). 6 games isn't a huge sample size but I think we've had enough games where we can analyze our offensive strengths and weaknesses as well as use these numbers as a benchmark for team progression in the future. All of the stats used here can be found at http://stats.nba.com/playtype/#!/?PT=team&OD=offensiveIf you are curious of the definitions of each play-type, I've listed the definitions as defined by Synergy:
Spoiler:
I decided to split these numbers into two plots which I will call Offensive Frequency and Offensive Efficiency. The offensive frequency plot shows the frequency at which each type of play is used in our offense as well as how that frequency ranks compared to the rest of the league (don't mind the horrible color scheme). The offensive efficiency plot shows the Points Per Possession (PPP) which is just Total Points Scored/Total Possessions (and is a fairly good figure of merit for scoring efficiency) as well as the league rank in terms of percentile (in the plot 1.0 is 100th percentile, it was easier for me just to plot them on the same axis rather than create another axis and then have to re-scale everything
). 
Offensive highlights/lowlights:
Transition: Even though we’ve been trying to push the ball frequently, our team's finishing ability has been rather lackluster. Randle, Clarkson, and Nick Young (surprisingly) have been doing an OK job scoring at 1.20 PPP (75.2 percentile), 1.00 PPP (37.5 percentile), and 1.09 PPP (53.8 percentile) respectively. I expected Clarkson's finishing ability to be higher but it could just be due to lack of statistics (only 16 possessions so far, highest on the team but still a small sample size). Russell and Kobe have been extremely poor finishers on the break (0.36 and 0.27 PPP respectively) which can be attributed to lack of physical development on Russell's part and old age on Kobe's. The transition should be one of our team’s strengths so I’m hoping these numbers increase as our team gains more experience.
Isolation: The stats back-up what the eyes are telling us: we isolate a bunch and we’re not getting much from these possessions. Pure isolation plays are extremely inefficient and most teams have been cutting down on them, hopefully we'll do the same as the season progresses. The main culprit is of course Kobe who isolates on 23% of his possessions but scores a paltry 0.52 PPP (18.4 percentile) (if you can believe this, the stats were actually worse a couple of games ago). Another culprit is Julius Randle who isolates on 23.4% of his possessions and scores 0.73 PPP (42.6 percentile). Randle's efficiency hopefully will improve once his jump shot and right hand develops, however in the long run he'll learn that it's better that he facilitates in these situations rather than try to score unless he has a mismatch (like against Dirk
). PnR Ball Handler: While the PnR ball handler is typically not very efficient at producing points (once a player dribbles, their FG% dips significantly) Jordan Clarkson has become very proficient at it, using it 40% of all of his possessions and scoring 1.05 PPP (90.6 percentile). The rest of our ball handlers are right behind him, Lou Williams is scoring 0.95 PPP (82.9 percentile) on 44.4% frequency and D'Angelo Russell is scoring 0.88 PPP (69.8 percentile) on 48.5% frequency. Kobe is actually surprisingly efficient scoring 1.00 PPP (87.6 percentile) on 17.2% frequency. People have complained we don't run enough PnR, however our PnR ball handler shot frequency is 3rd in the league (a key point here is that this isn't the total number of PnRs run, just frequency with respect to the rest of our possessions of the PnR ball handler shooting). What these stats do hint at is that the majority our PnRs end up with the ball handler shooting the ball (as I said before, relatively inefficient) rather than passing the ball against a defense in rotation. The stats also hint that Kobe can still be relatively productive if he can get a screen to lose his man; I hope we see Kobe shooting and facilitating out of the PnR rather than in isolation.
PnR Roll Man: As I hinted at before, there hasn't been much passing going on after the PnR. Julius Randle has just 10 possessions as the roll man (leading the team) but is scoring 1.10 PPP (60.7 percentile). Hopefully these numbers will increase especially since Black is now in the rotation as Black was an above average roll man last season.
Post-ups: While the statistics are still low (only 14 possessions), Julius Randle has been quite efficient on post-ups scoring 1.21 PPP (93.1 percentile) and shooting 66.6% FG and getting fouled 21.4% of the time. Obviously the FG% will drop but Randle has definitely shown some solid post moves (remember the baseline spin into a dunk against Faried?) and doesn’t seem to force the issue when he gets stuck (I see him passing the ball out if he doesn’t have a good look rather than forcing the shot). Another surprising stat is Kobe Bryant who has only 11 possessions of post-ups but is scoring 1.09 PPP (82.9 percentile). While Kobe probably isn't strong enough to post-up most SFs, it seems he's been fairly efficient when he gets guards on a switch and we should try to maximize these situations.
Spot-ups: Even though we are scoring an incredibly high 1.16 PPP on spot-ups, we’re currently ranked dead last in the league in terms of spot-up frequency. For the number of 3 pointers that we take, most of them are coming off of isolation (incredibly inefficient). Spot-ups are typically one of the most efficient plays in the game, I'd like to see this number increase and isolations decrease. We have many guys who are shooting incredibly well in spot-up situations: Nick Young 1.38 PPP (89th percentile), Jordan Clarkson 1.69 PPP (98.4 percentile), Lou Williams 1.31 PPP (86.7 percentile), and even Kobe 0.92 PPP (49.7 percentile) (ok Kobe's been shooting pretty poorly, I'm trying to cut him some slack). Clarkson's 42.1% 3P% might just be a hot streak but his shot definitely looks improved since last year -- this was something we really wanted him to improve on and it also hints at his ability to play efficiently off the ball (for all of those who don't think Russell can play together with Clarkson). The only blemish is Randle who is scoring 0.20 PPP (0 percentile) and shooting only 14.3% FG... but we already knew he can't shoot right?
Hand-offs: The Princeton offense has several sets where the bigs receive the ball at the top and then hand-off to one of the guards. We also sets where Kobe receives the ball near the baseline and hands it off to either Clarkson/Russell/Williams or gets a pick from Hibbert going toward the middle for a mid-range shot or a pass. While I don’t remember any of these sets being particularly good, maybe it’s something worth paying attention to in future games given our high PPP.
Cuts/Off-screen: The low frequency of cuts and plays off screens just backs up the lack of ball movement we’ve been seeing on the offensive end. Good offenses like the Warriors and Spurs incorporate a healthy amount of cuts (2-3x what we’re doing right now) and are extremely efficient at it. The big question is, is it the offense that doesn’t dictate a lot of player movement or is it the players themselves who are either not looking to pass or are not experienced enough to read these passes?
Misc: I don't know wtf Misc is, but Hibbert is doing it well
