Peaks project update: #15

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liamliam1234
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Re: Peaks project update: #15 

Post#61 » by liamliam1234 » Thu Aug 15, 2019 3:20 pm

freethedevil wrote:I don't feel like writing an essay explaining why I think policing people's thinking processes isn't good practice


Of course not, it would be the world's most hypocritical essay.

The tldr of the hypotethetical is: as people should be defined by what they do, not what they think... arguments should be judged as they are, not based on what you assume motivated the crafting of said arguments.


This is not how reality works. What you think colours everything you do. Arguing with those with bad intent is a consistently miserable and unproductive experience, and I encourage less pathological people to avoid it whenever possible.

liamliam1234 wrote:Because I do not value your "forest".

Reminder... you... have posted with the explicit goal of showcasing my inconsistency. So whether you value what my forest is does not matter. You are arguing I'm inconsistent. To show I'm inconsistent, you'd actually have to show, my conclusions contradict with my forest. Unless off course you're using a different definition of inconsistent, in which I'd ask you define inconistent as you want us to use it.


I am not arguing to convince you. It became clear pretty early on that you were never going to meaningfully come to terms with the inconsistency of your impact metrics. And since I am not arguing to convince you, I am not arguing against the inchoate ideal of "portability".

Oh, sorry, I should have been more sensitive to your arbitrary evaluation that says "impact metrics matter until they go against the guy I like, in which case I can subjectively declare him more portable and thus advantaged."

Except that I cited "portability" from the get go:


That fact you gave yourself an out from the beginning does not disqualify the point. Whenever there is an indication Curry is disadvantaged by an impact metric, you can just cite portability and be done with it. There is zero reason anyone ever would, let alone could, go along with that specific assessment, and yet you continue to ask people to do it and to make cases against it.

freethedevil wrote:Top ten.
is one of the most impactful players ever by any standard.
Is one of the most portable players too.

Was the most important player on a championship winner well past his prime.

Typically the first argument you see against him is an accusation of "analytics bias" from posters or a "why are we even considering this" which indicates to me the case against him as a top ten player is a weak one. Once you get that you have people cherrypicking his obpm in the playoffs instead of using his overall bpm because...

reasons?

If you use factors outside of play to evaluate greatness, fair enough. Greatest doesn't have to equal best. But if you're going to equate the best, the data says he's top ten, and context tells you his game is highly portable(aka, he fits well on better and better teams), something which is backed up with a past prime kg being the clear cut #1 on winning celtics side.

This post was ages before i started arguing for curry. Impact #'s supported my conclusion and i still went on to highlight portability AND winning.


See above. Impact numbers have not universally supported your conclusion, and I doubt even you were under the impression that Curry sat at the top of every single impact metric.

Whether you value it or not, it's nonsensical to assume I use portability when impact #'s contradict my conclusions. Since I have used them in the absence of such a contradiction, you asserting otherwise doesn't make sense.


Where I did I say the sole citation of portability happened as a response to impact contradictions. I was describing the base effect, not a universal law of your behaviour.

in which case I can subjectively declare him more portable and thus advantaged."

You have an issue with "subjective" arguments now? Well, then, I'm sure you won't use a "subjective" argument then...
adversity

Oh. :roll:


I warned you about excessively harping on fallacies.

This is a blatant strawman. Where did I ever say no one could use subjective arguments. My issue is with you challenging everyone for not using your subjective means of assessment.

It's also amazing you've accused me of being reliant on formulas but go out of your way to paint anything not formula based as bad for being "subjective."


Another strawman. I did not say it was inherently bad for being subjective. I said it was bad as an objective test, which is in effect what you act like this is by telling people their personal rankings need to somehow "deal with" impact metrics and portability.

Oh, look, more disingenuous framing. Yes, whine about having Klay as a second option, as if none of us can remember when he was enough of a second option to win 140 regular season games over two years.

I'm sorry, are you using an achievement curry contributed to, to argue the extent of credit of curry recieves for a later achievement? You realize that's circular reasoning?

Like, this is the equivalent of me saying "gasol was a good enough second option that the lakers won b2b"... therefore "kobe leading good offenses vs great defenses" doesn't mean kobe overcame adversity."


No, I am saying it does not qualify as adversity for him to be put in a slightly less favourable situation. What you said about Steph playing with only Klay as the other major scoring threat can be applied to literally every pre-2017 game.

A couple of years ago Elgee did this neat little calculation, with PIPM I believe, on relative team quality (http://www.backpicks.com/2017/07/06/supporting-casts-are-more-important-than-stars/). Wade never led a positive supporting cast. Kobe led a strongly positive supporting cast once. I wonder, if they were available for Curry, what do you think those numbers would indicate? Especially given what we know of Draymond's and Durant's impact scores.

What #'s. Team #'s? Or induvidual #"s? Team #'s would plummet. The notion that impact #"s would go down rather than up isn't supported tho.

Why do players on bad teams generally have higher impact #"s then players on good ones? Is it possible it takes better players to life better ones?... :dontknow:


And yet Durant and Curry and Draymond all cluster near the top of impact lists together. Yet Kobe had some of his best impact numbers in 2001. Yet Chris Paul and Harden had incredible impact numbers playing together. Oh, sorry, I forgot, that all works because "good teams should have good players".

Regardless, you've yet to make the case peak kobe was better at "overcoming adversity" than peak curry, whatever that means. The existince of greater adversity does not mean such adversity was overcome. Kobe faced greater adversity, and he was less successful facing it. On what basis was he better at overcoming it? Since both curry and kobe have burned good defenses, i'm not really sure what your basis for asserting there was a disparity here.


Except Kobe was not less successful. He went to three straight Finals, winning two of them, with a supporting cast worse than the pre-Durant Warriors.

The case for Wade here is certainly better, but Kobe's defensive reputation among media, analysts, and other players is not wholly invented just because he was a popular guy on the Lakers.

And of course it is a lot easier for Curry to basically play into a limited role behind Draymond than it is for Kobe to replicate the same on a team like the 2005-07 Lakers.

You're appealing to authority? :-?


Rejecting authority entirely in subjective discussions tends to be to the detriment of understanding. Unless you literally think numbers perfectly capture every element of basketball, there is an element of experience we do not have when it comes to what Kobe was doing on the court and how players felt impacted by it.

I'll take it you consider pierce more important to the wolves beating the lakers in 2008 than the media analysts did?


What?

Also not sure what gives you the impression kobe was any more than a complimentary defensive piece. He was never the centerpiece of his team's defenses. I also don't know why you think having a bigger role would hurt your defensive impact. Assuming you're decent at it, a bigger role gives you more chances to improve your team's d. How does curry's role being "limited" help him here?


Where did I say he was a centrepiece.

It goes back to Curry always needing to do less.

Distinction to the point of extenuating eight different types of three-pointers is not "nuance".


