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REPORTS--#21 THROUGH #40


Saturday, February 21, 2009

San Antonio Spurs Real Player Ratings as of February 21 2009

Tim Duncan is the MVP in terms of quality and Tim Duncan is also the MVP in terms of quantity for the San Antonio Spurs so far in the 2008-09 season.

SAN ANTONIO SPURS
REAL PLAYER RATINGS
Quality of Players
Includes all tracked actions and adjustments for hidden defending
2008-09 Regular Season
As of Feb 21, 2009

Tim Duncan 1.093
Manu Ginobili 0.923
Tony Parker 0.866
Matt Bonner 0.740
Kurt Thomas 0.724
George Hill 0.637
Roger Mason 0.519
Michael Finley 0.509
Ime Udoka 0.507
Fabricio Oberto 0.476
Bruce Bowen 0.372

Perfect Player? Is there Such a Thing? 1.000 and more
Historic Super Star 0.950 and more
Super Star 0.850 0.949
A Star Player; An Extremely Good Starter 0.775 0.849
A Great Player; A Solid Starter 0.700 0.774
Major Role Player 0.650 0.699
Role Player 0.600 0.649
Minor Role Player 0.550 0.599
Very Minor Role Player 0.500 0.549
Poor Player at This Time 0.450 0.499
Very Poor Player at This Time 0.350 0.449
Extremely Poor Player at This Time / Disaster and less 0.349

REAL PLAYER PRODUCTION
Real Player Production (RPP) is the sum of all the good things minus the sum of all the bad things a player has done since the season began. Although RPP includes all tracked defensive actions, there is no methodology as of yet for adjusting RPP for hidden or untracked defending, such as man to man defending that forces missed shots. Therefore, you should, in order to fairly evaluate the following ratings, remember that the better defenders have done some more for the team relative to the lessor defenders than the ratings are showing.

SAN ANTONIO SPURS
REAL PLAYER PRODUCTION
Quantity of Players
Includes all tracked actions
2008-09 Regular Season
Through Feb. 21, 2009

Tim Duncan 1835.60
Tony Parker 1214.95
Manu Ginobili 910.50
Matt Bonner 799.70
Roger Mason 762.40
Michael Finley 676.95
Kurt Thomas 480.50
George Hill 460.20
Bruce Bowen 271.75
Ime Udoka 200.40
Fabricio Oberto 198.80

SPURS MVPS
Congratulations and respect are due to TIM DUNCAN, who has been leading the Spurs in quality basketball so far this season.

Congratulations and respect are due to TIM DUNCAN, who has contributed more than any other player to the Spurs so far this season.

SPURS SUPERSTARS AND STARS
Historic Superstars
Tim Duncan

Superstars
Manu Ginobili
Tony Parker

Stars
None

SPURS OTHER KEY, NON-STAR PLAYERS
Solid Starters
Matt Bonner
Kurt Thomas

Major Role Players
None

Role Players
George Hill

======= DEFENDING AND OFFENSIVE SUBRATINGS ==========================================

SAN ANTONIO SPURS
OVERALL DEFENDING SUBRATING
Includes both tracked and hidden defending
2008-09 REGULAR SEASON
As of Feb 21, 2009

Tim Duncan 0.526
Kurt Thomas 0.512
Ime Udoka 0.402
George Hill 0.394
Matt Bonner 0.366
Manu Ginobili 0.357
Bruce Bowen 0.338
Michael Finley 0.235
Roger Mason 0.212
Tony Parker 0.194
Fabricio Oberto 0.182

SAN ANTONIO SPURS
OFFENSIVE SUBRATING
Includes all tracked offensive actions
2008-09 REGULAR SEASON
As of Feb 21, 2009

Tony Parker 0.710
Tim Duncan 0.660
Manu Ginobili 0.607
Matt Bonner 0.462
George Hill 0.376
Roger Mason 0.359
Kurt Thomas 0.343
Fabricio Oberto 0.346
Michael Finley 0.316
Ime Udoka 0.191
Bruce Bowen 0.152

============ STARS AND SUPERSTARS IN PICTURES =================

TIM DUNCAN: HISTORIC SUPERSTAR AND MVP--QUALITY AND MVP--QUANTITY








































MANU GINOBILI: SUPERSTAR








































TONY PARKER: SUPERSTAR









































USER GUIDE
For very detailed information about how Real Player Ratings were developed and are calculated, please consult the User Guide for Real Player Rating Reports by Team



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Friday, February 20, 2009

Denver Nuggets Real Player Ratings as of February 20 2009

Nene is the MVP in terms of quality and Chauncey Billups is the MVP in terms of quantity for the Denver Nuggets so far in the 2008-09 season.

DENVER NUGGETS
REAL PLAYER RATINGS
Quality of Players
Includes all tracked actions and adjustments for hidden defending
2008-09 Regular Season
As of Feb 20, 2009

Nene Hilario 0.864
Carmelo Anthony 0.860
Chauncey Billups 0.859
Chris Andersen 0.755
J.R. Smith 0.749
Kenyon Martin 0.724
Renaldo Balkman 0.716
Anthony Carter 0.652
Linas Kleiza 0.558
Dahntay Jones 0.424

Perfect Player? Is there Such a Thing? 1.000 and more
Historic Super Star 0.950 and more
Super Star 0.850 0.949
A Star Player; An Extremely Good Starter 0.775 0.849
A Great Player; A Solid Starter 0.700 0.774
Major Role Player 0.650 0.699
Role Player 0.600 0.649
Minor Role Player 0.550 0.599
Very Minor Role Player 0.500 0.549
Poor Player at This Time 0.450 0.499
Very Poor Player at This Time 0.350 0.449
Extremely Poor Player at This Time / Disaster and less 0.349

REAL PLAYER PRODUCTION
Real Player Production (RPP) is the sum of all the good things minus the sum of all the bad things a player has done since the season began. Although RPP includes all tracked defensive actions, there is no methodology as of yet for adjusting RPP for hidden or untracked defending, such as man to man defending that forces missed shots. Therefore, you should, in order to fairly evaluate the following ratings, remember that the better defenders have done some more for the team relative to the lessor defenders than the ratings are showing.

