown after the player if and only if it is known with at least 85% certainty.

--Usually the reason is known with almost 100% certainty.

--If the reason is not known with at least 85% certainty, the reason "unknown" is given.

--Injuries are NEVER perfectly reported and information about them is archived nowhere on the Internet. Therefore, it is possible that when Quest for the Ring identifies "coaching error" or "unknown" as the reason, the real reason may have been an injury.

--If the reason "traded" is shown then in many cases a player who was obtained in that trade played instead.

MIAMI HEAT KEY PLAYERS WHO DID NOT PLAY
Eddie House >>> Did not play due to apparent coach error.

DALLAS MAVERICKS KEY PLAYERS WHO DID NOT PLAY
Caron Butler >>> Did not play due to injury.

REAL PLAYER RATINGS FOR THIS GAME
--Real Player Rating shows you the real basketball quality of players quickly and accurately.

--Players who played at least 7 minutes in the game are included.

--Each player's hidden defending rating from the regular season is used as the Hidden Defending Adjustment (HDA). Obviously, players in any individual game including this one were not exactly as good defenders as they were on the average during the regular season. But since there is no way to provide HDA for individual games and since it is better to have some reasonable HDA than none at all, we use the season HDA as a reasonable substitute.

--Beginning in 2011 we show just the combined listing; in prior years we separately showed the rank lists by team but this is now considered to be unnecessary.

LeBron James, SF 1.164 HEAT
Dwyane Wade, SG 1.030 HEAT
Dirk Nowitzki, PF 0.964 MAVERICKS
Shawn Marion, SF 0.952 MAVERICKS
Juwan Howard, PF 0.882 HEAT
Brendan Haywood, C 0.858 MAVERICKS
DeShawn Stevenson, SG 0.854 MAVERICKS
Chris Bosh, PF 0.788 HEAT
Jason Kidd, PG 0.634 MAVERICKS
Mario Chalmers, PG 0.588 HEAT
Tyson Chandler, C 0.568 MAVERICKS
Mike Bibby, PG 0.483 HEAT
Mike Miller, SG 0.422 HEAT
Udonis Haslem, PF 0.406 HEAT
Jason Terry, SG 0.343 MAVERICKS
Joel Anthony, C 0.265 HEAT
Jose Juan Barea, PG 0.226 MAVERICKS
Peja Stojakovic, SF 0.067 MAVERICKS

SCALE FOR REGULAR SEASON REAL PLAYER RATINGS FOR A SINGLE GAME
Perfect Player for all Practical Purposes / Major Historic Super Star 1.200 and more
Historic Super Star 1.080 1.199
Super Star 0.960 1.079
A Star Player / A well above normal starter 0.860 0.959
Very Good Player / A solid starter 0.780 0.859
Major Role Player / Good enough to start 0.700 0.779
Good Role Player / Often a good 6th man, can possibly start 0.620 0.699
Satisfactory Role Player / Generally should not start 0.540 0.619
Marginal Role Player / Should not start except in an emergency 0.460 0.539
Poor Player / Should never start 0.380 0.459
Very Poor Player 0.300 0.379
Extremely Poor Player 0.299 and less

AVERAGE RATINGS BY POSITION
Not all positions are created equal. In pro basketball, point guard and center are the most important positions, power forward is in the middle, and small forward and shooting guard are the least important. (Some teams will have a different pattern.) The following are good estimates for average ratings by position among all NBA players who play 300 minutes or more. There are very few small forwards and shooting guards who don't fit at other positions who are superstars. Most superstars are players who can play point guard, power forward, or center.

Point Guard .750
Shooting Guard .635
Small Forward .645
Power Forward .715
Center .755
All Positions / All Players (NBA Overall Average) .700

To quickly and fairly compare two players who play different positions, convert their Ratings as follows:

Point Guards: Subtract .050; for example, .700 becomes .650
Shooting Guards: Add .065; for example, .700 becomes .765
Small Forwards: Add .055; for example, .700 becomes .755
Power Forwards: Subtract .015; for example, .700 becomes .685
Centers: Subtract .055; for example, .700 becomes .645

REAL PLAYER PRODUCTION FOR THIS GAME
--Shows the real basketball production (or quantity) of players.

--Players who played at least 7 minutes in the game are included.

--An estimate of the value of hidden defending production is included in the total production for all players shown; as described above hidden defending ratings from the regular season are used.

--Beginning in 2011 we show just the combined listing; in prior years we separately showed the rank lists by team but this is now considered to be unnecessary.

LeBron James, SF 52.37 HEAT
Dwyane Wade, SG 39.14 HEAT
Dirk Nowitzki, PF 38.57 MAVERICKS
Shawn Marion, SF 33.30 MAVERICKS
Chris Bosh, PF 30.72 HEAT
Jason Kidd, PG 22.83 MAVERICKS
Tyson Chandler, C 19.32 MAVERICKS
Mario Chalmers, PG 16.46 HEAT
Udonis Haslem, PF 12.19 HEAT
Brendan Haywood, C 12.01 MAVERICKS
DeShawn Stevenson, SG 11.96 MAVERICKS
Jason Terry, SG 11.32 MAVERICKS
Mike Miller, SG 8.44 HEAT
Mike Bibby, PG 6.76 HEAT
Juwan Howard, PF 5.47 HEAT
Joel Anthony, C 4.78 HEAT
Jose Juan Barea, PG 4.07 MAVERICKS
Peja Stojakovic, SF 1.01 MAVERICKS

=============== OFFENSIVE AND DEFENSIVE SUB RATINGS FOR THIS GAME ===============

OFFENSIVE SUB RATINGS FOR THIS GAME
--Shows the real quality of players' offense.

--Players who played at least 7 minutes in the game are included.

--The hidden defending component is not a part of the offensive sub rating.

--Beginning in 2011 we show just the combined listing; in prior years we separately showed the rank lists by team but this is now considered to be unnecessary.

LeBron James, SF 0.716 HEAT
Juwan Howard, PF 0.684 HEAT
Dirk Nowitzki, PF 0.585 MAVERICKS
Dwyane Wade, SG 0.567 HEAT
Shawn Marion, SF 0.510 MAVERICKS
DeShawn Stevenson, SG 0.506 MAVERICKS
Chris Bosh, PF 0.438 HEAT
Mike Miller, SG 0.365 HEAT
Jason Kidd, PG 0.339 MAVERICKS
Mario Chalmers, PG 0.278 HEAT
Jason Terry, SG 0.234 MAVERICKS
Tyson Chandler, C 0.190 MAVERICKS
Mike Bibby, PG 0.139 HEAT
Udonis Haslem, PF 0.083 HEAT
Jose Juan Barea, PG 0.033 MAVERICKS
Brendan Haywood, C -0.040 MAVERICKS
Joel Anthony, C -0.116 HEAT
Peja Stojakovic, SF -0.203 MAVERICKS

THE AVERAGE OFFENSIVE SUB RATING
for all NBA players who play 300 minutes or more is about .385

DEFENSIVE SUB RATINGS FOR THIS GAME
--Shows the real quality of players' defense.

--Players who played at least 7 minutes in the game are included.

--The hidden defending component is included as described above.

--Beginning in 2011 we show just the combined listing; in prior years we separately showed the rank lists by team but this is now considered to be unnecessary.

Brendan Haywood, C 0.898 MAVERICKS
Dwyane Wade, SG 0.463 HEAT
LeBron James, SF 0.448 HEAT
Shawn Marion, SF 0.442 MAVERICKS
Joel Anthony, C 0.381 HEAT
Dirk Nowitzki, PF 0.380 MAVERICKS
Tyson Chandler, C 0.378 MAVERICKS
Chris Bosh, PF 0.350 HEAT
DeShawn Stevenson, SG 0.348 MAVERICKS
Mike Bibby, PG 0.344 HEAT
Udonis Haslem, PF 0.323 HEAT
Mario Chalmers, PG 0.309 HEAT
Jason Kidd, PG 0.295 MAVERICKS
Peja Stojakovic, SF 0.270 MAVERICKS
Juwan Howard, PF 0.199 HEAT
Jose Juan Barea, PG 0.193 MAVERICKS
Jason Terry, SG 0.109 MAVERICKS
Mike Miller, SG 0.057 HEAT

THE AVERAGE DEFENSIVE SUB RATING
for all NBA players who play 300 minutes or more is about .315

The breakdown between hidden and unhidden defending is available on request.

THE ALL IMPORTANT, AWARD WINNING REAL PLAYER RATINGS USER GUIDE
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.

ABOUT REAL PLAYER RATINGS REPORTS
Of the several dozen types of Reports that Quest for the Ring (QFTR) produces, Team Real Player Rating Reports are among the most important. A Real Player Rating Report gives you four very important ratings for every player in the Report:

--Overall Real Player Rating
--Real Player Production
--Offensive Sub Rating
--Defensive Sub Rating

These Reports are formatted reports. Formatted reports have a pre-set format and there is little or no custom commentary included. The whole idea of formatted reports is to provide a very large amount of important information very efficiently. The carefully planned and long evolved and perfected formatting eliminates the need for time-consuming custom text reporting in contexts where there is really no need for it and where there may be no time for it. But to fully understand a formatted Report you need to be familiar with the User Guide for it.