Huh? I didn't point out 8. I'm also not sure what your issue with this distinction is. Most players are significant better or worse depending on where the three is taken from. Bledsoe for example sucks on catch and shoot threes. Raptors won a championship partially because they adjusted for that.


Yeah, because when we discuss three-point shooting, most people talk in terms of location.

And what does this have to do with spacing?


... What does great three-point shooting have to do with spacing?

A team scoring on a possession from you making a three is a distinct event from a team scoring on a possession because a defender went up to guard your shot. Hence they're listed separately.


Distinct but profoundly related.

How do you claim to be a proponent of seeing the whole story while getting sarcastic whenever you're presented with specific breakdowns?


Because your "breakdowns" are not the whole story.

At no point was this ever about me wanting clarification

Huh?

I present you... asking for clarification on how information relevant to my criteria affects my judgement:


The last two of those were rhetorical. The first was an early matter of curiosity over your behaviour; in that sense, alright, I wanted to "clarify" for myself how you would respond to a contradicting point, but that is different from the clarification we were discussing. I am not uncertain in my rankings as they pertain to your assessments.

You've literally been asking a **** ton of questions these posts about how I apply my criteria.


Not for education.

My criteria is the focus of these posts because you're making them so.


I did not make them so. You started this by challenging my vote for not corresponding to your criteria, inherently saying, "This is the criteria we should be using." That makes it the focus.

You keep whining about me being fixated on my criteria, and then repeatedly shift the focus of the discussion back on my criteria. If you don't want me to discuss my criteria, don't ask about it. I certainly didn't force you too...


Yes, no one is literally being forced to do anything. Great observation. Yes, I could have, and should have, just ignored your question, but as I said, I was naive and regrettably gave you the benefit of the doubt. But you started this discussion, and this discussion at is core is about how I did not vote based on your criteria.

what is their argument? What parts of the story do kobe, robinson, and wade's season have that overrules the winning, impact, and fit of 2017 curry

After you asserted you don't care about my criteria, i adjusted accordingly asking you to set the table.


No, this is definitively not what happened. Again, the receipts are there, but seeing as you continue to try to lie your way around them, I may as well walk you through from the start.

1. I post my vote.
2. You respond, saying, "2017 broke impact stats as the lynchpin for the best team ever. I don't see any case against him from anyone on your list."
3. I say I do not care if you vote for 2017.
4. You say you want me to make the case anyway.
5. I say I do not put total value on impact metrics and think Wade and Kobe brought proportionally more to their teams than 2017 Curry did playing next to Durant (the last bit is implicit, so I will make it explicit). I specifically compare 2017 Curry to 2001 Kobe.
6. You say, "We also have to look at skill set. Curry's off ball play also makes him more portable than the people on your list." Emphasis mine. Again, you framing this as something that is necessary. You also say I am not properly valuing impact metrics, which will populate most of the ensuing discussion.
7. I respond to the metrics point in an attempt to show that impact metrics are not this universal standard which can possibly be upheld at all costs. I then respond with a thorough explanation why portability is not important to me.
8. More about the awesomeness of impact metrics. You also say Curry is uniquely portable, even after I already established that portability is at best a marginal consideration for me. You then talk about the magnificent combination of portability and impact, still ignoring that I am not weighing either much on their own. The posts have ballooned grossly.
9. I again reiterate that I am not making my assessment in terms of impact and portability. Several times. I also respond to the impact metrics stuff, and to the subjectivity of your portability perception.
10. You continue to argue for Curry on the basis of portability and impact metrics and now add winning. We have an early case of your gaslighting attempt: "you have yet to bring up anything outside of winning(favors 2017 curry), imapct(favors 2017 curry), and portability(2017 curry)". Reminder that basically every post to this point has featured me saying that I am not basing my argument off impact or portability (and in this case, wins is irrelevant because all three players won championships, although only two of them were the undeniable leader). This is also where you first argue Curry is a universally better shooter and scorer, as well as passer and defender and off-ball player. You conclude by again bringing it back to impact, portability, and team quality. All of which I have rejected for the past several posts.
11. I remind you of the reasoning I gave because you kept saying I never gave any. The rest is me walking through and again explaining none of those metrics are things I value and why I do not think they work as the primary determinant of player quality.
12. Yet again, you showcase Curry's advantage in impact metrics, and continue to work to dismiss Draymond's comparable excellence. That has been going on periodically, but I am mentioning it now because I think this is pretty much the end of it as I turn my attention to more broadly critiquing impact metrics than just juxtaposing Curry with players like Draymond and David Robinson. This is also where you start stanning for PIPM. None of this really responds to the assessment I quoted for you in the preceding post, although at the end you make an attempt to address a small part of it and then call them system players (which is, as typical, missing the point).
13. I make two short responses continuing to reject the idea of impact metrics being this point of sole superiority.
14. You make a quick reply.
15. I respond to the remainder of 12. I maintain the usual impact metrics criticism, although now there is a bit of a shift to discussing playoffs outside of impact metrics. I conclude, in a precursor to the current "carrying" question, that Curry has never really had to support a bad team for any prolonged period of time and that his early struggles/failings suggest to me that he is not as well-suited for that type of situation as Kobe or Wade. And I only allude to it in this post, but I will mention that previously I had said Curry works better on a great team, but success in a favourable situation is not how I assess a player's capabilities. That is the end of our discussion in this thread, and it was the end of it until you brought it back up a week later.

So no, you did not "adjust" after I dismissed your criteria. I routinely dismissed your criteria and you consistently responded by trying to argue your criteria was actually the best. You rarely evidenced the slightest thought toward my own criteria, and on the rare occasions you did take a stab at it, you misinterpreted or talked past the point completely.

Then you did, asserting that curry can't do as much. So, I broke down what each he and kobe can do.


1. A dishonest breakdown. 2. A severe misinterpretation of what I meant by saying he could not do as much, a meaning I have clarified and referenced often enough that you should have been able to figure it out.

You've also wanted to focus on the sample size of the postseason, so i used, postseason data. Fun fact, corp is almost exclusively considering postseason performance. I provided it to you to answer your qualms regarding 2017 being an isolated incident. You randomly assumed it was an rs stat, when again, it was provided to you considering issues you brought up.


Is CORP an impact metric?

Finally, I've answered your questions on my own inconsistencies in spite of me considering them tangential.


If you did not, how else would you have talked more about impact metrics.

This is, yet another example, of me letting you set the table.


No, you shoved food in my face I said I did not care for, and then you "graciously" said I could eat it with my hands or with cutlery.

If you are going to pick up a discussion a week later, it should not be too much to ask you to remember how the discussion actually developed.

All in all, you have been dictating the terms of the discussion all the while complaining that I haven't given you the reigns.


Again, cute gaslighting attempt.

