Kenyon Martin and Tyson Chandler Keep it Real Regarding Carmelo Anthony and George Karl

Normally QFTR never comes closer than a ten foot pole to the hype world of “who said what” and to the hype world of “whose personality is on top and whose personality is not”. Those are among the superficial worlds found everywhere in publishing but that are especially dominant in the dismal world of sports publishing in the United States. For many Internet sites that do get substantial traffic, hype is pretty much or literally all they do. Most Internet sports sites that have a substantial amount of traffic are 24/7 into the “who said what” world. And then visitors who hang out at those sites make dumb comments about who said what. Although reading those comments is almost always a complete waste of time, I have a strange fascination with them and so I have the bad habit of every once in a while wasting time (more or less) reading through a lot of dumb twitter type comments at Corporate and wanna be corporate basketball sites.

Basketball forums are far superior to corporate hype Sites. At least on the basketball forums people can make much longer, intelligent comments and even short essays if they care to.

The two “who said whats” covered in this QFTR Report were almost a week ago now. Hype and hype-related news goes stale in 24-48 hours so QFTR is covering stale hype in this Report, laugh out loud. These quotes were superficially but quickly mentioned by probably all of the corporate and the corporate wanna be basketball Sites. Those Sites are monkey see and monkey do; they all have the same hype and they generally all have it on the same day.

From a technical publishing perspective, hype news is what the traditional sports writers mostly do nowadays. And due to the desperation that exists in Corporate hype land to hold onto traffic and due to the monkey see monkey do thing, when a sports writer of one of the handful of giant sports publishing corporations produces a “who said what” hype article, it is linked to one way or another by ALL of the sites in Sports Publishing Corporation Hype Land.

This is a rare instance where QFTR will link to not one but two "who said what's". Two players made statements that we could not resist linking to here.

QFTR claims it is unique and the decision to very seldom go into the hype-related “he said, she said” world is one thing of many things that prove that it is. The "who said what" world, or in other words the “he said, she said” world, like all worlds in the hype galaxy, is mostly a vast hype wasteland. For one thing, in that galaxy no one ever proves which side is correct in the argument. Instead, and amazingly, the ridiculously easy to please audience seems to be content with the little argument itself. The mostly brainless and brain dead residents of hype land pick a side (very often the wrong side, laugh out loud) and perhaps post a tiny, trivial twitter somewhere showing whose side they are on, and then they move on without ever knowing which side of the little argument was really correct.

A side irony is that sometimes, if the kiddies making dumb comments at the Corporate sites knew the context of the little controversy they commented on and they knew which side was really correct, they would know that the argument was actually not really little at all. But hype land is trivial 24/7 meaning that both the trivial and the non-trivial is treated as trivial and meaning that who is really right in the controversy is never discussed at all let alone resolved.

Whereas at QFTR (that strange and unique bird) we are always determining beyond a shadow of a doubt who is right and who is wrong about basketball controversies. With its' greater than 99.9% non-hype content and with its' reality-based approach, QFTR gets only a very small amount of very specialized traffic and would have shut down years ago if substantial traffic was an objective. But instead, the highest quality and the most unique basketball content are among the main objectives and traffic is definitely not.

But in another, more narrow sense this unusual QFTR Report is NOT a waste of time because it will illustrate an important point that has very seldom if ever been fully stated or even fully realized by QFTR before: QFTR is pro player and has a strong player perspective on basketball. It may be a little hard to see but the pro-player base is there to see if you look hard enough. What this means is that if you polled NBA players on the hundreds (thousands counting all of the ratings) of claims QFTR has made about pro basketball over the years the players would vote in a landslide that in most cases what QFTR states to be true is true. Players would vote in favor of QFTR much more heavily than the dumbed down and rose colored glasses wearing general public would.

The primary mission of QFTR is to explain exactly how basketball playoff series and championships are won and lost. Players celebrate the most and they gain the most from winning championships. Therefore, it is logical at a fundamental level that QFTR is pro player.

So in this Report we will pay a rare visit to the “who said what” world that so many other sites waste almost all of their time on. From a broad and general perspective this Report is a waste of time. But from the perspectives just mentioned, it’s not really a waste of time.

We are posting links to two “who said whats”. One of them (the one involving Kenyon Martin) was reported out to the vast corporate hype wasteland by a sports writer named Sam Amick who according to Wikipedia is with the Sacramento Bee. But the Bee is undoubtedly owned by some huge corporation which is owned by some other huge corporation etc. etc. and so Amick’s hype writings appear in Sports Illustrated which is owned by CNN which in turn is owned by multi-billionaire Ted Turner. And his writings are fully or partially cross posted or linked to by numerous other corporate sites owned by other billionaires (and by those all hype, all the time independent Sites aka the corporate wanna be Sites).

In the US, as of 2012, essentially everything notable is owned by multi-billionaires or by the Chinese government, laugh out loud. (But it’s not really funny if you know what I’m saying, and I digress.)

The other “who said what” involves what Tyson Chandler had to say to Michael Irvin who has a sports radio show on WQAM Radio in Miami. 

So now with that important context out of the way, it’s on to the real basketball content, two very recent statements by two well above average defensive players. Before we get to what they said, let's make sure everyone is up to speed on how George Karl operates….

GEORGE KARL OFTEN TRASHES PLAYERS UNJUSTIFIABLY
At QFTR we have been reporting for almost half a decade exactly how and why George Karl is a terrible NBA playoffs coach. The benefits have been enormous. For one thing, by focusing heavily on Karl, we have efficiently and effectively learned a lot about exactly how playoff series are won and lost. Karl teaches a lot about how to LOSE playoff series, although on the other hand he is pretty good about coming up with ways to squeeze out a few extra regular season wins.

