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Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Kobe Bryant's Worst Nightmare

I caught the April 5 game in Denver where the Oklahoma Thunder won 101-94. I’ll tell you honestly I really, really like the Thunder and I guess I am a little biased in their favor.

Quest for the Ring (QFTR) is supposed to be biased in favor of teams doing more right than wrong and biased against teams doing more wrong than right in the Quest. I openly admit I’m biased against the Nuggets because they do a lot more wrong than right in the Quest.

Sometimes though on top of the right or wrong bias there might be an additional bias. One such case is that as I say I really like the Thunder players who I perceive as having more characteristics for winning the Quest than you would expect just by chance alone. In other words, if the coaching was right and the Thunder made one or two or three more right moves in a few more off seasons, the Thunder could indeed win The Quest for the Ring sometime within the next half dozen years.

As you might suspect, I wanted Oklahoma to win the April 5 game in Denver against the Nuggets. I wanted them to win huge. I wanted them to win by at least 20 and preferably by about 35! I wanted them to run the Nuggets out of their own building. I wanted to see George Karl in tears. I wanted to see Kenyon Martin crying at how Serge Ibaka stopped him on every single play and at how at the other end of the court Ibaka scored almost at will against the much older Martin. I wanted to see Nuggets fans throwing their rose colored glasses out onto the court in disgust. I wanted to see League officials after the game discussing the possibility of throwing Denver out of the League.

Well unfortunately none of the dramatics I wanted came to pass. They seldom do for obvious reasons; I hope for too much, laugh out loud. But nevertheless, Oklahoma did get the win despite playing unwisely and so at least my basic knowledge that Oklahoma is a substantially better team than Denver post Carmelo was confirmed. So it was not quite the game I wanted to see but Oklahoma won fairly easily regardless.

Oklahoma is actually a far better pro basketball team than are the way overrated Denver Nuggets. The Nuggets were overrated BEFORE Carmelo left and now they are even more overrated. On the other hand, Kobe Bryant thinks of the Thunder as the most underrated team in basketball and I fully agree with him.

VERY RECENT HUGE IMPROVEMENTS FOR OKLAHOMA DEFENSIVELY
This year Oklahoma was soft on paint defense and was poor on defense outside the paint until two extremely important things happened:

--The Thunder acquired Center Kendrick Perkins from the Boston Celtics in a February 2011 trade that may very well have cost the Celtics the 2011 Championship and that may have possibly (a boy can dream) set the stage for the Thunder to be in the 2011 West Final. Kendrick Perkins is one of the best paint defenders in the NBA. Paint defense is crucial in playoff games. Oklahoma instantly went from soft in the paint to respectable in the paint.

--Serge Ibaka was made the starting power forward of the Thunder. Ibaka is probably the very best young paint defender in the NBA so when you add him to Perkins now Oklahoma goes from respectable in the paint to very possibly within range of the top paint defending teams in the NBA: the Orlando Magic, the Boston Celtics (although they won’t be as good with no Perkins) and the Chicago Bulls. Chicago Coach Tom Thibodeau knows all about how paint defense wins you playoff games and he has the Bulls playing monstrously well defensively down low.

Quest for the Ring back in January said it was already overdue that Ibaka start. But Jeff Green was starting at PF while Nenad Kristic was starting Center. Kristic is one of the very worst centers in the League defensively and Green is well below average defensively at PF. So that starting lineup was a paint defending nightmare and sure enough Oklahoma was very bad at defending the paint until those two were shipped to Boston of all places and Perkins and Ibaka were shuffled in to the now much better starting line-up. For Oklahoma it was out with the really really bad paint defense and in with the respectable at a minimum and possibly very good paint defense. Now the Thunder potentially have a good enough paint defense to win a few playoff games they would have lost otherwise.

THE CELTICS TAKE THE HIT FROM ONE OF THE WORST TRADES IN YEARS
Why the Celtics who won the 2008 Quest traded one of the very best defensive centers (Kendrick Perkins) for one of the worst (Nenad Kristic) is one of the biggest puzzlements in many, many years. And then the Celtics got PF Jeff Green, who at best is an average PF and is most likely below average. This was simply one of the worst trades in years (for Boston and one of the best for Oklahoma) and was even more unbalanced than the Orlando-Phoenix trade that was made shortly before, the one that made Orlando worse rather than better.

