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REPORTS--#21 THROUGH #40


Saturday, February 14, 2009

Carmelo Anthony is now Downsized Thanks to George Karl

All players come into playing basketball with a different mix of talents, styles, and preferences. There are only so many "natural scorers" who are good at scoring, are ambitious about going after scoring, love to practice scoring, and are not afraid to take on the big responsibility that comes when you take more shots than most or all of your other teammates. Players such as Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Carmelo Anthony are power scorers.

But ever since George Karl arrived to coach the Denver Nuggets in January 2005, he has been on a twisted mission to reduce Carmelo Anthony's scoring and to increase other things, especially his defending and rebounding. Of course, Mr. Karl neither states it that way nor thinks of it that way, but as is so often with him, the reality of what he is doing is different from what he thinks he is doing. Instead of openly admitting he wants Anthony to score less, Karl, not to mention numerous everyday fans, who don't like the idea of what I will call a "power scorer," speak glowingly of Anthony becoming a "complete, well rounded" player.

For some reason, a substantial minority of basketball fans, and the more intense the fan, the more likely he or she is in this minority, are biased against natural and power scorers. In their view, you are not a complete basketball player if scoring is by a wide margin your top priority, particularly if you are below average in the one thing that this persistent minority generally puts on a pedestal: defending in general and especially man to man defending. But the truth is, what these people really want is a different game, a game rigged in favor of defense the way the National Football League is.

Worse still, the "substantial minority" seems to grow to be possibly a small majority among coaches and perhaps among managers as well. Power scorers who are not good man to man defenders are subject to being downright mistreated if they end up with coaches who are heavily biased against power scoring. For example, power scorers who are not good defenders will lose playing time regardless of any net negative effect on the team, if they have a coach who is biased in favor of defending. A textbook example of this is how JR Smith has been treated more or less like dirt by George Karl over the last two years and two months.

But is it a good thing for a power scorer to become a complete, well rounded player? It certainly sounds nice. No, it's generally not a good thing with respect to the Quest for the Ring although, as an objective in itself, how good a goal it is would be in the eye of the beholder. Some basketball watchers like power scorers and some don't. Some are obsessed about defending and some aren’t. But whether you like them or not, you need at least one and preferably two power scorers to be able to contend for the NBA Championship and the Ring.

Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, Manu Ginobili, Richard Hamilton, Dwyane Wade, these are some of the power scorers who have won or come very close to winning the Quest for the Ring. Some of these are good defenders and some are not so good. These players and many others are proof that it is not a basketball crime to put scoring above everything else, as Mr. Karl feels it is. There is nothing wimpy about a scoring obsession, nothing to be skittish or nervous about. Quite to the contrary, having a player with a full scale scoring obsession is probably a necessity for winning in the playoffs. If you as a Coach become hell bent to make a "well rounded player" out of a natural power scorer, you are skating on dangerous ice, because you may end any chance your team can go far in the playoffs if you “succeed.”

Nor is it a crime or a strategic error to have one or two players as more responsible for scoring and less responsible for other things as compared with other players. Dividing up responsibility for different things is known as “division of labor” in economics, and is how all smart companies and countries achieve high productivity and high standards of living.

George Karl instructed Carmelo Anthony to “not worry about scoring”. Did Phil Jackson ever instruct Kobe Bryant to "not worry about scoring"? Did Greg Popovich ever instruct Manu Ginobili to "not worry about scoring"? Did Byran Scott ever instruct Chris Paul to "not worry about scoring"? Did Mike Brown ever instruct LeBron James to "not worry about scoring"? No to all of these questions, and nor did they ever set out to make these players "well rounded players," the definition of which would differ from coach to coach in any event.

Consider the following:

CARMELO ANTHONY POINTS PER 36 MINUTES
2003-04 20.7
2004-05 21.5
2005-06 26.0
2006-07 27.2
2007-08 25.4
2008-09 23.2
Career 24.0

A good way to look at Anthony's career so far as far as scoring is concerned is to divide it into three 2-season periods. The first two years, he was a very young, inexperienced player, who like virtually all such players, was not able to be at his best right from the start. The next 2-season period was the golden period in my view; it's where Carmelo Anthony was doing what he wanted, which is score a lot. The last (most recent) 2-season period should be called the George Karl phase of his career; it's where Anthony has reduced scoring and increased other things, with by far the biggest increase going to defensive rebounding.

The Allen Iverson years were 2006-07 and 2007-08. Contrary to expectations of many observers, not including me, Anthony did not substantially reduce his scoring when Iverson arrived on the team. In fact, he increased his scoring, from 26.0 to 27.2 points per 36 minutes! This is very surprising even to me; while I was not dumb enough to predict a big drop, I did expect a slight drop, and certainly not an increase! This is more proof that Anthony is a natural power scorer, and that about the last thing any Coach should do is to tell him to not worry about scoring.

Now look closely at the next two years, 2007-08 and 2008-09. You see a drop of about 2 points per 36 minutes for each year. You are now observing how George Karl, being a persistent son of a gun, finally persuaded Anthony to reduce his scoring.

To me this is bad, pure and simple. The Nuggets don't have any power scorers if Carmelo Anthony is not going to be one, while the vast majority of teams that win a playoff series have at least one power scorer. Chauncey Billups is a good scorer but he is not really close to being a power scorer. Billups may be obsessed about being a good point guard, but being the dominant scorer is beyond his horizons. Nene has missed so many games over the years that he is, for all practical purposes, not far from being a rookie. So even if he is a natural and a power scorer, which he may very well be, he is no where near experienced enough to be one in the playoffs this spring.

Furthermore, it makes no sense for Carmelo Anthony to be pulling down a good number of rebounds when any number of teammates who do not want to be power scorers, and/or could not be power scorers if they wanted to be, could be making those same rebounds. George Karl is violating a major theory in economics called comparative advantage. This theory is actually very simple: each country, each company, each worker, and each basketball player is supposed to do more of what he is the best at (or more of what he can do at less cost) and less of what others can do just as well or better.

Now let’s look at the overall player ratings, year by year:

CARMELO ANTHONY'S CAREER TO DATE
REAL PLAYER RATINGS
(Basic--Not Adjusted for Hidden Defending)
2003-04 0.646 A Very Good Player: a Solid Starter
2004-05 0.632 A Very Good Player: a Solid Starter (not far above boundary with Major Role Player!)
2005-06 0.788 Superstar by a small margin
2006-07 0.838 Superstar by a good margin
2007-08 0.868 On the borderline between Super Star and Historic Super Star
2008-09 0.780 Superstar by a small margin
Career 0.755 Star Player, not far from the boundary with Superstar

SCALE FOR REGULAR SEASON REAL PLAYER RATINGS NOT ADJUSTED FOR HIDDEN DEFENDING
Perfect Player? Is there Such a Thing? 0.915 and more
Historic Super Star 0.865 and more
Superstar 0.765 0.864
A Star Player: An Outstanding, Above Normal Starter 0.690 0.764
A Very Good Player: A Solid Starter 0.615 0.689
Major Role Player 0.565 0.614
Role Player 0.515 0.564
Minor Role Player 0.465 0.514
Very Minor Role Player 0.415 0.464
Poor Player at This Time 0.365 0.414
Very Poor Player at This Time 0.265 0.364
Extremely Poor Player at This Time / Disaster and less 0.264

During Carmelo's first two years, he was very good but not at all a star. He was a solid starter; but he was not a star, let alone a superstar. Then in 2005-06, the year before Iverson arrived, the year the Nuggets ended up losing to the Clippers in the first round of the playoffs, Carmelo Anthony became far better, as he leapfrogged past the star category and became a superstar by a small margin. This was before George Karl succeeded in reducing his scoring.

As we saw above, the big year three rating increase was due mostly to a big increase in scoring. Anthony wanted to be a power scorer from day one, but it took until his third year before he was actually delivering as a power scorer. He became a superstar as soon as he started to get the payoff from being obsessed with scoring. He became an even stronger superstar in year four, 2006-07, which was the first of the two Iverson years, and was when his scoring per unit of time peaked.

In year five, 2007-08, otherwise known as last year, Carmelo Anthony’s scoring was starting downhill, but his overall Real Player Rating peaked, and he actually reached the border zone between Superstar and Historic Superstar. His scoring was down only slightly, and it did not concern me in the least, and now I can see I was right to not be concerned, because his overall rating was up nicely. His rebounding went up from 5.7 to 7.3 rebounds per 36 minutes from 2006-07 (year 4) to 2007-08 (year 5), so this would largely explain the increase in the overall rating.

But in year six, 2008-09, the George Karl transformation of Anthony into what for him and other defensively biased folks would be a wonderful thing has taken a very ugly turn. Anthony’s rebounding has hit a plateau at 7.5 rebounds per 36 minutes, while his scoring has dropped from 25.4 to 23.2 points per 36 minutes from last year to this.

For more grisly evidence of another Karl fiasco, consider the record on field goal percentage:

CARMELO ANTHONY FIELD GOAL PERCENTAGE
2003-04 .426
2004-05 .431
2005-06 .481
2006-07 .476
2007-08 .492
2008-09 .441
Career .461

Ok this is important: you can see that his field goal percentage has all but collapsed, dropping .051 in one season, from .492 to .441. Be careful Mr. Karl, you might get what you wish for! What this appears to show is that if you try to reduce a player’s scoring, you might pay a whopper of a price, as the player starts to miss a lot more shots than before as he follows bad instructions.. In other words, the coach can’t simply say: “Don’t worry about scoring fewer points than in previous years” and expect that the shooting percentage will remain about the same. If a player consciously follows bad coaching instructions regarding reducing shooting, he is liable to lose the intensity needed to maintain a high shooting percentage. In other words, one of the nicest things of all about natural, power scorers who are obsessed about scoring is that they maintain very good shooting percentages. The last thing you should do is interfere with that.

Other details for this year are that he is assisting more than ever before: 3.9 assists per 36 minutes, versus a career average of 3.1. And he has slightly improved his 3-point shooting accuracy this year, but the volume of 3-point shooting, although higher than ever, is still surprisingly low.

On the other hand, his blocking and stealing this year are at the very low end of his career ranges for these.

So now in year six, Anthony is back to where he was in year three, 2005-06. And his overall rating is only a little bit better this season than his overall career average. His shooting percentage this year is substantially lower than his career average, and the actual scoring is slightly less than his career average.

The Real Player Rating drop for Carmelo Anthony this year is truly alarming and is very large. He played only one year at Syracuse University, so he was only 19 years old in 2003-04 when he started in the NBA. He is 24 years old this year, which means he is in the heart of the prime years for star basketball players, the years when such players should be establishing themselves as superstars, the years when they should be getting better, or at least staying about the same from one year to the next. But Carmelo Anthony has just gotten much worse!

And the gap between Carmelo Anthony and players such as Dwyane Wade, Kobe Bryant, and LeBron James, which was not all that large the last couple years, has now become large indeed. Anthony is most definitely not in their League anymore.

But it’s only a relatively small disaster so far. A catastrophe would be if Anthony’s rating falls back to what it was in his first two years, completely out of the star range. Trying to be optimistic, you might speculate that Anthony is "taking the year off," and will resume being a strong superstar next year or the year after. It is unknown, however, how much damage a player does to himself if he does “take a year off. He could be doing a lot of long term damage to his ultimate potential. He could be wiping out just about any chance to win the Quest for the Ring. I don't know what the damage is, but why would anyone in their right mind want to risk losing out just to be able to follow the stupid instructions of a Coach who (hopefully) is about to retire?

So George Karl, tear down your wall! I want Carmelo Anthony back the way he was. And if Mr. Karl will not reverse course, which most likely of course he won't, it's time for Carmelo Anthony to make plans to play for a different team as soon as possible.