It isn't my ego that's makin you keep bringing the discussion back to my criteria and me. Now you're mad i'm "fixating" on the table you've set for us. Hence why I'm giving you this:
:violin:


What is there to bring the discussion "back" to. This discussion has been about almost nothing other than the metrics you like. How deeply self-absorbed does someone have to be to know that a.) they started the conversation by talking about their preferred metrics, b.) the entire conversation has focused on those preferred metrics, and c.) the other person has repeatedly said they do not agree with those metrics... and then conclude, "Wow, I cannot believe this person thinks this discussion revolves around me." Or do you just think "control" of the conversation shifts with every post, as if the fact I respond to your comments about impact metrics means each time I am going, "Golly, I sure cannot wait to talk more about impact metrics." When only one party is trying to convince the other that they have the perfect means of assessment, who exactly do you think is driving the conversation? Ah, whoops, I forgot, I need to be careful about using rhetorical questions, because otherwise you might think it is because I am in need of actual "clarification". :nonono:
freethedevil
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Re: Peaks project update: #15 

Post#62 » by freethedevil » Thu Aug 15, 2019 4:36 pm

liamliam1234 wrote:
This is not how reality works.

This is exactly how reality works. You can't sue someone for what they think. People are not judged on colouring, they are judged on what the colouring leads them to. Thinking you're qualified to do the former is the definition of egoistical and I suspect your personal attacks are a form of projection. However, as I merely "suspect" this, because I can't read your mind, I've responded to your posts on the basis of their contents, not whatever motivations may have inspired you to make them.

It's a shame you don't haven't displayed the "self awareness" to do the same. :(

I am not arguing to convince you.

Whether it was for me or yourself or the forum or someone else, you made a point of showcasing inconsistencies in how i apply my criteria. Whether you want to convince me or not, the point stands on showing a contradiction. But since my opinions do not contradict my criteria, they do not prove inconsistency.
That fact you gave yourself an out from the beginning does not disqualify the point. Whenever there is an indication Curry is disadvantaged by an impact metric

The "portability" was brought up in this discussion before you showed "any contradictions", so yeah, baseless claim is baseless.
I said it was bad as an objective test

You are welcome to quote where i said it was objective. I imagine you won't find the receipt. I wonder why.... :dontknow:

What you said about Steph playing with only Klay as the other major scoring threat can be applied to literally every pre-2017 game
.
No it can't. The 2019 warriors had went all in on their starting 5, of whom, curry's 2 offensive co stars were injured. The pre 17 warriors were a very deep side. Not to mention draymond was a better scorer. Hence the whole "strength in #'s" thing. That you think the pre 2017 warriors were offensively just klay and curry makes me question your capacity to evaluate the team context surrounding the dubs various players.

And yet Durant and Curry and Draymond all cluster near the top of impact lists together.

Durant's impact #'s went down once he joined the warriors. Why do your points get contradicted by the data you present?
Except Kobe was not less successful. He went to three straight Finals, winning two of them, with a supporting cast worse than the pre-Durant Warriors.

Huh? Curry made 5 straight finals and won 3 rings. And curry's teams were more significantly more dominant in the postseason than any of kobe's. So no, kobe was less successful. You say he over performed relative to his cast more than curry did. I'm waiting for you to explain what makes you think that.

Rejecting authority entirely in subjective discussions tends to be to the detriment of understanding.

How do subjective opinions inherently enhance subjective opinions? No, understanding comes from understanding these opinions. If you understand why they thought the way they did and explain it in a compelling manner, then such opinions can buoy other's understanding. But you didn't. You just said "kobe has a good rep. so he's good"

What?

Typo, meant to say the celtics.

It goes back to Curry always needing to do less.

^^^^^
Table setting.

Since we're discussing your criteria now(as we've done for several posts), hopefully you'll stop whining about mine.
Yeah, because when we discuss three-point shooting, most people talk in terms of location.

Ah, so we're clear, you don't actually have an issue with the merit of discussing different skills differently, you just don't like that more nuanced discussions are less popular.

Glad we see eye to eye now.

Distinct but profoundly related.

Did I say they weren't related? There are still two outcomes here. So curry is offering two, not one, skill for his team.
The last two of those were rhetorical.

So? Whether the question is asked rhetorically or non-rhetorically, it is directed at my criteria. You should reasonably respect my answer to be relevant to my criteria. And yet, you whined about me answering in a manner relevant to the question you asked. Why?
Not for education.

It doesn't matter what it was for, a question related to my criteria could logically prompt a response related to my criteria. What aren't you getting here?

I respond to the metrics point in an attempt to show that impact metrics are not this universal standard which can possibly be upheld at all costs.

Yes, and I asked what you do put value in. This is how we got to "curry does not do as much" and "kobe is closer to a 3 and d player than curry is" and me disigenously breaking down both kobe and curry's weaknesses. You set the table, I dined. And unlike you, i posted the receipts that show that.

Another example:
Yet again, you showcase Curry's advantage in impact metrics, and continue to work to dismiss Draymond's comparable excellence.

You bring up draymond asking a hypothetical question, I explain that I don't view draymond as portable and gave you specifc reasons why.

Whether you accept the reasons or not, you set the table, and i dined. You asking a rtheroical question and me responding to said question is not me "fixating on my criteria". It is you choosing to focus on my criteria and me making a relevant response.

As I've quoted, i asked multiple times, what you value since you explicitly did not value curry's portability + impact as "the whole story." If you had then focused your post on that and given pargraphs of explanation on your criteria, you would have been responded to with paragraphs looking at your criteria. Instead you gave throw away lines here and there which I quoted and responded to in greater detail.

Not only did i dine at your table, I've also made lemonade of your lemons. In response you've repeatedly called me egotistical. I could try and psychoanalyze what would motivate you to respond like that, but unlike you, I prefer not to make baseless assumptions about the character of strangers on the internet. :dontknow:

What is there to bring the discussion "back" to. This discussion has been about almost nothing other than the metrics you like. How deeply self-absorbed does someone have to be to know that a.) they started the conversation by talking about their preferred metrics, b.) the entire conversation has focused on those preferred metrics, and c.) the other person has repeatedly said they do not agree with those metrics... and then conclude, "Wow, I cannot believe this person thinks this discussion revolves around me." Or do you just think "control" of the conversation shifts with every post, as if the fact I respond to your comments about impact metrics means each time I am going, "Golly, I sure cannot wait to talk more about impact metrics." When only one party is trying to convince the other that they have the perfect means of assessment, who exactly do you think is driving the conversation? Ah, whoops, I forgot, I need to be careful about using rhetorical questions, because otherwise you might think it is because I am in need of actual "clarification". :nonono:

:violin:
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Re: Peaks project update: #15 

Post#63 » by FrogBros4Life » Thu Aug 15, 2019 7:05 pm

freethedevil wrote:I don't really see the value of those connotations.

