0 comments by justinwillard on 4/24/2017
DeMarcus Cousins had a breakout year, reaching the vaunted 20-10 average and capitalizing on his potential. What’s most impressive that his usage rate (the proportion of possessions he used by taking shots, free throws, or making turnovers) ballooned without a decrease in efficiency — in fact he was more efficient than ever. A usage rate […]
0 comments by justinwillard on 1/24/2015
It’s the midway point in the NBA regular season, and by continually bisecting the rest of the season, we’ll eventually reach that finish line and make it to the playoffs. The Warriors are destroying everyone, the Hawks look like the best team in the east, the Cavaliers look like a real playoff team, and the […]
0 comments by justinwillard on 1/21/2015
With the all-star voting drawing to an end and the game itself around the corner, I thought I’d share my selections for the all-star ballot for the starters and the reasoning behind them. For some objective evidence, I’ve paired my own metric with ESPN’s RPM. My metric is still in the beta stages, but it’s […]
0 comments by justinwillard on 1/16/2015
We’re deep into the NBA season and nearing the halfway mark for the regular season, as strange as that sounds. There are still a lot of unresolved storylines and surprises, however, even with all the tools we have available. The media’s focused on the circus in Cleveland and the condemned basketball empires in New York […]
0 comments by justinwillard on 1/8/2015
As everyone predicted, three of the four teams with the best defensive ratings are Portland, Houston, and Atlanta. The NBA can surprise and what we thought just a few months ago may have to be completely discarded. A year ago at this time the Pacers were 28-6, outscoring opponents by near 10 points a game […]
0 comments by justinwillard on 1/7/2015
Christmas is to the NBA now as Thanksgiving is to football. It’s a time for high-profile match-ups and reunions, like LeBron meeting his former team. TV ratings powerhouses like the Lakers and Knicks are always there, irrespective of how good their teams are. But there were other storylines too to close out of the year, […]
0 comments by justinwillard on 12/23/2014
We already have some movement in the league, from the small and curious Corey Brewer trade to Houston to the Rajon Rondo trade. A couple months in, teams know who they are and what weaknesses they have. The deluded ones dream about how good they could be if they removed problem X, while others try […]
0 comments by justinwillard on 12/19/2014
I feel as though I need to speak up against this trade because I’ve been one of Rajon Rondo’s strongest critics for a long time. For example, here’s an older article about how deceiving Rondo’s stats are given that Boston’s offense has usually been just fine without him. The most famous instance is 2013 where […]
0 comments by justinwillard on 12/17/2014
In a week, Kobe Bryant has passed Michael Jordan on the all-time scoring list while Duncan silently passed Jerry West. Golden State has looked like the next great team, while Oklahoma City surges forward, hoping to take at least the last playoff spot — we could be headed toward a mammoth first round series. But […]
0 comments by justinwillard on 12/10/2014
The standings are still a bit bizarre like in the crowded west with Portland, Memphis, and a Howard-less Houston team near the top, but the league is rounding into shape. The Bulls are still debilitated and their defense hasn’t recovered, but at least the Cavaliers have found their groove — we need as many great […]
0 comments by justinwillard on 12/7/2014
One of the most widely used stats in the NBA is the grossly misleading rebound. We all discuss how field goals can come from sharp passes, or how a player’s field-goal percentage is lower because he has to take too many of the team’s unassisted shots at the end of the shot clock. Assists are […]
0 comments by justinwillard on 12/2/2014
This is the week of Memphis asserting their dominance, Houston fading without Dwight Howard, Cleveland discovering their mojo, and the Toronto juggernaut being tested with DeMar DeRozan’s injury. Somehow, the playoff standings are an inverse mockery with the Cavaliers, Bulls, Spurs, and Clippers closer to the bottom with Memphis, Golden State, Houston and Toronto looking […]
0 comments by justinwillard on 11/26/2014
As we move further and further into the season, the odd kinks at the beginning of the season start to solidify and the patterns are emerging. For some fans, like in Portland and Toronto, this is encouraging, but for others in Cleveland or Charlotte this is distressing. Yet, as everyone has said repeatedly in November, […]
0 comments by justinwillard on 11/21/2014
One of the most famous cliches in basketball is that defense wins championships. That’s the type of statement that usually gets hacked to death by those wielding advanced-stats swords, but analysis has found time and again that the statement could be valid. With a Cleveland team dreaming of bringing a title home lacking defense but […]
0 comments by justinwillard on 11/18/2014
With the Cleveland Cavaliers finding their groove and some crazy box scores over the past week, there’s a lot to discuss, but let’s delve into a few other topics and leave the talk of things like Kobe Bryant to the rest of the media. Doubting Thomas (Again) Even the smartest people following the league are […]