In contrast to formatted reports, QFTR breaks new ground in general and reveals its latest discoveries about basketball in particular in free form (non-formatted) text reports. While formatted posts are "on the reservation", non-formatted text reports are where QFTR "goes off the reservation". Both types of reports are essential; having just one type without the other type would reduce the value of QFTR by MORE than half.

QFTR is considering some kind of labelling system for posts that will allow visitors to even more easily than ever get to content they want or need.

There are two things you can do to get the full value out of RPR Reports. First, you can read parts or all of the User Guide for them (the link to the Guide is below). Second, you can simply visit a lot and see a lot of Reports and then you will automatically become better at interpreting what you see.

During the regular season beginning in late January (when we can first validly calculate the hidden defending adjustments) QFTR posts Team Real Player Ratings for major contending teams and other selected teams as time permits. Between the end of the regular season and before the Conference Finals begin (in late April and in early May) QFTR posts the final ratings for approximately the ten best teams as of the beginning of the playoffs. If there is a major upset in round one and/or round two by a team whose ratings were not yet posted, QFTR will make sure to post those asap.

These final ratings can be used in team grids that are very important parts of any playoff series preview.

Unfortunately, production time limits that are caused partly by limited traffic mean that only a small number of playoff series previews can be produced. Remember, you can help QFTR get more production time by posting links to QFTR wherever you can, and then QFTR will link back to you on request (click the contact link under the banner).

Game Real Player Ratings Reports are produced for every NBA Championship game, every NBA Conference Final game, and for selected NBA semifinal games. For the semifinals, normally, the most interesting semifinal (round two) series will be selected (out of the four of them) and Real Player Ratings for every game in that series will be posted.

After the playoffs are completely over and the off-season arrives, QFTR has enough time to produce and publish a final annual Real Player Ratings Report for all thirty NBA teams. These annual records of who was really the best and who really did what are scheduled to be posted in late June and in early July. They are posted in alphabetic order by team starting with the Atlanta Hawks and ending with the Washington Wizards. The ones for the top teams that were posted in late April-early May are repeated so there is a complete set in alpha and chronological sequence.

If you ever spend quality time at QFTR you will discover that there are other types of Real Player Rating Reports. Many of these appear in the summer. Among the most important ones that come out in the summer are the League-Wide Real Player Ratings Reports. Also, don't miss the Real Player Ratings Reports by position if you are a serious basketball person.

This section was a limited and brief overview of Real Player Ratings Reports in general. What you need if you want to understand how the Ratings are constructed and why QFTR knows they are the best possible ratings is the User Guide for Real Player Ratings. This User Guide was last revised and updated in May 2010; a new revision is "on order" and is expected to be completed in May or June of 2011. The May 2010 edition is still very useful; the only section of it that is not completely accurate is the one where the specific factors are shown; the factors have been adjusted a little to reflect the latest information and understanding QFTR has about exactly how playoff games are won. There has also been a significant improvement in the calibration and validation of Real Player Ratings components.

So 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.

Real Player Ratings for the 2011 West Conference Final Game Five: Dallas Mavericks 100 Oklahoma Thunder 96

2011 WEST CONFERENCE FINAL OKLAHOMA THUNDER VS DALLAS MAVERICKS GAME FIVE REAL PLAYER RATINGS
MAY 25 2011
DALLAS, TEXAS
DALLAS MAVERICKS 100 OKLAHOMA THUNDER 96
DALLAS WINS BEST OF SEVEN SERIES 4-1

KEY PLAYERS WHO DID NOT PLAY
--These are the above average players who would have or should have played but did not.

--The reason is shown after the player if and only if it is known with at least 85% certainty.

--Usually the reason is known with almost 100% certainty.

--If the reason is not known with at least 85% certainty, the reason "unknown" is given.

--Injuries are NEVER perfectly reported and information about them is archived nowhere on the Internet. Therefore, it is possible that when Quest for the Ring identifies "coaching error" or "unknown" as the reason, the real reason may have been an injury.

--If the reason "traded" is shown then in many cases a player who was obtained in that trade played instead.

THUNDER
Nazr Muhammed >>> Did not play due to apparent coaching error.

Daequan Cook >>> Played only 4 minutes due to apparent coaching error.

MAVERICKS
Caron Butler >>> Did not play due to injury.

REAL PLAYER RATINGS FOR THIS GAME
--Real Player Rating shows you the real basketball quality of players quickly and accurately.

--Players who played at least 7 minutes in the game are included.

--Each player's hidden defending rating from the regular season is used as the Hidden Defending Adjustment (HDA). Obviously, players in any individual game including this one were not exactly as good defenders as they were on the average during the regular season. But since there is no way to provide HDA for individual games and since it is better to have some reasonable HDA than none at all, we use the season HDA as a reasonable substitute.

--Beginning in 2011 we show just the combined listing; in prior years we separately showed the rank lists by team but this is now considered to be unnecessary.

Jose Juan Barea, PG 1.393 MAVERICKS
James Harden, SG 1.348 THUNDER
Shawn Marion, SF 1.186 MAVERICKS
Nick Collison, PF 1.151 THUNDER
Russell Westbrook, PG 1.043 THUNDER
Dirk Nowitzki, PF 0.996 MAVERICKS
Jason Kidd, PG 0.858 MAVERICKS
Peja Stojakovic, SF 0.847 MAVERICKS
Tyson Chandler, C 0.709 MAVERICKS
Kevin Durant, SF 0.708 THUNDER
Brendan Haywood, C 0.626 MAVERICKS
Kendrick Perkins, C 0.497 THUNDER
Thabo Sefolosha, SG 0.270 THUNDER
Jason Terry, SG 0.261 MAVERICKS
Serge Ibaka, PF 0.155 THUNDER
Eric Maynor, PG 0.130 THUNDER
DeShawn Stevenson, SG 0.018 MAVERICKS

SCALE FOR REGULAR SEASON REAL PLAYER RATINGS FOR A SINGLE GAME
Perfect Player for all Practical Purposes / Major Historic Super Star 1.200 and more
Historic Super Star 1.080 1.199
Super Star 0.960 1.079
A Star Player / A well above normal starter 0.860 0.959
Very Good Player / A solid starter 0.780 0.859
Major Role Player / Good enough to start 0.700 0.779
Good Role Player / Often a good 6th man, can possibly start 0.620 0.699
Satisfactory Role Player / Generally should not start 0.540 0.619
Marginal Role Player / Should not start except in an emergency 0.460 0.539
Poor Player / Should never start 0.380 0.459
Very Poor Player 0.300 0.379
Extremely Poor Player 0.299 and less

AVERAGE RATINGS BY POSITION
Not all positions are created equal. In pro basketball, point guard and center are the most important positions, power forward is in the middle, and small forward and shooting guard are the least important. (Some teams will have a different pattern.) The following are good estimates for average ratings by position among all NBA players who play 300 minutes or more. There are very few small forwards and shooting guards who don't fit at other positions who are superstars. Most superstars are players who can play point guard, power forward, or center.

Point Guard .750
Shooting Guard .635
Small Forward .645
Power Forward .715
Center .755
All Positions / All Players (NBA Overall Average) .700

To quickly and fairly compare two players who play different positions, convert their Ratings as follows:

Point Guards: Subtract .050; for example, .700 becomes .650
Shooting Guards: Add .065; for example, .700 becomes .765
Small Forwards: Add .055; for example, .700 becomes .755
Power Forwards: Subtract .015; for example, .700 becomes .685
Centers: Subtract .055; for example, .700 becomes .645

REAL PLAYER PRODUCTION FOR THIS GAME
--Shows the real basketball production (or quantity) of players.

--Players who played at least 7 minutes in the game are included.

--An estimate of the value of hidden defending production is included in the total production for all players shown; as described above hidden defending ratings from the regular season are used.

--Beginning in 2011 we show just the combined listing; in prior years we separately showed the rank lists by team but this is now considered to be unnecessary.

Shawn Marion, SF 47.45 MAVERICKS
Russell Westbrook, PG 45.88 THUNDER
James Harden, SG 45.83 THUNDER
Nick Collison, PF 43.73 THUNDER
Dirk Nowitzki, PF 39.84 MAVERICKS
Jose Juan Barea, PG 30.65 MAVERICKS
Kevin Durant, SF 30.43 THUNDER
Jason Kidd, PG 29.18 MAVERICKS
Tyson Chandler, C 17.01 MAVERICKS
Kendrick Perkins, C 13.93 THUNDER
Brendan Haywood, C 10.02 MAVERICKS
Jason Terry, SG 8.11 MAVERICKS
Peja Stojakovic, SF 7.63 MAVERICKS
Thabo Sefolosha, SG 3.78 THUNDER
Eric Maynor, PG 2.72 THUNDER
Serge Ibaka, PF 2.18 THUNDER
DeShawn Stevenson, SG 0.46 MAVERICKS

=============== OFFENSIVE AND DEFENSIVE SUB RATINGS FOR THIS GAME ===============

OFFENSIVE SUB RATINGS FOR THIS GAME
--Shows the real quality of players' offense.

--Players who played at least 7 minutes in the game are included.

--The hidden defending component is not a part of the offensive sub rating.

--Beginning in 2011 we show just the combined listing; in prior years we separately showed the rank lists by team but this is now considered to be unnecessary.

