khandor’s sports blog

Houston or Toronto?

Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010

Last night’s game between the Houston Rockets and the Toronto Raptors served as an interesting benchmark for the on-going development of these two teams.

Toronto Raptors 92
HOUSTON ROCKETS 116

Complete Game Summary

At the moment:

Toronto is 31-28/.525, 2nd in the Atlantic Division, and 5th in the Eastern Conference; while, Houston is 30-29/.508, 3rd in the Southwest Division, and 9th in the Western Conference.

Both teams played last night’s game without several key players in their respective line-ups, due to a variety of physical ailments/injuries:

Toronto
1. Chris Bosh/PF-C, leg injury [day-to-day]
2. Jose Calderon/PG, arm injury [day-to-day]
3. Hedo Turkoglu/SF, leg injury [incurred last night]

Houston
1. Yao Ming/C, foot injury [expected to return next season]
2. Kyle Lowry/PG, leg injury [day-to-day]
3. Trevor Ariza/SF, hip injury [day-to-day]

Examining the complete rosters for each team:

Pos	TORONTO	RK	HOUSTON	RK
COACH
	Triano	2	Adelman	1
SUB-TOTAL		2		1
STARTERS
PG	Jack	2	Brooks	1
OG	DeRozan	2	Martin	1
SF	Turkoglu	2	Battier	1
PF	Bosh	1	Scola	2
C	Bargnani	2	Ming	1
SUB-TOTAL		9		6
KEY SUBS
PG	Calderon	1	Lowry	2
OG	Weems	2	Budinger	1
SF	Wright	2	Ariza	1
PF	Johnson	1	Hill	2
C	Nesterovic	1	Anderson	2
SUB-TOTAL		7		8
RESERVES
G	Belinelli	1	Taylor	2
F/C	Evans	2	Jeffries	1
SUB-TOTAL		3		3
TOTAL		21		18
EXTRAS/OUT
	Banks	2	Temple	1
	O’Bryant	2	Hayes	1
			Armstrong	1
LEGEND: Pos – Position; RK – Ranking.

is an interesting exercise when considering:

i. Chris Bosh/PF-C becomes an unrestricted free agent this summer;

ii. Chris Bosh is originally from Dallas, Texas;

iii. The relative “NBA talent” base on these two rosters;

iv. The “playoff prospects” for these two teams:

A. This season, and
B. Beyond the current season.

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Tags: Aaron Brooks, Amir Johnson, Andrea Bargnani, Antoine Wright, Bryan Colangelo, Chase Budinger, Chris Bosh, Chuck Hayes, Daryl Morey, David Andersen, Demar DeRozan, Garrett Temple, Hedo Turkoglu, Hilton Armstrong, Houston Rockets, Jared Jeffries, Jarrett Jack, Jay Triano, Jermaine Taylor, Jordan Hill, Jose Calderon, Kevin Martin, Kyle Lowry, Luis Scola, Marco Belinelli, Marcus Banks, Patrick O'Bryant, Rasho Nesterovic, Reggie Evans, Rick Adelman, Shane Battier, Sonny Weems, Toronto Raptors, Trevor Ariza, Yao Ming
Posted in Analytics, Basketball, NBA | 6 Comments »

Coming down the home stretch, Legitimate Contenders for the 2009-2010 NBA Championship

Monday, March 1st, 2010

Every year since the 2000-2001 season, each of the two teams which have reached the NBA Finals (i.e. the Champion and the Finalist) have also finished the regular season schedule with a Quality Rating (QR) of 34, or better, and a Quality Index Rank (QIR) of #11 or better (when compared to all playoff teams that year) … i.e. What it takes to win the NBA Championship.

If the NBA Playoffs were to start today, this is what the list of legitimate contenders to win the championship actually looks like:

LEGITIMATE CONTENDERS TO WIN THE NBA CHAMPIONSHIP [as of Sun Feb 28 2010]
TEAM	W-L REC	WIN %	PDR	PAR	RDR	QR	QIR	ECPT-QIR	WCPT-QIR
Cavaliers	46-14	.767	1	5	1	7	1	1
Magic	40-20	.667	3	6	5	14	2	2
Lakers	45-15	.750	2	8	5	15	3		3
Spurs	33-24	.579	8	9	3	20	4		4
Thunder	35-23	.603	9	7	5	21	5		5
Jazz	38-21	.644	4	13	5	22	6		6
Blazers	35-27	.565	11	4	10	25	7		7
Bobcats	28-29	.491	14	2	12	28	8	8
Heat	29-31	.483	14	3	12	29	9
Celtics	36-21	.632	6	1	23	30	10	9

