2011 SEMIFINAL OKLAHOMA THUNDER VS MEMPHIS GRIZZLIES GAME SIX REAL PLAYER RATINGS
MAY 13 2011
MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE
MEMPHIS GRIZZLIES 95 OKLAHOMA THUNDER 83
BEST OF SEVEN SERIES TIED 3-3
KEY PLAYERS WHO DID NOT PLAY
--These are the above average players who would have or should have played but did not.
--The reason is shown after the player if and only if it is known with at least 85% certainty.
--Usually the reason is known with 100% certainty.
--If the reason is not known with at least 85% certainty, the reason "unknown" is given.
--Injuries are NOT perfectly reported and information about them is archived nowhere on the Internet. Therefore, it is possible that when Quest for the Ring identifies "coaching error" or "unknown" as the reason, the real reason may have been an injury.
--If the reason "traded" is shown then in many cases a player who was obtained in that trade played instead.
GRIZZLIES Rudy Gay >>> injured
THUNDER All above average players played in this game.
REAL PLAYER RATINGS FOR THIS GAME
--Real Player Rating shows you the real basketball quality of players quickly and accurately.
--Players who played at least 7 minutes in the game are included.
--Each player's hidden defending rating from the regular season is used as the Hidden Defending Adjustment (HDA). Obviously, players in any individual game including this one were not exactly as good defenders as they were on the average during the regular season. But since there is no way to provide HDA for individual games and since it is better to have some reasonable HDA than none at all, we use the season HDA as a reasonable substitute.
--Beginning in 2011 we show just the combined listing; in prior years we separately showed the rank lists by team but this is now considered to be unnecessary.
Zach Randolph, PF 1.160 GRIZZLIES
Mike Conley, PG 1.050 GRIZZLIES
Marc Gasol, C 0.867 GRIZZLIES
Nick Collison, PF 0.864 THUNDER
Eric Maynor, PG 0.861 THUNDER
Russell Westbrook, PG 0.816 THUNDER
Kendrick Perkins, C 0.815 THUNDER
James Harden, SG 0.804 THUNDER
O.J. Mayo, SG 0.803 GRIZZLIES
Tony Allen, SG 0.732 GRIZZLIES
Darrell Arthur, PF 0.715 GRIZZLIES
Shane Battier, SF 0.576 GRIZZLIES
Serge Ibaka, PF 0.451 THUNDER
Sam Young, SG 0.410 GRIZZLIES
Thabo Sefolosha, SG 0.335 THUNDER
Daequan Cook, SG 0.300 THUNDER
Kevin Durant, SF 0.275 THUNDER
Greivis Vasquez, PG 0.268 GRIZZLIES
Nazr Mohammed, C 0.231 THUNDER
SCALE FOR REGULAR SEASON REAL PLAYER RATINGS FOR A SINGLE GAME
Perfect Player for all Practical Purposes / Major Historic Super Star 1.200 and more
Historic Super Star 1.080 1.199
Super Star 0.960 1.079
A Star Player / A well above normal starter 0.860 0.959
Very Good Player / A solid starter 0.780 0.859
Major Role Player / Good enough to start 0.700 0.779
Good Role Player / Often a good 6th man, can possibly start 0.620 0.699
Satisfactory Role Player / Generally should not start 0.540 0.619
Marginal Role Player / Should not start except in an emergency 0.460 0.539
Poor Player / Should never start 0.380 0.459
Very Poor Player 0.300 0.379
Extremely Poor Player 0.299 and less
AVERAGE RATINGS BY POSITION
Not all positions are created equal. In pro basketball, point guard and center are the most important positions, power forward is in the middle, and small forward and shooting guard are the least important. (Some teams will have a different pattern.) The following are good estimates for average ratings by position among all NBA players who play 300 minutes or more. There are very few small forwards and shooting guards who don't fit at other positions who are superstars. Most superstars are players who can play point guard, power forward, or center.
Point Guard .750
Shooting Guard .635
Small Forward .645
Power Forward .715
Center .755
All Positions / All Players (NBA Overall Average) .700
To quickly and fairly compare two players who play different positions, convert their Ratings as follows:
Point Guards: Subtract .050; for example, .700 becomes .650
Shooting Guards: Add .065; for example, .700 becomes .765
Small Forwards: Add .055; for example, .700 becomes .755
Power Forwards: Subtract .015; for example, .700 becomes .685
Centers: Subtract .055; for example, .700 becomes .645
REAL PLAYER PRODUCTION FOR THIS GAME
--Shows the real basketball production (or quantity) of players.
--Players who played at least 7 minutes in the game are included.
