anatomicbomb wrote:looks to me like this graph may better account for variance with two trend lines:
- one for teams that have low blocks
- one for teams that have high blocks
the way i see it, this is a non-trivial difference and pertains to personnel and team defensive strategies. you can have a team with tall, long, athletic players who design their defense to push players into the teeth of it; you can have a team of perimeter players that focus on keeping the opponent out of the paint and trying to deny 3s. this can even change, game-to-game, depending on who is available and who the opponent is.
while i find the premise interesting, i feel like the statistical basis leaves a lot of room for alternative interpretations, and the argument "blocks not= good defense" is kind of a given - blocks can help defense, but may cause other problems (chasing them, uncontrolled deflections close to basket), and are neither necessary nor sufficient for good defense. however, this is not to say that good defenders don't get blocks, or that good defenses can't get lots of blocks. yet, i have not heard anyone - especially a coach or player - claim that getting blocks means they are playing good defense, so i am not entirely sure what the argument is meant to rebut.
that said, always nice to see a post that is thoughtful, uses clear examples, and doesn't attack anyone.
OMG you have Pro Stars as your signature... that's hilarious!