DENVER NUGGETS
REAL PLAYER PRODUCTION
Quantity of Players
Includes all tracked actions
2008-09 Regular Season
Through Feb. 20, 2009

Chauncey Billups 1322.40
Nene Hilario 1303.00
Kenyon Martin 1050.05
Carmelo Anthony 1034.90
J.R. Smith 919.45
Anthony Carter 765.75
Linas Kleiza 668.90
Chris Andersen 584.40
Dahntay Jones 379.50
Renaldo Balkman 267.65

NUGGETS MVPS
Congratulations and respect are due to NENE, who has been leading the Nuggets in quality basketball so far this season.

Congratulations and respect are due to CHAUNCEY BILLUPS, who has contributed more than any other player to the Nuggets so far this season.

NUGGETS SUPERSTARS AND STARS
Historic Superstars
None

Superstars
Nene
Chauncey Billups
Carmelo Anthony

Stars
None

NUGGETS OTHER KEY, NON-STAR PLAYERS
Solid Starters
Chris Anderson
J.R. Smith
Kenyon Martin
Renaldo Balkman

Major Role Players
Anthony Carter

Role Players
None

======= DEFENDING AND OFFENSIVE SUBRATINGS ==========================================

DENVER NUGGETS
OVERALL DEFENDING SUBRATING
Includes both tracked and hidden defending
2008-09 REGULAR SEASON
As of Feb 20, 2009

Nene Hilario 0.493
Chris Andersen 0.431
Kenyon Martin 0.415
J.R. Smith 0.409
Renaldo Balkman 0.379
Carmelo Anthony 0.362
Anthony Carter 0.329
Chauncey Billups 0.293
Linas Kleiza 0.201
Dahntay Jones 0.195

DENVER NUGGETS
OFFENSIVE SUBRATING
Includes all tracked offensive actions
2008-09 REGULAR SEASON
As of Feb 20, 2009

Chauncey Billups 0.645
Carmelo Anthony 0.574
Nene Hilario 0.483
J.R. Smith 0.451
Renaldo Balkman 0.412
Anthony Carter 0.398
Linas Kleiza 0.383
Kenyon Martin 0.380
Chris Andersen 0.360
Dahntay Jones 0.282

NENE: SUPERSTAR AND MVP--QUALITY


CARMELO ANTHONY: SUPERSTAR


CHAUNCEY BILLUPS: SUPERSTAR AND MVP--QUANTITY


USER GUIDE
For very detailed information about how Real Player Ratings were developed and are calculated, please consult the User Guide for Real Player Rating Reports by Team



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Houston Rockets Real Player Ratings as of February 20 2009

Yao Ming the MVP in terms of quality and he is also the MVP in terms of quantity for the Houston Rockets so far in the 2008-09 season.

HOUSTON ROCKETS
REAL PLAYER RATINGS
Quality of Players
Includes all tracked actions and adjustments for hidden defending
2008-09 Regular Season
As of Feb 20, 2009

Yao Ming 1.008
Tracy McGrady 0.793
Ron Artest 0.765
Luis Scola 0.716
Carl Landry 0.695
Rafer Alston 0.618
Aaron Brooks 0.582
Von Wafer 0.580
Shane Battier 0.524
Brent Barry 0.503
Luther Head 0.446
Chuck Hayes 0.429

Perfect Player? Is there Such a Thing? 1.000 and more
Historic Super Star 0.950 and more
Super Star 0.850 0.949
A Star Player; An Extremely Good Starter 0.775 0.849
A Great Player; A Solid Starter 0.700 0.774
Major Role Player 0.650 0.699
Role Player 0.600 0.649
Minor Role Player 0.550 0.599
Very Minor Role Player 0.500 0.549
Poor Player at This Time 0.450 0.499
Very Poor Player at This Time 0.350 0.449
Extremely Poor Player at This Time / Disaster and less 0.349

REAL PLAYER PRODUCTION
Real Player Production (RPP) is the sum of all the good things minus the sum of all the bad things a player has done since the season began. Although RPP includes all tracked defensive actions, there is no methodology as of yet for adjusting RPP for hidden or untracked defending, such as man to man defending that forces missed shots. Therefore, you should, in order to fairly evaluate the following ratings, remember that the better defenders have done some more for the team relative to the lessor defenders than the ratings are showing.

HOUSTON ROCKETS
REAL PLAYER PRODUCTION
Quantity of Players
Includes all tracked actions
2008-09 Regular Season
Through Feb. 20, 2009

Yao Ming 1453.20
Luis Scola 1064.25
Rafer Alston 915.85
Ron Artest 890.00
Tracy McGrady 840.80
Carl Landry 723.85
Aaron Brooks 621.70
Shane Battier 464.65
Von Wafer 402.40
Brent Barry 273.15
Chuck Hayes 228.30
Luther Head 143.60

ROCKETS MVPS
Congratulations and respect are due to YAO MING, who has been leading the Rockets in quality basketball so far this season.

Congratulations and respect are due to YAO MING, who has contributed more than any other player to the Rockets so far this season.