Jose Juan Barea, PG 0.972 MAVERICKS
James Harden, SG 0.935 THUNDER
Shawn Marion, SF 0.764 MAVERICKS
Russell Westbrook, PG 0.708 THUNDER
Jason Kidd, PG 0.564 MAVERICKS
Brendan Haywood, C 0.546 MAVERICKS
Nick Collison, PF 0.536 THUNDER
Dirk Nowitzki, PF 0.464 MAVERICKS
Peja Stojakovic, SF 0.335 MAVERICKS
Tyson Chandler, C 0.291 MAVERICKS
Kevin Durant, SF 0.279 THUNDER
Jason Terry, SG 0.093 MAVERICKS
Thabo Sefolosha, SG 0.000 THUNDER
Eric Maynor, PG -0.003 THUNDER
Kendrick Perkins, C -0.078 THUNDER
Serge Ibaka, PF -0.127 THUNDER
DeShawn Stevenson, SG -0.322 MAVERICKS

THE AVERAGE OFFENSIVE SUB RATING
for all NBA players who play 300 minutes or more is about .385

DEFENSIVE SUB RATINGS FOR THIS GAME
--Shows the real quality of players' defense.

--Players who played at least 7 minutes in the game are included.

--The hidden defending component is included as described above.

--Beginning in 2011 we show just the combined listing; in prior years we separately showed the rank lists by team but this is now considered to be unnecessary.

Nick Collison, PF 0.615 THUNDER
Kendrick Perkins, C 0.575 THUNDER
Dirk Nowitzki, PF 0.532 MAVERICKS
Peja Stojakovic, SF 0.513 MAVERICKS
Kevin Durant, SF 0.429 THUNDER
Shawn Marion, SF 0.422 MAVERICKS
Jose Juan Barea, PG 0.421 MAVERICKS
Tyson Chandler, C 0.418 MAVERICKS
James Harden, SG 0.413 THUNDER
DeShawn Stevenson, SG 0.340 MAVERICKS
Russell Westbrook, PG 0.335 THUNDER
Jason Kidd, PG 0.294 MAVERICKS
Serge Ibaka, PF 0.282 THUNDER
Thabo Sefolosha, SG 0.270 THUNDER
Jason Terry, SG 0.168 MAVERICKS
Eric Maynor, PG 0.133 THUNDER
Brendan Haywood, C 0.080 MAVERICKS

THE AVERAGE DEFENSIVE SUB RATING
for all NBA players who play 300 minutes or more is about .315

The breakdown between hidden and unhidden defending is available on request.

THE ALL IMPORTANT, AWARD WINNING REAL PLAYER RATINGS USER GUIDE
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.

ABOUT REAL PLAYER RATINGS REPORTS
Of the several dozen types of Reports that Quest for the Ring (QFTR) produces, Team Real Player Rating Reports are among the most important. A Real Player Rating Report gives you four very important ratings for every player in the Report:

--Overall Real Player Rating
--Real Player Production
--Offensive Sub Rating
--Defensive Sub Rating

These Reports are formatted reports. Formatted reports have a pre-set format and there is little or no custom commentary included. The whole idea of formatted reports is to provide a very large amount of important information very efficiently. The carefully planned and long evolved and perfected formatting eliminates the need for time-consuming custom text reporting in contexts where there is really no need for it and where there may be no time for it. But to fully understand a formatted Report you need to be familiar with the User Guide for it.

In contrast to formatted reports, QFTR breaks new ground in general and reveals its latest discoveries about basketball in particular in free form (non-formatted) text reports. While formatted posts are "on the reservation", non-formatted text reports are where QFTR "goes off the reservation". Both types of reports are essential; having just one type without the other type would reduce the value of QFTR by MORE than half.

QFTR is considering some kind of labelling system for posts that will allow visitors to even more easily than ever get to content they want or need.

There are two things you can do to get the full value out of RPR Reports. First, you can read parts or all of the User Guide for them (the link to the Guide is below). Second, you can simply visit a lot and see a lot of Reports and then you will automatically become better at interpreting what you see.

During the regular season beginning in late January (when we can first validly calculate the hidden defending adjustments) QFTR posts Team Real Player Ratings for major contending teams and other selected teams as time permits. Between the end of the regular season and before the Conference Finals begin (in late April and in early May) QFTR posts the final ratings for approximately the ten best teams as of the beginning of the playoffs. If there is a major upset in round one and/or round two by a team whose ratings were not yet posted, QFTR will make sure to post those asap.

These final ratings can be used in team grids that are very important parts of any playoff series preview.

Unfortunately, production time limits that are caused partly by limited traffic mean that only a small number of playoff series previews can be produced. Remember, you can help QFTR get more production time by posting links to QFTR wherever you can, and then QFTR will link back to you on request (click the contact link under the banner).

Game Real Player Ratings Reports are produced for every NBA Championship game, every NBA Conference Final game, and for selected NBA semifinal games. For the semifinals, normally, the most interesting semifinal (round two) series will be selected (out of the four of them) and Real Player Ratings for every game in that series will be posted.

After the playoffs are completely over and the off-season arrives, QFTR has enough time to produce and publish a final annual Real Player Ratings Report for all thirty NBA teams. These annual records of who was really the best and who really did what are scheduled to be posted in late June and in early July. They are posted in alphabetic order by team starting with the Atlanta Hawks and ending with the Washington Wizards. The ones for the top teams that were posted in late April-early May are repeated so there is a complete set in alpha and chronological sequence.

If you ever spend quality time at QFTR you will discover that there are other types of Real Player Rating Reports. Many of these appear in the summer. Among the most important ones that come out in the summer are the League-Wide Real Player Ratings Reports. Also, don't miss the Real Player Ratings Reports by position if you are a serious basketball person.

This section was a limited and brief overview of Real Player Ratings Reports in general. What you need if you want to understand how the Ratings are constructed and why QFTR knows they are the best possible ratings is the User Guide for Real Player Ratings. This User Guide was last revised and updated in May 2010; a new revision is "on order" and is expected to be completed in May or June of 2011. The May 2010 edition is still very useful; the only section of it that is not completely accurate is the one where the specific factors are shown; the factors have been adjusted a little to reflect the latest information and understanding QFTR has about exactly how playoff games are won. There has also been a significant improvement in the calibration and validation of Real Player Ratings components.

So 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.

Real Player Ratings for the 2011 West Conference Final Game Four: Dallas Mavericks 112 Oklahoma Thunder 105, Overtime

2011 WEST CONFERENCE FINAL OKLAHOMA THUNDER VS DALLAS MAVERICKS GAME FOUR REAL PLAYER RATINGS
MAY 23 2011
OKLAHOMA CITY, OKLAHOMA
DALLAS MAVERICKS 112 OKLAHOMA THUNDER 105, OVERTIME
DALLAS LEADS BEST OF SEVEN SERIES 3-1

KEY PLAYERS WHO DID NOT PLAY
--These are the above average players who would have or should have played but did not.

--The reason is shown after the player if and only if it is known with at least 85% certainty.

--Usually the reason is known with almost 100% certainty.

--If the reason is not known with at least 85% certainty, the reason "unknown" is given.

--Injuries are NEVER perfectly reported and information about them is archived nowhere on the Internet. Therefore, it is possible that when Quest for the Ring identifies "coaching error" or "unknown" as the reason, the real reason may have been an injury.

--If the reason "traded" is shown then in many cases a player who was obtained in that trade played instead.

THUNDER
Nazr Muhammed >>> Did not play due to apparent coaching error.

Daequan Cook >>> Played only 6 minutes due to apparent coaching error.

MAVERICKS
Caron Butler >>> Did not play due to injury.

REAL PLAYER RATINGS FOR THIS GAME
--Real Player Rating shows you the real basketball quality of players quickly and accurately.

--Players who played at least 7 minutes in the game are included.

--Each player's hidden defending rating from the regular season is used as the Hidden Defending Adjustment (HDA). Obviously, players in any individual game including this one were not exactly as good defenders as they were on the average during the regular season. But since there is no way to provide HDA for individual games and since it is better to have some reasonable HDA than none at all, we use the season HDA as a reasonable substitute.

--Beginning in 2011 we show just the combined listing; in prior years we separately showed the rank lists by team but this is now considered to be unnecessary.

Dirk Nowitzki, PF 1.207 MAVERICKS
Nick Collison, PF 1.157 THUNDER
Jason Kidd, PG 1.112 MAVERICKS
Eric Maynor, PG 1.048 THUNDER
Thabo Sefolosha, SG 0.940 THUNDER
Brendan Haywood, C 0.796 MAVERICKS
Serge Ibaka, PF 0.736 THUNDER
Kevin Durant, SF 0.722 THUNDER
Kendrick Perkins, C 0.695 THUNDER
Jose Juan Barea, PG 0.685 MAVERICKS
Jason Terry, SG 0.666 MAVERICKS
Tyson Chandler, C 0.643 MAVERICKS
Shawn Marion, SF 0.573 MAVERICKS
Russell Westbrook, PG 0.551 THUNDER
James Harden, SG 0.483 THUNDER
Peja Stojakovic, SF 0.062 MAVERICKS
DeShawn Stevenson, SG -0.191 MAVERICKS

SCALE FOR REGULAR SEASON REAL PLAYER RATINGS FOR A SINGLE GAME
Perfect Player for all Practical Purposes / Major Historic Super Star 1.200 and more
Historic Super Star 1.080 1.199
Super Star 0.960 1.079
A Star Player / A well above normal starter 0.860 0.959
Very Good Player / A solid starter 0.780 0.859
Major Role Player / Good enough to start 0.700 0.779
Good Role Player / Often a good 6th man, can possibly start 0.620 0.699
Satisfactory Role Player / Generally should not start 0.540 0.619
Marginal Role Player / Should not start except in an emergency 0.460 0.539
Poor Player / Should never start 0.380 0.459
Very Poor Player 0.300 0.379
Extremely Poor Player 0.299 and less

AVERAGE RATINGS BY POSITION
Not all positions are created equal. In pro basketball, point guard and center are the most important positions, power forward is in the middle, and small forward and shooting guard are the least important. (Some teams will have a different pattern.) The following are good estimates for average ratings by position among all NBA players who play 300 minutes or more. There are very few small forwards and shooting guards who don't fit at other positions who are superstars. Most superstars are players who can play point guard, power forward, or center.