--An estimate of the value of hidden defending production is included in the total production for all players shown; as described above hidden defending ratings from the regular season are used.
--Beginning in 2011 we show just the combined listing; in prior years we separately showed the rank lists by team but this is now considered to be unnecessary.
Zach Randolph, PF 46.42 GRIZZLIES
Mike Conley, PG 42.00 GRIZZLIES
Marc Gasol, C 33.81 GRIZZLIES
James Harden, SG 31.36 THUNDER
O.J. Mayo, SG 31.32 GRIZZLIES
Russell Westbrook, PG 30.20 THUNDER
Kendrick Perkins, C 26.90 THUNDER
Nick Collison, PF 17.29 THUNDER
Shane Battier, SF 16.71 GRIZZLIES
Tony Allen, SG 15.37 GRIZZLIES
Serge Ibaka, PF 11.28 THUNDER
Kevin Durant, SF 10.19 THUNDER
Eric Maynor, PG 9.47 THUNDER
Darrell Arthur, PF 8.58 GRIZZLIES
Thabo Sefolosha, SG 5.35 THUNDER
Sam Young, SG 4.92 GRIZZLIES
Daequan Cook, SG 3.91 THUNDER
Greivis Vasquez, PG 2.14 GRIZZLIES
Nazr Mohammed, C 1.85 THUNDER
=============== OFFENSIVE AND DEFENSIVE SUB RATINGS FOR THIS GAME ===============
OFFENSIVE SUB RATINGS FOR THIS GAME
--Shows the real quality of players' offense.
--Players who played at least 7 minutes in the game are included.
--The hidden defending component is not a part of the offensive sub rating.
--Beginning in 2011 we show just the combined listing; in prior years we separately showed the rank lists by team but this is now considered to be unnecessary.
Mike Conley, PG 0.610 GRIZZLIES
Zach Randolph, PF 0.546 GRIZZLIES
Russell Westbrook, PG 0.516 THUNDER
James Harden, SG 0.437 THUNDER
Darrell Arthur, PF 0.437 GRIZZLIES
Eric Maynor, PG 0.412 THUNDER
O.J. Mayo, SG 0.405 GRIZZLIES
Tony Allen, SG 0.292 GRIZZLIES
Sam Young, SG 0.257 GRIZZLIES
Nick Collison, PF 0.243 THUNDER
Shane Battier, SF 0.234 GRIZZLIES
Greivis Vasquez, PG 0.211 GRIZZLIES
Marc Gasol, C 0.207 GRIZZLIES
Kendrick Perkins, C 0.193 THUNDER
Serge Ibaka, PF 0.175 THUNDER
Thabo Sefolosha, SG 0.056 THUNDER
Kevin Durant, SF 0.027 THUNDER
Nazr Mohammed, C -0.210 THUNDER
Daequan Cook, SG -0.252 THUNDER
THE AVERAGE OFFENSIVE SUB RATING
for all NBA players who play 300 minutes or more is about .385
DEFENSIVE SUB RATINGS FOR THIS GAME
--Shows the real quality of players' defense.
--Players who played at least 7 minutes in the game are included.
--The hidden defending component is included as described above.
--Beginning in 2011 we show just the combined listing; in prior years we separately showed the rank lists by team but this is now considered to be unnecessary.
Marc Gasol, C 0.660 GRIZZLIES
Kendrick Perkins, C 0.622 THUNDER
Nick Collison, PF 0.622 THUNDER
Zach Randolph, PF 0.614 GRIZZLIES
Daequan Cook, SG 0.553 THUNDER
Eric Maynor, PG 0.449 THUNDER
Nazr Mohammed, C 0.441 THUNDER
Mike Conley, PG 0.440 GRIZZLIES
Tony Allen, SG 0.440 GRIZZLIES
O.J. Mayo, SG 0.398 GRIZZLIES
James Harden, SG 0.367 THUNDER
Shane Battier, SF 0.342 GRIZZLIES
Russell Westbrook, PG 0.301 THUNDER
Thabo Sefolosha, SG 0.279 THUNDER
Darrell Arthur, PF 0.278 GRIZZLIES
Serge Ibaka, PF 0.276 THUNDER
Kevin Durant, SF 0.249 THUNDER
Sam Young, SG 0.153 GRIZZLIES
Greivis Vasquez, PG 0.057 GRIZZLIES
THE AVERAGE DEFENSIVE SUB RATING
for all NBA players who play 300 minutes or more is about .315
The breakdown between hidden and unhidden defending is available on request.
THE ALL IMPORTANT, AWARD WINNING REAL PLAYER RATINGS USER GUIDE
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.