The moral of this story is, if you are an outstanding player, do NOT do everything your Coach tells you to do. How do you know for sure your Coach is always right? You don't. Specifically do NOT EVER let your coach tell you to "not worry about" your primary objective, whether it is scoring, defending, rebounding, assisting, or whatever. In fact, don't ever listen to anyone telling you to do less of anything (that’s good). There is a reason why you want to do what you do, and why you are doing more of some things than other things, a very good and powerful reason.

It's alright to want to do more of anything that is good, but don't ever try to do less of anything good. When the Coach that told you that garbage is gone, and you have a new Coach, the new Coach is not going to be working from the same basketball bible chapter as the previous one, and he is going to look at you as you are now, doing less of that thing, and very possibly downsized overall. Then that means you will get less playing time and fewer possessions, which in turn means you could easily be downsized some more. It can be a downward spiral.

So don't risk going into the spiral; never listen to any Coach who tells you to do less of something that is good on the basketball court. Don't disrespect the coach, and don't even openly say you are not going to follow his instructions. Play like you are complying, but don’t actually comply. Just ignore an instruction like that without saying anything about it. Keep it on the down low.

But Carmelo Anthony, not being aware of what we are aware of, has fallen into the trap, and is now starting to pay a heavy price.



BallHype: hype it up!




You Can Post Your Response to Anything on Quest Here

Friday, February 13, 2009

A Huge Report About Zone Defending: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Zone Defending, but Were Afraid to Ask

Recently the topic of zone defense came up in my internet wanderings. Someone made a huge post about zone defending, including the history of it being illegal for many years, and including a very smart review of the pro and con arguments for zone defending.

On the history, I learned quite a bit since, quite honestly, I am not versed in the history of basketball and how it has been played somewhat differently over the years. Quest is not intended to be a history of basketball of site, but the history we are going to cover in this report is important, is interesting, and in effect is part of the rationale for the Quest to exist. So let's take a rare walk down memory lane.

Before we do, let's start out with a great description of the zone defense, and a very good list of advantages and disadvantages. Quoting here saves a good chunk of time, and gives you, the reader, a better quality report, because I could not write a description of zone defending as good as the one that follows, quite honestly. Quest for the Ring is not intended to be a run of the mill basketball coaching site, and so I don't want to spend a lot of time on detailed instructions for coaches. Quest is to be a site that pulls everything in basketball winning together, with defensive coaching specifics being only one component among many. Furthermore, I can see accuracy and high quality when I see it. So for these reasons, I decided to skip writing the zone defense description myself, and I am electing here to bow to a high quality exposition of zone defending:

Zone defense is different from man-to-man defense in that, instead of guarding a particular player, each zone defender is responsible for guarding an area of the floor, or "zone", and any offensive player that comes into that area. Zone defenders move their position on the floor in relationship to where the ball moves.

Zone defense is often effective in stopping dribble penetration and one-on-one moves. On a personal note, I believe that all kids must develop their man-to-man defensive skills first. I believe youth basketball leagues should limit the use of zones to the older age groups. On the other hand, some high school and college coaches treat zone defense almost as if using it were blasphemous, or an admission of inferiority! At the upper levels, I believe you should assess your team's strengths and weaknesses as well as your opponent's, and the game situation, and use whatever tool you need to try to win.

ADVANTAGES OF ZONE DEFENSE
1. Not all teams have quick, good man-to-man defenders. Or the offense may have a couple of outstanding players too quick to defend individually. Playing a zone can help against mis-matches such as these. You may have a tall, strong, but not particularly quick team. A zone can look intimidating with all your big guys stacked up inside with their hands up.

2. In using a zone, you can protect the paint area and force the opponent to shoot from outside. An example would be using the 2-1-2 or 2-3 zone which places a lot of defense in the paint and invites the offense to shoot from outside. This is a good way to see if the other team can shoot from outside. Not all teams can shoot the outside shot consistently. Even good shooting teams have off nights, especially under tournament pressure.

3. Your team may be in foul trouble, especially your big man. You can help protect him with a zone.

4. You can slow the game and control the tempo somewhat with a zone.

5. Although players must hustle regardless of the type of defense that is being played, sometimes when your team is fatigued, playing zone for a few minutes may help them catch their breath.

6. By changing defenses from man-to-man to various zones, you can keep the offense off-balance and confused.

7. If you use the full-court or half-court press, after the press is broken, it is easy to slip back into a half-court zone defense.

DISADVANTAGES OF ZONE DEFENSE
1. If your team is behind, you won't get enough pressure on the ball, and the offense can eat up a lot of time by holding the ball for a good shot. You must go man-to-man in this situation.

2. If the opponent is having a good shooting night, your zone is beaten, and you must consider going to the man-to-man to get pressure on the ball out on the perimeter.

3. There are not always clear-cut rebounding box-out assignments and sometimes the offensive player will slip inside for the offensive rebound and lay-up. See Zone Rebounding for help with this.

4. If you play zone most of the time, and rarely play man-to-man, your players may become complacent on defense and may lose their man-to-man skills. I would practice man-to-man 80-90% of the time, and zone the remaining 10-20%.

BASIC POINTERS FOR ALL ZONE DEFENSES
1. Try to keep the ball outside. Double-team the ball in the paint.

2. Be vocal, talk to each other.

3. Move, adjust your position relative to the movement of the ball.

4. Get your hands up and out, to shrink the passing lanes.

5. When the offense dribble penetrates, quickly close the gap.

6. Get to know your opponent and adjust. Over-protect against the best shooters, or the "hot" shooter, and sag off the guy who never shoots.

7. Trap the corners.

8. Especially if you are ahead, don't gamble or get too zealous about trapping the wing and point guard positions. Keep pressure on the ball, but also protect the paint and force the outside, low-percentage shot.


SOURCE: this is an outstanding, fantastic site for coaches I just discovered. I knew there had to be at least one site out there on the net that was better than the half dozen sites for coaches I already knew about, and I finally found it: It's right here!

ZONE DEFENDING USED TO BE TOTALLY ILLEGAL
Now let's continue this discussion by looking at the history of rule changes regarding what defensive systems a team is permitted to use. The following is only the tip of the iceberg of all of the information that is available at the NBA site regarding all the changes in rules for and organization of games. Visit here for the complete history.

1947
• Zone defenses outlawed on January 11, 1947.

1966/67
• The following language was added to the Zone Defense Rule: "After the offensive team has advanced the ball to its front court, a defensive player may not station himself in the key area longer than three seconds if it is apparent he is making no effort to play an opponent. The three second count starts when the offensive team is in clear control in the front court."

1981-82
• Zone defense rules clarified with new rules for Illegal Defensive Alignments.
a. Weak side defenders may come in the pro lane (16’), but not in the college lane (12’) for more than three seconds.
b. Defender on post player is allowed in defensive three-second area (A post player is any player adjacent to paint area).
c. Player without ball may not be double-teamed from weak side.
d. Offensive player above foul line and inside circle must be played by defender inside dotted line.
e. If offensive player is above the top of the circle, defender must come to a position above foul line.
f. Defender on cutter must follow the cutter, switch, or double-team the ball.
• After the first illegal defense violation, the clock is reset to 24 seconds. All subsequent violations result in one free throw and possession of the ball. If any violation occurs during the last 24 seconds of each quarter or overtime period, the offended team receives one free throw.

1996/97
• No illegal defense violation may occur when the ball is in the backcourt.

1999/00
• Any defense is legal on the strong side. Defenders must remain on the weak side outside the paint unless they are double-teaming the ball, picking up a free cutter or closely guarding an offensive player.

2000/01
• On the strongside, any defense is legal.
• On the weakside, defenders must remain on the weakside outside the paint unless (i) they are double-teaming the ball, (ii) picking up a free cutter or (iii) closely guarding an offensive player.

2001/02
• Illegal defense guidelines will be eliminated in their entirety.
• A new defensive three-second rule will prohibit a defensive player from remaining in the lane for more than three consecutive seconds without closely guarding an offensive player.


As you can see, to make a long story short, the zone defense was banned in 1947, but was made legal in steps from 1999-00 to 2001-02. From 1981 to 2001 when zone was totally legalized, there were several relatively awkward and complicated modifications of the total illegality of zone defending. You can see that the progression from 1981 to 2001 was in only one direction. During these 20 years, there was never any "relapsing" toward making the zone more illegal than it was.

Now there are many basketball observers who think it is a bad thing that zone defenses are allowed. And it's sort of like the Allen Iverson thing. Iverson has haters everywhere, but he has more haters among those who are the most fanatical fans, which would be the ones you see most often blogging and posting on the internet. Similarly, the zone defense is not all that hated by everyday fans, but among the hardcore internet crowd, the zone is much more hated. Indeed, if the hardcore fan zone defense haters could run the NBA, they would go back to 1947 and make the zone defense completely illegal.

THE CLAIM THAT ZONE DEFENDING WAS MADE LEGAL DUE TO "BAD, INFERIOR MOTIVES"
Many of those opposed to zone defending will start out with the claim that the NBA was not motivated by honest, informed motives, but rather by tainted, ulterior motives, when they made the zone defense completely legal in April 2001. For example, the blogger whose post motivated this report strongly hints that he thinks that the League's ulterior motive for making the zone legal was that the League was terrified that Shaquille O'Neal could not possibly be contained with man to man defending alone, so they changed the rule largely because of the impact of one player (and any subsequent players as talented and as huge as O'Neal)! More generally, he implies that the League wanted to damp down players such as Kobe Bryant, Tim Duncan, and Dirk Nowitzki via the double teaming that zone defending allows but is illegal if zone defending is illegal.

My response is that I don't see hardly any merit in this, not only because I don't see why the League would be concerned about just how offensively dominant the best offensive players are, but also because allowing zone defending is not enough to shut down or seriously reduce the effectiveness of any of those players anyway. If it were true that legalizing zone defending makes great offensive players a lot less great, it would be common knowledge by now, and the NBA would be having yearly debates at rules committee meetings about whether to make zone defending illegal again. If it has only a marginal effect, which is what it does, then what is the big deal?

And come on, could it really be true that any team with Shaquille O'Neal on it would automatically win the Championship if zone was illegal, because he would be impossible to be contained? Are you sure, laugh out loud. There would be no one on playoff teams who could at least slow him down, or foul him and have him miss free throws? But why would the League care even if he would automatically win?

But the most obvious and overwhelming put down of the silly O'Neal will automatically win argument is that O'Neal played for 7 years before the zone was made legal without winning a Ring, 4 years for the Orlando Magic and 3 years for the Los Angeles Lakers. So no, Shaquille O'Neal would not automatically win a Championship any year zone was illegal, because he actually didn't for seven such years. Come on, get a grip, zone haters.

And notice that this anti-zone defense blogger (who probably represents thousands of other like minded folks) is trying to have it both ways. On the one hand, he glorifies man to man defending and wants to make it always required rather than always an option. On the other hand, he claims that the League concluded that certain players were impossible to contain via man to man defending. Well, if man to man defending is so great, there shouldn't be any players who can not be contained to one extent or another.

Finally, the blogger himself mentions that Phil Jackson thought that allowing zone defending would help Shaquille O'Neal defensively more than it would hurt him offensively, simply because he wouldn't have to chase a particular man around and could be near the hoop most of the time, where his defense is by far the most effective.

Due to the importance of this topic, to my desire to make this article as informative as possible, and to what for Quest is an unusual foray into history, I am going to once again extensively quote another article. This is the CNN-Sports Illustrated article that reported on the huge April 2001 rule change making zone defending legal. Here you can relive history in a pure way, and I can save valuable time by avoiding a rehashing:

NBA owners approved a package of four rules changes Thursday, including the elimination of the long-standing ban on zone defenses.