ROCKETS STARS
Historic Superstars
Yao Ming

Superstars
None

Stars
Tracy McGrady

======= DEFENDING AND OFFENSIVE SUBRATINGS ==========================================

HOUSTON ROCKETS
2008-09 REGULAR SEASON
As of Feb 20, 2009
OVERALL DEFENDING SUBRATING
Includes both tracked and hidden defending

Yao Ming 0.564
Ron Artest 0.481
Tracy McGrady 0.374
Chuck Hayes 0.355
Shane Battier 0.338
Brent Barry 0.304
Luis Scola 0.296
Carl Landry 0.252
Rafer Alston 0.226
Aaron Brooks 0.187
Von Wafer 0.163
Luther Head 0.101

HOUSTON ROCKETS
2008-09 REGULAR SEASON
As of Feb 20, 2009
OFFENSIVE SUBRATING
Includes all tracked offensive actions

Yao Ming 0.872
Tracy McGrady 0.712
Luis Scola 0.683
Carl Landry 0.643
Ron Artest 0.632
Rafer Alston 0.576
Von Wafer 0.575
Aaron Brooks 0.526
Shane Battier 0.456
Luther Head 0.446
Brent Barry 0.418
Chuck Hayes 0.374

YAO MING: HISTORIC SUPERSTAR AND MVP--QUALITY AND MVP--QUANTITY


TRACY MCGRADY--STAR



USER GUIDE
For very detailed information about how Real Player Ratings were developed and are calculated, please consult the User Guide for Real Player Rating Reports by Team




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Thursday, February 19, 2009

The Ultimate Comparison Between Nene and Marcus Camby

Quest has recently made revolutionary upgrades in our ability to evaluate the defending of players. For a new, very detailed, technical User Guide on how we are rating, comparing, and contrasting the defending of NBA players, please visit here when you get a chance. The very same defending ratings Guide can also be found in the lower area of the overall guide: the User Guide to Real Player Ratings by Team, which is here.

In the rest of this report, I will be using terminology that you will not fully understand, at least technically, unless you review that Guide. But if you have no time to slog through the Guide, you will still be able to get the facts and conclusions that the methodology is yielding.

Many Nuggets fans who decided to remain fans and to not abandon ship after the total annihilation by the Lakers have claimed that Camby is so bad in these untracked aspects of defending that it was a good thing that he was given away. So now, let's find out: just how bad is Marcus Camby in man to man defending, in defensive recognition and rotating, in responding to screens, and so forth?

Drum roll, please....

Marcus Camby, Clippers, Hidden Filtered Defending Rating, 2008-09 through Feb. 8: .054.

The League-wide average is approximately .088, so on the one hand it is true that although he is about the best rebounder and the best blocker of the NBA, Camby is not one of the best players in the League when it comes to these other parts of defending. The worst thing you can say about Camby's defending and still be correct is to say that outside of blocking, rebounding, and his very low fouling rate, the other aspects of Camby's defending are well below but not grossly below the NBA average.

But it is not true that he is so bad at the other, hidden stuff that he is a defensive liability overall. As you will see below, Camby was last year and remains this year, overall, one of the very best defenders in the NBA, despite not being a very good man to man or zone recognition and zone rotating defender.

Let's look at defending more broadly now, and to make this really interesting, let's compare and contrast Camby to Nene in every way we can. And to make it more interesting still, lets look at Camby both last year on the Nuggets and this year on the Clippers.

Hidden Defending (Filtered) Ratings
Marcus Camby for the Nuggets, 2007-08: .036
Marcus Camby for the Clippers, 2008-09: .054
Nene for the Nuggets, 2008-09: .118

Scored (Tracked) Defending Ratings
Marcus Camby for the Nuggets, 2007-08: .535
Marcus Camby for the Clippers, 2008-09: .476
Nene for the Nuggets, 2008-09: .277

Overall Defending Ratings
Marcus Camby for the Nuggets, 2007-08: .606
Marcus Camby for the Clippers, 2008-09: .585
Nene for the Nuggets, 2008-09: .514

Offensive Sub Rating
Marcus Camby for the Nuggets, 2007-08: .378
Marcus Camby for the Clippers, 2008-09: .434
Nene for the Nuggets, 2008-09: .485

OVERALL REAL PLAYER RATINGS
Marcus Camby for the Nuggets, 2007-08: .949
Marcus Camby for the Clippers, 2008-09: .964
Nene for the Nuggets, 2008-09: .881

OBSERVATIONS
1. We can see that Nene is a far better man to man and zone recognition and rotation defender than is Camby (.118 for Nene this year versus .054 looking at Camby this year or versus .036 looking at Camby last year).

2.Camby is a far better player in terms of scored defending (which is, to remind you, rebounding plus blocking plus steals minus personal fouling) even more so last year than this year.

3. Overall we can see that both of these players are among the very best defenders in the NBA, with Camby's overall rating being .606 last year, .585 this year, and Nene's being .514. Anything over .500 puts you into a very elite class of defenders.

4. You have to exaggerate the importance of man to man, zone, and other hidden defending and to minimize the importance of rebounding, blocking, and avoiding personal fouls in order to make the case that Nene is a better overall defender than is Marcus Camby. As the technical guide explains, Quest takes the position that hidden defending is almost as important as tracked defending, but certainly not more important.

5. This one is the big surprise to me: Marcus Camby is playing much better offensively than he was last year for the Nuggets: .434 versus .378. So while Nene is playing much better for the Nuggets this year than Camby played for the Nuggets last year, Camby is much improved offensively from last year to this year, so the offensive gap between Nene and Camby this year is relatively small, much smaller than I was thinking. Further, we can say that Marcus Camby is clearly being coached better offensively by the Clippers than he was by the Nuggets, where he wasn't really coached at all.

