Figures often beguile me, particularly when I have the arranging of them myself; in which case the remark attributed to Disraeli would often apply with justice and force: "There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics."- Mark Twain
I am less cynical than Twain. I think the real problem with statistics lies more with those who pervert the work of preeminent statisticians. I am not being "holier than thou". I'll probably do the same thing herein.
The Rebel wrote:For all the hype Igoudala is getting, fact is he was a well below average shooter with a TS% that ranked him 12 on the team...
If anyone really believes that Randolph, McGee, Faried, Koufos, and Mozgov are better shooters, and not that as bigs are limited to layups and dunks, so be it.
If anyone believes that sample size is unimportant, and chooses to mention Fournier and Stone (#1 in the league for TS%) in the same breath as Dre, I will not argue.
I do not believe it is inconceivable that another knowledgeable fan could consider Dre as among the top five on the team for shooting importance. Of the non-bigs who actually played, only Chandler, Lawson, Gallinari, and Miller have a better TS%. Iguodala's eFG% is third (a tenth of a point behind Lawson), and his FG% is fourth (3.4% better than Gallo's).
The Rebel wrote:the Nuggets offense efficiency was actually more then 5 points per 100 possessions worse with him on the court. According to mysynergy sports Iggy gave up .8 Points per possession, and only scored .88, for comparison Gallo gave up .82 points per possession but scored 1.0 points per possession. figuring in actual possessions for as good of a defender as Iggy is with his terrible offense he had a net benefit to the team of less than 1 point every 10 games. Now are the Nuggets done losing that?
If you want to make an exceptional defender, but average shooter, seem worthless, find an obscure offensive metric that looks important. Or go the "Swift Boat" route and find something that makes that defense look mediocre.
Iguodala played more minutes per game than anyone on the team, and I think obviously with good reason. He was off the floor for thirteen minutes per game. Certainly some of that time was for short rest breaks. But I think it is safe to say that some were also when the game was in hand, and in garbage time. I think you are being disingenuous using thirteen out of forty eight minutes to denigrate a player that most objective observers feel was, at least, one of the best on the team. He is not a prolific scorer, so it is possible that less competent players who shoot more, or even better, were on the floor in those minutes. So what?!
The Rebel wrote:Of course his rebounding rate did not help with him being only the 9th best rebounder on the team
I'm sure rebounding rate is important to some. They probably do not care how few minutes some actually played. That's OK if looking at the rebounding potential a player might have if he were good enough to play more. How smart is it to say that Dre had a lower rebounding rate that the centers and power forwards? He's a freakin' guard! He was the best rebounding guard on the team, and one of the best in the league. I do not feel a bit dishonest pointing out that he was actually, in real game play, the third best rebounder on the team, behind Farried and Koufos.
The Rebel wrote:Now winshares, he had some win shares ranking all the way up at 5th for total winshares, of course when that number is adjusted for minutes played, to a .97 which put him 11th on the team and below average league wide, which is not good considering he is on a team that won 57 games, meaning the starters should be well above league average.
"Hoopdata" lists him with the third highest winshares on the team, behind Farried and Koufos, respectively. I think it antithetical to everything statistics should be to dilute those numbers to make him look worse than those less valuable players, incapable of "earning" his minutes and legitimate winshares.
The Rebel wrote:Fact is the only number that shows he was actually a truly net positive for the team is plus minus, however that number is affected more than a little by the fact that he was backed up by the great Corey Brewer, and his buddy Andre Miller.
That is really ridiculous considering that you would have to discount the plus/minus of all starters who start usually because they are better than reserves. What really shows his value is his own/opponent per differential, far and away the best on the team, and particularly impressive since he is usually guarding one of the oppositions most dangerous offensive forces.
In that regard, you pointed out his average PER to suggest mediocrity. As an expert statistician I'm sure you realize that scoring is an important part of that computation. As stated above, he has never been a prolific scorer. He did average eighteen points a game, when needed, playing for Mo Cheeks, before Doug Collins made him a point forward. His PER was higher then. Karl also used him to help run the offense. But more importantly he was often the third or fourth scoring option on a very well balanced Denver team.
I believe that, unlike coaches, most fans, probably subconsciously, judge players on most points scored. But in my mind the stat I mentioned above, own/opponent PER differential, is much more indicative of a good player. If you have a 15 PER and hold an opponent with a 20 PER to one of twelve, you are a big net positive.
The Rebel wrote:The worst part of the whole stats thing is the fact that those numbers improved dramatically the last month of the season, when Igoudala decided he may want to start working hard for his next deal, fact is if you watched and paid attention it was obvious that Igoudala played like crap for the 1st 3 months.
I agree with whoever disagreed with you about Iguodala playing like crap early in the season. Right or wrong, on his own or the dictate of Coach, he deferred to Gallo, and other good shooters. His defense, rebounding, and play making was still consistently excellent. But Gallo got hurt, and Chandler's scoring dipped precipitously in the playoffs so he upped his game and was arguably Denver's best player against the Warriors. I remember seeing a half-time locker room clip. On the chalk board behind Coach Jackson was "IGUODALA" in large print. Under it were two other names I could not read. You can certainly attribute questionable motives to him doing what every good player should do in the playoffs, but I will not. And yes, I did watch and pay attention.
The Rebel wrote:Now all that being said, yes Igoudala is a good player...
I was taught to begin with agreement. I couldn't do that with this post, but it is nice to end like that.
PS I couldn't find it but somewhere you expressed doubt about the Warriors getting better because they had to renounce two of their best reserves, and scorers, to acquire Dre. You could be correct, of course. But keep in mind that Denver gave up a starter and sixth man, their second and fourth best scorers for Iguodala, and they went from good to record setting.