Bulls	31-28	.525	19	14	4	37	11	10
Bucks	30-29	.508	13	11	14	38	12	11
Hawks	37-21	.638	6	12	24	42	13	12
Grizzlies	30-29	.508	18	23	2	43	14
Pistons	21-38	.356	25	10	9	44	15
Mavericks	39-21	.650	12	15	18	45	16		13
Nuggets	39-20	.661	5	22	22	49	17		14
76ers	22-36	.379	21	17	14	52	T-18
Clippers	24-35	.407	25	16	11	52	T-18
Rockets	29-29	.500	16	21	18	55	T-20
Hornets	31-29	.517	20	19	26	55	T-20
Suns	37-24	.607	10	29	20	59	22		15
Wizards	21-36	.368	23	20	20	63	23
Knicks	20-38	.345	22	25	29	66	24
Raptors	31-27	.534	17	26	24	67	25	16
Kings	20-39	.339	25	27	16	68	26
Timberwolves	14-47	.230	29	28	17	74	27
Nets	6-53	.102	30	18	27	75	28
Pacers	20-39	.339	28	24	28	80	29
Warriors	17-41	.293	24	30	30	84	30
LEGEND: W-L REC – Won-Loss Record; WIN % - Winning Percentage; PDR – Points Differential Ranking; PAR – Points Allowed Ranking; RDR – Rebounding Differential Ranking; QR – Quality Rating [i.e. PDR + PAR + RDR]; QIR – Quality Index Ranking [i.e. No. 1-30]; ECPT-QIR – Eastern Conference Playoff Teams Quality Index Ranking; WCPT-QIR – Western Conference Playoff Team Quality Index Ranking; Blue Shade – Eastern Conference Playoff Teams; Red Shade – Western Conference Playoff Teams.

There are only 9 teams in the hunt with a little more than 1 month’s worth of games left to be played.

4 in the Eastern Conference:

Cleveland Cavaliers [#1]
Orlando Magic [#2]
Charlotte Bobcats [#8], and
Boston Celtics [#9];

and,

5 in the Western Conference:

Los Angeles Lakers [#3]
San Antonio Spurs [#4]
Oklahoma City Thunder [#5]
Utah Jazz [#6], and
Portland Trail Blazers [#7].

Tags: Atlanta Hawks, Boston Celtics, Charlotte Bobcats, Chicago Bulls, Cleveland Cavaliers, Dallas Mavericks, Denver Nuggets, Detroit Pistons, Golden State Warriors, Houston Rockets, Indiana Pacers, Los Angeles Clippers, Los Angeles Lakers, Memphis Grizzlies, Miami Heat, Milwaukee Bucks, Minnesota Timberwolves, New Jersey Nets, New Orleans Hornets, New York Knicks, Oklahoma City Thunder, Orlando Magic, Philadelphia 76ers, Phoenix Suns, Portland Trail Blazers, Sacramento Kings, San Antonio Spurs, Toronto Raptors, Utah Jazz, Washington Wizards
Posted in Analytics, Basketball, NBA | No Comments »