ABOUT REAL PLAYER RATINGS REPORTS
Of the several dozen types of Reports that Quest for the Ring (QFTR) produces, Team Real Player Rating Reports are among the most important. A Real Player Rating Report gives you four very important ratings for every player in the Report:
--Overall Real Player Rating
--Real Player Production
--Offensive Sub Rating
--Defensive Sub Rating
These Reports are formatted reports. Formatted reports have a pre-set format and there is little or no custom commentary included. The whole idea of formatted reports is to provide a very large amount of important information very efficiently. The carefully planned and long evolved and perfected formatting eliminates the need for time-consuming custom text reporting in contexts where there is really no need for it and where there may be no time for it. But to fully understand a formatted Report you need to be familiar with the User Guide for it.
In contrast to formatted reports, QFTR breaks new ground in general and reveals its latest discoveries about basketball in particular in free form (non-formatted) text reports. While formatted posts are "on the reservation", non-formatted text reports are where QFTR "goes off the reservation". Both types of reports are essential; having just one type without the other type would reduce the value of QFTR by MORE than half.
QFTR is considering some kind of labelling system for posts that will allow visitors to even more easily than ever get to content they want or need.
There are two things you can do to get the full value out of RPR Reports. First, you can read parts or all of the User Guide for them (the link to the Guide is below). Second, you can simply visit a lot and see a lot of Reports and then you will automatically become better at interpreting what you see.
During the regular season beginning in late January (when we can first validly calculate the hidden defending adjustments) QFTR posts Team Real Player Ratings for major contending teams and other selected teams as time permits. Between the end of the regular season and before the Conference Finals begin (in late April and in early May) QFTR posts the final ratings for approximately the ten best teams as of the beginning of the playoffs. If there is a major upset in round one and/or round two by a team whose ratings were not yet posted, QFTR will make sure to post those asap.
These final ratings can be used in team grids that are very important parts of any playoff series preview.
Unfortunately, production time limits that are caused partly by limited traffic mean that only a small number of playoff series previews can be produced. Remember, you can help QFTR get more production time by posting links to QFTR wherever you can, and then QFTR will link back to you on request (click the contact link under the banner).
Game Real Player Ratings Reports are produced for every NBA Championship game, every NBA Conference Final game, and for selected NBA semifinal games. For the semifinals, normally, the most interesting semifinal (round two) series will be selected (out of the four of them) and Real Player Ratings for every game in that series will be posted.
After the playoffs are completely over and the off-season arrives, QFTR has enough time to produce and publish a final annual Real Player Ratings Report for all thirty NBA teams. These annual records of who was really the best and who really did what are scheduled to be posted in late June and in early July. They are posted in alphabetic order by team starting with the Atlanta Hawks and ending with the Washington Wizards. The ones for the top teams that were posted in late April-early May are repeated so there is a complete set in alpha and chronological sequence.
If you ever spend quality time at QFTR you will discover that there are other types of Real Player Rating Reports. Many of these appear in the summer. Among the most important ones that come out in the summer are the League-Wide Real Player Ratings Reports. Also, don't miss the Real Player Ratings Reports by position if you are a serious basketball person.
This section was a limited and brief overview of Real Player Ratings Reports in general. What you need if you want to understand how the Ratings are constructed and why QFTR knows they are the best possible ratings is the User Guide for Real Player Ratings. This User Guide was last revised and updated in May 2010; a new revision is "on order" and is expected to be completed in May or June of 2011. The May 2010 edition is still very useful; the only section of it that is not completely accurate is the one where the specific factors are shown; the factors have been adjusted a little to reflect the latest information and understanding QFTR has about exactly how playoff games are won. There has also been a significant improvement in the calibration and validation of Real Player Ratings components.
So 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.
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Real Player Ratings for the 2011 West Semifinal Game Five: Oklahoma Thunder 99 Memphis Grizzlies 72
2011 SEMIFINAL OKLAHOMA THUNDER VS MEMPHIS GRIZZLIES GAME FIVE REAL PLAYER RATINGS
MAY 11 2011
OKLAHOMA CITY, OKLAHOMA
OKLAHOMA THUNDER 99 MEMPHIS GRIZZLIES 72
OKLAHOMA LEADS BEST OF SEVEN SERIES TIED 3-2
KEY PLAYERS WHO DID NOT PLAY
--These are the above average players who would have or should have played but did not.
--The reason is shown after the player if and only if it is known with at least 85% certainty.
--Usually the reason is known with 100% certainty.
--If the reason is not known with at least 85% certainty, the reason "unknown" is given.