But also, every once in a while we report on some especially ridiculous and/or especially false thing that Karl has stated. But we only report on a very small sample of what Karl claims. We don’t have the time to Report on every dumb or false thing Karl says because it would be a full time job and it would make absolutely no sense to have that as a full time job, laugh out loud.

QFTR has on many occasions pointed out that Karl often makes nasty, false, derogatory comments about former and occasionally even current Denver Nuggets players to reporters in the press who worship George Karl. Karl has always been worshipped most if not all of the time by the sports writers of the Denver Post and ESPN as well.

QFTR thinks Karl unjustifiably trashes players not because he is a total jerk and not because he is a total idiot but because he is the ultimate career climber. Very possibly, deep down Karl knows that some or most of what he says is garbage. Whether or not he knows that what he says is false, Karl keeps putting players down first and foremost because by doing so he keeps his own reputation up. According to Karl, anything and everything wrong with the Nuggets has to be the players fault. Karl almost never takes responsibility for anything, yet ironically, Karl is to blame for most of what is wrong with the Nuggets, who are now finally (it took until the cows came home but it’s finally happening) moving back down to the basement of the NBA where they apparently belong.

What bugs QFTR especially is how Karl criticizes players who have quit the Nuggets and moved onto other teams. The first of our two “who said whats” will be one of those….

KENYON MARTIN TRASHES GEORGE KARL FOR UNJUSTIFIABLY TRASHING CARMELO ANTHONY
Sports writer Sam Amick reported in Sports Illustrated that Kenyon Martin said the following about Carmelo Anthony playing now for the New York Knicks and about George Karl’s trashing of Anthony. Anthony was one of the very best players on the Denver Nuggets during the entire time George Karl has been the head coach of that team, until in early 2012 Anthony quit the Nuggets and moved on to play for the New York Knicks. As has been extensively reported here at QFTR (but hardly anywhere else) the main reason Carmelo Anthony demanded to get out of Denver is that he realized that the Nuggets could never possibly win the Quest for the Ring while using the strategies and tactics that they use to squeeze out as many regular season wins as possible.

For anyone who doesn’t know, Carmelo Anthony’s nickname is “Melo”.

KENYON MARTIN SAYS:
“First of all man, I wanted to call in to ESPN and say something when I saw them saying Anthony would mess it up. Melo wants to win. The man is a competitor, and he wants to win. He's as competitive as they come. Smart basketball player and the best player on that team -- hands down. So I don't understand why people are questioning whether he's selfish or not. No, the man is not selfish. The man wants to win. He'll do whatever it takes to win. I don't think he'll mess nothing up. He's going to come in and be Carmelo Anthony."

More from Kenyon Martin:

"Man, listen, George needs to keep his mouth shut, first and foremost. Melo don't play there no more. So Karl shouldn't be commenting on Melo. If George was such a great coach, then Melo would want to stay. He wouldn't want to leave.

If the organization was ran right, he wouldn't want to leave, so it ain't Melo. With Melo, not one time when he was there did he bring that in the locker room when all that stuff was going on. Not one day. Everybody made it a bigger deal than it had to be. That's a good kid.

They act like this kid was a cancer, like he came in there and destroyed the locker room and made everybody hate him. No, it wasn't nothing like that man. And it bothers me for people to be talking about how he's a selfish player and he has to defend himself."

They've got the team they wanted now. They got all us out of there. They didn't offer me an extension, they traded Anthony, J.R. Smith is gone (to the New York Knicks). They've got the team they want. So why doesn't Karl worry about coaching them and leaving Melo alone -- bottom line? It bothers me for them to keep harping at that."

See the full Sam Amick article at Sports Illustrated which is owned by CNN which is owned by multi-billionaire Ted Turner here.

QFTR agrees with Kenyon Martin 100% and for once will let someone else do almost all of the talking (and you thought that would never happen, laugh out loud).

Now for the other pleasant who said what….

TYSON CHANDLER AGREES WITH QFTR THAT THOSE WHO THINK THE NEW YORK KNICKS MADE A MISTAKE IN THE CARMELO ANTHONY TRADE ARE COMPLETELY WRONG
Tyson Chandler is the starting center for the New York Knicks, the team that Carmelo Anthony wanted to go to and did end up going to after he quit the Denver Nuggets.

In this report at SportsRadioInterviews Tyson Chandler states that those who think that the Denver Nuggets won the Carmelo Anthony trade over the New York Knicks (which would include George Karl judging from his public statements) are completely wrong. Michael Irvin of WQAM Sports Radio in Miami interviewed Tyson Chandler (the starting center for the New York Knicks) and then SportsRadioInterviews published a transcript from which QFTR excerpts here….

MICHAEL IRVIN INTERVIEWS TYSON CHANDLER
MICHAEL IRVIN: “What do you say to people who say you guys are better off without Carmelo Anthony?”

TYSON CHANDLER: “I think that is total madness. Any time you got a player that is top 10 player in the world, top 5 scorer in the world, you can’t tell me that you are not going to be better without him. It’s all about building team chemistry. We have to get every body to buy in to going after a championship. If everybody’s mind is going after a championship and that is everyone’s vision and everyone’s goal it doesn’t matter who is on the court at what time because we all should be playing for the same thing. We all should be playing unselfish and on defense we should all be getting after it. As long as we have that mindset there’s no reason why we can’t be successful and be contenders this year. I like our chances better with Melo because when he gets into the heart of things in the playoffs and in the clutch we need that go to guy. Melo is that guy. He’s been that guy his entire career.”

CHANDLER IS EXACTLY CORRECT AND TRUE
Tyson Chandler's statement here is loaded to the max with truth. It's a quote that will be remembered for years here at QFTR. We especially liked "total madness," "everybody's mind is going after a championship," and "everyone's vision," and "everyone's goal," and the whole damn sentence "I like our chances better with Melo because when he gets into the heart of things in the playoffs and in the clutch we need that go to guy".