Point Guard .750
Shooting Guard .635
Small Forward .645
Power Forward .715
Center .755
All Positions / All Players (NBA Overall Average) .700

To quickly and fairly compare two players who play different positions, convert their Ratings as follows:

Point Guards: Subtract .050; for example, .700 becomes .650
Shooting Guards: Add .065; for example, .700 becomes .765
Small Forwards: Add .055; for example, .700 becomes .755
Power Forwards: Subtract .015; for example, .700 becomes .685
Centers: Subtract .055; for example, .700 becomes .645

REAL PLAYER PRODUCTION FOR THIS GAME
--Shows the real basketball production (or quantity) of players.

--Players who played at least 7 minutes in the game are included.

--An estimate of the value of hidden defending production is included in the total production for all players shown; as described above hidden defending ratings from the regular season are used.

--Beginning in 2011 we show just the combined listing; in prior years we separately showed the rank lists by team but this is now considered to be unnecessary.

Dirk Nowitzki, PF 54.32 MAVERICKS
Jason Kidd, PG 45.59 MAVERICKS
Nick Collison, PF 35.87 THUNDER
Kevin Durant, SF 35.40 THUNDER
Serge Ibaka, PF 34.61 THUNDER
Thabo Sefolosha, SG 28.19 THUNDER
Jason Terry, SG 27.98 MAVERICKS
Russell Westbrook, PG 23.16 THUNDER
Tyson Chandler, C 22.50 MAVERICKS
Shawn Marion, SF 21.79 MAVERICKS
Kendrick Perkins, C 17.37 THUNDER
Brendan Haywood, C 14.33 MAVERICKS
Eric Maynor, PG 11.53 THUNDER
James Harden, SG 11.11 THUNDER
Jose Juan Barea, PG 10.96 MAVERICKS
Peja Stojakovic, SF 1.05 MAVERICKS
DeShawn Stevenson, SG -2.48 MAVERICKS

=============== OFFENSIVE AND DEFENSIVE SUB RATINGS FOR THIS GAME ===============

OFFENSIVE SUB RATINGS FOR THIS GAME
--Shows the real quality of players' offense.

--Players who played at least 7 minutes in the game are included.

--The hidden defending component is not a part of the offensive sub rating.

--Beginning in 2011 we show just the combined listing; in prior years we separately showed the rank lists by team but this is now considered to be unnecessary.

Dirk Nowitzki, PF 0.887 MAVERICKS
Nick Collison, PF 0.823 THUNDER
Jason Kidd, PG 0.635 MAVERICKS
Brendan Haywood, C 0.594 MAVERICKS
Thabo Sefolosha, SG 0.506 THUNDER
Eric Maynor, PG 0.488 THUNDER
Kendrick Perkins, C 0.326 THUNDER
Kevin Durant, SF 0.297 THUNDER
Serge Ibaka, PF 0.293 THUNDER
Jason Terry, SG 0.245 MAVERICKS
Jose Juan Barea, PG 0.236 MAVERICKS
Russell Westbrook, PG 0.218 THUNDER
Tyson Chandler, C 0.202 MAVERICKS
Shawn Marion, SF 0.126 MAVERICKS
James Harden, SG 0.007 THUNDER
Peja Stojakovic, SF -0.025 MAVERICKS
DeShawn Stevenson, SG -0.184 MAVERICKS

THE AVERAGE OFFENSIVE SUB RATING
for all NBA players who play 300 minutes or more is about .385

DEFENSIVE SUB RATINGS FOR THIS GAME
--Shows the real quality of players' defense.

--Players who played at least 7 minutes in the game are included.

--The hidden defending component is included as described above.

--Beginning in 2011 we show just the combined listing; in prior years we separately showed the rank lists by team but this is now considered to be unnecessary.

Eric Maynor, PG 0.559 THUNDER
Jason Kidd, PG 0.477 MAVERICKS
James Harden, SG 0.476 THUNDER
Jose Juan Barea, PG 0.449 MAVERICKS
Shawn Marion, SF 0.447 MAVERICKS
Serge Ibaka, PF 0.443 THUNDER
Tyson Chandler, C 0.441 MAVERICKS
Thabo Sefolosha, SG 0.434 THUNDER
Kevin Durant, SF 0.425 THUNDER
Jason Terry, SG 0.421 MAVERICKS
Kendrick Perkins, C 0.369 THUNDER
Nick Collison, PF 0.334 THUNDER
Russell Westbrook, PG 0.334 THUNDER
Dirk Nowitzki, PF 0.320 MAVERICKS
Brendan Haywood, C 0.202 MAVERICKS
Peja Stojakovic, SF 0.087 MAVERICKS
DeShawn Stevenson, SG -0.007 MAVERICKS

THE AVERAGE DEFENSIVE SUB RATING
for all NBA players who play 300 minutes or more is about .315

The breakdown between hidden and unhidden defending is available on request.

THE ALL IMPORTANT, AWARD WINNING REAL PLAYER RATINGS USER GUIDE
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.

ABOUT REAL PLAYER RATINGS REPORTS
Of the several dozen types of Reports that Quest for the Ring (QFTR) produces, Team Real Player Rating Reports are among the most important. A Real Player Rating Report gives you four very important ratings for every player in the Report:

--Overall Real Player Rating
--Real Player Production
--Offensive Sub Rating
--Defensive Sub Rating

These Reports are formatted reports. Formatted reports have a pre-set format and there is little or no custom commentary included. The whole idea of formatted reports is to provide a very large amount of important information very efficiently. The carefully planned and long evolved and perfected formatting eliminates the need for time-consuming custom text reporting in contexts where there is really no need for it and where there may be no time for it. But to fully understand a formatted Report you need to be familiar with the User Guide for it.

In contrast to formatted reports, QFTR breaks new ground in general and reveals its latest discoveries about basketball in particular in free form (non-formatted) text reports. While formatted posts are "on the reservation", non-formatted text reports are where QFTR "goes off the reservation". Both types of reports are essential; having just one type without the other type would reduce the value of QFTR by MORE than half.

QFTR is considering some kind of labelling system for posts that will allow visitors to even more easily than ever get to content they want or need.

There are two things you can do to get the full value out of RPR Reports. First, you can read parts or all of the User Guide for them (the link to the Guide is below). Second, you can simply visit a lot and see a lot of Reports and then you will automatically become better at interpreting what you see.

During the regular season beginning in late January (when we can first validly calculate the hidden defending adjustments) QFTR posts Team Real Player Ratings for major contending teams and other selected teams as time permits. Between the end of the regular season and before the Conference Finals begin (in late April and in early May) QFTR posts the final ratings for approximately the ten best teams as of the beginning of the playoffs. If there is a major upset in round one and/or round two by a team whose ratings were not yet posted, QFTR will make sure to post those asap.

These final ratings can be used in team grids that are very important parts of any playoff series preview.

Unfortunately, production time limits that are caused partly by limited traffic mean that only a small number of playoff series previews can be produced. Remember, you can help QFTR get more production time by posting links to QFTR wherever you can, and then QFTR will link back to you on request (click the contact link under the banner).

Game Real Player Ratings Reports are produced for every NBA Championship game, every NBA Conference Final game, and for selected NBA semifinal games. For the semifinals, normally, the most interesting semifinal (round two) series will be selected (out of the four of them) and Real Player Ratings for every game in that series will be posted.

After the playoffs are completely over and the off-season arrives, QFTR has enough time to produce and publish a final annual Real Player Ratings Report for all thirty NBA teams. These annual records of who was really the best and who really did what are scheduled to be posted in late June and in early July. They are posted in alphabetic order by team starting with the Atlanta Hawks and ending with the Washington Wizards. The ones for the top teams that were posted in late April-early May are repeated so there is a complete set in alpha and chronological sequence.

If you ever spend quality time at QFTR you will discover that there are other types of Real Player Rating Reports. Many of these appear in the summer. Among the most important ones that come out in the summer are the League-Wide Real Player Ratings Reports. Also, don't miss the Real Player Ratings Reports by position if you are a serious basketball person.

This section was a limited and brief overview of Real Player Ratings Reports in general. What you need if you want to understand how the Ratings are constructed and why QFTR knows they are the best possible ratings is the User Guide for Real Player Ratings. This User Guide was last revised and updated in May 2010; a new revision is "on order" and is expected to be completed in May or June of 2011. The May 2010 edition is still very useful; the only section of it that is not completely accurate is the one where the specific factors are shown; the factors have been adjusted a little to reflect the latest information and understanding QFTR has about exactly how playoff games are won. There has also been a significant improvement in the calibration and validation of Real Player Ratings components.