--Injuries are NOT perfectly reported and information about them is archived nowhere on the Internet. Therefore, it is possible that when Quest for the Ring identifies "coaching error" or "unknown" as the reason, the real reason may have been an injury.
--If the reason "traded" is shown then in many cases a player who was obtained in that trade played instead.
GRIZZLIES Rudy Gay >>> injured
THUNDER All above average players played in this game.
REAL PLAYER RATINGS FOR THIS GAME
--Real Player Rating shows you the real basketball quality of players quickly and accurately.
--Players who played at least 7 minutes in the game are included.
--Each player's hidden defending rating from the regular season is used as the Hidden Defending Adjustment (HDA). Obviously, players in any individual game including this one were not exactly as good defenders as they were on the average during the regular season. But since there is no way to provide HDA for individual games and since it is better to have some reasonable HDA than none at all, we use the season HDA as a reasonable substitute.
--Beginning in 2011 we show just the combined listing; in prior years we separately showed the rank lists by team but this is now considered to be unnecessary.
Daequan Cook, SG 1.674 THUNDER
Greivis Vasquez, PG 1.215 GRIZZLIES
Nazr Mohammed, C 1.131 THUNDER
Marc Gasol, C 0.994 GRIZZLIES
Nick Collison, PF 0.991 THUNDER
Darrell Arthur, PF 0.934 GRIZZLIES
Serge Ibaka, PF 0.904 THUNDER
James Harden, SG 0.874 THUNDER
Kevin Durant, SF 0.857 THUNDER
Russell Westbrook, PG 0.786 THUNDER
Eric Maynor, PG 0.688 THUNDER
O.J. Mayo, SG 0.454 GRIZZLIES
Mike Conley, PG 0.406 GRIZZLIES
Thabo Sefolosha, SG 0.286 THUNDER
Zach Randolph, PF 0.285 GRIZZLIES
Tony Allen, SG 0.271 GRIZZLIES
Sam Young, SG 0.208 GRIZZLIES
Kendrick Perkins, C 0.144 THUNDER
Shane Battier, SF 0.096 GRIZZLIES
SCALE FOR REGULAR SEASON REAL PLAYER RATINGS FOR A SINGLE GAME
Perfect Player for all Practical Purposes / Major Historic Super Star 1.200 and more
Historic Super Star 1.080 1.199
Super Star 0.960 1.079
A Star Player / A well above normal starter 0.860 0.959
Very Good Player / A solid starter 0.780 0.859
Major Role Player / Good enough to start 0.700 0.779
Good Role Player / Often a good 6th man, can possibly start 0.620 0.699
Satisfactory Role Player / Generally should not start 0.540 0.619
Marginal Role Player / Should not start except in an emergency 0.460 0.539
Poor Player / Should never start 0.380 0.459
Very Poor Player 0.300 0.379
Extremely Poor Player 0.299 and less
AVERAGE RATINGS BY POSITION
Not all positions are created equal. In pro basketball, point guard and center are the most important positions, power forward is in the middle, and small forward and shooting guard are the least important. (Some teams will have a different pattern.) The following are good estimates for average ratings by position among all NBA players who play 300 minutes or more. There are very few small forwards and shooting guards who don't fit at other positions who are superstars. Most superstars are players who can play point guard, power forward, or center.
Point Guard .750
Shooting Guard .635
Small Forward .645
Power Forward .715
Center .755
All Positions / All Players (NBA Overall Average) .700
To quickly and fairly compare two players who play different positions, convert their Ratings as follows:
Point Guards: Subtract .050; for example, .700 becomes .650
Shooting Guards: Add .065; for example, .700 becomes .765
Small Forwards: Add .055; for example, .700 becomes .755
Power Forwards: Subtract .015; for example, .700 becomes .685
Centers: Subtract .055; for example, .700 becomes .645
REAL PLAYER PRODUCTION FOR THIS GAME
--Shows the real basketball production (or quantity) of players.
--Players who played at least 7 minutes in the game are included.
--An estimate of the value of hidden defending production is included in the total production for all players shown; as described above hidden defending ratings from the regular season are used.
--Beginning in 2011 we show just the combined listing; in prior years we separately showed the rank lists by team but this is now considered to be unnecessary.