If the audience for basketball writing was not so dumbed down and QFTR had traffic then Tyson Chandler could be a contributing writer for the Site!

QFTR will add in a few points to what Tyson Chandler said here regarding Carmelo Anthony.

THE SLUMPS OF CARMELO ANTHONY
Recently Carmelo Anthony has been in a shooting / scoring slump with the New York Knicks. Most recently he has been completely out of action with an injury, but prior to that his field goal percentage dropped under 40% (.400). That's sub par even for a small forward.

For those who don’t know, most if not all top scorers have fairly big slumps every year to one extent or another. Top scorers who more emphasize jump shooting (which is extremely immportant in the playoffs) have bigger slumps than those who more emphasize drives for layups / dunks / fouls.

Carmelo Anthony’s slumps have often been worse and a little longer than typical for for superstar scorers and for top jump shooters. Some of those slumps were to some extent due to some nagging injury. But sometimes Anthony has a nasty shooting slump that can go on as long as about 6 weeks and injury seems to have little or nothing to do with it. The shooting percentage drops from roughly .450 to as low as .360. So the slump is that of about every five shots he usually makes Melo is missing about one of those shots. These slumps have always ended after about six weeks maximum. Unfortunately a Melo slump can occur in the playoffs. Usually Melo will have one or two shooting slumps during a regular season lasting 3 to 6 weeks each.

But normally Melo is not slumping and normally he is that rare commodity: someone who can dependably score in high volume even in clutch, high pressure situations. He’s that rare bird who can take responsibility for scoring in the toughest of situations and back up that taking of responsibility with actual high volume scoring. Since everyone knows it’s tougher to score in the playoffs than in the regular season, Melo is exactly who you want in a playoff series. Lesser players are forced into slumps in playoff series against tough, ramped up defenses, but if Melo is in a slump at all, it will NOT be due to the other team but instead it will be due to some mysterious thing involving highly talented people in general and highly talented basketball players in particular.

The most talented people seem to have the need (or at least the characteristic) of going into periodic slumps. Highly talented people are highly talented most of the time but not all of the time.

Also, Melo is a small forward, one of the two positions (the other being shooting guard) which are on average the biggest problem areas for NBA teams. And those problem positions are even bigger problems in the playoffs than in the regular season. Many times a team loses a playoff series because every single one of their small forwards and shooting guards prove to be ineffective against a powerful, ramped up defense. But Melo, who is one of the best two or three or four small forwards in the NBA is (unless he is in a slump which is unlikely) NOT going to be mostly or completely shut down by even a ramped up, strong defense. Superstar scorers can not be mostly or completely shut down! Melo like anyone else can be slightly shut down by a determined defense but never to the point where all hope is lost for Melo's team to win the series.

CARMELO ANTHONY VERSUS DANILO GALLINARI
None of the players the Nuggets got in exchange for Carmelo Anthony are at Anthony’s level. Danilo Gallinari, who is also a small forward, comes closest. Compare Gallinari’s first four seasons to date with Anthony’s first four using the per 36 minutes format which is much smarter to use than the per game format.

Player                MP  FG  FGA  FG%  3P 3PA  3P%  FT FTA  FT% ORB DRB AST STL BLK TOV  PF  PTS
Carmelo Anthony    11030 8.5 18.7 .455 0.6 2.2 .279 6.2 7.8 .798 1.9 3.7 2.9 1.1 0.4 3.0 2.9 23.8
Danilo Gallinari    6087 5.0 11.7 .425 2.1 5.7 .369 4.4 5.1 .854 0.9 4.3 1.9 1.0 0.6 1.5 2.5 16.5

Or compare Gallinari and Anthony for all seasons each played (Gallinari is in his 4th season and Melo is in his 9th season:

Player                MP  FG  FGA  FG%  3P 3PA  3P%  FT FTA  FT% ORB DRB AST STL BLK TOV  PF  PTS
Carmelo Anthony    22352 8.7 19.1 .456 0.8 2.5 .320 6.3 7.8 .806 1.9 4.4 3.1 1.1 0.5 3.0 3.0 24.5
Danilo Gallinari    6087 5.0 11.7 .425 2.1 5.7 .369 4.4 5.1 .854 0.9 4.3 1.9 1.0 0.6 1.5 2.5 16.5

Gallinari exhibits the same relatively low shooting percentage that most small forwards have. Anthony’s shooting percentage is much higher than Gallinari's, both in the first four seasons and for the overall careers. So Melo gives a team an unusually strong small forward shooting percentage. Note also the volume of scoring; in both views above, Melo scores about half again more points per unit of time than does Gallinari. That is a huge difference. Melo wants and takes responsibility for very high volume scoring both in the regular season and in the playoffs whereas Gallinari does not because he can not.

But in the last few weeks Melo has been in a slump where his percentage has been a little below Gallinari’s. So naturally all of the kiddies posting at the Corporate Sites on the one hand and George Karl on the other hand take advantage of the temporary Melo slump in order to make dumb statements about how the Nuggets beat the Knicks in the Carmelo Anthony trade. (George Karl often does this indirectly, between the lines style, probably because he knows it's garbage)

For the reasons we have discussed and proved, in the medium and long runs, it is inevitable that the Knicks beat the Nuggets soundly in the Carmelo Anthony trade. It is extremely unlikely that Danilo Gallinari will ever be the weapon that Carmelo Anthony is in a NBA playoff series.

QFTR: THANK YOU KENYON MARTIN AND TYSON CHANDLER
Thank you Kenyon Martin and thank you Tyson Chandler for getting things straight about Carmelo Anthony and George Karl. With so much worshiping of George Karl out there and with a lot of trashing of superstar players by the kiddies going on all the time, it gets a little lonely out here in reality land sometimes. Best of luck to the your teams, the Los Angeles Clippers and the New York Knicks.