Of course, QFTR expects to have time to more extensively discuss the details of the Boston-Oklahoma trade in future Reports.

MEANWHILE BACK AT THE COLORADO RANCH
Meanwhile, the Nuggets have been mostly winning since the Carmelo Anthony trade so all the rose colored glasses types have been worshipping George Karl even more than usual and have been even more delusional than usual about the Nuggets, who in recent years have practically become the Dallas Cowboys of basketball: “America’s Team”.

America’s Team is always good even when it is not. When America’s Team is not really that good, they are hyped up so that the general public overrates them enough to make them playoff competitors (even when they’re not). All the naïve types have to all the time be discussing how America’s team will be doing in the playoffs even if in reality it will be lucky if America’s team even makes the playoffs. Just like the Cowboys recently, the Nuggets definitely do not have either the personnel or the playing system to be anything close to a real contender in the playoffs.

All these Nuggets wins since the Carmelo trade are regular season wins, remember? George Karl always wins extra games in the regular season but then always loses games he should have won in the playoffs, remember? This has been proven here at Quest for the Ring beyond any shadow of a doubt.

THE KNICKS ON DEFENSE ARE LIKE CHICKENS WITH THE HEADS CUT OFF
As for Carmelo and New York, as already Reported in the “Aftermath…” series a few weeks ago, the Knicks are defensively little more than chickens running around with their heads cut off until and unless they make sure that Carmelo and Amare Stoudemire are playing as well defensively as they possibly can, until the rest of the Knicks are rewarded for their defense as much as they are for their offense, until defensive specialists like Ronny Turiaf and Renaldo Balkman are not cheated out of playing time, and until the Knicks acquire at least one superstar who is outstanding defensively or else they acquire two or even three defensive specialists down roster.

Perhaps in order to meet these objectives Mike D’Antoni has to go. But he could stay as long as he didn’t stand in the way of changes the Knicks need to move away from being defensively pathetic. Perhaps the Knicks could get a coach who would be “the defensive coach” who Mike D’Antoni would not be able to automatically overrule. In other words D’Antoni and the Defensive Coach could co-coach the team. In football there is the offensive coordinator and the defensive coordinator and this type of coaching structure could work out extremely well for NBA teams in situations where the one existing head coach is heavily biased in favor of one or the other and the assistants to that head coach have little or no real power.

If D’Antoni ever claims he is not biased heavily in favor of offense, try not to laugh in his face (because he is a great offensive coach) but make a mental note that he is delusional or that he is trying to fool you.

RUSSELL WESTBROOK AND SCOTT BROOKS: STOP THE MADNESS PLEASE
In the first quarter on April 5 in Denver Oklahoma started to run away with the game and I honestly thought it was going to end up being a rout. But Russell Westbrook spoiled that.

Russell Westbrook can make plays if he wanna but sometimes he doesn’t wanna. I’ve tuned into an Oklahoma game twice this season hoping to see Oklahoma play both smart and well and each time Oklahoma won the game but played foolishly. More specifically, I’ve personally out of three or four Thunder games watched seen two games this year where Point Guard Westbrook decided he wasn’t going to run point and wasn’t going to make plays.

Problem is, like it or not he’s the point guard and when your point guard goes on strike you either lose or maybe you win despite not scoring as many points as you should simply because you are a much better team than the opponent. As just explained, Oklahoma is a much better team than Denver so Oklahoma relied mostly on that basic fact for the win.

But obviously that strategy won’t work in the playoffs when the opponent is just as good a team or a better one. To win against teams that are just as good or better than you are in the playoffs you have no choice but to respect the point guard position and role.

Oklahoma Coach Scott “I finally took QFTR's advice and started Serge Ibaka when a manager threatened to fire me if I didn’t” Brooks should worry about being fired for not coaching Westbrook correctly. Westbrook was a 2-guard in College but he can play the point better than most of the actual NBA point guards when he wants to. When motivated Westbrook can make more than enough plays for the Thunder to have a very difficult to defend offense. The offense I saw in this April 5 game in Denver was very easy to defend and, sure enough, the Nuggets did pretty well at defending in the game.