"This is a bold move on the part of the NBA to change the rules and allow something that we've spent many years hiding from -- zone defenses," Phoenix Suns owner Jerry Colangelo said. "This may be one of the most significant changes since the imposition of the 24-second shot clock."

Designed to improve the flow and pace of the game and reduce teams' dependence on isolation plays, the new rules will be tested during summer league play before officially taking effect next season.

The changes are:

# Eliminating all existing illegal defense guidelines.

# Establishing a defensive 3-second rule, limiting the amount of time a defensive player may stand in the lane when he is not closely guarding someone.

# Reducing from 10 seconds to 8 seconds the amount of time a team will have to advance the ball past midcourt.

# Eliminating touch fouls by allowing brief contact initiated by a defensive player if it does not impede the progress of the player with the ball.

The NBA did not release the result of the vote. A two-thirds majority was required for passage, meaning at least 20 of the 29 teams were in favor.

"We had more than 20," Colangelo said.

Several players and coaches are opposed to the changes, believing the NBA is making too big of a move in response to lower scores, declining television ratings and flat attendance figures.

"I don't think it's good at all. Zones will bring the games to a grind," Charlotte forward P.J. Brown said.

But the players and coaches didn't vote; their employers did.

Shaquille O'Neal had a one-word response.

"Stinks," the Los Angeles Lakers star said. "I have a lot to say, but not now.

Lakers coach Phil Jackson thinks the changes will help O'Neal.

"I think it'll be an advantage for Shaq, definitely, defensively," Jackson said. "It's going to keep him around the basket with a lot less movement.

"We're going to have a zone, everyone's going to have one in their arsenal. It'll be good for basketball."

Colangelo chaired the select committee that proposed the changes.

"Our belief is that the game has evolved, and the product we have presently was one that needed attention," Colangelo said "The game has changed in the sense that we've lost a lot of fluidity. We've evolved into an isolation game because of our defensive guidelines, and we weren't satisfied with the way the game looked."

The current illegal defense rules will be scrapped, and teams will be allowed to play any defense they choose.

The one exception is that a defensive player will not be permitted to stay in the lane for more than 3 seconds if he is more than an arm's length away from his man. A violation will result in a technical foul.

"That will prevent and out-and-out zone from being played in the pure sense," Colangelo said. "There's going to be a lot more man-to-man defense than people think."

The 8-second rule is designed to entice teams to pressure the ball in the backcourt, which will theoretically produce more open-court action and encourage teams to push the ball upcourt.

"The only question I have, and this was my suggestion, is to start the 24-second clock when you cross halfcourt," Jackson said. "I think you should have a little time to explore the defense."

The modification of the touch foul rule is designed to put an end to the type of ticky-tack fouls that have become commonplace since the league banned hand-checking two years ago. Next season, defenders will once again be allowed to place their hand on the man they are guarding as long as it does not impede the offensive player's movement.

"I don't think there will be more scoring; I think there will be less," Orlando coach Doc Rivers said.

Colangelo said the league will be willing to make adjustments to the new rules, if necessary, after they have been implemented.

THE LAKERS AND JACKSON VERSUS THE CELTICS AND RIVERS
Since by a wide margin the most likely 2009 Championship is Lakers-Celtics, we have just discovered something very important and very interesting: Phil Jackson was in favor (in 2001) of legalization of zone defense, but Doc Rivers was opposed. Fast forward to 2009 and, sure enough, Jackson's Lakers use zone defending much more than do Rivers' Celtics. The Celtics are fanatical about man to man defending, whereas the Lakers are more flexible between which system of defending they use. Jackson seeks to use the best style for a given game, quarter, even a few minutes, whereas Rivers sticks with man to man most all of the time. This is one reason I'm looking for the Lakers to defeat the Celtics in a 7 game NBA Championship this June.

MORE BACK AND FORTH ABOUT ZONE DEFENDING
Another article, written when the huge rule change went into effect, has more insight:

But it means that the NBA considers making the game more exciting for the fans an important enough priority to change one of its oldest and quirkiest rules.

"I think it's a step in the right direction, and it changes some things in the strategy," says Dean Luplow, vice president and media director at Starcom Worldwide. "It's a nice indication that the NBA is taking a hard look at the game and maybe taking a back-to-the-basics approach."

The rule change also means that the NBA is willing to think outside the box.

The zone defense is associated with lower scoring games and slower play, and allowing teams to use it seems almost counter intuitive for a sport already criticized for being too boring.

Media folks tend to think that the new rule is a tradeoff. The game may become more exciting in the strategic sense, but it'll lose the big plays and one-on-one matchups that defined the NBA during its most recent heyday in the 1990s.

"Most of the criticism that the NBA gets is that it's a superstar game and that there's no strategy involved," says Hadrian Shaw, sports analyst at Paul Kagan Associates. "But the NBA wants to develop superstars."

"If [the NBA is] not happy with the product, then do it, do whatever it takes," says Shaw. "Right now, too many times you see players standing around. To get that out, you give up the scoring part. It all depends on the game you want to watch."

There is a little bit of argument by false hysteria here, or by gross exaggeration, if you prefer. Maybe a small percentage of big plays are lost, and the game is a little bit slower, but we are not talking about big changes. And there are still one on one matchups to a good extent, just not continuous and isolated ones.

The biggest thing the anti zone defense folks are trying to do is to very sneakily plant the false idea in your brain that there isn't any man to man defending within the zone defending construct. Nothing could be farter from the truth. Zone defending is the framework and it is the starting point for defending. In zone defense, man to man defense of some kind is going to be the finishing phase of the overall defensive effort. As such, even with zone defending, man to man defending is still where the pedal hits the metal, so to speak.

And more:

The advantage of the one-on-one game is that it tends to produce high-scoring games with exciting plays, like slam dunks, when the player with the ball breaks free.

The disadvantage is that you really have only two players in play, the man with the ball and his defensive player. The remaining players on both teams stand on the other side of the court, doing nothing.

Well if you are a youngster or a youngster at heart who loves dunks so much that passing is boring, I guess this is true; I guess this would be your argument in favor of banning zone. As for the "disadvantage," I'll pass on that one, even though it was meant for my side of the debate: I don't think players would be just "standing around" even if zone defending was illegal.

And finally:

At the same time, zone defense forces the offense to be more creative. So fans should see more movement and action on the television screen, even if the ball doesn't go up and down the court as much.

"The idea that scoring baskets is the only way fans can enjoy basketball underestimates the intelligence of the fans," says Kahle. "They can enjoy the strategy.

"The other side of the zone type defense is that it forces more outside shooting. And with more outside shooting, there'll be more missed shots, and missed shots can be exciting."

Also, by opening up the options available to coaches, the zone defense should provide for more unpredictability in the game. Fans won't always know what's going to happen when a certain player gets the ball.

"From a fan's point of view, it might drive some interest," says Shaw.

"With the zone, big plays would be more rare. It'll put the emphasis back on shooters, which is a lost art in the NBA."

OK here I cosign on everything; this is the heart of why I vastly prefer the zone being legal, and ready to be used effectively by the smartest coaches and managements.

NOW BACK TO OUR BLOGGER-COACH
Now getting back to the blogger whose post I encountered motivated this, here is the heart of his anti-zone defense arguments:

“Playing a zone allows teams to hide the players that are defensive liabilities on the court. In a zone, such players can continuously get beaten like a San Diego Chargers cornerback without seriously impairing the team’s ability to play defense. In essence, the NBA just took away the requirement that you must be a good athlete to play basketball.

The zone defense rule is to the NBA what the motorized cart is to golf. It allows people who do not have the physical ability to play at a top level the chance to participate in the one part of the game in which they still have talent and fake it for the rest of the time.”

So what we have now, is an NBA that has developed into a blend of tight one on one defensive teams like the Celtics and the Cavaliers who lead the league in defense and teams like the Warriors and the Kings and the Pacers who allow over 107 points per game. Guys like Kevin Garnett, Ron Artest, Bruce Bowen, pride themselves in being called great defenders. Those skill sets get lost in a zone as the focus is forcing players to a spot, running traps, allowing jump shots. The Magic have become a force in the league this year as guys like Jameer Nelson, Hedo Turkolglu and Rashard Lewis have become deadly from outside to counter the zones teams are using to contain Dwight Howard. The league has become a breeding ground for the jump shot, which is a good thing as it was a dying art not too long ago, but has been instrumental in teams ability to break down the zones thrown at them. As a high school coach, I teach my players that the best way to break a zone is to shoot and force them out of it. Teams like the Hornets with Chris Paul, Peja Stojakovic, David West and Tyson Chandler love when teams play zone against them as they have the skill to exploit it. The addition of Mo Williams has improved the Cavaliers over all offense as they can now have another shooter to hurt teams who triple LeBron.


OK, first we can notice some barely covered up hostility in this basketball coach, fanatic, and blogger regarding players who are good or great shooters but who are not very good man to man defenders. Which is what I would call a "relatively small opinion." By that I mean he is trying to condemn zone defending because he has a preference for players who can play great man to man defense over players who can not, regardless of the offensive capabilities of the players, and regardless of whether the player who can't play great man to man defending can nevertheless defend well in the zone context. It's just a preference the coach-blogger has, it's not as if a fundamental foundation of basketball is being violated if players who are great shooters but poor man to man defenders are allowed to play the NBA game and make a lot of money.

In fact, to me he argued himself to losing the argument when he pointed out, indirectly anyway, that good or great shooting but poor or very poor man to man defending players can be part of a decent defense if that defense is a zone defense. To me it's not that zone defending is covering up nasty deficiencies, rather, it's that zone defense is giving managers, coaches, and players another option for defending. As long as that option doesn't involve violence or any other affront to the foundations of basketball, why on earth should it not be allowed?

Even if I was kind of a man to man defending fanatic, I still would be very reluctant to endorse limiting the freedom of managers, coaches, and players to choose a method of defending that is best for them (in each game, quarter, and so forth).

So once again, what is the big deal if great shooters sometimes are poor man to man defenders? If you want basketball to be theoretically more defensive in nature, more like American football (and European football too actually) than yes, you are going to be fiercely defending the importance of man to man defending. But what if you don't want that? What if, like me, you want there to be a sport that is slightly biased in favor of offense rather than defense? If that is your position, then zone defending is the greatest thing since sliced bread.

GEORGE KARL IS NO PHIL JACKSON...
when it comes to many things, including the subject of zone defending. The Nuggets' 2008-09 defense, which actually is almost exactly the same overall efficiency as the 2007-08 defense, has been built around an extremely energetic, hard charging style, with of course man to man rather than zone defending being the method used most of the time.

In a recent Denver Post article, Karl was asked by a reporter about his views on zone defending. Karl responded in such a way that it is clear that he doesn't think it's a good idea, and/or a feasible idea, for the Nuggets to be able to shift between the two systems as necessary. He wants the Nuggets to continue to be focused laser like on man to man defending. He implies that zone defending is for wimps, and/or that zone defending is for basketball dummies.

"I'm not a zone guy," Karl, a man-to-man master, admitted. "I think you should have one out there, but I don't know how it works or why it works — but I know it does work. At least in man-to-man, when something goes wrong, we know who made the mistake and I can yell at someone or direct someone. In zone, I don't have any idea.

"I don't know exactly where we'll go with it, but our basketball I.Q. is stronger than it was last year — and our size is bigger — so maybe we can tinker with matching man-to-man and zone in the same possession

And:

Observing matchups and situations that give us trouble, we might think about the zone, but we don't want to take away (from) the fundamental development that we're going through right now with the man-to-man.