"Carry" is to lift something. The operative application of "lift" in basketball is making said team better. So how good a team is before the lift takes in does not preclude carrying. Carrying is about the lift, not the heights the lift started from. If curry and westbrook's cast played at a similar level when both were "carrying them" you may have a point, but they didn't. Westbrook had worse teammates and did worse. Curry had better teammates and did better. That alone does not tell us who "carried" more.




Again, I think we are approaching the word "carry" and what it implies here a bit differently. I think when you use the word "lift" instead, your point actually makes more sense because lift, like carry, has certain connotations, and while they might seem analogous at first glance there are some subtle differences. Westbrook had the higher USG, higher PPG, higher FGA, higher FTA, higher APG, higher RPG, higher MPG, higher Points, Assists and Rebounds per 100. I'm not seeing any way you can define "carry" in Curry's favor other than team result, and 1.) I don't think that's the right approach and 2.) Based solely on the evidence for that one season, I'm not sure Curry even "carried" more than Durant on his own team. Also, I think Mavericks fan gave a nice explanation of lift vs carry that I think also adds additional perspective.


freethedevil wrote:I mean, if we're only defining lift by on ball play, i guess. But that seems an odd definition given curry is arguably the most valuable player in the league off the ball while westbrook...

isn't


I think this is again one of the subtle differences between lifting and carrying. I agree Curry can give a team tremendous lift without ever having to touch the ball, as I explained, but that's not quite the same thing as carrying. Lifting something to a greater height is not the same thing as carrying something for a greater distance. Also....you seem to be arguing that Curry is the most valuable player off the ball, while also being the best facilitator in the league, while also having a USG of ~30% with 25ppg on less than eye popping assist numbers. All of those statements don't seem to reconcile with one another. I can see Curry as being the most valuable off the ball, while also being a good, or even better than good facilitator, while stopping short of calling him the best facilitator in the league.

freethedevil wrote:Thats' semantics really. I'm not seeing why box score improvement vs non-box improvement would matter in a discussion regarding lift.


Because again, Curry can give his team tremendous lift without ever touching the ball just by his presence on the court. Westbrook cannot "carry" his team without doing a lot of things that show up in the stat sheet. Think about it this way, Klay Thompson can provide a great deal of lift to his team in the same way we are applying the term to Curry, but you wouldn't say Thompson "carried" his team better than Westbrook, would you?

freethedevil wrote:Again, this is why I haven't argued "curry is the goat peak" based on being on the goat team. I am not using that curry was faster. I'm using that he outperformed where he should finish with the weight he carried relative to westbrook. My case is not that he won more. It's that he lifted his team more


But again, in what way did he outperform Westbrook other than efficiency and team wins? It's hard to say Curry "outperformed" him when almost all of his box score and advanced stats are inferior to Westbrook's, and he had much more help in achieving those wins. Westbrook actually finished the season with more Winshares than Curry despite the massive difference in team wins. Curry only finished the season with .6 more Winshares than Durant, despite Curry playing in 17 more games. Durant actually had the higher WS/48 by a comfortable margin.

freethedevil wrote:Again arguing who had more help is not the same as arguing who carried more. that doesn't mean the gap in team performance or the lift was heavier.


See above. We first have to prove that Curry carried more of a load on his own team.

freethedevil wrote:Also, I'm aware you aren't arguing this, but I'd realize like to reemphasize. Winning with a better team is easier. Carrying or impacting a better team is not:
Image
It is harder to carry a better team by as much as you would carry a worse team. Questioning a player's winning based on his teammates makes sense. Questioning a players imapct because of winning is, generally, looking at things backwards.


I generally agree with the sentiment you are trying to convey here. I think the disconnect is again that you can impact a team without necessarily even touching the ball (defense, gravity, spacing, screen setting etc.), but when you use the word "carry" it's almost exclusively used to imply high USG/high scoring/high box score stuff.


freethedevil wrote:That's how i was using it tho...


Yea, I should have been more clear when I got to this point, and that's on me. You had disagreed with ardee after posting this graph about the team "being Durant's" this season, so I was using this graph as both a way to question it's validity in supporting your claim that Curry was the best facilitator in the league, while also using it as a way to show that it might not even provide evidence that Steph was more impactful than KD on his own team. Even if you weren't necessarily using it for that purpose, the data itself seemed to imply that upon a cursory glance (since Curry and KD were the only two teammates shown with their own graphs).


freethedevil wrote:This is a fair reservation, however the data offers the same conclusion when we look at three years of data. I am curious what a opponent weighted version of the metric would look like.


Yeah, this is why I said I'm not even necessarily saying what you are arguing is false, just that the evidence you specifically provided in that instance doesn't seem concrete enough to back up the claim. I think if you would have posted the 3 year data sample in addition to what you posted, it would have bolstered your case more. I'd still think some additional digging was required to verify either way, but it would have been a better foundation IMO to build that house upon.


freethedevil wrote:I used this here, because the point wasn't really durant, it was just making the case curry is the best in the league at making his teammate's offense more efficient, which is how i define "playmaking" and "facilitation". This is supported by other things such as

-> Curry leading or being close to leading the league in opportunities created over a consistent stretch of time
-> Curry having a playoff playval(which regresses bpm with passer rating/box oc/layup %, ect relative to the league) that ranked top 15 all time despite limited longetivity(note that playval does not account for spacing).


freethedevil wrote:Looking at that along side his effect on teammate effiency, he has a strong case for best "play-maker" in the league.


Yeah, again that's probably my bad on the confusion about Durant, but I was trying to tie it back to the earlier point. How can Curry's "carry job" be more impressive than Westbrook's if he's not necessarily even carrying the heaviest load on his own team? I do agree that Curry unarguably creates a lot of offensive opportunities for his teammates. I was just disagreeing that his entire pie of contributions made towards his teammates scoring can be placed neatly in a box labeled "facilitator". Curry didn't even average the most assists per game or per100 on his team that season (he did have the highest AST% though). But I will say, I am much less stringent on the idea of you calling Curry the best facilitator in the league than I am of you saying he carried a heavier load than Westbrook. I disagree with both of those statements, but I can at least see where you are coming from with the former.



freethedevil wrote:I mean, sure, but the drop off for durant was bigger. It's the drop off which gives an idea regarding how players affect each other.


Yea, Durant's drop off was larger, but the fact that Durant's % without Curry is better than Curry's % without Durant says something, though I admit there is room for debate here. That's why I said when looking at that, one might infer that Durant made the game easier for Curry than the other way around. I was very careful not to speak in absolutes.

freethedevil wrote:Okay, but the main thing here is by how much they shot worse. As both are scoring threats, they would be expected to make their teammates more effecient, That doesn't mean the extent they do it to is similar.


True, but some of this falls back on the Curry playing 17 more games total than Durant, and a 19 game stretch against uninspired competition where Durant didn't play a single minute. This was also Durant's first season in GS and they spent the beginning of the year trying to figure out how to fit all the pieces together. I think that "feeling out" portion to start the year, and the last portion of the season where they reverted back to their pre KD style of play after he went down, is probably pulling these numbers some in both directions.

freethedevil wrote:I wasn't really trying to argue curry vs Durant....