Marc Gasol, C 30.81 GRIZZLIES
Daequan Cook, SG 30.13 THUNDER
Kevin Durant, SF 26.58 THUNDER
Nazr Mohammed, C 24.88 THUNDER
Nick Collison, PF 24.77 THUNDER
James Harden, SG 22.72 THUNDER
Russell Westbrook, PG 19.65 THUNDER
Greivis Vasquez, PG 19.44 GRIZZLIES
Serge Ibaka, PF 18.98 THUNDER
Eric Maynor, PG 15.83 THUNDER
Darrell Arthur, PF 14.01 GRIZZLIES
Mike Conley, PG 12.99 GRIZZLIES
O.J. Mayo, SG 12.27 GRIZZLIES
Zach Randolph, PF 10.25 GRIZZLIES
Tony Allen, SG 7.32 GRIZZLIES
Thabo Sefolosha, SG 4.58 THUNDER
Sam Young, SG 4.57 GRIZZLIES
Kendrick Perkins, C 3.31 THUNDER
Shane Battier, SF 1.43 GRIZZLIES
=============== OFFENSIVE AND DEFENSIVE SUB RATINGS FOR THIS GAME ===============
OFFENSIVE SUB RATINGS FOR THIS GAME
--Shows the real quality of players' offense.
--Players who played at least 7 minutes in the game are included.
--The hidden defending component is not a part of the offensive sub rating.
--Beginning in 2011 we show just the combined listing; in prior years we separately showed the rank lists by team but this is now considered to be unnecessary.
Daequan Cook, SG 1.294 THUNDER
Greivis Vasquez, PG 0.881 GRIZZLIES
Russell Westbrook, PG 0.528 THUNDER
James Harden, SG 0.482 THUNDER
Nazr Mohammed, C 0.473 THUNDER
Nick Collison, PF 0.464 THUNDER
Kevin Durant, SF 0.377 THUNDER
Eric Maynor, PG 0.370 THUNDER
Serge Ibaka, PF 0.331 THUNDER
O.J. Mayo, SG 0.316 GRIZZLIES
Darrell Arthur, PF 0.309 GRIZZLIES
Marc Gasol, C 0.265 GRIZZLIES
Mike Conley, PG 0.072 GRIZZLIES
Thabo Sefolosha, SG -0.011 THUNDER
Tony Allen, SG -0.038 GRIZZLIES
Zach Randolph, PF -0.106 GRIZZLIES
Sam Young, SG -0.119 GRIZZLIES
Kendrick Perkins, C -0.124 THUNDER
Shane Battier, SF -0.284 GRIZZLIES
THE AVERAGE OFFENSIVE SUB RATING
for all NBA players who play 300 minutes or more is about .385
DEFENSIVE SUB RATINGS FOR THIS GAME
--Shows the real quality of players' defense.
--Players who played at least 7 minutes in the game are included.
--The hidden defending component is included as described above.
--Beginning in 2011 we show just the combined listing; in prior years we separately showed the rank lists by team but this is now considered to be unnecessary.
Marc Gasol, C 0.729 GRIZZLIES
Nazr Mohammed, C 0.658 THUNDER
Darrell Arthur, PF 0.624 GRIZZLIES
Serge Ibaka, PF 0.572 THUNDER
Nick Collison, PF 0.527 THUNDER
Kevin Durant, SF 0.480 THUNDER
James Harden, SG 0.391 THUNDER
Zach Randolph, PF 0.391 GRIZZLIES
Daequan Cook, SG 0.380 THUNDER
Shane Battier, SF 0.379 GRIZZLIES
Greivis Vasquez, PG 0.334 GRIZZLIES
Mike Conley, PG 0.334 GRIZZLIES
Sam Young, SG 0.327 GRIZZLIES
Eric Maynor, PG 0.318 THUNDER
Tony Allen, SG 0.309 GRIZZLIES
Thabo Sefolosha, SG 0.297 THUNDER
Kendrick Perkins, C 0.268 THUNDER
Russell Westbrook, PG 0.259 THUNDER
O.J. Mayo, SG 0.138 GRIZZLIES
THE AVERAGE DEFENSIVE SUB RATING
for all NBA players who play 300 minutes or more is about .315
The breakdown between hidden and unhidden defending is available on request.
THE ALL IMPORTANT, AWARD WINNING REAL PLAYER RATINGS USER GUIDE
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.
ABOUT REAL PLAYER RATINGS REPORTS
Of the several dozen types of Reports that Quest for the Ring (QFTR) produces, Team Real Player Rating Reports are among the most important. A Real Player Rating Report gives you four very important ratings for every player in the Report:
--Overall Real Player Rating
--Real Player Production
--Offensive Sub Rating
--Defensive Sub Rating
These Reports are formatted reports. Formatted reports have a pre-set format and there is little or no custom commentary included. The whole idea of formatted reports is to provide a very large amount of important information very efficiently. The carefully planned and long evolved and perfected formatting eliminates the need for time-consuming custom text reporting in contexts where there is really no need for it. But to fully understand a formatted Report you need to be familiar with the User Guide for it.