"There's a confidence that comes with playing defense."

So there you have it, according to the Denver media, Karl is a "man to man master" laugh out loud.

Meanwhile, Phil Jackson, who is most definitely no dummy, will go back and forth between man to man and zone, in accordance with what is best for his team in any particular game and quarter. Jackson considers, among god only knows how many other things, the matchups, the rotations and, in the playoffs, the number of games won by each team so far, to decide which defending method to use.

True, Doc Rivers, like Karl, vastly prefers man to man, but Rivers has several players who are among the best man to man defenders in the League as we speak. So of the three, Jackson, Rivers, and Karl, who is the real dummy here, laugh out loud? It's Karl, because Karl doesn't really have enough playoff caliber man to man defending capability on his squad, yet he foolishly thinks that the costs of establishing zone defending as an option for the Nuggets in the playoffs outweigh the benefits. He is heading into the playoffs, come hell or high water, with man to man defending as the only real option. Quality zone defending will not be something that was established through regular season repetition.

By the way, is not known whether Karl knows that last year's defense, which was a lot less energetic, a lot less team oriented, and more individualistic, and involved more zoning and less man to man, but which on the other hand featured more high quality, experienced defenders, such as Marcus Camby and Eduardo Najera, was actually equivalent to this year's. Either he knows but is playing along with the hype that the defense is better this year, that has come about due to the big changes in the way the Nuggets defend, or else he actually doesn't know that there really isn't any substantial improvement in net results when all is said and done. Either way, it isn't a very good thing: Karl is either helping to advance a false belief among the fan base, or he is too dumb to be aware of the reality of the comparison.

AND NOW BACK TO OUR BLOGGER-COACH

Here is how he summed up his position at the end of his long post:

So, as I ponder the few benefits of the zone, I find them sadly outweighed by the overall weight they have brought to the game. I have thought for a long time now that the zone should be removed again and players like Jason Kapono would have to either figure out how to run quicker or retire. Imagine a league where you had to have defensive skills to make the roster. No longer would a pretty jumper from the corner be your ticket to the show. That, if no other reason, is why today’s players, though much better athlete’s than the Celtics and Lakers and Pistons and Spurs and Jazz and Knicks and Suns and 76ers of the 80’s and earlier, would have a very difficult time playing in that era as they just don’t have the skills on the defensive end of the floor. The zone has taken away the players responsibility to defend the man in front of them up and down the floor and has produced many one dimensional “stars” that the league is willing to promote as great players. I am not that easily sold marketing hype. There are many good players in the league today, but many of those players rely on zone defense to cover their butts most nights. Today’s top teams rely on tough man defense as Glen Davis found out. Ray Allen, Paul Pierce, Kendrick Perkins all can defend their position well and Rajon Rondo is figuring that out as well. Teams like the Suns with Steve Nash, Amar’e Stoudemire rely on zone defense and find it difficult to get past a fundamentally sound team like the Spurs who have solid on ball defenders like Duncan, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker. The Cavaliers have committed themselves to defense and have the lowest points per game allowed in the league thus far.

Will someone get this guy a kleenex already, he's just about crying because of the "heavy weight" the game is bearing as a result of the zone defense. And seriously, he seems to be paranoid about players such as Jason Kapono. What did Kapono ever do to him, other than have a style and/or a skill set he doesn't like? The blogger-coach will have to have both the zone defense and the 3-point shot removed from the game in order to be happy, because there would still be relatively poor man to man defenders on rosters even if zone were illegal, on account of the necessity of having good 3-point shooters. But if the 3-point shot were removed from the game, I would need a kleenex, let me tell you.

How about the amusing contradictory irony where on the one hand he says today's players are better athletes, but on the other hand, they would not have been able to survive as players in the 1980's, when the zone was quite illegal? I mean, are they better athletes or not? Do you seriously believe that today's players are mostly such lousy man to man defenders that they would not be playing if it were still the 1980's? Why can't a lot of players be good at shooting and good at man to man defending at the same time?

And more basically, the nickname for basketball is hoops, so why do you seem to be kind of hostile toward players who can make a lot of hoops?

And by the way, the League does not "promote" players, the managers, coaches, and fans do. And many fans actually prefer players who can make a lot of hoops while they are bad man to man defenders, over the reverse type players.

Sorry, I'm not buying even a small part of this argument.

A RANDOM QUOTE FOR GRINS
Before we bring this long report to a close, I can't resist, for grins, throwing this quote, that shall remain anonymous, I stumbled on:

The zone defense the NBA allows removes a players ability to challenge and expose a players lack of skill defensively as it can hide them quite well.

Laugh out loud, you didn't eat your brain food! On my worst days I don't fail like this. Great offensive players are still free to challenge players who are not good defenders, even when they are "hiding" in the zone context. You can run, but you can't hid, you lousy defender you, laugh out loud.

MY ORIGINAL RESPONSE
This was my original response to the Blogger-Coach's post:

I love your article, it's outstanding, thank you.

Especially since it gives a new insight into a shortcoming of George Karl.

I'll make some quick comments:

Count me as a major proponent of zone defense. Making the zone defense illegal goes against the concept of basketball being a team sport.

As for reduction of scoring, it's a minor reduction overall. As for key offensive players being totally neutralized by zone defending, that's an exaggeration. The really great offensive players will and have developed ways to succeed against the zone, and the truly good teams and coaches will develop workarounds against the zone for their team offense.

Also, who wants even more whistles and stoppages than there already are?

Do you think it's a coincidence that George Karl doesn't like the zone much? No, he doesn't like it because he has no clue how to offensively succeed against it other than the simplistic and easy to damp in the playoffs fast break. For example, this is connected with his inability to understand the importance of having good 3-point shooting as a stand alone goal.

To me the advantages of allowing zone outweigh the disadvantages by a very good margin.

His responses were:

I agree that it does play well into the team concept of this great game, but i think at the level of skill and athleticism this league has, it is used to slow the game down as a rule. As we have seen the players adjust to the zone, the shooters are better at hitting shots, but i feel the overall skill of the player has suffered as guys like Jason Kapono can earn 5 million a year to shoot the ball. when he doesn't hit 3's he is useless to the Raptors or any team whether they play zone or man to man. he has a very specific skill set and earns a lot of money to shoot. Many players have developed one dimensional games and play in this league with little concern or desire to pay the price to play man defense. And the really good teams this season are rising up the charts with inside and outside games and solid defense, both man and zone, but use the zone usually with the second units from what i have seen...thanks for the post! i enjoy reading what people think and i still think that the zone at the nba level has a place, but the best overall teams use it sparingly for pace changes or for a change of tempo effect on defense. i can't see teams that rely on the zone, like the Raptors, succeeding at the NBA level because the shooters are just too good.

And I said:

Well if you live by the sword you die by the sword. The Raptors chose to be a zoning on defense, and shooting against the zone team, but this year they have "not made their shots," so they are having a miserable season and the coach is fired. So their strategy failed this year. The Raptors have to figure out whether they had the wrong strategy, or whether they didn't implement correctly.

But if the zone defense was not allowed, the freedom of teams to choose substantially different defenses and offenses goes away, so the premium on good coaching and managing the franchise is sharply reduced. The range of choice for coaches and managements goes way down. I think coaches and managers should play a role and be responsible if they don't choose and implement correctly.

If a franchise thinks man to man defending works better, they can go that route. And obviously, a team using man to man defending can on offense use a floor spacing, passing offense that is all about defeating the zone, but is not all that relevant against man to man. This is the general formula the Spurs have used. But the Suns with their zone defense had them beat in 2007; they lost only because of intervention from David Stern in the form of having to play a game without Amare Stoudemire and Boris Diaw.

Aside from this increasing the importance of the coaches and managers choosing the right strategy and succeeding with it, the other thing I like the most about allowing zone defense is that it increases the importance of playmaking and passing. I really appreciate these aspects, more than the Nuggets' 2009 strategy of endless drives to the hoop.

It's a team game, come on, pass the ball around a little. Have a few plays for passing to your best scorers in their favorite spots. I always love it when I hear Bill Walton practically shout "NICE PASS" as the zone is defeated by a great pass to a player who has slipped through the zone and is ready to make the dunk.

WHY THIS SUBJECT WAS IMPORTANT SPECIFICALLY TO THE QUEST FOR THE RING
Were it not for zone defending, there would be less rationale for a site like Quest for the Ring, because one of the main premises here is that there is more to winning the Ring than meets the eye; more than the skills and efforts of the players you see on the court. By allowing any half way reasonable, non-violent form of defending, the League is mandating that every franchise management and every franchise coaching staff must choose how they are going to defend. On the flipside, the League is mandating that the management and coaching staff of every franchise must also choose well how they are going to succeed offensively, in two different situations, against the man to man and the zone. In other words, the managements and the coaches have to be able to walk and chew gum at the same time.

Franchises who don't have smart enough managers and coaches to pick the right defending for parts of games, games in general, and seasons in general, are going to be at a disadvantage to franchises who do. In case you have not noticed the obvious, I love strategies and tactics. The last thing I want is restrictive rules that make it easy for dumb managers and coaches to succeed despite their being dumb.

Also, if zone defending is legal, there is maximum freedom, which is the norm in sports, and is virtually always going to be better than less freedom.



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Thursday, February 12, 2009

To Win the Quest, You Have to be in "The Zone," You Have to be Like Fitz

The Zone is where you have left the everyday regular season concerns behind and you are now, as a super athlete, attempting to go where no one else can go. You are attempting to win playoff games and the Championship. Actually, it's much more than the regular season that you are above and beyond: it's everything. You have risen above everything, including your coaches, your past, the regular season, everything. Everything other than winning in the playoffs is in the distance in the rear view mirror. It's just you and the ring and you can practically touch it.

In this year's Super Bowl, Larry Fitzgerald, NFL pro bowl wide receiver of the Arizona Cardinals was in "The Zone."

Larry Jr. and quarterback Kurt Warner have led that organization from a bumpy 9-7 regular season to three postseason upsets over Atlanta, Carolina and Philadelphia. Fitzgerald has 23 catches for 419 yards and five touchdowns, each seeming to top the one before in degree of difficulty.

Fitzgerald already has broken San Francisco 49ers legend Jerry Rice's record for receiving yards in a postseason. He tied Rice, Los Angeles Rams Hall of Famer Tom Fears and Randy Moss with an NFL-record three consecutive postseason games of at least 100 yards receiving. Moss achieved the feat in January 2000 and '01 with the Vikings.

"Larry is in a zone right now that we've rarely ever seen for a receiver," said former Vikings receiver Cris Carter, a mentor to Fitzgerald since the latter was a Vikings ballboy. "He and Randy Moss have the best ball skills of any receivers I've ever seen. Their ability to stretch the defense -- Randy with his speed down the field and Larry with his ability to go vertical and get the ball -- put them in a rare category of players the NFL has ever seen."


And:

"To be considered a great player, it's mandatory -- mandatory -- that you win big football games," Fitzgerald said last month. 'I'm not talking about regular-season games and putting up big numbers. At the end of the day, that's all nice and everything, but it's only a footnote in the media guide. 'What matters is winning big playoff games consistently. You have to be your greatest in the biggest moments.


That's what I'm talking about. Put that quote up on your wall. Unlike for example George Karl and Carmelo Anthony, there is no desire or by default tendency to leech off the regular season in this guy's soul.

George Karl and Carmelo Anthony are not like Fitz at all. That's why they have not ever and won't this year win in the playoffs this year.