Minnesota Timberwolves 2011-12 Real Player Ratings as of February 22, 2012

MINNESOTA TIMBERWOLVES REAL PLAYER RATINGS
2011-12 Season as of February 22 2012
Congratulations and respect are due to KEVIN LOVE who leads the Timberwolves in quality basketball so far in 2011-12.

Congratulations and respect are due to KEVIN LOVE who has produced more than any other player on the Timberwolves so far in 2011-12.

KEY PLAYERS (above the NBA average)
MAJOR HISTORIC SUPER STARS
KEVIN LOVE

HISTORIC SUPER STARS
RICKY RUBIO
NIKOLA PEKOVIC

SUPER STARS
None

STARS--WELL ABOVE NORMAL STARTERS
None

VERY GOOD PLAYERS--SOLID STARTERS
Michael Beasley
Derrick Williams
Jose Barea

MAJOR ROLE PLAYERS--GOOD ENOUGH TO START
Luke Ridnour

TOTAL NUMBER OF ABOVE AVERAGE PLAYERS: 7

BEST BY SIDE OF COURT
BEST OFFENSIVE PLAYER
Kevin Love

BEST DEFENSIVE PLAYER
Kevin Love

MINNESOTA TIMBERWOLVES REAL PLAYER RATINGS
--2011-12 Regular Season Ratings as of February 22, 2012
--All players who have played 300 minutes or more are included
--Shows the real quality of players
--The hidden defending adjustment, which is necessary for a full evaluation of defense, is included for all players rated

Kevin Love 1.213
Ricky Rubio 1.072
Nikola Pekovic 1.050
Michael Beasley 0.810
Derrick Williams 0.793
Jose Barea 0.783
Luke Ridnour 0.737
Wayne Ellington 0.670
Darko Milicic 0.663
Anthony Tolliver 0.583
Wesley Johnson 0.509

SCALE FOR REGULAR SEASON REAL PLAYER RATINGS
Perfect Player for all Practical Purposes / Major Historic Super Star 1.100 and more
Historic Super Star 1.000 1.099
Super Star 0.900 0.999
A Star Player / A well above normal starter 0.820 0.899
Very Good Player / A solid starter 0.760 0.819
Major Role Player / Good enough to start 0.700 0.759
Good Role Player / Often a good 6th man, can possibly start 0.640 0.699
Satisfactory Role Player / Generally should not start 0.580 0.639
Marginal Role Player / Should not start except in an emergency 0.520 0.579
Poor Player / Should never start 0.460 0.519
Very Poor Player 0.400 0.459
Extremely Poor Player and less 0.399

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

PLAYOFF GRADE PLAYERS
Playoff Grade Players have ratings of .560 and higher. Players with ratings below .560 should not play in the playoffs unless the team is forced to play them so that they have two players at a position and/or so that the team has at least eight players playing in the playoffs and/or because the coach is absolutely certain the low rating player will play better in the playoffs than he did in the regular season. Many primary contenders to win the Championship will have no player at all playing whose Rating is below .600.

MINNESOTA TIMBERWOLVES REAL PLAYER PRODUCTION
--2011-12 Regular Season Ratings as of February 22, 2012
--All players who have played 300 minutes or more are included
--Shows the real basketball production of players
--An estimate of the value of hidden defending production is included in the total production for all players shown

Kevin Love 1504.73
Ricky Rubio 1236.18
Luke Ridnour 718.89
Nikola Pekovic 606.07
Derrick Williams 481.50
Michael Beasley 469.86
Wesley Johnson 358.14
Wayne Ellington 302.20
Jose Barea 270.06
Anthony Tolliver 255.49
Darko Milicic 245.19

=============== OFFENSIVE AND DEFENSIVE SUB RATINGS ===============
MINNESOTA TIMBERWOLVES OFFENSIVE SUB RATINGS
--2011-12 Regular Season Ratings as of February 22, 2012
--All players who have played 300 minutes or more are included
--Shows the real quality of players' offense

Kevin Love 0.583
Nikola Pekovic 0.525
Ricky Rubio 0.493
Jose Barea 0.416
Luke Ridnour 0.407
Michael Beasley 0.271
Derrick Williams 0.242
Wayne Ellington 0.213
Anthony Tolliver 0.146
Darko Milicic 0.111
Wesley Johnson 0.101

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

MINNESOTA TIMBERWOLVES DEFENSIVE SUB RATINGS
--2011-12 Regular Season Ratings as of February 22, 2012
--All players who have played 300 minutes or more are included
--Shows the real quality of players' defending
--The hidden defending adjustment, which is necessary for a full evaluation of defense, is included for all players rated

Kevin Love 0.630
Ricky Rubio 0.579
Derrick Williams 0.552
Darko Milicic 0.551
Michael Beasley 0.539
Nikola Pekovic 0.526
Wayne Ellington 0.457
Anthony Tolliver 0.438
Wesley Johnson 0.408
Jose Barea 0.367
Luke Ridnour 0.330

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 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. But to fully understand a formatted Report you need to be familiar with the User Guide for it.

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.

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.

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.

Watching the Denver Nuggets Implode Against the Oklahoma Thunder and Watching them give Up 91 Points to Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook was more fun than a Man Should be Allowed to Have

The Denver Nuggets run an extremely fast pace offense featuring as many fast break easy scores as they can possibly generate. So far in 2012 the Nuggets are literally the fastest team in the League. Fast breaks in the regular season are mostly completely undefended. In these plays, the Nuggets’ guard races down the court with no chance that any defender will catch up and makes an easy layup or dunk.

An offense based first and foremost on fast breaking results in a handful of extra regular season wins and those extra wins along with an above average number of above average players are generally going to be enough to give the Nuggets a decent playoff slot. But this kind of offense is doomed to fail in the playoffs.