Most Efficient Teams in the NBA, Pre All-Star Break

Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010

When the numbers are crunched …

NBA 2009-2010 PRE ALL-STAR BREAK TEAM EFFECTIVENESS RANKINGS [as of Thu Feb 11 2010]
TEAM	W-L REC	WIN %	PDR	PAR	RDR	QR	QIR	OFF POSS/G	DEF POSS/G	O-PPP	O-PPP RK	D-PPP	D- PPP RK	PPP DIFF	PPP DIFF RK
CAVALIERS ¹	43-11	0.796	1	2	1	4	1	103	104	0.99	T-2	0.91	T-5	0.08	1
CELTICS ⁴	32-18	0.640	5	1	23	29	9	103	105	0.96	T-7	0.89	T-1	0.07	2
MAGIC ²	36-18	0.667	3	7	5	15	2	104	106	0.97	T-5	0.91	T-5	0.06	T-3
LAKERS¹	41-13	0.759	2	9	7	18	T-4	109	108	0.95	T-12	0.89	T-1	0.06	T-3
JAZZ³	32-19	0.627	6	12	9	27	T-7	106	106	0.97	T-5	0.92	T-8	0.05	T-5
NUGGETS²	35-18	0.660	4	22	18	44	T-13	109	109	0.98	4	0.93	T-12	0.05	T-5
SPURS⁵	30-21	0.588	6	8	3	17	3	105	104	0.96	T-7	0.92	T-8	0.04	T-7
SUNS⁷	31-22	0.585	10	29	25	64	T-22	110	112	1.00	1	0.96	T-23	0.04	T-7
THUNDER⁶	30-21	0.588	9	5	4	18	T-4	107	107	0.92	T-18	0.89	T-1	0.03	T-9
HAWKS ³	33-18	0.647	8	11	20	39	11	105	105	0.96	T-7	0.93	T-12	0.03	T-9
MAVERICKS⁴	32-20	0.615	12	15	20	47	T-16	105	107	0.96	T-7	0.93	T-12	0.03	T-9
BLAZERS⁸	31-24	0.564	11	4	6	21	6	102	101	0.96	T-7	0.94	T-16	0.02	T-12
HEAT ⁷	26-27	0.491	13	6	15	34	10	103	104	0.94	T-15	0.92	T-8	0.02	T-12
RAPTORS ⁵	29-23	0.558	17	26	24	67	25	106	108	0.99	T-2	0.97	T-29	0.02	T-12
BOBCATS ⁶	26-25	0.510	13	2	12	27	T-7	105	104	0.91	T-22	0.91	T-5	0.00	T-15
HORNETS	28-25	0.528	19	19	26	64	T-22	106	107	0.95	T-12	0.95	T-19	0.00	T-15
KNICKS	19-32	0.373	21	24	27	72	27	108	109	0.94	T-15	0.95	T-19	-0.01	T-17
WARRIORS	13-40	0.245	24	30	30	84	30	113	116	0.95	T-12	0.96	T-23	-0.01	T-17
BULLS ⁸	25-26	0.490	22	14	8	44	T-13	109	108	0.88	T-27	0.90	4	-0.02	T-19
BUCKS	24-27	0.471	15	13	18	46	15	109	106	0.90	T-24	0.92	T-8	-0.02	T-19
ROCKETS	27-24	0.529	16	18	16	50	19	110	107	0.92	T-18	0.94	T-16	-0.02	T-19
PACERS	18-34	0.346	28	25	28	81	29	110	111	0.90	T-24	0.93	T-12	-0.03	T-22
76ERS	20-32	0.385	20	16	13	49	18	106	106	0.92	T-18	0.95	T-19	-0.03	T-22
GRIZZLIES	26-25	0.510	18	23	2	43	12	110	107	0.93	17	0.96	T-23	-0.03	T-22
CLIPPERS	21-31	0.404	26	17	16	59	20	106	106	0.90	T-24	0.94	T-16	-0.04	T-25
WIZARDS	17-33	0.340	25	21	20	66	24	107	107	0.91	T-22	0.95	T-19	-0.04	T-25
KINGS	18-34	0.346	23	27	11	61	21	111	110	0.92	T-18	0.96	T-23	-0.04	T-25
PISTONS	18-33	0.353	27	10	10	47	T-16	105	100	0.87	29	0.96	T-23	-0.09	T-28
T-WOLVES	13-40	0.245	29	28	14	71	26	112	110	0.88	T-27	0.97	T-29	-0.09	T-28
NETS	04-48	0.077	30	20	29	79	28	105	105	0.86	30	0.96	T-23	-0.1	30
LEGEND: W-L REC – Won-Loss Record; WIN% - Winning Percentage; PDR – Points Differential Ranking; PAR – Points Allowed Ranking; RDR – Rebounding Differential Ranking; QR – Quality Rating [i.e. PDR + PAR + RDR]; QIR – Quality Index Ranking [i.e. No. 1-30]; O-POSS/G – Offensive Possessions/Game [i.e. Possessions = FGA’s + TO’s + FTA’s*.44]; D-POSS/G – Defensive Possessions/Game; O-PPP – Offensive Points Per Possession; O-PPP RK – Offensive Points Per Possession Ranking; D-PPP – Defensive Points Per Possession; D-PPP RK – Defensive Points Per Possession Ranking; PPP-DIFF – Points Per Possession Differential; PPP-DIFF RK – Points Per Possession Differential Ranking; Blue Shade – Eastern Conference playoff teams; Red Shade – Western Conference playoff teams.

Tags: Atlanta Hawks, Boston Celtics, Charlotte Bobcats, Chicago Bulls, Cleveland Cavaliers, Dallas Mavericks, Denver Nuggets, Detroit Pistons, Golden State Warriors, Houston Rockets, Indiana Pacers, Los Angeles Clippers, Los Angeles Lakers, Memphis Grizzlies, Miami Heat, Milwaukee Bucks, Minnesota Timberwolves, New Jersey Nets, New Orleans Hornets, New York Knicks, Oklahoma City Thunder, Orlando Magic, Philadelphia 76ers, Phoenix Suns, Portland Trail Blazers, Sacramento Kings, San Antonio Spurs, Toronto Raptors, Utah Jazz, Washington Wizards
Posted in Analytics, Basketball, NBA | No Comments »

Most Efficient Defense in the NBA, Pre All-Star Break

Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010

The top defensive squads in the 1st half of the regular season were:

NBA 2009-2010

PRE ALL-STAR BREAK

TEAM EFFECTIVENESS RANKINGS

[as of Thu Feb 11 2010]

TEAM

W-L REC

WIN %

PDR

PAR

RDR

QR

QIR

OFF

POSS/G

DEF

POSS/G

Posts Tagged ‘Houston Rockets’

Houston or Toronto?

Coming down the home stretch, Legitimate Contenders for the 2009-2010 NBA Championship

Most Efficient Teams in the NBA, Pre All-Star Break

Most Efficient Defense in the NBA, Pre All-Star Break