Podcast Questions

I've got an idea for next week's podcast outlined- had more than a few people ask my opinion on Meyers Leonard so that's where this next one is going. Is there anything anyone is particularly wondering/curious about- pertaining to Leonard? I'm more than happy and in fact love taking a look at things I may not notice or question myself.

Along that same line- going forward, what are you as a fan interested in? What - particularly in analytics- do you want to know about this Blazers team? I can continue to look at player profiles- I think the midseason/All Star break is a good time to do that - especially for the new acquisitions.

In my mind I've got this as far as loose plans and things that I would like to take a look at:

Next: Meyers Leonard
Options I'm looking at afterwards:
1) Allen Crabbe's growth- how does he rate an an NBA wing going forward, contract possibilities, comparisons
2) Al-Farouq Aminu- the Swiss Army knife of the Blazers and how he impacts the game

3) Damian Lillard & CJ McCollum- the most offensive backcourt in the league... little play on words there- nice, right? (last one for now...promise).

Clearly there's a lot to take a look at there- but what do you guys want to talk about? What are you interested in digging into further? Let me know and if there seems to be a consensus I'll pull from there and start putting pen to paper.

Thanks!

-Dan

 

A season or two ago, the whole idea of "gravity" came up in the NBA with the increase SportVU usage.

Where does one find these stats/graphics? How does Dame/CJ compare with other top tier stars in the NBA? These guys seem to draw so much defensive attention.

 

Gravity is a REALLY cool concept- however it's not something readily available to the public at this time. When SportVU pulled their data warehouse to the private side it was a real bummer- especially considering the sticker price for a full subscription is around 10k the last time I looked. I skirt around that by knowing a few guys who have access, and let me run queries when needed, and they kick me the information. I'm in talks to get my own log-in and hoping I'll have that secured by mid/late February- but we'll see how that goes.

Until then all of us lesser mortals are stuck perusing the inter webs in hopes of finding scraps left behind by the power users. The guys to watch on Twitter: Kevin Pelton, Doug Eberhart, Seth Partnow, and Zach Lowe - to name a few. Tom Haberstroh from ESPN has done a few things with it too, but I haven't seen much from him lately. I was talking with Doug about the whole concept when the Blazers played the Clippers- and how gravity effects spacing- but also how the speed and total distance covered can effect said gravity- he mentioned how he was talking to JJ Reddick and it is something that's very central to how the Clippers offense is designed.

Seeing as this is the kind of thing I enjoy talking about- I may go a bit deeper on this one down the line- explaining the whole theory and how it's applied to the Blazers and other teams around the league. Thanks!

Hope I answered your question too hahaha

 

Whether you're being sarcastic or dead serious- that's actually a fabulous question. It's so wide ranging that there's a lot to dig into there.

 

Already looking at the first part- glad to see there's an interest there. Good point on the frontcourt pairings- hadn't thought of that in this aspect, I'll definitely take a look at the splits and ratings of different units. Thanks!

 

I don't think you need many stats to tell you Leonard has terrible defensive instincts. But I'd venture to guess that the stats say he's pretty good when he actually is able to contest properly.

Also, not sure what stats there are on this, but is there any sort of analysis you can do on fouls/type of fouls? I've noticed the Blazers have a good number of players (Crabbe, Leonard, Plumlee, Davis, Vonleh) who not only foul a lot, but make a bunch of stupid an completely unnecessary fouls. I've always been impressed by San Antonio's ability to coach a disciplined defense that rarely fouls, even with different lineups and new players. Just from watching the team, my guy tells me that they aren't really THAT bad at making defense rotations, they just have trouble finishing defensive possessions without fouling.

Blazers were 4th in fouls per game last year at 18.4, and held a top 10 defense.

This year we're 27th at 21.0 per game, and are bottom 10.

 

There is actually a website that does a decent job of keeping track of fouls- I've thought about using it, but without having access to the database myself- I've been a bit leery of using their information. Maybe just isolating a couple players and checking game logs would be enough to give me some confidence to use it in a grander fashion. I'll take a look and see if I can come up with anything.

As far as Leonard goes- there's a lot there to look at. I'll say this, I think a lot of people will be scratching their heads when they see how things bare out.

 

I wanna know if stats support the Trailblazers decision to make Meyers Leonard into a waste of a 7 foot athletic body.

His game would only be more hilarious if all he took were skyhooks from 3 point land.