It would be bad enough if while on point guard strike Westbrook was making his jumpers and finishing his drives. But in both this game and in the previous one I saw where Westbrook was on strike, he was missing way too many of his shots and not finishing nearly enough of his drives. Westbrook is extremely athletic and he has great moves which allow him to get past paint defenders. But in games where he is not finishing well yet he is trying to score over and over and over while he is ignoring his point guard responsibility it is a sad thing to see.

There is little in basketball more pathetic than a point guard not making many plays because he is attempting too many isolation shots himself and then to add insult to injury not making very many of those shots. It was pure misery watching Russell play like a fool which kept the inferior Nuggets team in the game. But fortunately the Thunder did pull the win out.

No one is saying that Russell Westbrook can not play both guard positions at once; he’s definitely qualified to do that in theory. But he has to go about it in the right way. He can’t while designated as PG play ONLY shooting guard and expect to win playoff games that way. Westbrook has to balance the positions so in other words he has to balance or mix up playmaking with attempting to score himself. He needs to leave his defender guessing.

There is no excuse for Oklahoma Coach Brooks not being all over Westbrook when he goes on point guard strike and starts trying to score in isolation over and over and over again. This is the risk you have when you take a combo guard and designate him point, that your point guard will be absent without leave. The solution is obvious: the coach needs to read the striker the riot act.

Beating the Nuggets in Denver is much less impressive than it may seem to be. The Thunder will be hammered by teams such as the Lakers, Spurs, and very possibly even the Mavericks if Russell Westbrook refuses to make playmaking a top priority, especially since most if not all of the other Thunder don’t seem to be that interested in making plays either. Oklahoma’s assists per game and its assists per field goal made are both ridiculously low. Oklahoma can obviously still beat Denver in the playoffs even if Westbrook and Brooks foul things up (in more games than it should take) but I can't see how the Thunder can possibly beat the Spurs or the Lakers while Brooks and Westbrook are not respecting the point.

DEFENDING THE NUGGETS IS LIKE TAKING CANDY FROM A BABY
As for defending the Nuggets: this is like taking candy from a baby regardless of whether Raymond Felton or Ty Lawson is running point (or even if both of them are playing at the same time; yes it’s true; George Karl is often playing two point guards at the same time, laugh out loud.)

Roughly three years ago the Nuggets came up with this half baked theory that you could win a lot of games (presumably including playoff games) by coaching your team to pass up the vast majority of open jumpers in favor of driving into paint for layups and hopefully some three-point plays if the defender fouls. George Karl has told his players that the Nuggets’ (America’s Team, remember) offense shall begin and end with drives to the rack, getting fouled, and making free throws.

QFTR did a Report roughly two years ago which closely looked at this strategy and concluded that like so many of George Karl’s theories, this one produces a few extra regular season wins but then backfires in the playoffs. In the playoffs the best paint defending teams step on to the hardwood which puts Karl and the Nuggets’ strategy on the ropes from the get go. The knockout blow is when the other team early in a seven game series realizes that the Nuggets sacrifice the elements of surprise and of flexibility with their driving into the paint obsession. That is, teams which don’t use the whole floor for their offense give up a lot of the advantage of surprise and flexibility which are required for quality playoff offenses.

So when all is said and done, all the coach of the Nuggets’ opponent needs to do is remind his players over and over to be ready at all times to defend the Nuggets’ endless drives into the paint. When you play the Nuggets you can practically take the night off as far as perimeter defending is concerned. You overweight paint defense as much as you can until and unless the Nuggets give up their obsession and start shooting from outside the paint.

There was a funny moment late in the April 5 Thunder-Nuggets game in Denver when the Thunders’ lead was down to about 5 points and Scott Brooks ordered the Thunder to double team Ty Lawson. Laugh out loud. Rarely do you see point guards doubled. And although Ty Lawson is a fine young point guard but he’s not at the moment a superstar who you would normally think should be doubled. But see, Lawson had been burning the Thunder with his endless lightning fast drives into the paint all night, and by late in the game it was obvious that the Nuggets in general and especially Lawson in particular had a one dimensional offense where they and he were going to drive into the paint over and over again regardless of how many sacrificed assists off great passes into the paint and regardless of how many uncontested mid-range jumpers and threes they sacrifice in the process.