So 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.

Real Player Ratings for the 2011 West Conference Final Game Three: Dallas Mavericks 93 Oklahoma Thunder 87

2011 WEST CONFERENCE FINAL OKLAHOMA THUNDER VS DALLAS MAVERICKS GAME THREE REAL PLAYER RATINGS
MAY 21 2011
OKLAHOMA CITY, OKLAHOMA
DALLAS MAVERICKS 93 OKLAHOMA THUNDER 87
DALLAS LEADS BEST OF SEVEN SERIES 2-1

KEY PLAYERS WHO DID NOT PLAY
--These are the above average players who would have or should have played but did not.

--The reason is shown after the player if and only if it is known with at least 85% certainty.

--Usually the reason is known with almost 100% certainty.

--If the reason is not known with at least 85% certainty, the reason "unknown" is given.

--Injuries are NEVER perfectly reported and information about them is archived nowhere on the Internet. Therefore, it is possible that when Quest for the Ring identifies "coaching error" or "unknown" as the reason, the real reason may have been an injury.

--If the reason "traded" is shown then in many cases a player who was obtained in that trade played instead.

THUNDER
Nazr Muhammed >>> Did not play due to apparent coaching error.

Eric Maynor >>> Played only 6 minutes due to apparent coaching error.

MAVERICKS
Caron Butler >>> Did not play due to injury.

REAL PLAYER RATINGS FOR THIS GAME
--Real Player Rating shows you the real basketball quality of players quickly and accurately.

--Players who played at least 7 minutes in the game are included.

--Each player's hidden defending rating from the regular season is used as the Hidden Defending Adjustment (HDA). Obviously, players in any individual game including this one were not exactly as good defenders as they were on the average during the regular season. But since there is no way to provide HDA for individual games and since it is better to have some reasonable HDA than none at all, we use the season HDA as a reasonable substitute.

--Beginning in 2011 we show just the combined listing; in prior years we separately showed the rank lists by team but this is now considered to be unnecessary.

Nick Collison, PF 1.453 THUNDER
Jason Kidd, PG 1.061 MAVERICKS
Kevin Durant, SF 1.050 THUNDER
Tyson Chandler, C 0.983 MAVERICKS
Jason Terry, SG 0.930 MAVERICKS
Shawn Marion, SF 0.912 MAVERICKS
Serge Ibaka, PF 0.880 THUNDER
Thabo Sefolosha, SG 0.600 THUNDER
Russell Westbrook, PG 0.598 THUNDER
Peja Stojakovic, SF 0.589 MAVERICKS
Jose Juan Barea, PG 0.583 MAVERICKS
Kendrick Perkins, C 0.558 THUNDER
DeShawn Stevenson, SG 0.557 MAVERICKS
James Harden, SG 0.479 THUNDER
Brendan Haywood, C 0.232 MAVERICKS
Dirk Nowitzki, PF 0.200 MAVERICKS
Daequan Cook, SG -0.068 THUNDER

SCALE FOR REGULAR SEASON REAL PLAYER RATINGS FOR A SINGLE GAME
Perfect Player for all Practical Purposes / Major Historic Super Star 1.200 and more
Historic Super Star 1.080 1.199
Super Star 0.960 1.079
A Star Player / A well above normal starter 0.860 0.959
Very Good Player / A solid starter 0.780 0.859
Major Role Player / Good enough to start 0.700 0.779
Good Role Player / Often a good 6th man, can possibly start 0.620 0.699
Satisfactory Role Player / Generally should not start 0.540 0.619
Marginal Role Player / Should not start except in an emergency 0.460 0.539
Poor Player / Should never start 0.380 0.459
Very Poor Player 0.300 0.379
Extremely Poor Player 0.299 and less

AVERAGE RATINGS BY POSITION
Not all positions are created equal. In pro basketball, point guard and center are the most important positions, power forward is in the middle, and small forward and shooting guard are the least important. (Some teams will have a different pattern.) The following are good estimates for average ratings by position among all NBA players who play 300 minutes or more. There are very few small forwards and shooting guards who don't fit at other positions who are superstars. Most superstars are players who can play point guard, power forward, or center.

Point Guard .750
Shooting Guard .635
Small Forward .645
Power Forward .715
Center .755
All Positions / All Players (NBA Overall Average) .700

To quickly and fairly compare two players who play different positions, convert their Ratings as follows:

Point Guards: Subtract .050; for example, .700 becomes .650
Shooting Guards: Add .065; for example, .700 becomes .765
Small Forwards: Add .055; for example, .700 becomes .755
Power Forwards: Subtract .015; for example, .700 becomes .685
Centers: Subtract .055; for example, .700 becomes .645

REAL PLAYER PRODUCTION FOR THIS GAME
--Shows the real basketball production (or quantity) of players.

--Players who played at least 7 minutes in the game are included.

--An estimate of the value of hidden defending production is included in the total production for all players shown; as described above hidden defending ratings from the regular season are used.

--Beginning in 2011 we show just the combined listing; in prior years we separately showed the rank lists by team but this is now considered to be unnecessary.

Kevin Durant, SF 48.31 THUNDER
Jason Kidd, PG 39.27 MAVERICKS
Tyson Chandler, C 35.39 MAVERICKS
Nick Collison, PF 34.86 THUNDER
Shawn Marion, SF 34.64 MAVERICKS
Jason Terry, SG 28.83 MAVERICKS
Russell Westbrook, PG 25.13 THUNDER
Serge Ibaka, PF 21.12 THUNDER
James Harden, SG 17.26 THUNDER
Kendrick Perkins, C 16.73 THUNDER
DeShawn Stevenson, SG 12.25 MAVERICKS
Thabo Sefolosha, SG 11.39 THUNDER
Peja Stojakovic, SF 9.43 MAVERICKS
Jose Juan Barea, PG 8.17 MAVERICKS
Dirk Nowitzki, PF 7.40 MAVERICKS
Brendan Haywood, C 2.32 MAVERICKS
Daequan Cook, SG -0.96 THUNDER

=============== OFFENSIVE AND DEFENSIVE SUB RATINGS FOR THIS GAME ===============

OFFENSIVE SUB RATINGS FOR THIS GAME
--Shows the real quality of players' offense.

--Players who played at least 7 minutes in the game are included.

--The hidden defending component is not a part of the offensive sub rating.

--Beginning in 2011 we show just the combined listing; in prior years we separately showed the rank lists by team but this is now considered to be unnecessary.

Nick Collison, PF 0.699 THUNDER
Jose Juan Barea, PG 0.643 MAVERICKS
Jason Terry, SG 0.631 MAVERICKS
Jason Kidd, PG 0.590 MAVERICKS
Shawn Marion, SF 0.570 MAVERICKS
Kevin Durant, SF 0.562 THUNDER
Russell Westbrook, PG 0.406 THUNDER
Tyson Chandler, C 0.406 MAVERICKS
DeShawn Stevenson, SG 0.340 MAVERICKS
Peja Stojakovic, SF 0.304 MAVERICKS
Serge Ibaka, PF 0.248 THUNDER
Thabo Sefolosha, SG 0.182 THUNDER
James Harden, SG 0.001 THUNDER
Kendrick Perkins, C -0.003 THUNDER
Brendan Haywood, C -0.103 MAVERICKS
Dirk Nowitzki, PF -0.131 MAVERICKS
Daequan Cook, SG -0.145 THUNDER

THE AVERAGE OFFENSIVE SUB RATING
for all NBA players who play 300 minutes or more is about .385

DEFENSIVE SUB RATINGS FOR THIS GAME
--Shows the real quality of players' defense.

--Players who played at least 7 minutes in the game are included.

--The hidden defending component is included as described above.

--Beginning in 2011 we show just the combined listing; in prior years we separately showed the rank lists by team but this is now considered to be unnecessary.

Nick Collison, PF 0.754 THUNDER
Serge Ibaka, PF 0.632 THUNDER
Tyson Chandler, C 0.577 MAVERICKS
Kendrick Perkins, C 0.561 THUNDER
Kevin Durant, SF 0.488 THUNDER
James Harden, SG 0.478 THUNDER
Jason Kidd, PG 0.471 MAVERICKS
Thabo Sefolosha, SG 0.418 THUNDER
Shawn Marion, SF 0.341 MAVERICKS
Brendan Haywood, C 0.335 MAVERICKS
Dirk Nowitzki, PF 0.331 MAVERICKS
Jason Terry, SG 0.299 MAVERICKS
Peja Stojakovic, SF 0.285 MAVERICKS
DeShawn Stevenson, SG 0.217 MAVERICKS
Russell Westbrook, PG 0.192 THUNDER
Daequan Cook, SG 0.076 THUNDER
Jose Juan Barea, PG -0.059 MAVERICKS

THE AVERAGE DEFENSIVE SUB RATING
for all NBA players who play 300 minutes or more is about .315

The breakdown between hidden and unhidden defending is available on request.

THE ALL IMPORTANT, AWARD WINNING REAL PLAYER RATINGS USER GUIDE
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.