All of the Curry vs. Durant stuff is because you directly disagreed with ardee's comment about it being Durant's team that year (which to me, if you are disagreeing with that, leads to a KD vs. Curry comparison by necessity), and to tie it back to the original point of how can Curry's "carry job" be greater than Westbrook's if we first haven't shown that Curry was even carrying his own team. I know you didn't spend a lot of time on that as a talking point, but it seemed like the fulcrum that at least part of your argument was resting on.

freethedevil wrote:Okay, i never really brought up durant here, so I don't know why you think i was arguing that. The point was curry's effect on his team's offense effiency comapred very well with the best playmakers in the league, not how he compares with durant.


See above.



freethedevil wrote:Im defining facilitator and playmaker as "making your teammates more effecient". I realize it's not how most people define it, but imo, if you're not going to look at the end game(making it easier for your team to score), the term loses practical value. I've shifted to "faciliator" because i've been told it's been suggested as more appropiate than playmaker. If you have a single word that would better describe "making your teammates more effecient", I'm open to suggestions.

And yes, I consider shaq a great playmaker. Because, when it came down to what mattered, making it easier for his teammates to score, he was, arguably, the best in the league.

I also oppose the notion that definitions should be used based on wide acceptance, rather than utlility.


Ok, I think I can find some common ground with you on this one. I don't have a better single word to describe what you are attempting to, but I understand (and probably agree) with the spirit of the point you were trying to make.
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Re: Peaks project update: #15 

Post#64 » by E-Balla » Thu Aug 15, 2019 7:10 pm

freethedevil wrote:Alright i can get with that. It is an anomaly of a season though, for reasons you've outlined.

Most definitely especially given what came after and him completely forgetting how to shoot following the one time in his life he became an average shooter. Still I don't think his good shooting was a sample size issue, I think he legitimately put in the work and became an average to above average shooter. I don't think he'll work in Houston though mainly because his shooting is gone. If he can get back to shooting 38% on wide open 3s and 35% on open 3s (I think he was 31% on open 3s and 33% on wide open 3s last year) he'll be fine though.

Westbrook was better than durant? :o

I'd like to hear the case.

So before I get into this I do want to point out it is close overall as to who was better and I put Westbrook over him for their postseason play. Still I do give Russ the edge in 2016.

In the regular season both guys were neck and neck. KD might have a slight edge but it's very close. Westbrook I think has a clear edge offensively and KD defensively. You can see that in their on/off (overall KD was +13.0 and WB +12.8) and their RAPM (KD was higher ranked than WB overall but both were in the +4-5 range which is close enough to practically be a wash IMO).

KD averaged 28.2/8.2/5.0 on 63.4 TS% (122 ORTG) which is great but Westbrook also averaged 23.5/7.8/10.4 on 55.4 TS% (115 ORTG) which is just as spectacular if not more. He also was healthier playing 8 more games than KD did which factors into me saying he was the better player that year given their close levels of play.

The playoffs is where I think Westbrook mostly made a gap though. Against Dallas Westbrook vastly outplayed KD in those 5 games. I don't even think I need to put the numbers here we should all agree there. From then on I think they played relatively evenly. Offensively their overall efficiency was about even because of KD's turnover issues, but Westbrook had a clearly larger load. Defensively KD played great, but Westbrook's defense was great too. He averaged 3.3 steals a night in the last 10 games of the playoffs and had at least 2 steals in each game. Now he wasn't playing as high level defense as KD at all but he was clearly a positive impact on that end. Overall looking at on/off for that postseason Russ had a +8.8 on court rating and +14.4 on/off. KD had a +7.5 net rating and a +6.8 on/off. Given that and both of their chokes against OKC (because they should've both played better) I give Russ the slight edge overall and a large edge in terms of postseason play that year.
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Re: Peaks project update: #15 

Post#65 » by eminence » Thu Aug 15, 2019 7:18 pm

Haven't followed these too closely, anybody voted for Dray yet?
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Re: Peaks project update: #15 

Post#66 » by freethedevil » Thu Aug 15, 2019 8:14 pm

FrogBros4Life wrote:




Again, I think we are approaching the word "carry" and what it implies here a bit differently. I think when you use the word "lift" instead, your point actually makes more sense because lift, like carry, has certain connotations, and while they might seem analogous at first glance there are some subtle differences. Westbrook had the higher USG, higher PPG, higher FGA, higher FTA, higher APG, higher RPG, higher MPG, higher Points, Assists and Rebounds per 100. I'm not seeing any way you can define "carry" in Curry's favor other than team result, and 1.) I don't think that's the right approach and 2.) Based solely on the evidence for that one season, I'm not sure Curry even "carried" more than Durant on his own team. Also, I think Mavericks fan gave a nice explanation of lift vs carry that I think also adds additional perspective.

Yeah, this is fine. If "lift" is more clear, then the shift in semantic usage is logical. I'll use "lift" from here on out.


I think this is again one of the subtle differences between lifting and carrying. I agree Curry can give a team tremendous lift without ever having to touch the ball, as I explained, but that's not quite the same thing as carrying. Lifting something to a greater height is not the same thing as carrying something for a greater distance. Also....you seem to be arguing that Curry is the most valuable player off the ball, while also being the best facilitator in the league, while also having a USG of ~30% with 25ppg on less than eye popping assist numbers. All of those statements don't seem to reconcile with one another. I can see Curry as being the most valuable off the ball, while also being a good, or even better than good facilitator, while stopping short of calling him the best facilitator in the league.

Yeah, given how it's been used in the bball community, lift is probably a better word choice.


freethedevil wrote:


But again, in what way did he outperform Westbrook other than efficiency and team wins? It's hard to say Curry "outperformed" him when almost all of his box score and advanced stats are inferior to Westbrook's, and he had much more help in achieving those wins. Westbrook actually finished the season with more Winshares than Curry despite the massive difference in team wins. Curry only finished the season with .6 more Winshares than Durant, despite Curry playing in 17 more games. Durant actually had the higher WS/48 by a comfortable margin.

Impact #'s. Curry "lifted" his team more than westbrook did over the rs, and curry was #1 in things in po on/off metrics across the board. It's notably, the only postseason where his impact #'s arguably eclisped lebron's(marginally). Lebron's #'s took a hit that season, before a resurgence in 2018. Not paticularly relevant but it's a cool tangent for me.




freethedevil wrote:Also, I'm aware you aren't arguing this, but I'd realize like to reemphasize. Winning with a better team is easier. Carrying or impacting a better team is not:
Image
It is harder to carry a better team by as much as you would carry a worse team. Questioning a player's winning based on his teammates makes sense. Questioning a players imapct because of winning is, generally, looking at things backwards.