So during the course of one single game Oklahoma Coach Scott Brooks had learned how obsessed the Nuggets are with taking the ball to the rack and looking for layups and fouls. In a seven game playoff series, the Nuggets’ offense would be toast versus the Thunder because Brooks will double Ty Lawson over and over and over as Lawson drives into the paint over and over and over. Lawson may be lightning quick and he is fairly elusive but he’s no magician; he’ll be shut down if the Thunder (or anyone else) learn how to collapse two guys on him in the paint without any dumb fouls so as to physically block his path to the hoop.

Once the opponent adjusts to the Nuggets’ obsession the Nuggets’ offense becomes like cold half eaten toast.

RAYMOND FELTON SHOULD IN FACT QUIT THE NUGGETS
And did I mention that Raymond Felton, who in all fairness is a better point guard right now than is Ty Lawson, has already stated that he will probably demand to be traded if Lawson remains the starting Nuggets PG? I think Lawson is outstanding himself and I've said so in more than one previous Report but whoever is better at making plays is who you need in the playoffs and right now Felton is better at making plays than is Lawson, period. Lawson would be a quality back up point guard in the playoffs but would not be a smart choice over Felton right now for starting in the playoffs.

So therefore you can just about bet the ranch that Karl will blunder and that Lawson will start in the playoffs instead of Felton. Karl has become very fond of Lawson’s personality while Felton's personality is still under review, laugh out loud.

So in the near future, oh here we go again, yet another quality player (Raymond Felton) will probably be demanding to be traded from Colorado’s professional basketball team.

You know the one, the team that wins a bunch of extra home games just because they are used to the thin oxygen in Denver whereas the opponents are not. But then during a playoff series the Nuggets’ opponent not only figures out the way to defeat whatever cheap scheme George Karl is currently running but also adjusts to the thin air to some extent. Have you ever wondered why the Nuggets run a fast pace year after year and decade after decade? This maximizes the advantage they get from the thin air because Nuggets’ players are used to running a lot in the thin air whereas their opponents are not. So if they run a fast pace they maximize their home advantage and they have more of a home court advantage than most teams do.

But getting back to PG Raymond Felton, if he is really, really serious about his point guard career, he will in fact insist on a relocation. When Mike D’Antoni was his coach he had one of the best point guard coaches, and now that George Karl is his coach Felton has one of the worst point guard coaches. I mean, can a man who sometimes has two point guards playing at the same time with neither of them making any plays to speak of possibly be a good point guard coach, laugh out loud?

KOBE BRYANT'S WORST NIGHTMARE
Whether Kobe Bryant’s worst fears come true are up to the Thunder. If the Thunder play smart and in accordance with what is taught at QFTR then they can very possibly make Kobe live his worst nightmare in real life.

In Kobe Bryant’s worst nightmare the Lakers are playing the Thunder in the West Final. Russell Westbrook respects the point guard position and role and thus gets the combo guard thing right.

In Kobe Bryant’s nightmare Kendrick Perkins and Serge Ibaka team up to make a fairly good paint defense.

In Kobe Bryant’s worst nightmare the Thunder stop sleeping so much on perimeter and jump shot defending. They switch off the picks IF they have to and in general they hustle and play smart and hard defensively.

In Kobe Bryant’s worst nightmare, Westbrook, over and over again, instead of fumbling finishes and missing short jumpers all the time, often kicks it out to a three point shooter such as Kevin Durant, James Harden or Daequan Cook who sinks the three. And the Thunder three-point shooters are not so timid in attempting threes that they can make at a 35% or more rate.

In Kobe Bryant’s worst nightmare the Thunder take the Lakers to seven games and the Lakers are in real trouble in game seven.

Kobe Bryant’s worst nightmare is one of my dreams and I of course don’t classify it as a nightmare. If a team plays really really smart and wins games in the playoffs they were “supposed to lose” that is a good dream to me, not a nightmare.

So Russell Westbrook and Scott Brooks, do you want to make Kobe’s nightmare come true or do you want to play like fools?

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

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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.

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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

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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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