In the playoffs, although the majority of fast breaks still lead to easy scores, some fast breaks now do end up defended with at least a foul. And there are a few fast breaks flat out successfully defended. Specifically, you have in the playoffs what QFTR will call the “playoff fast break prevent foul” where a defender wraps up the guard who is running the fast break as if he was going to make a football tackle. Of course, you can’t actually tackle someone in basketball or the referees will throw the book at you, but wrap up fouling is a perfectly acceptable way to put up at least some defense against the fast break. Both foul shots need to be made for the full two points to be awarded for any fast break which is interrupted by a playoff fast break prevent foul. If one or both free throws are missed, that fast break defense has produced a gain.

But hold on a second, how was there a defender around to commit that foul? Because on a well coached playoff team that is playing the Nuggets, there will be a guard who has been instructed by a coach to be a “fast break defender” and so he has been specifically instructed to anticipate changes of possessions and to race back on defense as fast as possible for as many of the changes of possessions as possible. In other words the guard is told to be still partly a defender even when he is on offense at the other end of the court. He has been told to forget about offensive rebounding. He has been told to forget about moving closer to the basket than the foul line. This guard ends up being the equivalent of a free safety in football. This strategy cuts down on the number of completely undefended fast breaks.

Note however that there is a rule in NBA basketball that in effect defends the fast break from what you might call cheap defenses against it. If a defender does a wrap around or any other type of foul while in a trailing position relative to the fast breaking guard than he will be called for a continuation foul. The penalty for this foul is that the fast break basket is counted (making the foul worthless to the defense). Therefore, the guard defending the fast break must commit the foul before the fast breaking guard is ahead of him in relation to the fast break basket.

Too bad there is no NBA rule that outlaws cheap George Karl offenses, laugh out loud.

But more important than the limited ramping up of defending against fast breaks is the reduction of the number of them. In the playoffs, the Nuggets are prevented from generating as many fast breaks as they do in the regular season. In the playoffs, Nuggets’ opponents get more serious and smart about preventing fast breaks and about defending them when they do get generated. Ball handling guards of Nuggets’ opponents are on high alert for reach-in steals and they try to avoid any overly flashy and overly risky dribbling, cutting, or passing which can easily lead to a team like the Nuggets getting too many steals and too many easy fast break scores. Forwards who in general are more prone to having the ball stolen are advised by coaches to reduce how much dribble-moving they do against Nuggets guards who go all out to generate steals. Those forwards are advised to leave the ball movement to guards who when they concentrate can move the ball without turning it over a lot even against the Nuggets’ guards who are on the lookout for every steal opportunity. In other words, one of the major things you do to defend against the Nuggets’ stealing and fast breaking is to cut down on the number of steals and fast breaks they get by establishing and enforcing “rules of the road” for how the ball is going to be handled and for who is going to be doing what with regard to handling the ball.

Whereas, in the regular season, a much more lax attitude prevails regarding ball handling, prevention of steals, prevention of fast breaks, and defending fast breaks, and so the Nuggets can and do get substantially more steals, fast breaks, and easy scores during the regular season than they do in the playoffs.

WHO GAINS FROM THE NUGGETS’ FAST BREAK SCAM?
So year after year after year, Stanley and Josh Kroenke, George Karl, and the Nuggets run what amounts to a scam played against the unsuspecting public. For those who don’t already know, Stanley Kroenke and his son Josh own the Denver Nuggets and George Karl is the head coach of the Nuggets. These are the beneficiaries of the scam.

The scam produces a handful of extra regular season wins and these together with an above average number of above average players allow the Nuggets to get some kind of a playoff slot. The public is fooled into thinking that the Nuggets are better than they are and that the Nuggets have a really good chance to win at least one playoff series. This in turn increases ticket and merchandise sales. Ticket and merchandise sales are also increased because fast breaks are proven crowd pleasers. So year after year, as a result of the whole process, extra money is put into the owners’ pocket. And all of these things tend to increase the worshipping of George Karl.

The players are more or less in the dark about this, meaning they are mostly a part of the unsuspecting public. But when a player remains on the Nuggets for many years eventually they may start to see through the whole dismal scheme. Carmelo Anthony quit the team when he started to suspect that the Nuggets can not possibly ever win The Quest for the Ring by running strategies and tactics that work in the regular season to a limited extent but backfire in the playoffs. It’s unknown to what extent J.R. Smith figured this scheme out and, in any event, he quit the Nuggets first and foremost because he was being denied deserved playing time by George Karl.

By the way, if you are wondering why Quest for the Ring (QFTR) seems to be obsessed with the Nuggets, we started out as a Nuggets site and graduated from that to become a full scale pro basketball Site, covering predominantly the NBA League, in the summer of 2008. QFTR is an Internet Site with the primary mission of explaining exactly how playoff games are won and lost. Visitors to QFTR get very valuable basketball information at no charge that they were not supposed to know both regarding winning and losing and regarding numerous other basketball and NBA subjects.

DURANT AND WESTBROOK COMBINE FOR 91 POINTS AGAINST THE NUGGETS
On Sunday, February 19 2012 in Oklahoma City, in a game that will be remembered forever here at QFTR, the Nuggets lost to the Oklahoma Thunder in one overtime period 124-118. Note that neither team played the day nor night before this game so unusual fatigue was not a factor.

Thunder small forward Kevin Durant, who is obviously is among the best four or five players in the League, scored a new career record of 51 points in this game. Durant was 5 of 6 on threes, 14 of 22 on twos, and 8 of ten on free throws. Durant also made 8 rebounds and 4 steals and he committed only one foul in 45 minutes.