6. Mostly as a result of this offensive surprise, Camby is able to maintain his lead over Nene in overall Real Player Rating: .964 versus .881. Camby is in the historic super star range while Nene is in the super star range.

In summary, while Nene has been s big, big upside surprise for the Nuggets, and while it is very true that Nene is far better than Camby in the untracked aspects of defending, nevertheless Camby remains the better player overall this season, since he remains far ahead of Nene in tracked defending, and since the offensive gap between Nene and Camby is much less than expected.



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Fast Break: Is that Allen Iverson will not be a Piston Next Year Just Another Incorrect AI Assumption?

Did you know that there is at least a 100 to 1 ratio in cyberspace, and presumably in the real world at large, between imagined, desired, and predicted NBA player transactions and actual transactions that occur? One very expected transaction at the moment is that Allen Iverson, whose contract is over with this season, will not be resigned by the Detroit Pistons this summer.

But Iverson has already done one of the two things needed to remain a Piston and to avoid in his final years aimlessly moving from team to team as that "player who plays two positions at once and often confuses the heck out of teammates, especially the other guard," that no one really wants very much anymore. First, he has already much reduced shooting and increased helping in other ways.

Just about the only other thing that would have to happen for him to remain a Piston would be to reduce his salary demands, so that the price is right for the Pistons, something which might be done for him, because there are a good number of Iverson haters among team managements as well as internet posters, and they are not about to offer him anywhere near 20 million dollars a year. Maybe not even half that! The new contract pickings for Iverson may be slim, because the economy is going to hell in a handbasket, and because although hating Iverson is still a disease rather than a rational position, it is no longer much of a secret that something went wrong somewhere along the way with respect to coaching Allen Iverson.

Someone did him wrong. Quest knows who, and you will know too if you keep visiting this year. You can get a head start by visiting here.



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Why the Pistons are Losing so Many Games, and Why They Might Win a Playoff Series Anyway

With the Pistons losing much more frequently this year than last year, lets see what reasons we can spot by comparing the Real Player Ratings and the Defending Sub Ratings.

DETROIT PISTONS REAL PLAYER RATINGS
2007-08 REGULAR SEASON: LAST YEAR

Chauncey Billups 0.930
Rasheed Wallace 0.793
Amir Johnson 0.761
Richard Hamilton 0.734
Tayshaun Prince 0.724
Rodney Stuckey 0.648
Antonio McDyess 0.648
Jason Maxiell 0.620
Ronald Murray 0.586
Jarvis Hayes 0.531
Arron Afflalo 0.486

DETROIT PISTONS REAL PLAYER RATINGS
2008-09 REGULAR SEASON: THIS YEAR
Through Feb. 8, 2009

Rodney Stuckey 0.800
Allen Iverson 0.753
Antonio McDyess 0.736
Rasheed Wallace 0.721
Tayshaun Prince 0.715
Amir Johnson 0.704
Richard Hamilton 0.673
Kwame Brown 0.580
Jason Maxiell 0.560
Arron Afflalo 0.349

SCALE FOR THE ABOVE RATINGS

Perfect Player? Is there Such a Thing? 1.000 and more
Historic Super Star 0.950 and more
Super Star 0.850 0.949
A Star Player: An Outstanding, Above Normal Starter 0.775 0.849
A Very Good Player: A Solid Starter 0.700 0.774
Major Role Player 0.650 0.699
Role Player 0.600 0.649
Minor Role Player 0.550 0.599
Very Minor Role Player 0.500 0.549
Poor Player at This Time 0.450 0.499
Very Poor Player at This Time 0.350 0.449
Extremely Poor Player at This Time / Disaster and less 0.349

+++++++++ DEFENDING ========================

DETROIT PISTONS OVERALL DEFENDING SUB RATING
2007-08 REGULAR SEASON: LAST YEAR

Amir Johnson 0.468
Rasheed Wallace 0.453
Antonio McDyess 0.337
Tayshaun Prince 0.335
Arron Afflalo 0.275
Rodney Stuckey 0.270
Chauncey Billups 0.264
Jason Maxiell 0.245
Richard Hamilton 0.185
Jarvis Hayes 0.151
Ronald Murray† 0.124

DETROIT PISTONS OVERALL DEFENDING SUB RATING
2008-09 REGULAR SEASON
Through Feb. 8, 2009: THIS YEAR

Amir Johnson 0.533
Kwame Brown 0.499
Rasheed Wallace 0.468
Antonio McDyess 0.429
Allen Iverson† 0.422
Rodney Stuckey 0.398
Tayshaun Prince 0.371
Richard Hamilton 0.223
Jason Maxiell 0.191
Arron Afflalo 0.118

OBSERVATIONS
1. Rasheed Wallace is down substantially from last year to this year; last year he was in the star range and this year he's in the solid starter range.
2. At Point Guard, Chauncey Billups was substantially better last year than Rodney Stuckey is this year. At the same time though, Stuckey is far better this year than he was last year.
3. Richard Hamilton is down about the same amount as Wallace is; he has dropped from the solid starter range last year to the major role player range this year.
4. Aaron Afflalo is down big from last year to this year. He has dropped from the high end of the poor range last year to the border between very poor and extremely poor this year.
5. Amir Johnson has dropped from .761 to .704 this year; from the high end to the low end of the solid starter category.
6. Tayshaun Prince is down very slightly from last year to this year.
7. Jason Maxiell is down from .620 to .560, a substantial drop. Last year he was in the role player zone and this year he is in the minor role player zone.
8. Aside from Rodney Stuckey, who is up from .648 to .800, the only other Pistons player from last year who is better this year is Antonio McDyess. He was .648 last year and is .736 this year, a very nice increase. Last year he was on the border between role player and major role player, while this year he is in the solid starter range.