Like Larry Fitzgerald is how you need to be if you are an exceptional athlete, not like Carmelo Anthony. You need to be 100% humble about and completely above details about the regular season. You need to be focused on winning in the playoffs 24/7 and 365 days a year. And if your team can't make the playoffs anytime soon, you need to find another team that will be in the playoffs.

Keep tellin' 'em and showin' 'em about sports, Larry. In the Quest for the Ring, you need to be like Fitz.

Full Article
Related Quest Report

Larry Fitzgerald Official Site

Larry Fitzgerald at the NFL Player's Association

Larry Fitzgerald at Wikipedia




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Monday, February 9, 2009

Fast Break: Purpose, Pride, and Personnel Needed at the Same Time, on Offense and Defense

The Nuggets are about 17-2 against losing teams now, the best record against sub .500 teams in the League, which is the number one reason why their record is so spectacular. But those teams don't play in the playoffs, so big deal.

Here's another way of looking at how this franchise has fallen short. For several years, through and including last year, the Nuggets had this massively huge payroll, chock loaded with players who could come up big in the playoffs, but George Karl just sat on his behind during all the games, and he just let Allen Iverson run around and around and around to nowhere, with no and I mean absolutely no team concept.

Now fast forward to now. They have Nene coming from nowhere to be more or less a superstar. They have Billups coming from Detroit to be almost or perhaps actually a superstar. Most surprising of all, they have several obscure, low cost players, several of whom are playing just about half again as much better than they ever did before. And they have all of these assets while playing with a purpose and as a team. At least on defense, anyway.

George Karl, the ultimate "contrary indicator," the ultimate wrong place, wrong time type of guy, is up from his bench perch far more than last year, jawing the refs and much more actively coaching the team than when they had the expensive, playoff-level players. Oh well, I guess Mr Karl thinks that last year's Nuggets should have coached themselves.

Even these days, though, the Nuggets are largely one dimensional; their purpose or system, and their team concept, is really on defense only. On offense, they have the fast break concept, the drive to the hoop over and over again and make free throws concept, the Chauncey Billups directing concept, and the Nene stuffing a bunch concept, and that is about it. Unfortunately, the sum total of all of those is still too weak to set up a winning offense for the playoffs. Collectively these things are not enough. Individually, these things are more or less low return investments by nature, and/or because these things can be relatively easily countered in the playoffs.

For example, the fast break is notoriously easy to contain in the playoffs. Even more importantly, the fast break and the other offensive things the Nuggets are doing would not be very good payoff strategies even if the opponent could not contain them in the series.

The franchise continues to either not believe in or to be unable to implement any kind of real, hard to defend offensive strategy. The tactics of Chauncey Billups and the dunks and layups of Nene can only get you so far, especially when you consider that the opponent in the playoff series is going to be quite aware that all they have to do to contain the Nuggets is to hassle Nene close in and hassle Chauncey out on the perimeter.

As for the unofficial, quasi coaching of Chauncey Billups, one basketball player, even him, does not add up to a system , strategy, or a purpose. And since when is Billups qualified to coach a professional NBA team, anyway?

So the bottom line is that the Nuggets have a working, effective strategy and a purpose only on defense, while they still have a combination of insufficient strategies and anarchy on offense. And they no longer have enough playoff-experienced, talented players needed to dependably win a playoff series. So overall, they still do not have enough going for them to be able to win a playoff series.

Defensively, last year there were almost as many defensive specialists as this year, but their teammates, including Carmelo Anthony, were not playing very much defense, because their was no real team objective or team pride for that. Mr. Karl tried early on to get this but he was not able to maintain it over the course of the season. Remember Yakhouba Diawara, (now on the Heat)? Remember Eduardo Najera (Nets)? Remember Marcus Camby (Clippers)? And if they wanted to play like they are this year, they sure as hell didn't need Allen Iverson, so, remember Reggie Evans (traded to the Sixers for Iverson)? If they had Evans' heavy rebounding right now, they would be able to just about truthfully say they don't miss Camby on defense.

Another way the Nuggets could more than offset Camby would be if, god forbid, Renaldo Balkman gets more minutes and Dahntay Jones gets fewer.

These defensive specialists were like lone wolves, since the rest of the team was not sold on playing good defense. Just as bad, the defensive specialists were often totally out of the flow offensively. Poor Diawara, who has a decent three, had games where he played 20 minutes or so and hardly got the ball at all, even though the Nuggets were deficient in 3-point shooting!

So the Nuggets had defensive specialists last year just as they do this year, but they never used them in a coordinated way with the other players as they are doing this year.

In the recent years, the last two anyway, the Nuggets had more than enough offensive playoff talent, but virtually no playoff game wins was the result of not tying the team together and making defense a point of pride, and of having an offense that was more or less anarchy.

So now they have changed their stripes and have the team defense but they are still mostly lost offensively. And even defensively, they are in for some rude awakenings when their defensive specialists, most of whom have little or no playoff experience, play against quality offensive teams and quality coaches, and when they face referees who have seen all the inferior, rule shaving strategies before and twice on Sundays.

If you are a good coach and you encounter a team playing like the Nuggets are, you instruct your players to get physical right back on them, both off the ball and on the ball. Not only because you don't want to end up intimidated but, more importantly, you want to force the referees to get control of the game and, more specifically, to get control of the Nuggets.

In the unlikely event that the playoff referees need some persuasion to keep control of the playoff game, this is what Adelman or Sloan or Scott or whoever will do: they will instruct their players to get as rough as necessary until the referees are forced to take control and call a tighter game.

Judging from all the changes they have made from last year to this, the Nuggets are infuriatingly inconsistent in what they do, but they are consistent insofar as they are never doing enough to set up winning in the playoffs. The Nuggets simply don't do enough. Unlike top franchises such as the Lakers and the Celtics, the Nuggets seem to not understand that there is no legal limit on how many strategies you can have, or on how powerful and hard to counter they can be.

Last year, the Nuggets had the players who could win some playoff games, which is probably the most difficult to achieve prerequisite. They squandered it, because they had almost nothing in the way of coaching, offensive strategy, offensive purpose and pride, or defensive purpose and pride. So in the April 2008 series against the Lakers, George Karl was reduced to pleading with his players to pass more since, amazingly, there really wasn't any point guard! I am not exaggerating.

This year, between Karl doing a little actual game coaching work, Chauncey directing things, the consistent fast breaking on offense, the relentless driving to the hoop and free throw shooting, and especially the high intensity, hard charging defense as a defensive system, the Nuggets overall have to some extent a team strategy and purpose going. But alas, they no longer have the players who will be able to win playoff games, and they are still coming up short in terms of the quality and power of their offensive strategy. It has been a few steps forward and a few steps back, with no real increase in the ability to win a playoff series.

Denver: you have to have several powerful strategies going at once to be able to win in the playoffs, not just rotate in and out over the years one or two powerful strategies and a bunch of weak strategies.

The playoff referees are going to slap this team down if they come in thinking they are going to milk the refs and foul and get fouled their way to winning playoff games. And no team will be a punching bag for the Nuggets' high intensity defending. Playoff teams are not going to permit either Nene or Chauncey to drop 25-30 points on them in more than a game or two. They are going to make sure that Carmelo Anthony and J.R. Smith remain in their boxes most of the time. So in short they are going to know how to defeat the Nuggets in the playoffs.



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Fast Break: Laugh Out Loud George Karl! He Thinks the Nuggets Can Defeat the Lakers in the Playoffs!

Maybe not tor you but Mr. George Karl is often really funny to me. Last year, he was openly unconfident about his team, and now this year, he is claiming in public, not just in the locker room as a private confidence booster, that the Nuggets can beat the Lakers in a playoff series this spring:

It's Saturday Night Live with George Karl!

In my opinion there is one and only one team that has a remote chance of upsetting the Lakers for the Western crown: the Hornets. Maybe there is a 1/250 chance of that, and it would have to be something that came about due to at least a couple of Lakers' injuries. At the beginning of the season, I was thinking the Rockets might have a chance to upset LA too, but it's just one injury after another for them, so I don't see how it's possible anymore.



BallHype: hype it up!




You Can Post Your Response to Anything on Quest Here

Post your response to anything on Quest HERE

GIVE US THE JUICE TO PRODUCE REPORTS MORE QUICKLY

Although there is a guaranteed minimum rate of Report production regardless of traffic, IT IS IN YOUR POWER to help double or triple the number of and frequency of Reports. Simply take two or three minutes as often as you can to recommend Quest and post links to Quest on your favorite sports and other sites. The resulting automatic increase of traffic will in turn increase the resources that go in to producing Quest, which in turn speeds up reporting. If you want, e-mail how you helped (include the url of where you posted a link to Quest) and we will throw some Internet love back to where you tell us on the Internet. Thank you.

Here are some quick links that you can use to find a place where you might post a link to Quest and/or to Quest content.

Share/Bookmark


HOLD MOUSE HERE TO EXPAND THIS MENU OF PLACES ON WHICH YOU CAN POST A LINK TO QUEST:


BASKETBALL SITES THAT ARE OPEN FOR CONTENT FROM ANYONE
Note: Beware of "layered" sites. None of the following are layered sites, which are sites that allow contributions from the public only in hard to find, low traffic areas, while the main areas are off limits for public input and are only for a chosen few. All of the following have at least some notable traffic, and all of them allow relatively equal and open participation. The order is from most recommended to least recommended, based on about half a dozen factors.

Bleacher Report Open Posting Site
Inside Hoops NBA Forum
Real GM NBA and Team Forums
Pro Sports Daily NBA Forum
Basketball Forum NBA Forum
Sporting News NBA Forum
Hoops Hype NBA Forum
Armchair GM Open Posting Site
SportsTwo NBA Forum
NBA Dimensions NBA Forum
OTR Basketball Forums NBA Forum
NBA Boards NBA Forum
NBA Wire NBA Forum
KFFL NBA Forum

Note: there are other forums, but they are all very low traffic and activity compared to the ones above.

MESSAGE BOARDS AT HUGE COROPORATIONS
The Fox NBA board is very low traffic, and the MSNBC NBA board doesn't exist anymore. The CBS Sports NBA Message Board is a layered site; you can NOT post topics nor expect to be considered seriously there until you have spent a few years posting there. We do not recommend CBS Sports. So the only real, fully open NBA forum hosted by a big corporation is the ESPN message board. Be forewarned though that the ESPN board is dominated by very young fans who make very short comments. On the other hand, it is a high traffic site, so we won't stop you from posting a Quest link at ESPN if you want to.

ESPN NBA Message Board

LAKERS SIGN IN HOLLYWOOD

LAKERS SIGN IN HOLLYWOOD
The Nuggets are scary, but Lakers fans can breathe a sigh of relief when they think of who coaches them!

>>>I WANT TO STICK WITH THE WAY OTHER SITES PRESENT POSTS
Due to the number of, uniqueness of, and importance of the many other home page features we have, only one Report loads at a time, currently the one just above. To see the next Report (which would be the one that came out just before the one above) on this home page, click "Older Posts" that is at the very bottom of the Report showing above, just above the section header "Your Ball: Take Your Best Shot".

>>ALTERNATIVE HOME PAGES
There are three home pages, all of which have all of the Reports but which have completely different features appearing on the sidebar and below the one Report that is shown at a time. These pages have been designed so that they fully load in about 10 seconds (no more super long load times we used to be known for.)

HOME PAGE A: ALL REPORTS, READERS CONTAINING REPORTS 1-100, AND UNIQUE FEATURES
HOME PAGE B: ALL REPORTS, READERS CONTAINING REPORTS 1-100, AND UNIQUE FEATURES
HOME PAGE C: ALL REPORTS, READERS CONTAINING REPORTS 1-100, AND UNIQUE FEATURES

>>REPORT READERS: Complete freedom to rapidly choose and read what you need or want to read. The latest 40 Reports are found near the top of all three of the primary home pages (linked to just above) while Reports #41-#100 are found in three separate readers placed at various points down the page on all three primary home pages.