I generally agree with the sentiment you are trying to convey here. I think the disconnect is again that you can impact a team without necessarily even touching the ball (defense, gravity, spacing, screen setting etc.), but when you use the word "carry" it's almost exclusively used to imply high USG/high scoring/high box score stuff.


Yeah I can get with that.

freethedevil wrote:
Yea, I should have been more clear when I got to this point, and that's on me. You had disagreed with ardee after posting this graph about the team "being Durant's" this season, so I was using this graph as both a way to question it's validity in supporting your claim that Curry was the best facilitator in the league, while also using it as a way to show that it might not even provide evidence that Steph was more impactful than KD on his own team. Even if you weren't necessarily using it for that purpose, the data itself seemed to imply that upon a cursory glance (since Curry and KD were the only two teammates shown with their own graphs).

Oh I was probably just being lazy. I tend to do that when i see low effort posts :lol:


Yeah, this is why I said I'm not even necessarily saying what you are arguing is false, just that the evidence you specifically provided in that instance doesn't seem concrete enough to back up the claim. I think if you would have posted the 3 year data sample in addition to what you posted, it would have bolstered your case more. I'd still think some additional digging was required to verify either way, but it would have been a better foundation IMO to build that house upon.

It would have yeah. But it was one of huge levy of points i had to respond to, so I was er, efficient :wink:

freethedevil wrote:


Yeah, again that's probably my bad on the confusion about Durant, but I was trying to tie it back to the earlier point. How can Curry's "carry job" be more impressive than Westbrook's if he's not necessarily even carrying the heaviest load on his own team? I do agree that Curry unarguably creates a lot of offensive opportunities for his teammates. I was just disagreeing that his entire pie of contributions made towards his teammates scoring can be placed neatly in a box labeled "facilitator". Curry didn't even average the most assists per game or per100 on his team that season (he did have the highest AST% though). But I will say, I am much less stringent on the idea of you calling Curry the best facilitator in the league than I am of you saying he carried a heavier load than Westbrook. I disagree with both of those statements, but I can at least see where you are coming from with the former.


Yeah, maybe "playmaker" is the better term. Or maybe there's another word, but i'd rather have a word, because those reasonate than a bunch of words like "he is the best in the league at making teammates score more efficiently"

freethedevil wrote:

Yea, Durant's drop off was larger, but the fact that Durant's % without Curry is better than Curry's % without Durant says something, though I admit there is room for debate here. That's why I said when looking at that, one might infer that Durant made the game easier for Curry than the other way around. I was very careful not to speak in absolutes.

It would indicate he was the more efficient scorer. That makes sense since his three point shooting went down that rs.

freethedevil wrote:

True, but some of this falls back on the Curry playing 17 more games total than Durant, and a 19 game stretch against uninspired competition where Durant didn't play a single minute. This was also Durant's first season in GS and they spent the beginning of the year trying to figure out how to fit all the pieces together. I think that "feeling out" portion to start the year, and the last portion of the season where they reverted back to their pre KD style of play after he went down, is probably pulling these numbers some in both directions.

Those are all valid concerns. For curry vs durant looking at 2018, 2019 and the effect on there offenses during the three years makes for a stronger ground.
freethedevil wrote:

All of the Curry vs. Durant stuff is because you directly disagreed with ardee's comment about it being Durant's team that year (which to me, if you are disagreeing with that, leads to a KD vs. Curry comparison by necessity), and to tie it back to the original point of how can Curry's "carry job" be greater than Westbrook's if we first haven't shown that Curry was even carrying his own team. I know you didn't spend a lot of time on that as a talking point, but it seemed like the fulcrum that at least part of your argument was resting on.

Fair enough. Was the ardee reply in this thread? I don't remember it.

See above.



freethedevil wrote:

Ok, I think I can find some common ground with you on this one. I don't have a better single word to describe what you are attempting to, but I understand (and probably agree) with the spirit of the point you were trying to make.

Yeah we seem to have come to a happy medium. good talk.
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Re: Peaks project update: #15 

Post#67 » by WarriorGM » Thu Aug 15, 2019 8:32 pm

FrogBros4Life wrote:True, but some of this falls back on the Curry playing 17 more games total than Durant, and a 19 game stretch against uninspired competition where Durant didn't play a single minute.


Where did you get the idea the competition during this stretch was uninspired? Around half the teams were playoffs teams and many of them would have had reason to make a statement by beating a weakened Warriors team. They played Westbrook's Thunder who was in the tight MVP race and from whom the Warriors got Durant in OKC. They played against the Bucks who were on a 6-game winning streak at the time. They played the Grizzlies who had beaten them earlier in the year. They played the Rockets with Harden who was in the MVP race in Houston. They beat the Spurs who they were contesting the 1st seed with in San Antonio and in Skip Bayless's words had their souls taken after the Warriors came back from over 20 points down. They played the Rockets again in Houston. They played the Washington Wizards with Wall and Beal who boasted they had the best backcourt in the league. These were spirited games and awesome to watch as Warriors fans.
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Re: Peaks project update: #15 

Post#68 » by FrogBros4Life » Thu Aug 15, 2019 8:40 pm

freethedevil wrote:Fair enough. Was the ardee reply in this thread? I don't remember it.


Yeah, his post and your response to it are both on page 1.

freethedevil wrote:If you have a single word that would better describe "making your teammates more effecient", I'm open to suggestions.


After thinking about it for a bit, I think describing Curry as the best "optimizer" as opposed to the best facilitator or playmaker would probably be the most authentic way to label this particular value that he brings to the table.
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Re: Peaks project update: #15 

Post#69 » by WarriorGM » Thu Aug 15, 2019 8:47 pm

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Re: Peaks project update: #15 

Post#70 » by FrogBros4Life » Thu Aug 15, 2019 8:55 pm

WarriorGM wrote:
FrogBros4Life wrote:True, but some of this falls back on the Curry playing 17 more games total than Durant, and a 19 game stretch against uninspired competition where Durant didn't play a single minute.


Where did you get the idea the competition during this stretch was uninspired? Around half the teams were playoffs teams and many of them would have had reason to make a statement by beating a weakened Warriors team. They played Westbrook's Thunder who was in the tight MVP race and from whom the Warriors got Durant in OKC. They played against the Bucks who were on a 6-game winning streak at the time. They played the Grizzlies who had beaten them earlier in the year. They played the Rockets with Harden who was in the MVP race in Houston. They beat the Spurs who they were contesting the 1st seed with in San Antonio and in Skip Bayless's words had their souls taken after the Warriors came back from over 20 points down. They played the Rockets again in Houston. They played the Washington Wizards with Wall and Beal who boasted they had the best backcourt in the league. These were spirited games and awesome to watch as Warriors fans.