ABOUT REAL PLAYER RATINGS REPORTS
Of the several dozen types of Reports that Quest for the Ring (QFTR) produces, Team Real Player Rating Reports are among the most important. A Real Player Rating Report gives you four very important ratings for every player in the Report:

--Overall Real Player Rating
--Real Player Production
--Offensive Sub Rating
--Defensive Sub Rating

These Reports are formatted reports. Formatted reports have a pre-set format and there is little or no custom commentary included. The whole idea of formatted reports is to provide a very large amount of important information very efficiently. The carefully planned and long evolved and perfected formatting eliminates the need for time-consuming custom text reporting in contexts where there is really no need for it and where there may be no time for it. But to fully understand a formatted Report you need to be familiar with the User Guide for it.

In contrast to formatted reports, QFTR breaks new ground in general and reveals its latest discoveries about basketball in particular in free form (non-formatted) text reports. While formatted posts are "on the reservation", non-formatted text reports are where QFTR "goes off the reservation". Both types of reports are essential; having just one type without the other type would reduce the value of QFTR by MORE than half.

QFTR is considering some kind of labelling system for posts that will allow visitors to even more easily than ever get to content they want or need.

There are two things you can do to get the full value out of RPR Reports. First, you can read parts or all of the User Guide for them (the link to the Guide is below). Second, you can simply visit a lot and see a lot of Reports and then you will automatically become better at interpreting what you see.

During the regular season beginning in late January (when we can first validly calculate the hidden defending adjustments) QFTR posts Team Real Player Ratings for major contending teams and other selected teams as time permits. Between the end of the regular season and before the Conference Finals begin (in late April and in early May) QFTR posts the final ratings for approximately the ten best teams as of the beginning of the playoffs. If there is a major upset in round one and/or round two by a team whose ratings were not yet posted, QFTR will make sure to post those asap.

These final ratings can be used in team grids that are very important parts of any playoff series preview.

Unfortunately, production time limits that are caused partly by limited traffic mean that only a small number of playoff series previews can be produced. Remember, you can help QFTR get more production time by posting links to QFTR wherever you can, and then QFTR will link back to you on request (click the contact link under the banner).

Game Real Player Ratings Reports are produced for every NBA Championship game, every NBA Conference Final game, and for selected NBA semifinal games. For the semifinals, normally, the most interesting semifinal (round two) series will be selected (out of the four of them) and Real Player Ratings for every game in that series will be posted.

After the playoffs are completely over and the off-season arrives, QFTR has enough time to produce and publish a final annual Real Player Ratings Report for all thirty NBA teams. These annual records of who was really the best and who really did what are scheduled to be posted in late June and in early July. They are posted in alphabetic order by team starting with the Atlanta Hawks and ending with the Washington Wizards. The ones for the top teams that were posted in late April-early May are repeated so there is a complete set in alpha and chronological sequence.

If you ever spend quality time at QFTR you will discover that there are other types of Real Player Rating Reports. Many of these appear in the summer. Among the most important ones that come out in the summer are the League-Wide Real Player Ratings Reports. Also, don't miss the Real Player Ratings Reports by position if you are a serious basketball person.

This section was a limited and brief overview of Real Player Ratings Reports in general. What you need if you want to understand how the Ratings are constructed and why QFTR knows they are the best possible ratings is the User Guide for Real Player Ratings. This User Guide was last revised and updated in May 2010; a new revision is "on order" and is expected to be completed in May or June of 2011. The May 2010 edition is still very useful; the only section of it that is not completely accurate is the one where the specific factors are shown; the factors have been adjusted a little to reflect the latest information and understanding QFTR has about exactly how playoff games are won. There has also been a significant improvement in the calibration and validation of Real Player Ratings components.

So 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.

Real Player Ratings for the 2011 East Conference Final Game Five Miami Heat 83 Chicago Bulls 80

2011 EAST CONFERENCE FINAL CHICAGO BULLS VS MIAMI HEAT GAME FIVE REAL PLAYER RATINGS
MAY 26 2011
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS
MIAMI HEAT 83 CHICAGO BULLS 80
MIAMI WINS BEST OF SEVEN SERIES 4-1

KEY PLAYERS WHO DID NOT PLAY
--These are the above average players who would have or should have played but did not.

--The reason is shown after the player if and only if it is known with at least 85% certainty.

--Usually the reason is known with almost 100% certainty.

--If the reason is not known with at least 85% certainty, the reason "unknown" is given.

--Injuries are NEVER perfectly reported and information about them is archived nowhere on the Internet. Therefore, it is possible that when Quest for the Ring identifies "coaching error" or "unknown" as the reason, the real reason may have been an injury.

--If the reason "traded" is shown then in many cases a player who was obtained in that trade played instead.

BULLS
--C.J. Watson did not play due to apparent coaching error.

--Omer Asik did not play due to the fact that two better players at the center position did play; however, arguably Asik should have played as well.

HEAT
--Eddie House did not play due to apparent coaching error.

REAL PLAYER RATINGS FOR THIS GAME
--Real Player Rating shows you the real basketball quality of players quickly and accurately.

--Players who played at least 7 minutes in the game are included.

--Each player's hidden defending rating from the regular season is used as the Hidden Defending Adjustment (HDA). Obviously, players in any individual game including this one were not exactly as good defenders as they were on the average during the regular season. But since there is no way to provide HDA for individual games and since it is better to have some reasonable HDA than none at all, we use the season HDA as a reasonable substitute.

--Beginning in 2011 we show just the combined listing; in prior years we separately showed the rank lists by team but this is now considered to be unnecessary.

LeBron James, SF 1.237 HEAT
Chris Bosh, PF 1.088 HEAT
Ronnie Brewer, SG 0.981 BULLS
Kurt Thomas, C 0.971 BULLS
Joakim Noah, C 0.863 BULLS
Luol Deng, SF 0.795 BULLS
Derrick Rose, PG 0.785 BULLS
Mike Miller, SG 0.590 HEAT
Keith Bogans, SG 0.587 BULLS
Taj Gibson, PF 0.553 BULLS
Kyle Korver, SG 0.514 BULLS
Joel Anthony, C 0.408 HEAT
Dwyane Wade, SG 0.367 HEAT
Carlos Boozer, PF 0.341 BULLS
Mario Chalmers, PG 0.302 HEAT
Udonis Haslem, PF 0.169 HEAT
Mike Bibby, PG 0.061 HEAT

SCALE FOR REGULAR SEASON REAL PLAYER RATINGS FOR A SINGLE GAME
Perfect Player for all Practical Purposes / Major Historic Super Star 1.200 and more
Historic Super Star 1.080 1.199
Super Star 0.960 1.079
A Star Player / A well above normal starter 0.860 0.959
Very Good Player / A solid starter 0.780 0.859
Major Role Player / Good enough to start 0.700 0.779
Good Role Player / Often a good 6th man, can possibly start 0.620 0.699
Satisfactory Role Player / Generally should not start 0.540 0.619
Marginal Role Player / Should not start except in an emergency 0.460 0.539
Poor Player / Should never start 0.380 0.459
Very Poor Player 0.300 0.379
Extremely Poor Player 0.299 and less

AVERAGE RATINGS BY POSITION
Not all positions are created equal. In pro basketball, point guard and center are the most important positions, power forward is in the middle, and small forward and shooting guard are the least important. (Some teams will have a different pattern.) The following are good estimates for average ratings by position among all NBA players who play 300 minutes or more. There are very few small forwards and shooting guards who don't fit at other positions who are superstars. Most superstars are players who can play point guard, power forward, or center.

Point Guard .750
Shooting Guard .635
Small Forward .645
Power Forward .715
Center .755
All Positions / All Players (NBA Overall Average) .700

To quickly and fairly compare two players who play different positions, convert their Ratings as follows:

Point Guards: Subtract .050; for example, .700 becomes .650
Shooting Guards: Add .065; for example, .700 becomes .765
Small Forwards: Add .055; for example, .700 becomes .755
Power Forwards: Subtract .015; for example, .700 becomes .685
Centers: Subtract .055; for example, .700 becomes .645

REAL PLAYER PRODUCTION FOR THIS GAME
--Shows the real basketball production (or quantity) of players.

--Players who played at least 7 minutes in the game are included.

--An estimate of the value of hidden defending production is included in the total production for all players shown; as described above hidden defending ratings from the regular season are used.

--Beginning in 2011 we show just the combined listing; in prior years we separately showed the rank lists by team but this is now considered to be unnecessary.

LeBron James, SF 56.90 HEAT
Chris Bosh, PF 45.71 HEAT
Derrick Rose, PG 32.98 BULLS
Luol Deng, SF 28.62 BULLS
Ronnie Brewer, SG 26.49 BULLS
Joakim Noah, C 24.16 BULLS
Kurt Thomas, C 17.49 BULLS
Mike Miller, SG 14.15 HEAT
Dwyane Wade, SG 13.95 HEAT
Taj Gibson, PF 13.28 BULLS
Keith Bogans, SG 11.74 BULLS
Joel Anthony, C 11.41 HEAT
Carlos Boozer, PF 8.86 BULLS
Kyle Korver, SG 6.68 BULLS
Mario Chalmers, PG 5.73 HEAT
Udonis Haslem, PF 4.41 HEAT
Mike Bibby, PG 0.98 HEAT

=============== OFFENSIVE AND DEFENSIVE SUB RATINGS FOR THIS GAME ===============

OFFENSIVE SUB RATINGS FOR THIS GAME
--Shows the real quality of players' offense.