There are two things you can do to get the full value out of RPR Reports. First, you can read parts or all of the User Guide for them (the link to the Guide is below). Second, you can simply visit a lot and see a lot of Reports and then you will automatically become better at interpreting what you see.
In contrast to formatted reports, QFTR breaks new ground in general and reveals its latest discoveries about basketball in particular in free form (non-formatted) text reports. While formatted posts are "on the reservation", non-formatted text reports are where QFTR "goes off the reservation". Both types of reports are essential; having just one type without the other type would reduce the value of QFTR by MORE than half.
QFTR is considering some kind of labelling system for posts that will allow visitors to even more easily than ever get to content they want or need.
During the regular season beginning in late January (when we can first validly calculate the hidden defending adjustments) QFTR posts Team Real Player Ratings for major contending teams and other selected teams as time permits. Between the end of the regular season and before the Conference Finals begin (in late April and in early May) QFTR posts the final ratings for approximately the ten best teams as of the beginning of the playoffs. If there is a major upset in round one and/or round two by a team whose ratings were not yet posted, QFTR will make sure to post those asap.
These final ratings can be used in team grids that are very important parts of any playoff series preview.
Unfortunately, production time limits that are caused partly by limited traffic mean that only a small number of playoff series previews can be produced. Remember, you can help QFTR get more production time by posting links to QFTR wherever you can, and then QFTR will link back to you on request (click the contact link under the banner).
Game Real Player Ratings Reports are produced for every NBA Championship game, every NBA Conference Final game, and for selected NBA semifinal games. For the semifinals, normally, the most interesting semifinal (round two) series will be selected (out of the four of them) and Real Player Ratings for every game in that series will be posted.
After the playoffs are completely over and the off-season arrives, QFTR has enough time to produce and publish a final annual Real Player Ratings Report for all thirty NBA teams. These annual records of who was really the best and who really did what are scheduled to be posted in late June and in early July. They are posted in alphabetic order by team starting with the Atlanta Hawks and ending with the Washington Wizards. The ones for the top teams that were posted in late April-early May are repeated so there is a complete set in alpha and chronological sequence.
If you ever spend quality time at QFTR you will discover that there are other types of Real Player Rating Reports. Many of these appear in the summer. Among the most important ones that come out in the summer are the League-Wide Real Player Ratings Reports. Also, don't miss the Real Player Ratings Reports by position if you are a serious basketball person.
This section was a limited and brief overview of Real Player Ratings Reports in general. What you need if you want to understand how the Ratings are constructed and why QFTR knows they are the best possible ratings is the User Guide for Real Player Ratings. This User Guide was last revised and updated in May 2010; a new revision is "on order" and is expected to be completed in May or June of 2011. The May 2010 edition is still very useful; the only section of it that is not completely accurate is the one where the specific factors are shown; the factors have been adjusted a little to reflect the latest information and understanding QFTR has about exactly how playoff games are won. There has also been a significant improvement in the calibration and validation of Real Player Ratings components.
So 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.
MAY 11 2011
OKLAHOMA CITY, OKLAHOMA
OKLAHOMA THUNDER 99 MEMPHIS GRIZZLIES 72
OKLAHOMA LEADS BEST OF SEVEN SERIES TIED 3-2
KEY PLAYERS WHO DID NOT PLAY
--These are the above average players who would have or should have played but did not.
--The reason is shown after the player if and only if it is known with at least 85% certainty.
--Usually the reason is known with 100% certainty.
--If the reason is not known with at least 85% certainty, the reason "unknown" is given.
--Injuries are NOT perfectly reported and information about them is archived nowhere on the Internet. Therefore, it is possible that when Quest for the Ring identifies "coaching error" or "unknown" as the reason, the real reason may have been an injury.
--If the reason "traded" is shown then in many cases a player who was obtained in that trade played instead.
GRIZZLIES Rudy Gay >>> injured
THUNDER All above average players played in this game.
REAL PLAYER RATINGS FOR THIS GAME
--Real Player Rating shows you the real basketball quality of players quickly and accurately.
--Players who played at least 7 minutes in the game are included.
--Each player's hidden defending rating from the regular season is used as the Hidden Defending Adjustment (HDA). Obviously, players in any individual game including this one were not exactly as good defenders as they were on the average during the regular season. But since there is no way to provide HDA for individual games and since it is better to have some reasonable HDA than none at all, we use the season HDA as a reasonable substitute.
