I think I would need to see Kopponen play in Summer League and the Preseason before I decided he was the answer at point guard. But I am willing to keep an open mind about it. It's not like the current crop of Portland point guards is setting the world on fire.
I think alot of blakes inside assists come from giving it to Oden when he was playing. I don't know the minute breakdown, but i'd guess he's played more minutes with Oden than Miller and Bayless. but numbers aside, if you just watched the games, you'd see that blake does not create easy baskets. most of his assists come from swinging the ball to open shooters, not creating shots by driving and dishing or by hitting open cutters or big men.
The stats I posted show that, while this may be the case in terms of a majority, that even more of Miller's assists have come to shooters on the outside. The poster I was replying to called "bullshit" on another poster's opinion regarding BLANKY and his assists. I offered statistics that at the very least seem to give a small amount of credence to the "bullshit". I'm not saying that you aren't correct, either, rather that even less of Miller's assists lead to "easy" baskets, percentage-wise.
Could this be explained by the fact that Miller, Bayless and Roy are much more likely to drive and dish while Blake is more likely to make an entry pass?
Could be. I just found it interesting considering the CW here is that BLANKY never creates easy baskets. By no means am I saying that BLANKY is as good of a passer as Miller, either, yet his assists numbers aren't far from Miller's while playing primarily off of the ball.
But your statistics only show assists, not opportunities created. As an example, if you or I were on the floor for a single possession and passed it to a wide open Roy and Roy swished the shot...you or I would get an NBA assist, but we created nothing. From observation, Blake gets most of his assists by passing to players who are open, but he isn't the one who got that shooter open. He's a safe, unselfish passer, but he doesn't create much. Miller does more creation, by penetrating to draw defenders which does open up other teammates.
"My" statistics were to counter the apparently "bullshit" argument that BLANKY creates no easy baskets. If you want to take the data further, go for it. That wasn't my intent. If you want to offer up additional statistics, I'm all eyes, but I've already stated that I know that Miller is a better passer than BLANKY. I provided a data set that shows that BLANKY has actually created more "inside" (i.e. easy, IMO) baskets than Miller, but only because I questioned the validity of BoobNoMore's opinion.
Yeah, but that's essentially the premise that I was arguing. I don't think "easy" baskets are defined by inside or outside. A wide open shot by Rudy Fernandez on the perimeter is an "easy shot"...a hook shot over two defenders by Aldridge from 7 feet isn't easy. My opinion is that "easy shots" are defined by getting open looks for players where they like to operate. Which is difficult to study with numbers.
I consider a dunk or a lay-up an "easy" shot, and the statistics back that up every single time in terms of percentage. We can argue semantics all night, I suppose, but you should know by now that I prefer to at least take a look at the stastics that are available.
I agree, but all "inside" shots aren't dunks and lay-ins. And there are "easy" shots that aren't dunks and lay-ins (like my example of a wide-open three-point attempt by Rudy).
Those statistics show that Miller, in less minutes, has created more assists off of dunks. The percentage of his assists that are dunks doesn't matter as much if one is saying he creates more opportunities, or easier opportunities.
I don't consider an open 3pt shot to be "easy" if it is successful only 38% of the time. Again, I'm not seeing how the stats prove BNM's vulgar retort to Eric's seemingly accurate claim.
My post wasn't a Miller vs. Blake comparision, although the results did surprise me. I know that Miller is a better passer than Blake. EDIT - BLANKY. My bad. I don't want to confuse anyone.
If it wasn't a comparison, why show Miller's assists at all? If the intent was to show the easy opportunities Blake creates, that could have been done by showing Blake's assist #s. You chose to show other players, and even mentioned Miller by name in your post of those statistics, mentioning that Blake gets mroe easy assists. If it's just a discussion of Blake, then who he gets more or less than doesn't really matter, does it?
Well, an open three-point shot from someone like Rudy is probably successful closer to 45% of the time. His three-point percentage is lower than that because he doesn't just take wide-open threes. Studies have shown that the most efficient types of scoring are baskets at the hoop and open three-pointers (lower percentage than close-in shots, but worth more points). So, I consider those the types of shots that I'd ideally like my point guard to create. Though, that's in general...if you had a money mid-range shooter, open mid-range shots for him would be good opportunities to create.
I thought it was enlightening for reasons of comparison. I'm sure had I just listed Blake's numbers, some other smartass would ask me why I didn't give the other PG's numbers. I expected Miller to be far and away ahead in "inside" assists, since I've read here on numerous occasions how solid he is at entering the ball into the bigs. It was just a post with statistics. Man, people are sensitive here. Are you going to address the stats, or are you just going to criticize the structure and content of my post?
Great. Nothing wrong with that opinion. BTW, how many Rudy wide-open 3 pointers has Miller assisted on this year?
I addressed the stats. I mentioned that Miller, in less time, has created more dunk opportunities for his teammates. The percentage of his assists that are dunks doesn't matter. Minstrel already pointed out the flaw in assuming anything else about easy looks. We can make the assumption that a dunk is an easy opportunity What a close shot is, and how easy it is, and what a wide open jumper is, and how easy it is? We don't really know. So I see more dunks created in less time on the floor. And as a reserve, likely mroe time on the floor with other reserves(Joel instead of Oden).