Well, the fact that half of their wins during this time came against teams that didn't make the playoffs is a start. There were some good games in the mix, but 9 of the games they played during that stretch were against teams that won less than 35 games for the season. A 10th, the Chicago Bulls, finished the year 41-41. The Grizz finished as the 7th seed a few games over .500, and could have ended up missing the playoffs as well. Of the 20 games Durant missed, only 4 games came against teams that won 50+ games (Boston, Houston twice, and the Spurs once. The Dubs played another game against the Spurs during this span, but both Durant and Curry sat that game.) All in all I don't think it was their strongest stretch of games. As a Warriors fan, I understand you might see that differently.
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Re: Peaks project update: #15 

Post#71 » by freethedevil » Thu Aug 15, 2019 8:56 pm

FrogBros4Life wrote:
freethedevil wrote:Fair enough. Was the ardee reply in this thread? I don't remember it.


Yeah, his post and your response to it are both on page 1.

freethedevil wrote:If you have a single word that would better describe "making your teammates more effecient", I'm open to suggestions.


After thinking about it for a bit, I think describing Curry as the best "optimizer" as opposed to the best facilitator or playmaker would probably be the most authentic way to label this particular value that he brings to the table.

Looking at things the graph was cited with malone's passing in mind in response to eballa who basically argued malone's season as curry+.

The graph i posted for ardee was the one, showcasing how impressive the raptors playoff d was statistically.
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Re: Peaks project update: #15 

Post#72 » by FrogBros4Life » Thu Aug 15, 2019 9:17 pm

freethedevil wrote:
FrogBros4Life wrote:
freethedevil wrote:Fair enough. Was the ardee reply in this thread? I don't remember it.


Yeah, his post and your response to it are both on page 1.

freethedevil wrote:If you have a single word that would better describe "making your teammates more effecient", I'm open to suggestions.


After thinking about it for a bit, I think describing Curry as the best "optimizer" as opposed to the best facilitator or playmaker would probably be the most authentic way to label this particular value that he brings to the table.

Looking at things the graph was cited with malone's passing in mind in response to eballa who basically argued malone's season as curry+.

The graph i posted for ardee was the one, showcasing how impressive the raptors playoff d was statistically.



I get that, that's why I said a few posts up that you posted that graph first (in response to E-Balla), and used that graph as back up to your "Curry is the best facilitator in the league" point....you then subsequently disagreed with ardee about the team "being Durant's" that season (and then posted a different graph, which I'm not talking about)....I was using the first graph you posted (in response to E-Balla) to both question why you were using that graph as a point of support for Curry as a "facilitator", while also using it in response to your reply to ardee where you disagreed that it was Duran'ts team that year, by way of showing that the graph you posted for E-balla also could be shown to cast doubt on the fact that Curry was even carrying more of a load than Durant on his own team that year, which then ties back to him having to carry more than Westbrook.

Again, I realize that was probably not as clear as it should have been when I first made the post, but hopefully this clears it up.
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Re: Peaks project update: #15 

Post#73 » by WarriorGM » Thu Aug 15, 2019 9:39 pm

FrogBros4Life wrote:
WarriorGM wrote:
FrogBros4Life wrote:True, but some of this falls back on the Curry playing 17 more games total than Durant, and a 19 game stretch against uninspired competition where Durant didn't play a single minute.


Where did you get the idea the competition during this stretch was uninspired? Around half the teams were playoffs teams and many of them would have had reason to make a statement by beating a weakened Warriors team. They played Westbrook's Thunder who was in the tight MVP race and from whom the Warriors got Durant in OKC. They played against the Bucks who were on a 6-game winning streak at the time. They played the Grizzlies who had beaten them earlier in the year. They played the Rockets with Harden who was in the MVP race in Houston. They beat the Spurs who they were contesting the 1st seed with in San Antonio and in Skip Bayless's words had their souls taken after the Warriors came back from over 20 points down. They played the Rockets again in Houston. They played the Washington Wizards with Wall and Beal who boasted they had the best backcourt in the league. These were spirited games and awesome to watch as Warriors fans.



Well, the fact that half of the their wins during this time came against teams that didn't make the playoffs is a start. There were some good games in the mix, but 9 of the games they played during that stretch were against teams that won less than 35 games for the season. A 10th, the Chicago Bulls, finished the year 41-41. The Grizz finished as the 7th seed a few games over .500, and could have ended up missing the playoffs as well. Of the 20 games Durant missed, only 4 games came against teams that won 50+ games (Boston, Houston twice, and the Spurs once. The Dubs played another game against the Spurs during this span, but both Durant and Curry sat that game.) All in all I don't think it was their strongest stretch of games. As a Warriors fan, I understand you might see that differently.


The Spurs had the second best record in the league; the Rockets had the third best record in the league (the Warriors had the best record). The Warriors faced these teams three times in a row, the first two on the road with the one against the Spurs the second game of a back-to-back. This was part of a 14-0 streak which if extended to the end of the playoffs would be a record of 32-2 (3/4 of the games against playoffs teams). It may very well have been part of their strongest stretch of games—and possibly the strongest 34 game stretch in NBA history with such a record.
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Re: Peaks project update: #15 

Post#74 » by freethedevil » Thu Aug 15, 2019 9:56 pm

FrogBros4Life wrote:
freethedevil wrote:
FrogBros4Life wrote:
Yeah, his post and your response to it are both on page 1.



After thinking about it for a bit, I think describing Curry as the best "optimizer" as opposed to the best facilitator or playmaker would probably be the most authentic way to label this particular value that he brings to the table.

Looking at things the graph was cited with malone's passing in mind in response to eballa who basically argued malone's season as curry+.

The graph i posted for ardee was the one, showcasing how impressive the raptors playoff d was statistically.



I get that, that's why I said a few posts up that you posted that graph first (in response to E-Balla), and used that graph as back up to your "Curry is the best facilitator in the league" point....you then subsequently disagreed with ardee about the team "being Durant's" that season (and then posted a different graph, which I'm not talking about)....I was using the first graph you posted (in response to E-Balla) to both question why you were using that graph as a point of support for Curry as a "facilitator", while also using it in response to your reply to ardee where you disagreed that it was Duran'ts team that year, by way of showing that the graph you posted for E-balla also could be shown to cast doubt on the fact that Curry was even carrying more of a load than Durant on his own team that year, which then ties back to him having to carry more than Westbrook.

Again, I realize that was probably not as clear as it should have been when I first made the post, but hopefully this clears it up.