>>EXPRESS VERSION: Every Single Report but no Features: a Fast Loading Page: Click Here

>>FAST BREAK VERSION: The Latest 100 Reports via Report Readers Only; no Features, a Fast Loading Page: Click Here

>>QUEST ARCHIVE HOME PAGES--REPORT ARCHIVES AND A SMALL NUMBER OF CLASSIC FEATURES THAT WON'T FIT ON OTHER HOME PAGES
QUEST 4: REPORTS 101-200
QUEST 5: REPORTS 201-300
QUEST 6: REPORTS 301-400
QUEST 7: REPORTS 401-500
QUEST 8: REPORTS 501-600
QUEST 9: REPORTS 601-700
QUEST 10: REPORTS 701-800

>>FEATURES ONLY HOME PAGES: NO REPORTS, JUST FEATURES THAT WE CAN'T FIT ANYWHERE ELSE
QUEST OVERTIME
QUEST CLASSIC

>>COMPLETE TITLE INDEX: : A Complete Report Title Index, with Express Version Links to all Reports

>>LATEST 25 Reports: Direct links to the latest 25 Reports (with no truncated titles as you find with the poorly designed Google archive). This is located near the very bottom of this page.

>>GOOGLE ARCHIVE you will find this, with Reports shown by week not very far below.

>>I'M NEW AND I DON'T KNOW WHERE I WANT TO GO: Welcome to the Real Zone. Simply browse the page and see for yourself what is here. You will not be disappointed.

>>OR YOU CAN DO A CUSTOM GOOGLE SEARCH OF THE 13 BOOKS AND COUNTING CONTAINED ON THIS SITE>>>>>

SEARCH THE QUEST FOR THE RING--THE EQUIVALENT OF MORE THAN 15 BOOKS ABOUT BASKETBALL

Custom Search
SEARCH THE 15 BOOKS / 1.5 MILLION WORDS

TWO WAYS TO LOOK AT HOW LONG QUEST FOR THE RING HAS BEEN KEEPING IT REAL

The above shows you in two different ways the exact amount of time since The Quest for the Ring began to completely explain how the Quest is won, while having as much fun as possible at the expense of basketball pretenders and player haters. The first panel shows how long it has been in each of seven units. The second panel shows how long it has been in the more usual "remainder" way.

QUEST FOR THE RING SOMETIMES GOES INTO HIATUS
Regardless of any temporary unavoidable absences, the Quest is in this project to explain in detail for the very long term--indefinitely, for many, many, many years ahead. At this writing we have the equivalent of 15 basketball books under our belt and we plan on doing dozens more. Count on us being right where basketball is at, which is here, actually.

Blog Archive


QUEST REPORTS #41 TO #60, GOING BACK IN TIME


QUEST IS FREE BUT ABOUT 3 MINUTES OF YOUR TIME CAN GET YOU MORE OF IT

Although there is a guaranteed minimum rate of Report production regardless of traffic, it is in your power to help increase the number of and frequency of Quest Reports. All Quest sites are developed and produced according to both superseding criteria and site traffic. Like all sites started in recent years, Quest receives very little help from Google and other search engines. The search engines mostly serve to keep the older, popular sites popular; they preserve the same old, same old status quo.

The amount of reporting and the frequency of Quest Reports could easily be double what it is were site traffic higher. If Quest obtained the traffic we know it deserves, than production would go from the equivalent of roughly three books about basketball a year to at least five and to as many as six books a year!

WE NEED A GRAND TOTAL OF ABOUT 3 MINUTES OF YOUR TIME
Please take three or four minutes every now and then to recommend Quest and post links to Quest on your favorite sports and other sites. In other words, wherever possible use us to back up what you are posting and writing. The resulting automatic increase of traffic will in turn increase the resources that go in to producing Quest home page Reports. After helping us, feel free to e-mail how you helped and we will throw some Internet love back to your Internet hangout. The email address is thequestforthering1. This is a gmail address, so you use @gmail.com after that address.

QUEST FOR THE RING USER GUIDE

QUEST FOR THE RING USER GUIDE: YOU CAN QUICKLY LOCATE AND GET THE SITE INFORMATION YOU NEED OR WANT RIGHT HERE

LATEST 25 REPORTS THREE AT A TIME -- TO LOAD THE NEXT THREE, CLICK ">" AT THE TOP ON THE RIGHT



QUEST REPORTS #61 TO #80, GOING BACK IN TIME


WORD IS BOND

WELCOME TO THE QUEST--THINGS ARE VERY DIFFERENT HERE

WELCOME TO THE QUEST FOR THE RING, ALSO KNOWN AS THE REAL ZONE
This is one of the most serious basketball sites on the internet, focusing on how and why playoff games and NBA Championships are won. We also love to take comedy and music breaks, but not every day.

WELCOME TO THE QUEST FOR THE RING. YOU HAVE LEFT THE HYPE ZONE AND HAVE ARRIVED IN THE REAL ZONE. Please check any rose colored glasses at the door. The Hype Zone is where you can find out about the personalities and the styles and how popular they are and what they are up to lately. The Real Zone is where we DO NOT think personalities and styles and how popular or unpopular they are things to waste time on just for ratings or traffic.

Instead of hype, here we post as much truth about how NBA playoff games and Championships are won as we can 365 days a year and at at any hour of the day or night. Please have a productive visit, and a nice trip back to the Hype Zone when your visit is over.


A SMALL SAMPLE OF CURRENT AND SOON TO COME QUEST FOR THE RING REAL ZONE TOPICS
--How and Why the 2010 Los Angeles Lakers, the 2010 Cleveland Cavaliers, and the 2010 Boston Celtics Win or Lose in the 2010 Playoffs
--The right "amount of" LeBron James
--How players we know deserve to win a first or second Ring can get one, highly talented players such as Chris Paul, Chris Bosh, Rajon Rondo, and Dwyane Wade.
--How and why the Denver Nuggets Franchise has repeatedly fooled the public, and possibly themselves for that matter. (No, we still have not completely finished with the Nuggets, thanks to how successful they were in 2008-09, albeit there was no chance of a Championship; Continuing, much done already)
--How and why much of what you may think you know about Allen Iverson is dead wrong (Continuing, much done already)
--How and why the playoffs are something completely different from the regular season, and why your team may be simply not prepared for them despite a lot of regular season wins

A SMALL SAMPLE OF ALREADY COMPLETED QUEST FOR THE RING REAL ZONE TOPICS
--How and why Carmelo Anthony has been downsized due to a quest for "well-roundedness," and why this is really bad
--How and why the owner of the Nuggets shortchanged and cheated his team out of a possible Championship
--How and why being physical alone can not win you a Championship
--How and why the Nuggets' high fouling defense will take them only so far
--How and why George Karl is doing more harm than good with respect to J.R. Smith
--How and why George Karl's obsession with personalities is wrong and bad for any team
--How and why George Karl and the Nuggets can not win in the playoffs (2007, 2008) or a West final (2009). If Quest commits a foul, we own up to it, as we do right here: we thought the Nuggets could not win in the playoffs in 2009. They did win 10 games before being eliminated by the Lakers in the West final, so in response we corrected our evaluation of what you can do with the Nuggets' unique 2009 approach to basketball without, however, going overboard.
--How and why George Karl cheats the fans and the franchise out of performance and development of "reserve" players
--How and why playmaking is so important, probably more than you think, and how you manage playmakers correctly.
--How and why you have probably been fooled regarding the Nuggets' 2008 off-season and their 2008-09 defense

UNIQUE SITE DESIGN
The Quest is organized in a completely different way from what you are used to on the internet. We have combined the best features of the blog and the conventional web site formats, the latter being the norm for large organizations. However, since we do not like the idea of using flash to "wow" visitors, we do not use flash except within video and other discrete components. So we are state of the art in terms of expanding the power of visitors to get exactly what they want very quickly, but we do not have the latest flash gadgetry just to "keep up with the Joneses". More broadly, you will find that Quest for the Ring never seeks to keep up with the Joneses, simply because the Joneses never had the nerve and the intelligence to do what we do.

2009: A PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATION COMES TO QUEST
Just before the 2009-10 season tipped, the very large number of features and links to important resources were strategically reorganized and placed within an easy to use and clearly labelled section system. So ended the era of the rapidly developed, sprawling and slightly disorganized Quest, and so began the era of the big but under careful control and extremely well organized and professional Quest for the Ring.

The Quest Home Page consists of numerous types of content, organized carefully into the new sections as of November 2009. Features can be any educational and / or entertaining thing you can think of, including everything from music players to videos to photos to breaking NBA news readers to top teams performance breakdown pages.

Quest for the Ring has a world class link system for those who know what they are looking for and wish to find and engage the appropriate link, But the Quest visitor does not HAVE to hunt for links to have an intelligent and entertaining experience. The Quest home page is big enough and chock loaded enough that link hunting is not absolutely necessary the way it normally is at many other basketball sites.

THERE MUST BE TEN WAYS TO READ REPORTS [PAUL SIMON LOL]
There are close to ten ways to find out about, select, and read Quest Reports! The standard, traditional blog presentation is available as one of the many ways to choose, access, and read reports. On the Home Page, only one report loads in the traditional format in order to keep this page as quick loading as possible.
See the "Total Freedom of Navigation" section for complete details about how to find, choose, and read reports.

One key place to find Older Reports is on sequentially numbered url's thequestforthering2.blogspot.com, thequestforthering3.blogspot.com, and so forth.

THE QUEST USER GUIDE VERSUS an about page
Other sites most often have undeveloped and limited in scope "about pages" which is usually all they have for what we call a "User Guide". Our User Guide material is a vast improvement, quantitatively and qualitatively, over a mere "about page" While many other sites don't help their visitors to make the best use of the content, we do. Also, the User Guide is chock loaded with invitations to visitors to participate in all kinds of ways, including for example advertising for free, link exchange, and getting a team site supported by Quest.

SEARCH THE QUEST FOR THE RING, THE EQUIVALENT OF MORE THAN 15 BOOKS ABOUT BASKETBALL

Custom Search
SEARCH THE 15 BOOKS / 1.5 MILLION WORDS

QUEST REPORTS #81 TO #100 GOING BACK IN TIME

RECOMMENDED SCHOOL--CLICK FOR DETAILS


VIDEOS

QUEST FOR THE RING VIDEOS--The primary Quest video page with video juke boxes for all 30 teams

QUEST FOR THE RING VIDEOS #2--Specially chosen video juke boxes and individual videos

QUEST FOR THE RING PRIMARY HOME PAGE B--A few key video players are here

LATEST NBA.COM NBA VIDEOS
LATEST YAHOO SPORTS NBA / BASKETBALL VIDEOS
LATEST CBS SPORTSLINE NBA VIDEOS

MOST RECENT LEAGUE WIDE REAL PLAYER RATINGS

Note: This is generally a once a year, end of season Report. For many teams and players, more recent ratings are often available.

NBA REAL PLAYER RATINGS
2009-10 REGULAR SEASON

POSITION AND TEAM CODES
In the Real Player and related ratings shown for the League, two codes follow each players' name (and before his rating). The first code tells you the players' team and the second one tells you his position.