--Beginning in 2011 we show just the combined listing; in prior years we separately showed the rank lists by team but this is now considered to be unnecessary.
Daequan Cook, SG 1.674 THUNDER
Greivis Vasquez, PG 1.215 GRIZZLIES
Nazr Mohammed, C 1.131 THUNDER
Marc Gasol, C 0.994 GRIZZLIES
Nick Collison, PF 0.991 THUNDER
Darrell Arthur, PF 0.934 GRIZZLIES
Serge Ibaka, PF 0.904 THUNDER
James Harden, SG 0.874 THUNDER
Kevin Durant, SF 0.857 THUNDER
Russell Westbrook, PG 0.786 THUNDER
Eric Maynor, PG 0.688 THUNDER
O.J. Mayo, SG 0.454 GRIZZLIES
Mike Conley, PG 0.406 GRIZZLIES
Thabo Sefolosha, SG 0.286 THUNDER
Zach Randolph, PF 0.285 GRIZZLIES
Tony Allen, SG 0.271 GRIZZLIES
Sam Young, SG 0.208 GRIZZLIES
Kendrick Perkins, C 0.144 THUNDER
Shane Battier, SF 0.096 GRIZZLIES
SCALE FOR REGULAR SEASON REAL PLAYER RATINGS FOR A SINGLE GAME
Perfect Player for all Practical Purposes / Major Historic Super Star 1.200 and more
Historic Super Star 1.080 1.199
Super Star 0.960 1.079
A Star Player / A well above normal starter 0.860 0.959
Very Good Player / A solid starter 0.780 0.859
Major Role Player / Good enough to start 0.700 0.779
Good Role Player / Often a good 6th man, can possibly start 0.620 0.699
Satisfactory Role Player / Generally should not start 0.540 0.619
Marginal Role Player / Should not start except in an emergency 0.460 0.539
Poor Player / Should never start 0.380 0.459
Very Poor Player 0.300 0.379
Extremely Poor Player 0.299 and less
AVERAGE RATINGS BY POSITION
Not all positions are created equal. In pro basketball, point guard and center are the most important positions, power forward is in the middle, and small forward and shooting guard are the least important. (Some teams will have a different pattern.) The following are good estimates for average ratings by position among all NBA players who play 300 minutes or more. There are very few small forwards and shooting guards who don't fit at other positions who are superstars. Most superstars are players who can play point guard, power forward, or center.
Point Guard .750
Shooting Guard .635
Small Forward .645
Power Forward .715
Center .755
All Positions / All Players (NBA Overall Average) .700
To quickly and fairly compare two players who play different positions, convert their Ratings as follows:
Point Guards: Subtract .050; for example, .700 becomes .650
Shooting Guards: Add .065; for example, .700 becomes .765
Small Forwards: Add .055; for example, .700 becomes .755
Power Forwards: Subtract .015; for example, .700 becomes .685
Centers: Subtract .055; for example, .700 becomes .645
REAL PLAYER PRODUCTION FOR THIS GAME
--Shows the real basketball production (or quantity) of players.
--Players who played at least 7 minutes in the game are included.
--An estimate of the value of hidden defending production is included in the total production for all players shown; as described above hidden defending ratings from the regular season are used.
--Beginning in 2011 we show just the combined listing; in prior years we separately showed the rank lists by team but this is now considered to be unnecessary.
Marc Gasol, C 30.81 GRIZZLIES
Daequan Cook, SG 30.13 THUNDER
Kevin Durant, SF 26.58 THUNDER
Nazr Mohammed, C 24.88 THUNDER
Nick Collison, PF 24.77 THUNDER
James Harden, SG 22.72 THUNDER
Russell Westbrook, PG 19.65 THUNDER
Greivis Vasquez, PG 19.44 GRIZZLIES
Serge Ibaka, PF 18.98 THUNDER
Eric Maynor, PG 15.83 THUNDER
Darrell Arthur, PF 14.01 GRIZZLIES
Mike Conley, PG 12.99 GRIZZLIES
O.J. Mayo, SG 12.27 GRIZZLIES
Zach Randolph, PF 10.25 GRIZZLIES
Tony Allen, SG 7.32 GRIZZLIES
Thabo Sefolosha, SG 4.58 THUNDER
Sam Young, SG 4.57 GRIZZLIES
Kendrick Perkins, C 3.31 THUNDER
Shane Battier, SF 1.43 GRIZZLIES
=============== OFFENSIVE AND DEFENSIVE SUB RATINGS FOR THIS GAME ===============
OFFENSIVE SUB RATINGS FOR THIS GAME
--Shows the real quality of players' offense.
--Players who played at least 7 minutes in the game are included.