Combo guard Russell Westbrook also had one of the best games of his career. He scored 40 points in total consisting of 3 of 6 on threes, 13 of 23 on twos and 5 of 5 on free throws. Westbrook also made 9 assists and one block, and he committed only two turnovers and two personal fouls in 44 minutes.

Meanwhile, not to be outdone, power forward Serge Ibaka, one of the very best defenders in the League but also a very surprisingly good offensive player, scored 14 points consisting of 6 of 7 on twos and 2 of 4 on free throws. So Ibaka’s scoring was as efficient as you can get. Even more importantly, Ibaka made 15 rebounds and an astonishing 11 blocks in 41 minutes playing time. Despite aggressively defending the paint against a huge number of Nuggets’ drives during those 41 minutes, Ibaka was called for only four fouls during those 41 minutes.

The bottom line is that the three Thunder superstars all had career nights; it was a game for the ages for the Thunder and their fans.

GEORGE KARL’S ASININE CLAIM REGARDING NOT NEEDING A MAJOR SUPERSTAR TO WIN THE QUEST FOR THE RING
The massive performances of Durant, Westbrook and Ibaka reminded QFTR of a ridiculous claim that George Karl recently made.

The following discussion uses terms from the Real Player Ratings. Here is the complete RPR evaluation scale which will help you to fully understand the discussion that follows:

REAL PLAYER RATINGS EVALUATION SCALE FOR SEASONS
Perfect Player for all Practical Purposes / Major Historic Super Star 1.100 and more
Historic Super Star 1.000 1.099
Super Star 0.900 0.999
A Star Player / A well above normal starter 0.820 0.899
Very Good Player / A solid starter 0.760 0.819
Major Role Player / Good enough to start 0.700 0.759
Good Role Player / Often a good 6th man, can possibly start 0.640 0.699
Satisfactory Role Player / Generally should not start 0.580 0.639
Marginal Role Player / Should not start except in an emergency 0.520 0.579
Poor Player / Should never start 0.460 0.519
Very Poor Player 0.400 0.459
Extremely Poor Player and less 0.399

It is common knowledge that following the decisions of Carmelo Anthony and J.R. Smith to quit the Nuggets (and to a lesser extent following the quasi retirement of Kenyon Martin) the Nuggets are in general now a team characterized by few superstars and by perhaps zero historical superstars (also known as major superstars).

Neither Carmelo Anthony nor J.R. Smith have ever qualified as historical superstars overall, without regard to position, using the scale above. But Carmelo Anthony qualified as an historical superstar as a small forward (using a scale custom designed for that position) in his last season with the Nuggets (ironically). J.R. Smith has never qualified as an historical superstar even when you use the shooting guard scale. J.R. Smith has never been higher than a high end star or a low end superstar even when you use the shooting guard scale (but note that Smith ranks higher than the general public thinks).

To be exact, the small forward scale runs .055 less than the above general scale and the shooting guard scale runs .065 less. So a small forward qualifies as an historical superstar if he has a RPR of at least .945 and a shooting guard qualifies as an historical superstar if he has a RPR of at least .935.

Among the current Nuggets, technically and strictly speaking, Nene will probably qualify as an historical superstar this year and Ty Lawson and Andre Miller will probably be fairly high up in the plain superstar range and one or both of them could possibly qualify as an historical superstar.

But the point I am trying to make and that everyone has to agree with is that it is indisputable that the Nuggets do not have any STRONG AND DEFINITE historical superstars whether you look at the overall scale or the position-specific scales. Or, in other words, the Nuggets no longer have any of the "very best players in the NBA" whether or not you look at players overall or look at them from a position perspective. A few years ago they had three: Allen Iverson, Marcus Camby, and Carmelo Anthony. And now they have none.

But on the other hand, the Nuggets do have more than their share of major role players, solid starter / very good players, stars, and plain superstars.

Assuming that the Nuggets do in fact have zero historical superstars or maybe one who just barely qualifies, the question then arises: Can this type of team compete in the playoffs against teams like the Oklahoma Thunder that do definitely have stong and definite historical superstars like Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook?

George Karl, who is never shy about speaking out in defense of whatever mess he has caused (and about creating the impression that it’s not a mess) was quoted just before this season began that he thinks that it is a myth that teams need to have at least one major (historical) superstar in order to win The Quest for the Ring. He cited the 2004 Detroit Pistons as a team that won the Quest with no major superstar. Once again, as in countless times before, we caught Karl making asinine claims.

First of all, it is at least virtually and most likely mathematically impossible for a team with no major or historical superstars to win The Quest for the Ring. The pattern is obvious and the correlation is extremely high: teams with at least one and usually with two or three major, historical superstars are the ones that emerge from the grueling playoffs to become champions. It’s not enough to have three or four players who are about as good as Danilo Gallinari, an ordinary superstar. Remember, a lot of people must think that QFTR goes overboard with how many players are called superstars. And remember, plain superstars are not enough for winning the Quest; one or more major superstars are needed. To win the Quest, you need to have rock bottom minimum at least one player who is about as good as Russell Westbrook or Kevin Durant.

THE HISTORICAL SUPERSTARS OF THE 2004 DETROIT PISTONS
As for the 2004 Pistons, they indisputably had one historical superstar that year: Ben Wallace, who was a major superstar due to his defending. It figures that Karl would forget about (or ignore) Wallace, because Wallace has an odd personality and so people who get hung up on personalities (and there are more of them than you think) have never regarded Wallace as an historical superstar in 2004 or in any other year. And of course, Karl gets more hung up on player personalities than anyone so it’s no wonder that he would never consider Ben Wallace to be an historical superstar. But for the record and for emphasis, Ben Wallace was indisputably an historical superstar for the Detroit Pistons when they won the 2004 Quest for the Ring.