In summary, among the eight Pistons who were on the team both last year and htis year, only two are playing better this year: McDyess and Stuckey. One is about the same: Prince. And the other five out of the eight are down substantially from last year to this year: Wallace, Hamilton, Afflalo, Johnson, and Maxiell.

Now I know from internet experience that the Iverson haters will take great delight in blaming all of this on Allen Iverson. Somehow, to them it will be his fault that these five players are not playing as well as they did in recent years including last year. But of course unless Iverson is an alien from outer space who can take control of other players, he could not possibly have caused this, especially considering that he himself is down from last year as a Nugget, on account of being asked to reduce his offensive game so that the Pistons can maintain their heavy team focus and avoid being swamped by Iverson taking too many shots. So if the Iverson haters try to blame the Pistons being down on Iverson, they will, as is common actually, be making fools of themselves.

What are the reasons why the down Pistons are down? I would wager that having a rookie coach has been a partial cause, but there would probably have to be other reasons as well, reasons that are specific to each case.

To start with, Wallace is getting up in years now. He will be 35 years old in September.

Hamilton has taken many weeks to get into any rhythm, because his great chemistry with Chauncey Billups from several recent years was disrupted. Since Iverson plays both guard positions at once, and Hamilton much prefers a traditional point guard, Hamilton has especially sufferred while sharing the back court with The Answer. Even with Stuckey, thuogh, Hamilton did not play all that well in the first few weeks of this season. Lately, he is playing better with both Iverson and Stuckey, more so with Stuckey.

Aaron Afflalo's defending has gone down and become a big liablility to the team this year. His offense is not down by as much, but quite honestly it wasn't all that great last year either.

PF Amir Johnson is actually a better defender this year than last year, which means that his offense is down by a big amount. If Coach Michael Curry were wise, he would in practices work on the Stuckey / Johnson connection. Find out Amir Johnson's most effective ways to score and make sure Stuckey knows about them and can help him score. If this is not done, the Pistons may not be able to win a playoff series, since the Pistons need all of the offensive juicing they can get.

It's almost creepy, but PF-C Jason Maxiell is doiwn by almost exactly the same amount as are the other four Pistons who are down from last year to this year.. Maxiell's decline from last year to this year is due mostly to a decline in his defending, even though his defending was not very good last year to begin with. In fact, Maxiell's defending is the main reason why he is not as good a player as is Amir Johnson.

Despite the fact that the Pistons are still a good defensive team, there are three players who are not very good defenders this year: Hamilton, Afflalo, and Maxiell. Hamilton gets a pass from heavy criticism since he is such a great offensive players.

All in all, it's a major down year in Detroit. With five of eight Pistons down and only two of eight up, and with Iverson down from his historical averages by design, the Pistons are going to need to ramp things up if they are to win a playoff series or two. In future days and weeks, I will be getting into more things they can do to be able to win in the playoffs.

BUT WAIT, LET'S LOOK AT THINGS OPTIMISTICALLY
I will now demonstrate why the Pistons may be able to easily win a playoff series, and why they could win two and be in the East finals.

SUMMARY OF CHANGE FROM LAST YEAR TO THIS YEAR FOR 8 PISTONS
Wallace DOWN .793 TO .721
Hamilton DOWN .734 TO .673
Johnson DOWN .761 TO .704
Maxiell DOWN .620 TO .560
Afflalo DOWN .486 to .349

Prince SAME .724 TO .715

Stuckey UP .648 TO .800
McDyess UP .648 TO .736

So the "record" for the team is 2-5-1, if wins are gains and losses are drops.

If any one of the five who are down were to, regardless of how much down in the regular season, be up for the playoffs, and if every other player remained about the same, then the "record" would be 3-4-1, not much different from last year. Or, if any two were just to return to where they were last year, the "record would be 2-3-3, once again not much different from last year. And then the Iverson factor could put the Pistons over the top into the "deep in the playoffs zone".

So it is silly to give up now and say the Pistons have no chance to win a series or two this year. The basic problem for the Pistons is that too many players are down from last year to this year, which is actually not as bad a problem as it seems, because obviously the situation might change late in the regular and/or for the playoffs, since there are five players who we know can play much better than they have been.

Specifically, it probably comes down to Wallace, Hamilton, and Johnson, with Hamilton's scoring and Johnson's offense being the most promising areas that the Pistons could improve in enough to win a playoff series. But heck, even Afflalo coming up from the depths and getting some burn could help as well.

Contrary to what you may be thinking, this Pistons situation is a better situation than the Nuggets have, as well as being an almost opposite situation. The Nuggets' players are more up than down, especially if you expand the look to include players who were not on the team last year. The Nuggets have several players who have never in history played as well as they are playing this year, which sounds nice, but it's only the regular season, which is different in many ways from the playoff season. Whereas the regular season has been a big surprise, but not a science fiction type of surprise, in the real world, the Nuggets are not going to win a playoff series unless these never this good before players continue to be way, way above expectations and above history in the playoffs, which would be a truly science fiction type event.



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Fastbreak: The Pistons: One Step Forward and at Least One Step Back

This fast break is based on the latest Detroit Pistons Real Player Ratings, which can be viewed here; click the yellow Quest Guide Jump link to go to it after the page opens. Or, if you are using "the reader," you can after closing this report click on the next report down to see the ratings.

The stand out thing here is how the top seven Pistons are bunched so very close together. There is no single superstar, nor a superstar/star pair of players that the Pistons can turn to to win a playoff series. Unlike most other playoff teams, this team has no superstar and a grand total of one star, Stuckey, and one near star, Iverson.