TEAM CODES
ATLA Atlanta Hawks
BOST Boston Celtics
CHAR Charlotte Bobcats
CHIC Chicago Bulls
CLEV Cleveland Cavaliers
DALL Dallas Mavericks
DENV Denver Nuggets
DETR Detroit Pistons
GOLS Golden State Warriors
HOUS Houston Rockets
INDI Indiana Pacers
LACL Los Angeles Clippers
LALK Los Angeles Lakers
MEMP Memphis Grizzlies
MIAM Miami Heat
MILW Milwaukee Bucks
MINN Minnesota Timberwolves
NJRS New Jersey Nets
NORL New Orleans Hornets
NWYR New York Knicks
OKLA Oklahoma Thunder
ORLA Orlando Magic
PHIL Philadelphia 76'ers
PHNX Phoenix Suns
PORT Portland Trailblazers
SACR Sacramento Kings
SANA San Antonio Spurs
TORO Toronto Raptors
UTAH Utah Jazz
WASH Washington Wizards

POSITION CODES
PG Point Guard
SG Shooting Guard
SF Small Forward
PF Power Forward
C Center

SCALE FOR REGULAR SEASON REAL PLAYER RATINGS
Perfect for all Practical Purposes / Major Historic Super Star 1.100 and more
Historic Super Star 1.000 1.099
Super Star 0.900 0.999
A Star Player / A well above normal starter 0.820 0.899
Very Good Player / A solid starter 0.760 0.819
Major Role Player / Good enough to start 0.700 0.759
Good Role Player / Often a good 6th man 0.640 0.699
Satisfactory Role Player / Preferably should not start 0.580 0.639
Marginal Role Player / Generally should not start 0.520 0.579
Poor Player / Should never start 0.460 0.519
Very Poor Player 0.400 0.459
Extremely Poor Player .399 and less

NBA REAL PLAYER RATINGS
2009-10 REGULAR SEASON

--Shows the real quality of players
--Includes all tracked actions and also includes untracked or hidden defending
--The average Real Player Rating for all players who play 300 minutes or more is about .700.
--All players who have played at least 300 minutes are included here and in all other ratings to follow in coming days

MAJOR HISTORIC SUPERSTARS
1 LeBron James CLEV SF 1.382
2 Tim Duncan SANA PF 1.254
3 Chris Paul NORL PG 1.202
4 Dwight Howard ORLA C 1.121
5 Andrew Bogut MILW C 1.112

HISTORIC SUPERSTARS
6 Steve Nash PHNX PG 1.095
7 Jason Kidd DALL PG 1.092
8 Rajon Rondo BOST PG 1.084
9 Deron Williams UTAH PG 1.076
10 Dwyane Wade MIAM SG 1.075
11 Marcus Camby LACL C 1.071
12 Pau Gasol LALK PF 1.065
13 Greg Oden PORT C 1.060
14 Kevin Durant OKLA SF 1.051
15 Dirk Nowitzki DALL PF 1.034
16 Josh Smith ATLA SF 1.033
17 Kevin Garnett BOST PF 1.033
18 Manu Ginobili SANA SG 1.023
19 Kobe Bryant LALK SG 1.005

SUPERSTARS
20 Carlos Boozer UTAH PF 0.994
21 Lamar Odom LALK PF 0.982
22 Andrei Kirilenko UTAH SF 0.976
23 Chris Bosh TORO PF 0.972
24 David Lee NWYR C 0.971
25 Al Horford ATLA C 0.970
26 Marcus Camby PORT C 0.967
27 Jameer Nelson ORLA PG 0.959
28 Joakim Noah CHIC C 0.955
29 John Salmons MILW SF 0.937
30 Andrew Bynum LALK C 0.936
31 Troy Murphy INDI PF 0.934
32 Kevin Love MINN PF 0.934
33 Anderson Varejao CLEV C 0.933
34 Brendan Haywood DALL C 0.929
35 Vince Carter ORLA SG 0.928
36 Gerald Wallace CHAR SF 0.918
37 Sergio Rodriguez SACR PG 0.908
38 Tyrus Thomas CHIC PF 0.904
39 Derrick Rose CHIC PG 0.903

STARS
40 Baron Davis LACL PG 0.899
41 Russell Westbrook OKLA PG 0.897
42 Zach Randolph MEMP PF 0.885
43 Danny Granger INDI SF 0.885
44 Marc Gasol MEMP C 0.885
45 Joe Johnson ATLA SG 0.883
46 Chauncey Billups DENV PG 0.883
47 Roy Hibbert INDI C 0.880
48 Ben Wallace DETR C 0.877
49 Andre Miller PORT PG 0.874
50 Carmelo Anthony DENV SF 0.874
51 Brandon Jennings MILW PG 0.870
52 Tyrus Thomas CHAR PF 0.870
53 A.J. Price INDI PG 0.868
54 Paul Millsap UTAH PF 0.866
55 Craig Smith LACL PF 0.865
56 Samuel Dalembert PHIL C 0.864
57 Andre Iguodala PHIL SG 0.858
58 Raymond Felton CHAR PG 0.857
59 Delonte West CLEV SG 0.856
60 Al Jefferson MINN C 0.856
61 Eric Maynor OKLA PG 0.856
62 Serge Ibaka OKLA PF 0.855
63 Nene Hilario DENV C 0.852
64 Chris Andersen DENV PF 0.849
65 Shaquille O'Neal CLEV C 0.842
66 Brandon Roy PORT SG 0.842
67 Ryan Anderson ORLA PF 0.840
68 Antonio McDyess SANA PF 0.839
69 Tony Parker SANA PG 0.837
70 Paul Pierce BOST SF 0.836
71 Mo Williams CLEV PG 0.835
72 Kyle Lowry HOUS PG 0.835
73 Ersan Ilyasova MILW SF 0.828
74 Amare Stoudemire PHNX PF 0.828
75 Luke Ridnour MILW PG 0.827
76 Erick Dampier DALL C 0.826
77 Tyreke Evans SACR PG 0.825
78 Andris Biedrins GOLS C 0.825
79 Kyle Korver UTAH SG 0.824
80 Anthony Randolph GOLS PF 0.820

VERY GOOD PLAYERS / SOLID STARTERS
81 Eric Maynor UTAH PG 0.819
82 Carlos Arroyo MIAM PG 0.819
83 Antawn Jamison CLEV PF 0.819
84 Nazr Mohammed CHAR C 0.818
85 Luol Deng CHIC SF 0.817
86 Dorell Wright MIAM SG 0.817
87 LaMarcus Aldridge PORT PF 0.817
88 Carl Landry HOUS PF 0.816
89 Luis Scola HOUS PF 0.816
90 Nick Collison OKLA PF 0.812
91 Carlos Delfino MILW SG 0.809
92 Kendrick Perkins BOST C 0.807
93 Jermaine O'Neal MIAM C 0.805
94 Nate Robinson NWYR PG 0.804
95 Goran Dragic PHNX PG 0.803
96 Mike Bibby ATLA PG 0.803
97 Stephen Curry GOLS PG 0.803
98 Mehmet Okur UTAH C 0.800
99 Jose Calderon TORO PG 0.797
100 Jason Terry DALL SG 0.791
101 Ronnie Price UTAH PG 0.784
102 DeJuan Blair SANA PF 0.784
103 Chris Kaman LACL C 0.783
104 Shaun Livingston WASH PG 0.783
105 Joel Przybilla PORT C 0.782
106 David West NORL PF 0.781
107 John Salmons CHIC SF 0.776
108 Matt Barnes ORLA SF 0.775
109 Darren Collison NORL PG 0.775
110 Ronny Turiaf GOLS C 0.774
111 Udonis Haslem MIAM PF 0.774
112 Shawn Marion DALL SF 0.772
113 Jason Williams ORLA PG 0.771
114 Keyon Dooling NJRS PG 0.771
115 Andray Blatche WASH C 0.770
116 James Harden OKLA SG 0.770
117 Brook Lopez NJRS C 0.770
118 Ray Allen BOST SG 0.770
119 Amir Johnson TORO SF 0.769
120 Ty Lawson DENV PG 0.768
121 Beno Udrih SACR PG 0.768
122 Chuck Hayes HOUS PF 0.765
123 Matt Bonner SANA PF 0.763
124 Reggie Evans TORO PF 0.763
125 Gilbert Arenas WASH PG 0.760

MAJOR ROLE PLAYERS / GOOD ENOUGH TO START
126 Zydrunas Ilgauskas CLEV C 0.758
127 Rasheed Wallace BOST PF 0.757
128 Lou Williams PHIL SG 0.756
129 Stephen Jackson CHAR SF 0.754
130 Dan Gadzuric MILW C 0.754
131 Jamario Moon CLEV SF 0.754
132 Ron Artest LALK SF 0.752
133 Rodney Stuckey DETR PG 0.749
134 Shelden Williams BOST PF 0.748
135 Oleksiy Pecherov MINN C 0.748
136 Aaron Brooks HOUS PG 0.747
137 Boris Diaw CHAR PF 0.746
138 C.J. Watson GOLS PG 0.746
139 Brendan Haywood WASH C 0.744
140 Emeka Okafor NORL C 0.742
141 Taj Gibson CHIC PF 0.741
142 J.R. Smith DENV SG 0.738
143 Mike Miller WASH SF 0.732
144 Channing Frye PHNX C 0.731
145 Louis Amundson PHNX PF 0.731
146 Elton Brand PHIL PF 0.726
147 D.J. Mbenga LALK C 0.725
148 Tayshaun Prince DETR SF 0.724
149 Francisco Garcia SACR SG 0.724
150 Tyler Hansbrough INDI PF 0.724
151 Trevor Ariza HOUS SG 0.723
152 Allen Iverson PHIL SG 0.722
153 Rashard Lewis ORLA PF 0.721
154 Richard Jefferson SANA SF 0.721
155 Luc Richard Mbah a Moute MILW SF 0.721
156 Jamal Crawford ATLA SG 0.721
157 Brad Miller CHIC C 0.720
158 Josh Boone NJRS C 0.718
159 Jason Richardson PHNX SG 0.718
160 Sebastian Telfair LACL PG 0.717
161 Marvin Williams ATLA PF 0.716
162 David Andersen HOUS C 0.715
163 Caron Butler DALL SF 0.715
164 Michael Beasley MIAM PF 0.714
165 George Hill SANA PG 0.713
166 Ronnie Brewer UTAH SG 0.712
167 D.J. Augustin CHAR PG 0.712
168 Monta Ellis GOLS PG 0.711
169 Sean May SACR PF 0.710
170 Anthony Tolliver GOLS PF 0.709
171 Kenyon Martin DENV PF 0.709
172 Tyson Chandler CHAR C 0.709
173 Rodrigue Beaubois DALL PG 0.707
174 Stephen Jackson GOLS SF 0.704
175 Shane Battier HOUS SF 0.703
176 Stephen Graham CHAR SF 0.702
177 Mike Conley MEMP PG 0.702
178 Earl Watson INDI PG 0.701
179 T.J. Ford INDI PG 0.700

