According to Wayne Winston, The Blazers have been good lately because ...

I thought it was all because of Nate?

 

I thought what he was rating was improvements over the last how every many games/days. So if someone was 20/10 before and then went 20-10 through the games/days since he'd be 0 on that because he hadn't improved. Right?

Reading it again it looks like he's going with the league average?

 

I honestly have no idea what you are talking about

 

Yeah, I think Winston's numbers are given relative to a standard baseline (either average or "replacement"...which is a concept meaning a freely-available player, like a D-League player). Not relative to the player's own usual performance or anything.

In general, +/- is simply how the team does with the player on the court as opposed to how the team does with the player on the bench. People like Winston further adjust that to account for the players (teammates and opponents) on the floor at the same time.

 

You look at the box scores and it's not like Bayless and Miller are really blowing you away with great stats. Well, Bayless had the two great games, but we've won 8 of the last 10 when we really should've been (at best) .500 over this stretch.

It just seems to me that Bayless and Miller are doing a much better job on the defensive end at containing opposing teams' back courts than Blake/Webster did. And those two guys are getting a ton of dribble penetration, which is preventing teams from keying in on Roy exclusively.

 

Totally agree on this.... Even if Bayless's shot isn't falling, he still is a good perimeter D player, and doesn't cause others to help him often.

 

I think a big reason the team is actually playing well is the rotation has been shortened. Guys are actually getting used to playing with each other. That and the improved paint pressure from the guards. I expected Bayless to have some downturn in his offense once he began to being scouted. I have noticed in several games lately that teams actually double him sometimes. The thing about Bayless though, is even when his shot isn't falling he gets to the line.