--Players who played at least 7 minutes in the game are included.

--The hidden defending component is not a part of the offensive sub rating.

--Beginning in 2011 we show just the combined listing; in prior years we separately showed the rank lists by team but this is now considered to be unnecessary.

LeBron James, SF 0.533 HEAT
Ronnie Brewer, SG 0.510 BULLS
Mike Miller, SG 0.466 HEAT
Derrick Rose, PG 0.455 BULLS
Chris Bosh, PF 0.395 HEAT
Kurt Thomas, C 0.385 BULLS
Luol Deng, SF 0.345 BULLS
Keith Bogans, SG 0.286 BULLS
Kyle Korver, SG 0.191 BULLS
Joakim Noah, C 0.133 BULLS
Mario Chalmers, PG 0.117 HEAT
Dwyane Wade, SG 0.021 HEAT
Carlos Boozer, PF 0.010 BULLS
Mike Bibby, PG -0.021 HEAT
Joel Anthony, C -0.041 HEAT
Taj Gibson, PF -0.100 BULLS
Udonis Haslem, PF -0.178 HEAT

THE AVERAGE OFFENSIVE SUB RATING
for all NBA players who play 300 minutes or more is about .385

DEFENSIVE SUB RATINGS FOR THIS GAME
--Shows the real quality of players' defense.

--Players who played at least 7 minutes in the game are included.

--The hidden defending component is included as described above.

--Beginning in 2011 we show just the combined listing; in prior years we separately showed the rank lists by team but this is now considered to be unnecessary.

Joakim Noah, C 0.730 BULLS
LeBron James, SF 0.704 HEAT
Chris Bosh, PF 0.694 HEAT
Taj Gibson, PF 0.653 BULLS
Kurt Thomas, C 0.586 BULLS
Ronnie Brewer, SG 0.471 BULLS
Luol Deng, SF 0.450 BULLS
Joel Anthony, C 0.449 HEAT
Udonis Haslem, PF 0.347 HEAT
Dwyane Wade, SG 0.347 HEAT
Carlos Boozer, PF 0.331 BULLS
Derrick Rose, PG 0.330 BULLS
Kyle Korver, SG 0.323 BULLS
Keith Bogans, SG 0.301 BULLS
Mario Chalmers, PG 0.185 HEAT
Mike Miller, SG 0.124 HEAT
Mike Bibby, PG 0.082 HEAT

THE AVERAGE DEFENSIVE SUB RATING
for all NBA players who play 300 minutes or more is about .315

The breakdown between hidden and unhidden defending is available on request.

THE ALL IMPORTANT, AWARD WINNING REAL PLAYER RATINGS USER GUIDE
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.

ABOUT REAL PLAYER RATINGS REPORTS
Of the several dozen types of Reports that Quest for the Ring (QFTR) produces, Team Real Player Rating Reports are among the most important. A Real Player Rating Report gives you four very important ratings for every player in the Report:

--Overall Real Player Rating
--Real Player Production
--Offensive Sub Rating
--Defensive Sub Rating

These Reports are formatted reports. Formatted reports have a pre-set format and there is little or no custom commentary included. The whole idea of formatted reports is to provide a very large amount of important information very efficiently. The carefully planned and long evolved and perfected formatting eliminates the need for time-consuming custom text reporting in contexts where there is really no need for it and where there may be no time for it. But to fully understand a formatted Report you need to be familiar with the User Guide for it.

In contrast to formatted reports, QFTR breaks new ground in general and reveals its latest discoveries about basketball in particular in free form (non-formatted) text reports. While formatted posts are "on the reservation", non-formatted text reports are where QFTR "goes off the reservation". Both types of reports are essential; having just one type without the other type would reduce the value of QFTR by MORE than half.

QFTR is considering some kind of labelling system for posts that will allow visitors to even more easily than ever get to content they want or need.

There are two things you can do to get the full value out of RPR Reports. First, you can read parts or all of the User Guide for them (the link to the Guide is below). Second, you can simply visit a lot and see a lot of Reports and then you will automatically become better at interpreting what you see.

During the regular season beginning in late January (when we can first validly calculate the hidden defending adjustments) QFTR posts Team Real Player Ratings for major contending teams and other selected teams as time permits. Between the end of the regular season and before the Conference Finals begin (in late April and in early May) QFTR posts the final ratings for approximately the ten best teams as of the beginning of the playoffs. If there is a major upset in round one and/or round two by a team whose ratings were not yet posted, QFTR will make sure to post those asap.

These final ratings can be used in team grids that are very important parts of any playoff series preview.

Unfortunately, production time limits that are caused partly by limited traffic mean that only a small number of playoff series previews can be produced. Remember, you can help QFTR get more production time by posting links to QFTR wherever you can, and then QFTR will link back to you on request (click the contact link under the banner).

Game Real Player Ratings Reports are produced for every NBA Championship game, every NBA Conference Final game, and for selected NBA semifinal games. For the semifinals, normally, the most interesting semifinal (round two) series will be selected (out of the four of them) and Real Player Ratings for every game in that series will be posted.

After the playoffs are completely over and the off-season arrives, QFTR has enough time to produce and publish a final annual Real Player Ratings Report for all thirty NBA teams. These annual records of who was really the best and who really did what are scheduled to be posted in late June and in early July. They are posted in alphabetic order by team starting with the Atlanta Hawks and ending with the Washington Wizards. The ones for the top teams that were posted in late April-early May are repeated so there is a complete set in alpha and chronological sequence.

If you ever spend quality time at QFTR you will discover that there are other types of Real Player Rating Reports. Many of these appear in the summer. Among the most important ones that come out in the summer are the League-Wide Real Player Ratings Reports. Also, don't miss the Real Player Ratings Reports by position if you are a serious basketball person.

This section was a limited and brief overview of Real Player Ratings Reports in general. What you need if you want to understand how the Ratings are constructed and why QFTR knows they are the best possible ratings is the User Guide for Real Player Ratings. This User Guide was last revised and updated in May 2010; a new revision is "on order" and is expected to be completed in May or June of 2011. The May 2010 edition is still very useful; the only section of it that is not completely accurate is the one where the specific factors are shown; the factors have been adjusted a little to reflect the latest information and understanding QFTR has about exactly how playoff games are won. There has also been a significant improvement in the calibration and validation of Real Player Ratings components.

So 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.

Real Player Ratings for the 2011 East Conference Final Game Four Miami Heat 101 Chicago Bulls 93, Overtime

2011 EAST CONFERENCE FINAL CHICAGO BULLS VS MIAMI HEAT GAME FOUR REAL PLAYER RATINGS
MAY 24 2011
MIAMI, FLORIDA
MIAMI HEAT 101 CHICAGO BULLS 93
MIAMI LEADS BEST OF SEVEN SERIES 3-1

KEY PLAYERS WHO DID NOT PLAY
--These are the above average players who would have or should have played but did not.

--The reason is shown after the player if and only if it is known with at least 85% certainty.

--Usually the reason is known with almost 100% certainty.

--If the reason is not known with at least 85% certainty, the reason "unknown" is given.

--Injuries are NEVER perfectly reported and information about them is archived nowhere on the Internet. Therefore, it is possible that when Quest for the Ring identifies "coaching error" or "unknown" as the reason, the real reason may have been an injury.

--If the reason "traded" is shown then in many cases a player who was obtained in that trade played instead.

BULLS
--Kurt Thomas did not play due to apparent coaching error.

--Omer Asik did not play due to apparent coaching error.

Note: Thomas and Asik are both centers and so arguably only one of the two should have played (since one center and two power forwards did play). But it's clear that neither of them playing was a coaching error.

HEAT
--Eddie House did not play due to apparent coaching error.

REAL PLAYER RATINGS FOR THIS GAME
--Real Player Rating shows you the real basketball quality of players quickly and accurately.

--Players who played at least 7 minutes in the game are included.

--Each player's hidden defending rating from the regular season is used as the Hidden Defending Adjustment (HDA). Obviously, players in any individual game including this one were not exactly as good defenders as they were on the average during the regular season. But since there is no way to provide HDA for individual games and since it is better to have some reasonable HDA than none at all, we use the season HDA as a reasonable substitute.

--Beginning in 2011 we show just the combined listing; in prior years we separately showed the rank lists by team but this is now considered to be unnecessary.

