Graphic Material

by Dave on Aug 7, 2007 9:22 AM PDT in News

Truehoop informs us this morning that our good friend Tom Ziller at Sactown Royalty (you can reach both those sites via links in the sidebar...in case you didn't know they were there) has come up with a graphic depiction of several NBA stats. It's on the "other" site he writes for, the infamous Bizzallhizzype...werd.

See it here

Ziller's work is impressive, though his analysis, especially as regards the Blazers, is open to debate. As with most statistical comparisons it's strong on talking about the past and less adequate when talking about the future, especially where a rapidly-evolving squad like the Blazers is concerned. Also he described Greg Oden as "plodding" which clearly ain't so. But he does do a good job highlighting how bad the team's offense has been. True dat.

Give it a look and come back and leave your impressions.

--Dave (blazersub@yahoo.com)

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brilliant

absolutely brilliant,i could'nt say it better myself.and i love the rockets anology.yes the blazers will be deaf to wacth this season.can you say detroit/cavs with m.fratello coaching. i say the blazers average 92 if lucky points per game this season.could be potentially a lot worse.and with adelman in houston now that will be fun to wacth this season.great job ziller.

by fatty on Aug 7, 2007 9:32 AM PDT reply actions

In order to properly quantify the blazers...

...you need need to take into account the loss of Randolph. Odds are the Blazers offensive efficeny went down when he was in the game.

by khryse on Aug 7, 2007 9:46 AM PDT reply actions

great comment from truehoop

"Doesn't look like he pays much attention to his fellow west coasters the Blazers. The reason for that plodding offense was because it ran through a plodding Z-Bo, who will be making the Knicks offense hard to watch from now on. They'll still run a lot of things to LaMarcus and Oden in the post, but both of those guys can run better than most bigs in the league. I guess he'll notice the change while watching Portland wax Sac over the next 10 years."

Amen.

by sergioFTW on Aug 7, 2007 9:49 AM PDT reply actions

Should clarify

That came from a poster/comment person at Truehoop and not from Henry himself. Though Henry may have been thinking it.

--Dave

by Dave on Aug 7, 2007 9:50 AM PDT up reply actions

thx Dave

forgot to specify.

by sergioFTW on Aug 7, 2007 10:02 AM PDT up reply actions

No Can

I do not get it. I think Seattle, Portland, and Minnesota should not be included. All three teams have lost the focal point of last years offense.

Aaron Brooks the 2007 ROY.

by tominhawaii on Aug 7, 2007 10:05 AM PDT reply actions

On Portland

Thanks, Dave and the Edgers. A few things:

Yeah, Oden isn't plodding -- that was inaccurate. But you'd have to imagine an offense centered on the types of skills a big man like Oden brings would tend to venture towards slow. He's an athletic freak and both he and LaMarcus can get up and go, but knowing what we know about post-dominated teams and Nate McMillian (and I'll also mention Ohio State was in the bottom third in pace last season), I'm comfortable suggesting this team will remain slower than average.
It's hard to figure for Randolph. Just using on-off pace data is really cloudy since Z-Bo played almost exclusively with Jack (a slower PG) and almost never with Rodriguez (a faster one). (Also: on-off pace data is like impossible to compile.) I imagine losing Zach will speed things up somewhat, but we won't know til we know.
Portland will paste Sacramento for the next decade, without doubt.

by TZ on Aug 7, 2007 10:39 AM PDT reply actions

hey Tom

Thanks for coming on and posting your thoughts. Don't forget that McMillian coached an up-tempo team in Seattle and would like to play that way. He hasn't had the personnel to do so, but it looks like things are moving that way. Pritchard and McMillian have repeatedly said they want to play fast.

Your points regarding the difficulties of predicting the effect of Randolph's departure are well taken. Your work was a great look at what happened last year. As they say though, "it's tough to make predictions, especially about the future."

Great work Tom.

by jksnake99 on Aug 7, 2007 11:16 AM PDT up reply actions

Correction

This probably sounds more obnoxious than it should, but it's a common misconception that McMillan's teams played fast in Seattle.

During his five years in there, Seattle never finished higher than 15th in pace factor. That 2004/05 team, the one with the lights-out offense, actually played at the fourth-slowest pace in the league. They were just tremendously efficient in the halfcourt.

Obviously, that doesn't preclude him from picking up the pace, especially if he's been talking about doing so, but it would go against his character.

Bullets Forever, your Washington Wizards blog

by Mike Prada on Aug 7, 2007 9:31 PM PDT up reply actions

thanks for the correction

I always like to learn new things.

by jksnake99 on Aug 8, 2007 3:58 PM PDT up reply actions

yeah snake

because you had ridenour,allen,lewis,2 legit scorers and a young playmaker.if you look at the blazers real closely dude,no 20pts per game guy on the roster.and aldridge has the potential to score over 20.while lewis*allen has.also the lack of real talent on the club also factors in the big picture.some of you guys are talking about r.fernandez like he's p.pierce.don't worry,many of you guys will be challenging me about my post down the road.that guy ziller was on the money book it !!!!

by fatty on Aug 7, 2007 1:37 PM PDT reply actions

Tom's graphics indicate to me

that improving the defensive efficiency is going to be more important to the Blazers improving their performance, than speeding up the pace.

Our offensive efficiency was not that far off average. A modest improvement puts us on the right side of the line. When you take a look at the progressive improvement in both Roy's and Jack's shooting numbers as the season wore on, there is reason to think we might see that improvement. (As a counter to that, losing Ime may hurt. I think he was the most efficient scorer on the team.)

I'd therefore concentrate on improving the defense. If we can get close to the average line, then a slight improvement in offensive efficiency puts us in a category close to SAC, NJN, TOR, GS & DEN. Four playoff teams & one that just missed.

by timg56 on Aug 7, 2007 3:46 PM PDT reply actions

Coaching style,

plain and simple is the main influence on these chart results.

K.P. has been wanting a fast paced game, but Nate has resisted. I remember his comments last year that, given being handed the players he was during the off season, he would need to play a half-court offense game. And he did. There wasn't even a hint of fast-breaking B-ball.

Nate is going to have to change this year though. He no longer has his excuses. Plus he's got a guy in Blake who is actually capable of running an effective break. We won't be slow and plodding any longer or K.P. will be looking hard at the coach.

by TwoDeep on Aug 7, 2007 7:34 PM PDT reply actions