So the motto on the official Pistons web site, "We Work as One", unlike most official mottos, is extremely true in real life: the Pistons really do work as one. They will have to have at least six of the seven involved and playing well, helped out by two or three others, to win a series. But they have been doing this kind of thing for years, although this year Rasheed Wallace and Richard Hamilton have not been as good as they were in many of those years.

The degree of coaching difficulty here is very high, with this long list of great but not dominant superstar players to coordinate, but overall so far, Pistons Coach Michael Curry has done about as well or better than any rookie coach could do in managing this relatively complicated team.

Unlike the Nuggets, who have Billups and Nene to some extent, and who could have Carmelo Anthony if they wanted to, the Pistons don't really have any superstar or near superstar they can go to in the playoffs. They could theoretically have Iverson, but they don't, and it's very wise that they don't, because Iverson as a lone superstar has never worked very well. Iverson is not a superstar for the Pistons because they very wisely elected to make an all out effort to solve the "Iverson Puzzle." This puzzle is the mystery why a Hall of Fame player can all too often, and more often in the playoffs than in the regular season, make your offense worse rather than better, something that normally would be considered absurd.

I will be extensively reporting on this in the weeks and months ahead, but to make a very, very long story very, very short, the Pistons decided that, without on the one hand falling for the lie that "Iverson can not play point guard," and without on the other hand getting hung up on him being designated the point guard no matter what, that they would cut to the heart of where the problem and the solution to the puzzle lies. They would get Iverson to pass more and shoot less, which has happened to what is even for me an incredible extent.

The Iverson haters are going to wish they were never born after I'm finished reporting on what has happened this year in Detroit.

But it's now possible, amazingly, that the Pistons have gone a little too far in doing what establishment and lazy coaches such as George Karl would never dare do at all, which is to make badly needed adjustments in Iverson's game, so that he is much more of a team player and much less of a lone wolf. But this is only the regular season, so if it's true that they have gone a little too far in keeping Iverson's scoring down, they can correct that before the playoffs begin. Not to mention that overshooting the target is a tried and reliable way to make sure the target is achieved when it really counts.

Will the Pistons, who have shocked the basketball establishment by recognizing and trying to solve the Iverson Puzzle, complete their power play by winning a playoff series they are not supposed to win? The jury is still out on all of these things, and there is a believable theory that the Pistons will win at least one playoff series against a supposedly better team with a better regular season record, such as the Hawks or the Magic without Jameer Nelson, because although they have not gotten it perfect, the Pistons have done a very good or perhaps an outstanding job of managing their team and solving the Iverson Puzzle.

Much, much more on these things later.



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Detroit Pistons Real Player Ratings as of February 15 2009

Rodney Stuckey is the MVP in terms of quality and Tayshaun Prince is the MVP in terms of quantity for the Pistons so far in the 2008-09 season.

DETROIT PISTONS
REAL PLAYER RATINGS
[QUALITY OF PLAYERS]
2008-09 Regular Season
As of Feb 15, 2009

Rodney Stuckey 0.800
Allen Iverson† 0.753
Antonio McDyess 0.736
Rasheed Wallace 0.721
Tayshaun Prince 0.715
Amir Johnson 0.704
Richard Hamilton 0.673
Kwame Brown 0.580
Jason Maxiell 0.560
Arron Afflalo 0.349

Perfect Player? Is there Such a Thing? 1.000 and more
Historic Super Star 0.950 and more
Super Star 0.850 0.949
A Star Player; An Extremely Good Starter 0.775 0.849
A Great Player; A Solid Starter 0.700 0.774
Major Role Player 0.650 0.699
Role Player 0.600 0.649
Minor Role Player 0.550 0.599
Very Minor Role Player 0.500 0.549
Poor Player at This Time 0.450 0.499
Very Poor Player at This Time 0.350 0.449
Extremely Poor Player at This Time / Disaster and less 0.349

Real Player Production (RPP) is the sum of all the good things minus the sum of all the bad things a player has done since the season began. There is no methodology as of yet for adjusting RPP for defending. Therefore, you should, in order to fairly evaluate the following ratings, remember that the better defenders have done some more for the team relative to the lessor defenders than the ratings are showing.

DETROIT PISTONS
REAL PLAYER PRODUCTION
[QUANTITY OF PLAYERS]
2008-09 Regular Season
Through Feb. 15, 2009

Tayshaun Prince 1130.45
Allen Iverson† 1034.00
Rasheed Wallace 944.25
Rodney Stuckey 938.25
Richard Hamilton 793.50
Antonio McDyess 489.55
Jason Maxiell 393.05
Amir Johnson 361.35
Arron Afflalo 249.45
Kwame Brown 202.65

PISTONS MVPS
Congratulations and respect are due to RODNEY STUCKEY, who has been leading the Pistons in quality basketball so far this season.

Congratulations and respect are due to TAYSHAUN PRINCE, who has contributed more than any other players to the Pistons so far this season.

PISTONS STARS
Historic Superstars
None

Superstars
None

Stars
Rodney Stuckey

RODNEY STUCKEY: STAR AND MVP-QUALITY


TAYSHAUN PRINCE: MVP-QUANTITY


======= DEFENDING ==========================================

DETROIT PISTONS
DEFENDING DETAILS
2008-09 REGULAR SEASON
2008-09 Regular Season
As of Feb 15, 2009

OVERALL DEFENDING RATINGS
Amir Johnson 0.533
Kwame Brown 0.499
Rasheed Wallace 0.468
Antonio McDyess 0.429
Allen Iverson† 0.422
Rodney Stuckey 0.398
Tayshaun Prince 0.371
Richard Hamilton 0.223
Jason Maxiell 0.191
Arron Afflalo 0.118

USER GUIDE
For very detailed information about how Real Player Ratings were developed and are calculated, please consult the User Guide for Real Player Rating Reports by Team




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Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Always be Getting Ready for Those Playoffs

The playoffs are two months away. This is dedicated to the players who are getting ready for them.