C.J. Watson, PG 1.167 BULLS
Mario Chalmers, PG 1.153 HEAT
LeBron James, SF 1.107 HEAT
Mike Miller, SG 1.102 HEAT
Luol Deng, SF 1.031 BULLS
Carlos Boozer, PF 0.816 BULLS
Joakim Noah, C 0.794 BULLS
Chris Bosh, PF 0.751 HEAT
Ronnie Brewer, SG 0.742 BULLS
Joel Anthony, C 0.679 HEAT
Dwyane Wade, SG 0.633 HEAT
Derrick Rose, PG 0.463 BULLS
Keith Bogans, SG 0.450 BULLS
Udonis Haslem, PF 0.307 HEAT
Taj Gibson, PF 0.177 BULLS
Kyle Korver, SG -0.016 BULLS
Mike Bibby, PG -0.181 HEAT

SCALE FOR REGULAR SEASON REAL PLAYER RATINGS FOR A SINGLE GAME
Perfect Player for all Practical Purposes / Major Historic Super Star 1.200 and more
Historic Super Star 1.080 1.199
Super Star 0.960 1.079
A Star Player / A well above normal starter 0.860 0.959
Very Good Player / A solid starter 0.780 0.859
Major Role Player / Good enough to start 0.700 0.779
Good Role Player / Often a good 6th man, can possibly start 0.620 0.699
Satisfactory Role Player / Generally should not start 0.540 0.619
Marginal Role Player / Should not start except in an emergency 0.460 0.539
Poor Player / Should never start 0.380 0.459
Very Poor Player 0.300 0.379
Extremely Poor Player 0.299 and less

AVERAGE RATINGS BY POSITION
Not all positions are created equal. In pro basketball, point guard and center are the most important positions, power forward is in the middle, and small forward and shooting guard are the least important. (Some teams will have a different pattern.) The following are good estimates for average ratings by position among all NBA players who play 300 minutes or more. There are very few small forwards and shooting guards who don't fit at other positions who are superstars. Most superstars are players who can play point guard, power forward, or center.

Point Guard .750
Shooting Guard .635
Small Forward .645
Power Forward .715
Center .755
All Positions / All Players (NBA Overall Average) .700

To quickly and fairly compare two players who play different positions, convert their Ratings as follows:

Point Guards: Subtract .050; for example, .700 becomes .650
Shooting Guards: Add .065; for example, .700 becomes .765
Small Forwards: Add .055; for example, .700 becomes .755
Power Forwards: Subtract .015; for example, .700 becomes .685
Centers: Subtract .055; for example, .700 becomes .645

REAL PLAYER PRODUCTION FOR THIS GAME
--Shows the real basketball production (or quantity) of players.

--Players who played at least 7 minutes in the game are included.

--An estimate of the value of hidden defending production is included in the total production for all players shown; as described above hidden defending ratings from the regular season are used.

--Beginning in 2011 we show just the combined listing; in prior years we separately showed the rank lists by team but this is now considered to be unnecessary.

LeBron James, SF 54.25 HEAT
Luol Deng, SF 45.37 BULLS
Carlos Boozer, PF 39.99 BULLS
Joakim Noah, C 35.72 BULLS
Chris Bosh, PF 32.28 HEAT
Mike Miller, SG 28.66 HEAT
Dwyane Wade, SG 25.97 HEAT
Mario Chalmers, PG 24.21 HEAT
Derrick Rose, PG 22.71 BULLS
Joel Anthony, C 19.68 HEAT
Ronnie Brewer, SG 15.58 BULLS
Udonis Haslem, PF 10.43 HEAT
Keith Bogans, SG 10.36 BULLS
C.J. Watson, PG 8.17 BULLS
Taj Gibson, PF 1.77 BULLS
Kyle Korver, SG -0.26 BULLS
Mike Bibby, PG -3.98 HEAT

=============== OFFENSIVE AND DEFENSIVE SUB RATINGS FOR THIS GAME ===============

OFFENSIVE SUB RATINGS FOR THIS GAME
--Shows the real quality of players' offense.

--Players who played at least 7 minutes in the game are included.

--The hidden defending component is not a part of the offensive sub rating.

--Beginning in 2011 we show just the combined listing; in prior years we separately showed the rank lists by team but this is now considered to be unnecessary.

LeBron James, SF 0.683 HEAT
C.J. Watson, PG 0.672 BULLS
Mike Miller, SG 0.634 HEAT
Mario Chalmers, PG 0.482 HEAT
Chris Bosh, PF 0.458 HEAT
Luol Deng, SF 0.381 BULLS
Ronnie Brewer, SG 0.361 BULLS
Joakim Noah, C 0.342 BULLS
Carlos Boozer, PF 0.338 BULLS
Keith Bogans, SG 0.155 BULLS
Derrick Rose, PG 0.119 BULLS
Dwyane Wade, SG 0.094 HEAT
Taj Gibson, PF 0.015 BULLS
Joel Anthony, C -0.010 HEAT
Udonis Haslem, PF -0.094 HEAT
Kyle Korver, SG -0.135 BULLS
Mike Bibby, PG -0.166 HEAT

THE AVERAGE OFFENSIVE SUB RATING
for all NBA players who play 300 minutes or more is about .385

DEFENSIVE SUB RATINGS FOR THIS GAME
--Shows the real quality of players' defense.

--Players who played at least 7 minutes in the game are included.

--The hidden defending component is included as described above.

--Beginning in 2011 we show just the combined listing; in prior years we separately showed the rank lists by team but this is now considered to be unnecessary.

Joel Anthony, C 0.688 HEAT
Mario Chalmers, PG 0.671 HEAT
Luol Deng, SF 0.650 BULLS
Dwyane Wade, SG 0.540 HEAT
C.J. Watson, PG 0.496 BULLS
Carlos Boozer, PF 0.478 BULLS
Mike Miller, SG 0.469 HEAT
Joakim Noah, C 0.452 BULLS
LeBron James, SF 0.424 HEAT
Udonis Haslem, PF 0.400 HEAT
Ronnie Brewer, SG 0.381 BULLS
Derrick Rose, PG 0.345 BULLS
Keith Bogans, SG 0.295 BULLS
Chris Bosh, PF 0.292 HEAT
Taj Gibson, PF 0.162 BULLS
Kyle Korver, SG 0.119 BULLS
Mike Bibby, PG -0.015 HEAT

THE AVERAGE DEFENSIVE SUB RATING
for all NBA players who play 300 minutes or more is about .315

The breakdown between hidden and unhidden defending is available on request.

THE ALL IMPORTANT, AWARD WINNING REAL PLAYER RATINGS USER GUIDE
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.

ABOUT REAL PLAYER RATINGS REPORTS
Of the several dozen types of Reports that Quest for the Ring (QFTR) produces, Team Real Player Rating Reports are among the most important. A Real Player Rating Report gives you four very important ratings for every player in the Report:

--Overall Real Player Rating
--Real Player Production
--Offensive Sub Rating
--Defensive Sub Rating

These Reports are formatted reports. Formatted reports have a pre-set format and there is little or no custom commentary included. The whole idea of formatted reports is to provide a very large amount of important information very efficiently. The carefully planned and long evolved and perfected formatting eliminates the need for time-consuming custom text reporting in contexts where there is really no need for it and where there may be no time for it. But to fully understand a formatted Report you need to be familiar with the User Guide for it.

In contrast to formatted reports, QFTR breaks new ground in general and reveals its latest discoveries about basketball in particular in free form (non-formatted) text reports. While formatted posts are "on the reservation", non-formatted text reports are where QFTR "goes off the reservation". Both types of reports are essential; having just one type without the other type would reduce the value of QFTR by MORE than half.

QFTR is considering some kind of labelling system for posts that will allow visitors to even more easily than ever get to content they want or need.

There are two things you can do to get the full value out of RPR Reports. First, you can read parts or all of the User Guide for them (the link to the Guide is below). Second, you can simply visit a lot and see a lot of Reports and then you will automatically become better at interpreting what you see.

During the regular season beginning in late January (when we can first validly calculate the hidden defending adjustments) QFTR posts Team Real Player Ratings for major contending teams and other selected teams as time permits. Between the end of the regular season and before the Conference Finals begin (in late April and in early May) QFTR posts the final ratings for approximately the ten best teams as of the beginning of the playoffs. If there is a major upset in round one and/or round two by a team whose ratings were not yet posted, QFTR will make sure to post those asap.

These final ratings can be used in team grids that are very important parts of any playoff series preview.

Unfortunately, production time limits that are caused partly by limited traffic mean that only a small number of playoff series previews can be produced. Remember, you can help QFTR get more production time by posting links to QFTR wherever you can, and then QFTR will link back to you on request (click the contact link under the banner).

Game Real Player Ratings Reports are produced for every NBA Championship game, every NBA Conference Final game, and for selected NBA semifinal games. For the semifinals, normally, the most interesting semifinal (round two) series will be selected (out of the four of them) and Real Player Ratings for every game in that series will be posted.

After the playoffs are completely over and the off-season arrives, QFTR has enough time to produce and publish a final annual Real Player Ratings Report for all thirty NBA teams. These annual records of who was really the best and who really did what are scheduled to be posted in late June and in early July. They are posted in alphabetic order by team starting with the Atlanta Hawks and ending with the Washington Wizards. The ones for the top teams that were posted in late April-early May are repeated so there is a complete set in alpha and chronological sequence.

If you ever spend quality time at QFTR you will discover that there are other types of Real Player Rating Reports. Many of these appear in the summer. Among the most important ones that come out in the summer are the League-Wide Real Player Ratings Reports. Also, don't miss the Real Player Ratings Reports by position if you are a serious basketball person.

This section was a limited and brief overview of Real Player Ratings Reports in general. What you need if you want to understand how the Ratings are constructed and why QFTR knows they are the best possible ratings is the User Guide for Real Player Ratings. This User Guide was last revised and updated in May 2010; a new revision is "on order" and is expected to be completed in May or June of 2011. The May 2010 edition is still very useful; the only section of it that is not completely accurate is the one where the specific factors are shown; the factors have been adjusted a little to reflect the latest information and understanding QFTR has about exactly how playoff games are won. There has also been a significant improvement in the calibration and validation of Real Player Ratings components.

So 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.