Actually,I think i was referring ardee to the last graph i used with balla, the one with the horizontal lines. That was aimed at westbrook. With ardee the durant stuff came after he said tthese finals showed it was durant's team.
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Re: Peaks project update: #15 

Post#75 » by FrogBros4Life » Thu Aug 15, 2019 9:58 pm

WarriorGM wrote:
FrogBros4Life wrote:
WarriorGM wrote:
Where did you get the idea the competition during this stretch was uninspired? Around half the teams were playoffs teams and many of them would have had reason to make a statement by beating a weakened Warriors team. They played Westbrook's Thunder who was in the tight MVP race and from whom the Warriors got Durant in OKC. They played against the Bucks who were on a 6-game winning streak at the time. They played the Grizzlies who had beaten them earlier in the year. They played the Rockets with Harden who was in the MVP race in Houston. They beat the Spurs who they were contesting the 1st seed with in San Antonio and in Skip Bayless's words had their souls taken after the Warriors came back from over 20 points down. They played the Rockets again in Houston. They played the Washington Wizards with Wall and Beal who boasted they had the best backcourt in the league. These were spirited games and awesome to watch as Warriors fans.



Well, the fact that half of the their wins during this time came against teams that didn't make the playoffs is a start. There were some good games in the mix, but 9 of the games they played during that stretch were against teams that won less than 35 games for the season. A 10th, the Chicago Bulls, finished the year 41-41. The Grizz finished as the 7th seed a few games over .500, and could have ended up missing the playoffs as well. Of the 20 games Durant missed, only 4 games came against teams that won 50+ games (Boston, Houston twice, and the Spurs once. The Dubs played another game against the Spurs during this span, but both Durant and Curry sat that game.) All in all I don't think it was their strongest stretch of games. As a Warriors fan, I understand you might see that differently.


The Spurs had the second best record in the league; the Rockets had the third best record in the league (the Warriors had the best record). The Warriors faced these teams three times in a row, the first two on the road with the one against the Spurs the second game of a back-to-back. This was part of a 14-0 streak which if extended to the end of the playoffs would be a record of 32-2 (3/4 of the games against playoffs teams). It may very well have been part of their strongest stretch of games—and perhaps NBA history.


I actually appreciate your fandom for the Warriors (and Steph). I think people who are clearly passionate about the game like that are often the ones who spark the most interesting discussions. However, I think this is perhaps an instance where your fervor is clouding your judgement. While the 3 wins over SAS/HOU were indeed impressive....that 14-0 win streak was again, coming with 7 of the wins against teams that didn't make the playoffs. Wins against Philly (28-54), Orlando (29-53), Dallas (33-49), Sacramento (32-50), Minnesota (31-51), Phoenix (24-58), and New Orleans (34-48) -- 7 teams who won less than 35 games....doesn't exactly scream "strongest stretch of games by the Dubs that year" much less "strongest stretch of games in NBA history" by any measure (by "strongest stretch of games", I am talking mainly about the strength of their opposition). They get credit for beating HOU and SAS. But they don't get extra credit for beating up on the little sisters of the poor and merciful.
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Re: Peaks project update: #15 

Post#76 » by freethedevil » Thu Aug 15, 2019 10:01 pm

FrogBros4Life wrote:
WarriorGM wrote:
FrogBros4Life wrote:True, but some of this falls back on the Curry playing 17 more games total than Durant, and a 19 game stretch against uninspired competition where Durant didn't play a single minute.


Where did you get the idea the competition during this stretch was uninspired? Around half the teams were playoffs teams and many of them would have had reason to make a statement by beating a weakened Warriors team. They played Westbrook's Thunder who was in the tight MVP race and from whom the Warriors got Durant in OKC. They played against the Bucks who were on a 6-game winning streak at the time. They played the Grizzlies who had beaten them earlier in the year. They played the Rockets with Harden who was in the MVP race in Houston. They beat the Spurs who they were contesting the 1st seed with in San Antonio and in Skip Bayless's words had their souls taken after the Warriors came back from over 20 points down. They played the Rockets again in Houston. They played the Washington Wizards with Wall and Beal who boasted they had the best backcourt in the league. These were spirited games and awesome to watch as Warriors fans.



Well, the fact that half of their wins during this time came against teams that didn't make the playoffs is a start.

Wait hold up. If half of those teams were against non-playoff teams, wouldn't half of the other games be against playoff teams? Shouldn't that balance out?
That seems as close to a fair sample as you'll get for a 14 game rs stretch.
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Re: Peaks project update: #15 

Post#77 » by FrogBros4Life » Thu Aug 15, 2019 10:24 pm

freethedevil wrote:Wait hold up. If half of those teams were against non-playoff teams, wouldn't half of the other games be against playoff teams? Shouldn't that balance out?
That seems as close to a fair sample as you'll get for a 14 game rs stretch.


I addressed that in further detail already. But the average win total per team during the 19 game stretch without KD was 41.5 wins. If we include the 20th game that KD missed a few games earlier against Brooklyn (20-62), the average win total of the teams they played sans Durant drops to 40.45. If we just look at the average win totals against the teams they beat in that stretch (as opposed to all teams they played), the average win total is 38.9.

The W-L total for both #8 seeds that year was 41-41, so their quality of opponent during their wins without Durant was not great, despite a few solid victories.
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Re: Peaks project update: #15 

Post#78 » by freethedevil » Thu Aug 15, 2019 10:28 pm

FrogBros4Life wrote:
freethedevil wrote:Wait hold up. If half of those teams were against non-playoff teams, wouldn't half of the other games be against playoff teams? Shouldn't that balance out?
That seems as close to a fair sample as you'll get for a 14 game rs stretch.


I addressed that in further detail already. But the average win total per team during the 19 game stretch without KD was 41.5 wins. If we include the 20th game that KD missed a few games earlier against Brooklyn (20-62), the average win total of the teams they played sans Durant drops to 40.45. If we just look at the average win totals against the teams they beat in that stretch (as opposed to all teams they played), the average win total is 38.9.

The W-L total for both #8 seeds that year was 41-41, so their quality of opponent during their wins without Durant was not great, despite a few solid victories.

41/82 is literally average. 8th seed is literally average. So yeah, it's not "great", it's also not "weak", so it's the least likely to skew the results either way.

38.5 is slightly below average, but it's at worst a slight deviation.

Warrior gm is on something saying that was the hardest stretch ever :lol:
but that's about as unskewed by opponent quality as you can ask.
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Re: Peaks project update: #15 

Post#79 » by Narigo » Thu Aug 15, 2019 10:35 pm

1. 1995 David Robinson
2. 2016 Stephen Curry
3. 1966 Jerry West- Might go with 1970 because he developed to become a better passer
Narigo's Fantasy Team

PG: Damian Lillard
SG: Sidney Moncrief
SF:
PF: James Worthy
C: Tim Duncan

BE: Robert Horry
BE:
BE:
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Re: Peaks project update: #15 

Post#80 » by Colbinii » Thu Aug 15, 2019 10:49 pm

WarriorGM wrote:Image


Non-Peak LeBron when he played the Celtics twice, Orlando once (better than all defenses Curry faced) and had by far worse supporting cast.

Curry is impressive compared to Magic/Kobe though.

Also the graph sucks as it doesn't move linear on the scale so it makes the gaps look larger.

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