And on that team there was another very high quality defender with ironically the same last name: Rasheed Wallace (no relation to Ben Wallace). While not quite as outstanding on defense as Ben, Rasheed was better on offense, so overall Rasheed was roughly as valuable as Ben. So actually, the Pistons had two historical superstars in the year they won The Quest for the Ring. But since both of them qualified as such by just a little bit, and because both of them had personalities that few people liked, neither of them were considered to be major superstars by most of the general public. But again, and for the record, both Rasheed Wallace and Ben Wallace were at least marginal historical superstars for the Pistons in 2004.

And so Karl is dead wrong and is trying to fool you when he claims that the Pistons did not have any historical superstars in 2004. And Karl is dead wrong and he is trying to fool you when he says that a team like the Nuggets is still in the running to win The Quest for the Ring even though Carmelo Anthony and J.R. Smith (and Marcus Camby and Allen Iverson for that matter) are gone. No, neither the Nuggets nor any other team that has zero historical superstars (or just one of them just barely) is in the running to win the Quest unless a massive plague of injuries wipes out most or all of the actual historical superstars on the other teams. Fortunately, that many injuries are essentially impossible.

OKLAHOMA THUNDER 124, DENVER NUGGETS 118, ONE OVERTIME
Getting back to this very interesting game, although both teams were pretty banged up injury wise, in fairness to the Nuggets, they came into this game with a slightly bigger handicap due to injuries than did Oklahoma. The Nuggets were without two of their three best players: Danilo Gallinari and Nene. (Their other best player is Ty Lawson.) They were also without a decent, roughly average two-guard, Rudy Fernandez. Oklahoma was without their better than average point guard Eric Maynor and they were without their average to a little below average two-guard Thabo Sefolosha. Fernandez and Sefolosha more or less offset. And either Gallinari or Nene is largely offset by Maynor, but not both of them. So the Nuggets for this game were in effect handicapped to the approximate extent of one well above average player (Gallinari or Nene).

Watching the Nuggets fall apart in the final minutes of the fourth quarter and in overtime was more fun than a man knowledgeable about basketball should be allowed to have, because exactly what should have happened did happen in this game. To oversimplify while remaining accurate and to state it in one sentence, what happened was that the team that runs an off the deep end offense in order to pick up a few extra regular season wins (mostly against medium and bad teams) imploded when the game in effect shifted into playoff mode. Specifically, the Nuggets had a five point lead with four minutes to go in the fourth quarter and then they had a three point lead with 54 seconds to go but there was no way in hell the Nuggets were going to win this game because as of about the last half of the fourth quarter and throughout the overtime period the game had shifted from regular season mode to playoffs mode. The Nuggets had neither the defense nor the offense needed for when the game switched modes.

Playoff mode is where both the offense and the defense are more aggressive, energetic and smarter. When basketball shifts into high gear, the offense that the Nuggets run is exposed as an absurd over the top one that is doomed to fail. If you don’t already know (and you probably do already know) the key features of the Nuggets’ offense are:

--Generation of as many easy fast break dunks and layups as possible. The fast breaks are generated from steals and from very long passes.

--Over weighting guards driving into the paint for layups or for very short jumpers or for foul shots.

--Under weighting mid-range jumpers, longer jumpers and three point shooting.

These things that the Nuggets predominantly do in the regular season are literally and precisely the opposite of what a playoff offense should emphasize if it wants to win playoff series. If you want to win playoff series, you can not shy away from mid-range jumpers, longer jumpers and three-point shooting. If you want to win playoff series, you can NOT be running guards into the paint all the time thinking they are going to be able to finish against the teeth of paint defenses and thinking that the referees are going to bail those guards out by calling a lot of fouls against the paint defenders. And as we discuss in this and other Reports, if you want to win playoff series, you can NOT be thinking you are going to get a lot of easy fast break scores in playoff series.

Moreover, the Nuggets’ defense is at least as doomed to fail in the playoffs as is their offense. When you run an extremely fast pace offense, the actual time of possession becomes lopsided in favor of the other team. This puts a big and unnecessary extra burden on your defense. So for example in the case of the Nuggets, the Denver defenders might have to be defending for roughly 28 minutes in a 48 minute playoff game whereas the defenders of the other team have to be defending for only around 20 minutes (and it could be even a little more lopsided than that).

But remember, the Nuggets’ defenders, like all playoff defenders, have to be more aggressive, energetic, and smarter than they were in the regular season. Now put two and two together: in order to have a good chance to win playoff series, the Nuggets have to expend far more energy and effort on defending than the other team does (because of the lopsided time of possession breakdown). This extra burden directly and negatively affects the ultimate performance of the defense and it indirectly and negatively affects the ultimate performance of the offense.

By contrast, a slow team can ramp of defending more easily and dependably simply because it has to defend for much less actual time during playoff games because it has used up more than half of the game time while it is on offense. Obviously, you don’t have to worry about high level playoff defending while you possess the ball on offense.

In case you don’t know, it’s easy for anyone including yours truly to write about how defenses “ramp up” in the playoffs, but it’s not so easy to actually do it. There is truly a huge amount of effort and smarts involved with properly ramping up defending in playoff games.

So the Nuggets (and all other ridiculously fast paced teams) are in the hole from the get go because they have to try to have ramped up defending for a lot more time and for a much greater percentage of the game time than the other teams do. What actually happens in many if not most playoff games is that even if they ramp up their defense for most possessions in the first half, in the second half, in many possessions the defending inevitably lapses back down to the softer defending you see in the regular season. In the playoffs, great offenses can fairly easily score against defenses that are not ramped up.

One thing that literally happens is that the Nuggets’ defenders eventually get a little demoralized about the fact that the actual time they are defending is much greater than the actual time that their opponent is defending because the Nuggets are stupidly trying to win playoff games with a lot fast breaking and because the Nuggets are stupidly having their guards over weight driving into the paint instead of establishing an extensive and quality passing game.