GOOD ROLE PLAYERS / OFTEN GOOD 6TH MAN PLAYERS
180 Ramon Sessions MINN PG 0.699
181 Corey Maggette GOLS SF 0.699
182 Marcin Gortat ORLA PF 0.698
183 Terrence Williams NJRS SG 0.698
184 Jarrett Jack TORO PG 0.698
185 James Singleton WASH SF 0.696
186 JaVale McGee WASH C 0.694
187 Jose Juan Barea DALL PG 0.694
188 Marcus Thornton NORL SG 0.693
189 Daequan Cook MIAM SG 0.691
190 Jordan Farmar LALK PG 0.689
191 Kirk Hinrich CHIC PG 0.689
192 Carl Landry SACR PF 0.689
193 Shannon Brown LALK PG 0.687
194 Anthony Carter DENV PG 0.686
195 Jason Thompson SACR PF 0.686
196 Mike Dunleavy INDI SF 0.686
197 Robin Lopez PHNX C 0.684
198 Spencer Hawes SACR C 0.680
199 Rudy Fernandez PORT SG 0.678
200 Drew Gooden LACL PF 0.678
201 Steve Blake LACL PG 0.677
202 Bobby Simmons NJRS SF 0.676
203 Larry Hughes NWYR SG 0.675
204 Jerry Stackhouse MILW SF 0.675
205 Quentin Richardson MIAM SG 0.675
206 Rudy Gay MEMP SF 0.675
207 Darko Milicic MINN C 0.674
208 Drew Gooden DALL PF 0.674
209 Reggie Williams GOLS SF 0.673
210 Ronald Murray CHAR SG 0.671
211 Grant Hill PHNX SF 0.669
212 Nate Robinson BOST PG 0.668
213 Travis Outlaw LACL SF 0.668
214 Steve Blake PORT PG 0.667
215 Devin Harris NJRS PG 0.665
216 Antawn Jamison WASH PF 0.665
217 Danilo Gallinari NWYR SF 0.664
218 Wilson Chandler NWYR SF 0.664
219 Gerald Henderson CHAR SG 0.664
220 Tony Allen BOST SG 0.663
221 Kyrylo Fesenko UTAH C 0.662
222 Anthony Morrow GOLS SG 0.661
223 Jordan Hill HOUS PF 0.661
224 Jared Dudley PHNX SF 0.660
225 Daniel Gibson CLEV PG 0.660
226 Jeff Green OKLA PF 0.659
227 Josh McRoberts INDI PF 0.659
228 Anthony Johnson ORLA PG 0.658
229 J.J. Redick ORLA SG 0.658
230 Al Harrington NWYR PF 0.655
231 Luther Head INDI PG 0.654
232 Nicolas Batum PORT SF 0.653
233 Theo Ratliff CHAR C 0.650
234 Mario Chalmers MIAM PG 0.648
235 Brandon Bass ORLA PF 0.648
236 Kris Humphries NJRS PF 0.646
237 Chris Duhon NWYR PG 0.643
238 Nenad Krstic OKLA C 0.642
239 Kris Humphries DALL PF 0.642

SATISFACTORY ROLE PLAYERS / USUALLY DO NOT START
240 Rasho Nesterovic TORO C 0.637
241 Hedo Turkoglu TORO SF 0.635
242 Johan Petro DENV C 0.635
243 Randy Foye WASH PG 0.634
244 Jrue Holiday PHIL PG 0.633
245 Mickael Pietrus ORLA SG 0.631
246 Jared Jeffries NWYR PF 0.627
247 Leandro Barbosa PHNX SG 0.626
248 Joel Anthony MIAM C 0.624
249 O.J. Mayo MEMP SG 0.622
250 Chase Budinger HOUS SF 0.621
251 Roger Mason SANA SG 0.619
252 Caron Butler WASH SF 0.617
253 Peja Stojakovic NORL SF 0.615
254 Marreese Speights PHIL PF 0.613
255 Jamaal Tinsley MEMP PG 0.613
256 Bobby Brown NORL PG 0.611
257 Jonas Jerebko DETR SF 0.610
258 Omri Casspi SACR SF 0.609
259 Kurt Thomas MILW PF 0.608
260 Thaddeus Young PHIL SF 0.607
261 Brandon Rush INDI SG 0.606
262 Hasheem Thabeet MEMP C 0.605
263 Damien Wilkins MINN SG 0.601
264 Rodney Carney PHIL SF 0.601
265 Earl Boykins WASH PG 0.599
266 J.J. Hickson CLEV PF 0.599
267 Willie Green PHIL SG 0.598
268 Anthony Parker CLEV SG 0.596
269 Jamaal Magloire MIAM C 0.594
270 Wesley Matthews UTAH SG 0.592
271 Devean George GOLS SG 0.592
272 Richard Hamilton DETR SG 0.592
273 Kevin Martin SACR SG 0.591
274 Andrea Bargnani TORO C 0.591
275 Ryan Gomes MINN SF 0.589
276 Thabo Sefolosha OKLA SF 0.589
277 Rafer Alston NJRS PG 0.589
278 Tracy McGrady NWYR SG 0.588
279 Marco Belinelli TORO SG 0.587
280 Michael Finley BOST SF 0.585
281 Marcus Williams MEMP PG 0.583
282 Martell Webster PORT SG 0.583
283 Charlie Villanueva DETR PF 0.582

MARGINAL ROLE PLAYERS / RARELY START
284 Derek Fisher LALK PG 0.578
285 Jannero Pargo CHIC PG 0.577
286 Toney Douglas NWYR PG 0.577
287 Chris Hunter GOLS PF 0.576
288 Derrick Brown CHAR SF 0.575
289 Yi Jianlian NJRS PF 0.575
290 Nathan Jawai MINN PF 0.575
291 Ime Udoka SACR SG 0.574
292 Sergio Rodriguez NWYR PG 0.574
293 Arron Afflalo DENV SG 0.573
294 Kevin Martin HOUS SG 0.572
295 Hakim Warrick MILW PF 0.571
296 Al Thornton WASH SF 0.569
297 Will Bynum DETR PG 0.568
298 Jonny Flynn MINN PG 0.568
299 James Posey NORL SF 0.564
300 Mikki Moore GOLS C 0.561
301 Darius Songaila NORL PF 0.561
302 Jerryd Bayless PORT PG 0.556
303 Jon Brockman SACR PF 0.554
304 Sasha Vujacic LALK SG 0.554
305 Dante Cunningham PORT SF 0.551
306 Michael Redd MILW SG 0.551
307 Eric Gordon LACL SG 0.550
308 C.J. Miles UTAH SF 0.549
309 Al Thornton LACL SF 0.547
310 Julian Wright NORL SF 0.545
311 Jeff Teague ATLA PG 0.544
312 Marquis Daniels BOST SG 0.543
313 Dahntay Jones INDI SG 0.542
314 Chris Douglas-Roberts NJRS SG 0.541
315 Zaza Pachulia ATLA C 0.538
316 Etan Thomas OKLA C 0.538
317 Sonny Weems TORO SG 0.537
318 Devin Brown NORL SG 0.533
319 Jason Maxiell DETR PF 0.532
320 Bill Walker NWYR SG 0.532
321 Courtney Lee NJRS SG 0.528
322 James Jones MIAM SF 0.525
323 Donte Greene SACR SF 0.524
324 Kenny Thomas SACR PF 0.523
325 Wayne Ellington MINN SG 0.521
326 Juwan Howard PORT PF 0.520

POOR PLAYERS / SHOULD NEVER START
327 Charlie Bell MILW SG 0.518
328 Corey Brewer MINN SF 0.518
329 Hakim Warrick CHIC PF 0.514
330 DeAndre Jordan LACL C 0.512
331 Rasual Butler LACL SG 0.509
332 Glen Davis BOST PF 0.508
333 Sam Young MEMP SF 0.508
334 Austin Daye DETR SF 0.507
335 Ronald Murray CHIC SG 0.504
336 Vladimir Radmanovic GOLS SF 0.494
337 Solomon Jones INDI PF 0.493
338 Ben Gordon DETR SG 0.491
339 James Johnson CHIC PF 0.487
340 Rafer Alston MIAM PG 0.482
341 Eduardo Najera DALL PF 0.482
342 Chucky Atkins DETR PG 0.477
343 Earl Clark PHNX SF 0.474
344 Joey Graham DENV SF 0.473
345 Fabricio Oberto WASH C 0.468
346 Jason Smith PHIL PF 0.466
347 Andres Nocioni SACR SF 0.464
348 Jared Jeffries HOUS PF 0.462
349 Nick Young WASH SG 0.462
350 Maurice Evans ATLA SF 0.462
351 Keith Bogans SANA SG 0.462
352 Josh Howard DALL SF 0.460

VERY POOR PLAYERS
353 Eddie House NWYR SG 0.454
354 Joe Smith ATLA PF 0.453
355 Kwame Brown DETR C 0.452
356 Antoine Wright TORO SF 0.451
357 Darrell Arthur MEMP PF 0.443
358 Jarvis Hayes NJRS SF 0.438
359 Ricky Davis LACL SF 0.437
360 Mardy Collins LACL PG 0.436
361 Malik Hairston SANA SG 0.433
362 Jeff Pendergraph PORT PF 0.432
363 Jermaine Taylor HOUS SG 0.428
364 Chris Wilcox DETR C 0.417
365 DeMar DeRozan TORO SG 0.414
366 Jodie Meeks MILW SG 0.413
367 Quinton Ross DALL SF 0.406

EXTREMELY POOR PLAYERS
368 Morris Peterson NORL SG 0.394
369 Josh Powell LALK PF 0.386
370 Jason Kapono PHIL SG 0.383
371 Jawad Williams CLEV SF 0.369
372 DeMarre Carroll MEMP SF 0.357
373 Ryan Hollins MINN C 0.351
374 Steve Novak LACL SF 0.345
375 Trenton Hassell NJRS SF 0.342
376 Brian Scalabrine BOST C 0.329
377 Michael Finley SANA SF 0.321
378 Sasha Pavlovic MINN SG 0.314
379 DeShawn Stevenson WASH SG 0.287
380 Malik Allen DENV PF 0.282
381 DaJuan Summers DETR SF 0.266

SCALE FOR REGULAR SEASON REAL PLAYER RATINGS
Perfect for all Practical Purposes / Major Historic Super Star 1.100 and more
Historic Super Star 1.000 1.099
Super Star 0.900 0.999
A Star Player / A well above normal starter 0.820 0.899
Very Good Player / A solid starter 0.760 0.819
Major Role Player / Good enough to start 0.700 0.759
Good Role Player / Often a good 6th man 0.640 0.699
Satisfactory Role Player / Usually do not start 0.580 0.639
Marginal Role Player / Rarely start 0.520 0.579
Poor Player / Should never start 0.460 0.519
Very Poor Player 0.400 0.459
Extremely Poor Player .399 and less

AVERAGE RATINGS BY POSITION
Not all positions are created equal. These are the average ratings by position among all NBA players who play 300 minutes or more. There are very few small forwards and shooting guards who are superstars. Most (but definitely not all) superstars are players who can play point guard, power forward, or center.

Point Guard .750
Shooting Guard .640
Small Forward .640
Power Forward .720
Center .750
All Positions / All Players (NBA Overall Average) .700

PLAYOFF GRADE PLAYERS
Playoff Grade Players have ratings of .560 and higher. Players with ratings below .560 should not play in the playoffs unless the team is forced to play them so that they have two players at a position and/or so that the team has at least eight players playing in the playoffs and/or because the coach is absolutely certain the low rating player will play better in the playoffs than he did in the regular season.

REGULAR SEASON STARTING PLAYERS
All starters on all teams should have ratings of .575 and higher. If a team has no player at a postion with at least a .575 rating, then it is extremely deficient at that position due to injuries or due to management incompetence.

THE ALL IMPORTANT, AWARD WINNING REAL PLAYER RATINGS USER GUIDE
The above are a few hightlights from the User Guide for Real Player Ratings. For complete details regarding how the Real Player Ratings are designed, how and why they work, and how exactly you can use them, see the User Guide. The User Guide for Real Player Ratings is a necessary reference for anyone who wants to truly understand the value of, the validity of, and the ways you can use the Real Player Rating performance measures.

Also, you should become a regular visitor to Quest for the Ring if you want to get the full advantage of reading and using Real Player Ratings Series performance measures. The more you visit and check out ratings, the more quickly and easily you will be able to evaluate what you are seeing.

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