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Sunday, February 15, 2009

Fast Break: Laugh Out Loud, George Karl, for February 16 2009

Recently Carmelo Anthony was quoted in a Denver Post article as follows:



"With the team we've got, the way we've been playing, I really think we can win nine games before we lose four games," Nuggets forward Carmelo Anthony said. "That's possible. That would be great for us, especially going into the (all-star) break, and coming out of the break. We're on pace to do it."


Gee Carmelo Anthony, the regular season is a lot of fun, isn't it. And it's a lot easier to win their than in the playoffs, isn't it. Carmelo Anthony, you seem to get a little younger psychologically every year! I think you may have spent too much time near J.R. Smith, laugh out loud!

And George Karl, like Melo in a feel good mood from all the unexpected Nuggets winning this regular season, was quoted in the same article as follows:



"But I like how we're playing. We respond well when we lose. We have better basketball IQ than we've ever had. So, as I've said many times this year, I trust this team."


Well Mr. George Karl, here is a Denver team that no doubt had a higher IQ than your team. They were 8th seed and beat the 1st seed Supersonics because, for one thing, they had an extremely high basketball IQ, higher than that of the Sonics, who were coached by, ...let me think a minute, oh, they were coached by you, George Karl. You coached the first seed losers! Um George, do you really think any team that you coach will ever have the higher basketball IQ in a playoff series?

It's more and more turning my stomach to see how Karl and Carmelo Anthony have become two peas in a pod with respect to glorifying the regular season and not saying (or doing) much of anything about the playoffs.

Especially since Super Bowl unofficial winner Larry Fitzgerald, all-pro wide receiver for the Arizona Cardinals, recently accurately observed that in sports the regular season does not mean jack if you are truly a great athlete or coach. It doesn't amount to a hill of beans, or a bag of chips if you prefer. Regular season statistics including how many wins and how many losses are just footnotes in the media guide, to borrow the words of Fitz.

The regular season is first and foremost for figuring out and practicing how you are going to win in the playoffs. Celebrating and hyping in the media the exact number of wins you are getting in the regular season is disturbing because anyone and any team that does it has missed one of the most important points about pro basketball and sports in general, the point that Larry Fitzgerald got.

As for summarizing the Nuggets and many of their fans in general these days, as shown so well by the quotes above, I'll let a picture do the talking:















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Comparing The Los Angeles Lakers and The Boston Celtics as They Head for a Possible NBA Championship Rematch

Using Real Player Ratings and Real Player Production for the Lakers and the Celtics (as of February 5) we can begin to prepare ourselves for a very possible rematch between the two teams for the NBA Championship this June. All ratings are as of February 5. Sorry we didn't get this posted sooner, but the ratings are not going to be much different today from what they were on February 5.

First we will look at the ratings separately by team and then we will combine both teams to see how the players stack up even more clearly.

CELTICS = LAKERS MATCHUP WITH RATINGS SHOWN BY TEAM

REAL PLAYER RATINGS (QUALITY)
LAKERS
Kobe Bryant 1.041
Andrew Bynum 0.922
Pau Gasol 0.904
Trevor Ariza 0.797
Lamar Odom 0.779
Jordan Farmar 0.630
Derek Fisher 0.589
Sasha Vujacic 0.589
Luke Walton 0.542
Vladimir Radmanovic 0.522

CELTICS
Kevin Garnett 1.045
Rajon Rondo 0.904
Paul Pierce 0.780
Ray Allen 0.765
Leon Powe 0.690
Eddie House 0.646
Kendrick Perkins 0.626
Tony Allen 0.598
Glen Davis 0.467
Brian Scalabrine 0.313

Perfect Player? Is there Such a Thing? 1.000 and more
Historic Super Star 0.950 and more
Super Star 0.850 0.949
A Star Player; An Extremely Good Starter 0.775 0.849
A Great Player; A Solid Starter 0.700 0.774
Major Role Player 0.650 0.699
Role Player 0.600 0.649
Minor Role Player 0.550 0.599
Very Minor Role Player 0.500 0.549
Poor Player at This Time 0.450 0.499
Very Poor Player at This Time 0.350 0.449
Extremely Poor Player at This Time / Disaster and less 0.349

REAL PLAYER PRODUCTION (Quantity)
LAKERS
Kobe Bryant 1740.40
Pau Gasol 1471.65
Andrew Bynum 1075.80
Derek Fisher 838.25
Trevor Ariza 816.75
Lamar Odom 800.00
Sasha Vujacic 428.90
Vladimir Radmanovic 387.90
Jordan Farmar 327.65
Luke Walton 226.00

CELTICS
Kevin Garnett 1419.80
Rajon Rondo 1361.15
Paul Pierce 1277.50
Ray Allen 1168.90
Kendrick Perkins 689.70
Eddie House 495.20
Leon Powe 412.00
Tony Allen 373.55
Glen Davis 347.85
Brian Scalabrine 130.05

QUICK NOTES
Rondo, who Phil Jackson cited as the surprise factor that did in the Lakers last June, is now a superstar. Jordan Farmar has recently surpassed Derek Fisher at the point for the Lakers.