THE IMPLOSION OF THE NUGGETS ON FEBRUARY 19 IN OKLAHOMA CITY
Late in the fourth quarter and even more so in the overtime period, the Nuggets; offense completely imploded. The Thunder shifted into playoff defending mode and the Nuggets’ offense could not even begin to function when that happened. For the Nuggets, it was actually worse than in the actual playoffs, because there was the shock effect when the game shifted from regular season mode to playoffs mode.

When the Nuggets were called on, in order to win this “playoff game,” to do more than their usual fast breaking and driving into the paint looking for porous defending and foul calls, they simply could not produce or function. They were not prepared with a good quality passing game and they were not prepared with a decent perimeter jump shooting game (either twos or threes). The Nuggets were not really prepared with any kind of “slightly organized” offense that QFTR states is necessary to win the Championship. They were not prepared with an offense that has offensive identity, which means they did not have their point guards as the ones responsible first and foremost for making plays. Instead, George Karl foolishly believes that all the players in general are about equally responsible for keeping the passing game going and for making plays.

To give credit where it’s due, the Karl approach on making plays produces a lot of sheer assists and a lot of sheer points, and the Nuggets are in fact the number one team in the NBA for both assists and for points! But once again, as with so many other Karl strategies, this works better in the regular season than it does in the playoffs. In the playoffs, when the point guards are not PRIMARILY responsible for keeping the passing game going and for making plays, this reduces the quality of the offense and makes it much easier for those ramped up defenses to stop the Nuggets from scoring.

So while they led the game much of the way, by as many as 14 points in fact, when the game shifted into playoffs mode the Nuggets imploded. Late in the fourth quarter and in overtime, the key Nuggets offensive players looked kind of nervous and awkward. Embarrassingly, Andre Miller was called for travelling not once but twice in the overtime. And in a shot that would have won the game in regulation time, Ty Lawson looked extremely (and unnecessarily) awkward when he tried to make a fairly open little 14-foot jumper with about a second left in the fourth quarter. True, the shot was attempted with a second left, but still, there was something about that shot that didn’t look right at all. Awkwardness kills jump shooting. Oh well, you know what they say: “The ball doesn’t lie”. So there was overtime.

On defense, the Nuggets were also mostly imploded and lost in the last few minutes of the fourth quarter and in overtime. Late in this game the Nuggets lacked key things needed for a playoff caliber defense: they lacked confidence, resolve, and they also lacked enough defensive intelligence. But to be fair, with no Nene, it was understandable they would be lacking in confidence that they could effectively guard the paint against Durant, Westbrook, and Ibaka. But overall, as we have explained in detail in this Report, George Karl’s defense was heavily disadvantaged by his crazy and off the deep end offense. In those last minutes, Nuggets defenders were a little confused and they were a little tired (from having to defend all those extra minutes, as we discussed earlier). In playoffs mode games, any quality offense will eat alive a defense that is a little confused and a little tired.

So on defense, the Nuggets looked lost, and obviously they had no answer for either Kevin Durant or Russell Westbrook. The Nuggets get a pass for not being able to deal with Ibaka’s paint offense because with no Nene the Nuggets literally had no player good enough at paint defending to be able to deal with Ibaka’s paint offense. Rookie high draft pick power forward Kenneth Faried might be the answer but of course Karl generally refuses to play rookie and second year forwards for defensive purposes. (And laugh out loud that Faried doesn’t know that Karl apparently discriminates against players whose hair is long dreads.)

MORE FUN THAN ANYONE SHOULD BE ALLOWED TO HAVE
Since the Nuggets imploding was exactly what QFTR was thinking would (and should!) happen, it was an extremely enjoyable thing to watch this game and see the Nuggets predictably fall apart. Adding to the fun was that when the Nuggets lost and when on the same evening the Minnesota Timberwolves won (by one single point in a nail biter against that outstanding team the Philadelphia 76’ers) Minnesota moved to within one single game of the Denver Nuggets.

Now game one of the Nuggets / Timberwolves four game regular season series follows the very next night, on February 20. So now, exactly as QFTR hoped for at the beginning of this season, if instead of splitting two games each the Timberwolves or the Nuggets can win this regular season series 3-1 or 4-0, they can probably ensure a playoff slot by doing so and very possibly prevent the loser from making the playoffs at the same time. In other words, just as we hoped for, George Karl faces humiliation from the Minnesota Timberwolves, which was one of the very worst teams in the League only last year. Karl thinks historical superstars are overrated, and now after he has lost to Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and Serge Ibaka, let’s see if the same thing happens when Karl plays Kevin Love and Ricky Rubio.

Karl set the stage for Carmelo Anthony and J.R. Smith quitting his team and now he faces humiliation from having the Minnesota Timberwolves take “the George Karl playoff slot” which is supposed to be reserved for Karl to make a fool of himself and lose in the first round. What is the world coming to if Karl does not get his usual opportunity to make a fool of himself and lose in the first round? What if the Nuggets’ scam fails to produce a playoff slot at all? Well, if that happens, that makes basketball an even better sport than you or I thought it was.

Isn’t it way overdue that Karl and the Nuggets not be allowed to bring their scam into the first round of the NBA playoffs?

THE SUMMARY AND THE CONCLUSION FOR OUR STORY
The moral of the story is that from a playoffs perspective the Nuggets’ offense is a scam type offense and it is a low quality offense. And not only that, but the Nuggets’ offense makes it extremely difficult to be prepared defensively for the playoffs and to produce defensively in the playoffs. In general and to sum things up as simply as possible, teams that want to win playoff series need to do less of many of the things the Nuggets do more of than most other teams. And teams that want to win playoff series need to do more of many of the things the Nuggets do less of than most or all other teams do. In other words and to put it even more simply, watch what Karl does and do the opposite!