(Clipped info due to Insider) Interesting take by ESPN on players' ranking by position and "TrueWARP". I was surprised by a lot of the rankings. I've bolded the ranking within the position. PG: SG: SF: PF: C: Robin was not in the top 10, the "next 5", or #16 or #17. I think it's a bit of a bad analysis to blend preseason projection with statistical reality, but if they're taking into account prior performance then I guess it's semi-legit----I just don't like blending them.
Pelton acknowledged WARP is not accurate for players like LaMarcus who can space the floor without shooting 3's. WARP puts a premium on players who have a good 3pt% as it is highly correlated with teams that have efficient offense. Having him as the 7th best PF is a joke.
Pelton is an absolute balloon. Throw numbers into a computer and get some dumb results. I'm sure the money is at least acceptable, but is it worth looking like an idiot nationally when one had to continually change their statistical formula? What are his current adjusted preseason predictions for Portland?
FIFY Worse, he talks about WARP and his other crap models that are wrong a super-duper majority (it's a technical term) of the time, in the 3rd person. Like it's not his fault the models are wrong. lol He spends so much time making excuses and exception, only choosing to talk about where the poop actually stuck, that I can't for the life of me understand the appeal. With all that data, it’s not hard to find a few bits of info that seems to factor out correctly. So, then he writes a diatribe about those few instances for ESPiN insider, and dismisses the crap with excuses. Then fans seeking validation for what they believe go to feed their insatiable appetite for proof that their team or player is the best. Or, maybe they check out the hacked version from the scrub “contributors” on Homer’s Edge who repeat the same “analysis” ad nauseam like it gives them credibility to speak so definitively about their basketball acumen. It was entertaining for a while, but now it's just a waiting game for them to eat their crow and hopefully move on to writing Game of Thrones trivia books.
No, I meant balloon. It's full of air and what appears to be mass, but put pressure on it, it pops into nothing.
Perhaps you did, but I was pretty sure "bowling shoe" was an OddEnormous special. http://sportstwo.com/threads/156082-Great-weekend-for-the-Blazers-but....-here-is-what-concerns-me....?p=2293308&viewfull=1#post2293308
Man, I knew that LMA was going to be brought up, but no one else found it odd that 3 of our starters are better relative to position than LMA is at PF? Especially Wes?
The league is flush with PF talent, but barren when it comes to SG talent. What surprises me is Lillar_ (to use a MM-ism) being ranked so high.
Haven't really given it any thought, and haven't really watched other teams except when we play them. I've just been underwhelmed with Lillard this season - he's an average starting PG. I like his outside shooting and competitive fire, but aside from those two aspects he doesn't really do anything better than the next guy.
Taking 7 threes/game and hitting them at a 44% clip is pretty extraordinary. Even Steph Curry isn't shooting that well this year. I know you mentioned it, but it's a pretty impressive feat IMO.
I specified that his outside shooting (along with competitiveness) sets him apart. It's the rest of his game that is rather pedestrian.
I agree with you, Blue. Unfortunately, I realized recently that I've also been wrong on just about every point guard related opinion I've had in the past eight years, so that probably means that we're both wrong here too.
I hope we are wrong on this some day! But currently we aren't. Because he possesses that competitive fire I do think he will eventually become much better than he is now. But it's going to be a longer road than his rookie season would have suggested.
Here is the list of guards who average 5.6+ Assists with a 19.5+ PER: http://bkref.com/tiny/FA4J5 This is a list designed to put Lillard near the bottom of in assists and PER. But looking at all the stats, something interesting comes up. Among these 11 guards, Lillard is: 1st in 3PT made 2nd in 3PT % 4th in FT made 1st in FT % 5th in Rebounds 3rd in Blocks 3rd in Turnovers (nearly half of Curry's numbers) 4th in Points He does a couple of things poorly among this group: 2PT shooting, Offensive Rebounding, Steals (I give him a bit of a pass on Assists because he's not the only playmaker on the team). But among this top 1/3 of guards, he's in the top half of them quite a bit. And he's Top 3 in 5 of those stats. That's not really average.