CELTICS = LAKERS MATCHUP WITH TEAMS COMBINED

REAL PLAYER RATINGS (QUALITY)
Kevin Garnett, Celtics 1.045
Kobe Bryant, Lakers 1.041
Andrew Bynum, Lakers 0.922
Pau Gasol, Lakers 0.904
Rajon Rondo, Celtics 0.904
Trevor Ariza, Lakers 0.797
Paul Pierce, Celtics 0.780
Lamar Odom, Lakers 0.779
Ray Allen, Celtics 0.765
Leon Powe, Celtics 0.690
Eddie House, Celtics 0.646
Jordan Farmar, Lakers 0.630
Kendrick Perkins, Celtics 0.626
Tony Allen, Celtics 0.598
Derek Fisher, Lakers 0.589
Sasha Vujacic, Lakers 0.589
Luke Walton, Lakers 0.542
Vladimir Radmanovic, Lakers 0.522
Glen Davis, Celtics 0.467
Brian Scalabrine, Celtics 0.313

Perfect Player? Is there Such a Thing? 1.000 and more
Historic Super Star 0.950 and more
Super Star 0.850 0.949
A Star Player; An Extremely Good Starter 0.775 0.849
A Great Player; A Solid Starter 0.700 0.774
Major Role Player 0.650 0.699
Role Player 0.600 0.649
Minor Role Player 0.550 0.599
Very Minor Role Player 0.500 0.549
Poor Player at This Time 0.450 0.499
Very Poor Player at This Time 0.350 0.449
Extremely Poor Player at This Time / Disaster and less 0.349

REAL PLAYER PRODUCTION (Quantity)
Kobe Bryant, Lakers 1740.40
Pau Gasol, Lakers 1471.65
Kevin Garnett, Celtics 1419.80
Rajon Rondo, Celtics 1361.15
Paul Pierce, Celtics 1277.50
Ray Allen, Celtics 1168.90
Andrew Bynum, Lakers 1075.80
Derek Fisher, Lakers 838.25
Trevor Ariza, Lakers 816.75
Lamar Odom, lakers 800.00
Kendrick Perkins, Celtics 689.70
Eddie House, Celtics 495.20
Sasha Vujacic, Lakers 428.90
Leon Powe, Celtics 412.00
Vladimir Radmanovic, Lakers 387.90
Tony Allen, Celtics 373.55
Glen Davis, Celtics 347.85
Jordan Farmar, Lakers 327.65
Luke Walton, Lakers 226.00
Brian Scalabrine, Celtics 130.05

OFFENSIVE AND DEFENSIVE EFFICIENCY
Lakers 1st in offensive efficiency in the NBA, 114.6 points per 100 possessions.
Celtics 5th in offensive efficiency in the NBA, 110.9 points per 100 possessions.

Lakers 7th in defensive efficiency in the NBA, 105.4 points allowed per 100 possessions.
Celtics 1st in defensive efficiency in the NBA, 100.2 points allowed per 100 possessions.

The sparks will really fly when the Lakers offense goes against the Celtics defense, the best offense against the best defense!

USER GUIDE
For very detailed information about how Real Player Ratings were developed and are calculated, please consult the User Guide for Real Player Rating Reports by Team



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Boston Celtics Real Player Ratings as of February 5 2009

All ratings are as of February 5. Sorry we didn't get this posted sooner, but the ratings are not going to be much different today from what they were on February 5.

Kevin Garnett is the most valuable Celtics player so far in the 2008-09 regular season.

BOSTON CELTICS
REAL PLAYER RATINGS
[QUALITY OF PLAYERS]
2008-09 Regular Season
As of Feb 5, 2009

Kevin Garnett 1.045
Rajon Rondo 0.904
Paul Pierce 0.780
Ray Allen 0.765
Leon Powe 0.690
Eddie House 0.646
Kendrick Perkins 0.626
Tony Allen 0.598
Glen Davis 0.467
Brian Scalabrine 0.313

Perfect Player? Is there Such a Thing? 1.000 and more
Historic Super Star 0.950 and more
Super Star 0.850 0.949
A Star Player; An Extremely Good Starter 0.775 0.849
A Great Player; A Solid Starter 0.700 0.774
Major Role Player 0.650 0.699
Role Player 0.600 0.649
Minor Role Player 0.550 0.599
Very Minor Role Player 0.500 0.549
Poor Player at This Time 0.450 0.499
Very Poor Player at This Time 0.350 0.449
Extremely Poor Player at This Time / Disaster and less 0.349

Real Player Production (RPP) is the sum of all the good things minus the sum of all the bad things a player has done since the season began. There is no methodology as of yet for adjusting RPP for defending. Therefore, you should, in order to fairly evaluate the following ratings, remember that the better defenders have done some more for the team relative to the lessor defenders than the ratings are showing.

BOSTON CELTICS
REAL PLAYER PRODUCTION
[QUANTITY OF PLAYERS]
2008-09 Regular Season
Through Feb. 5, 2009

Kevin Garnett 1419.80
Rajon Rondo 1361.15
Paul Pierce 1277.50
Ray Allen 1168.90
Kendrick Perkins 689.70
Eddie House 495.20
Leon Powe 412.00
Tony Allen 373.55
Glen Davis 347.85
Brian Scalabrine 130.05

CELTICS MVP
Congratulations and respect are due to KEVIN GARNETT, who has been leading the Celitcs in quality basketball so far this season. At the same time, he leads the Celtics in terms of total net contributions.

KEVIN GARNETT: Almost Perfect, Superstar


OTHER CELTICS STARS OF 2008-09

RAJON RONDO: Superstar


PAUL PIERCE: Star


Note: Ray Allen was very close to being a star.

USER GUIDE
For very detailed information about how Real Player Ratings were developed and are calculated, please consult the User Guide for Real Player Rating Reports by Team



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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.

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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.

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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
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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.

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QUEST REPORTS #81 TO #100 GOING BACK IN TIME

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

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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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