New Hobby

1. INTRODUCTION

  This is something new for me, something fun to try. I love sports, so I decided to start writing about them. After all, I like to discuss and I'm sure my dad is tired of hearing it. I would love people to check it out, give me some feedback, and have some discussion (or arguments). But its ok if not, because my mom will read it because she's my mom and that's her job.

    With all that being said, I'm going to introduce some statistics that the experts (obviously not me) use and I try to comprehend. I'll be using some in future posts, so I thought I would explain. If you already know and disagree, feel free to correct. My posts will mostly be about the Thunder and the Atlanta Braves, so I'll have "advanced" or metric stats for both sports.  Advanced/metric stats are what the movie "moneyball" was about. A different, more complex way to judge the quality of a player.

   So here it goes, lets start with the NBA.

PER (Player Efficiency Rating)- The most popular, and currently most effective way to measure a players value. It uses a detailed formula that I won't share (because I don't know it) that basically takes all positive and negative contributions into account. Using PPG (points per game) is very flawed because it doesn't matter how many turnovers and missed shots a player has. I know PPG wouldn't determine the best player anyways,  but that's what a lot of casual fans look at. So for example: Kevin Durant scored 28.1ppg last season on 17 shots a game. Carmelo Anthony, while scoring more (28.8), did it on 22 shots a game. Since KD shot 50%, give him those five more shots and that's another 5 ppg. That resulted in KDs PER being 28.3 to Melo's 24.8. League average PER is 15. We have both extremes on this Thunder team. KDs current PER is a really good 27.4, while Kendrick Perkins is putting up an awful 7. I could have a 7 PER (note: I absolutely could not have a 7 PER).

eFG% (effective field goal percentage)- This stat adjusts for the fact that three pointers are one more point then a two pointer. Example: Jeremy Lamb goes 4 out of 10 for 10 pts with two of those being three pointers, while Reggie Jackson goes 5 out of 10 for 10 points with zero three pointers. Both players have a eFG% of 50. League leader last year was 64%, and league average is around 50%. KD was at 56%

TS% (True Shooting Percentage)- Basically instead of FG%, 3P%, and FT% being calculated separately,  its all calculated together. League leader last year was 67%, and league average is 54%. KD was 2nd last season with 64%.

Per 36- Pretty self explanatory,  its a certain statistic divided by minutes played multiplied by 36. Example: Reggie Jackson this year is scoring 12 ppg in 24.9 mpg (we will call it 25 because math). So 12/25=.48 take that times 36 and you get 17.28 points per 36. It adjusts for how many minutes a guy gets per game.

Now for team stats. I swear its almost over.

Offensive Rating- how many points a team would score if they had 100 possessions which is slighty above an average NBA game. Trail Blazers lead right now with 109.1 while last place is 92.8 by the Bucks (barely an NBA team).

Defensive Rating- essentially the exact opposite of OffR. How many points a team would give up if the other team had 100 possessions. High side is Pacers 92.8, last place is 107.9 by the Jazz. Thunder rank 6th in OffR with 105.1 and sits at 5th in DefR with 97.6

Last one...

PACE- how many possessions a team uses per game. Highest is 102.2 from the 76ers. Lowest is 93.4 from the Grizzlies. OKC is 5th at 99.6. It pretty much tells you how fast a team plays. The teams up top usually take quick shots and get out in transition.  Slower teams play more of a slow paced half court offense.

Ok, that took way too long so ill save the baseball stats until closer to the start of the season. Feedback would be great (if anyone reads it). Positive or negative, just don't be too mean :) And I promise the next post won't be this boring.