--The hidden defending component is not a part of the offensive sub rating.
--Beginning in 2011 we show just the combined listing; in prior years we separately showed the rank lists by team but this is now considered to be unnecessary.
Daequan Cook, SG 1.294 THUNDER
Greivis Vasquez, PG 0.881 GRIZZLIES
Russell Westbrook, PG 0.528 THUNDER
James Harden, SG 0.482 THUNDER
Nazr Mohammed, C 0.473 THUNDER
Nick Collison, PF 0.464 THUNDER
Kevin Durant, SF 0.377 THUNDER
Eric Maynor, PG 0.370 THUNDER
Serge Ibaka, PF 0.331 THUNDER
O.J. Mayo, SG 0.316 GRIZZLIES
Darrell Arthur, PF 0.309 GRIZZLIES
Marc Gasol, C 0.265 GRIZZLIES
Mike Conley, PG 0.072 GRIZZLIES
Thabo Sefolosha, SG -0.011 THUNDER
Tony Allen, SG -0.038 GRIZZLIES
Zach Randolph, PF -0.106 GRIZZLIES
Sam Young, SG -0.119 GRIZZLIES
Kendrick Perkins, C -0.124 THUNDER
Shane Battier, SF -0.284 GRIZZLIES
THE AVERAGE OFFENSIVE SUB RATING
for all NBA players who play 300 minutes or more is about .385
DEFENSIVE SUB RATINGS FOR THIS GAME
--Shows the real quality of players' defense.
--Players who played at least 7 minutes in the game are included.
--The hidden defending component is included as described above.
--Beginning in 2011 we show just the combined listing; in prior years we separately showed the rank lists by team but this is now considered to be unnecessary.
Marc Gasol, C 0.729 GRIZZLIES
Nazr Mohammed, C 0.658 THUNDER
Darrell Arthur, PF 0.624 GRIZZLIES
Serge Ibaka, PF 0.572 THUNDER
Nick Collison, PF 0.527 THUNDER
Kevin Durant, SF 0.480 THUNDER
James Harden, SG 0.391 THUNDER
Zach Randolph, PF 0.391 GRIZZLIES
Daequan Cook, SG 0.380 THUNDER
Shane Battier, SF 0.379 GRIZZLIES
Greivis Vasquez, PG 0.334 GRIZZLIES
Mike Conley, PG 0.334 GRIZZLIES
Sam Young, SG 0.327 GRIZZLIES
Eric Maynor, PG 0.318 THUNDER
Tony Allen, SG 0.309 GRIZZLIES
Thabo Sefolosha, SG 0.297 THUNDER
Kendrick Perkins, C 0.268 THUNDER
Russell Westbrook, PG 0.259 THUNDER
O.J. Mayo, SG 0.138 GRIZZLIES
THE AVERAGE DEFENSIVE SUB RATING
for all NBA players who play 300 minutes or more is about .315
The breakdown between hidden and unhidden defending is available on request.
THE ALL IMPORTANT, AWARD WINNING REAL PLAYER RATINGS USER GUIDE
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.
ABOUT REAL PLAYER RATINGS REPORTS
Of the several dozen types of Reports that Quest for the Ring (QFTR) produces, Team Real Player Rating Reports are among the most important. A Real Player Rating Report gives you four very important ratings for every player in the Report:
--Overall Real Player Rating
--Real Player Production
--Offensive Sub Rating
--Defensive Sub Rating
These Reports are formatted reports. Formatted reports have a pre-set format and there is little or no custom commentary included. The whole idea of formatted reports is to provide a very large amount of important information very efficiently. The carefully planned and long evolved and perfected formatting eliminates the need for time-consuming custom text reporting in contexts where there is really no need for it. But to fully understand a formatted Report you need to be familiar with the User Guide for it.
There are two things you can do to get the full value out of RPR Reports. First, you can read parts or all of the User Guide for them (the link to the Guide is below). Second, you can simply visit a lot and see a lot of Reports and then you will automatically become better at interpreting what you see.
In contrast to formatted reports, QFTR breaks new ground in general and reveals its latest discoveries about basketball in particular in free form (non-formatted) text reports. While formatted posts are "on the reservation", non-formatted text reports are where QFTR "goes off the reservation". Both types of reports are essential; having just one type without the other type would reduce the value of QFTR by MORE than half.
QFTR is considering some kind of labelling system for posts that will allow visitors to even more easily than ever get to content they want or need.
During the regular season beginning in late January (when we can first validly calculate the hidden defending adjustments) QFTR posts Team Real Player Ratings for major contending teams and other selected teams as time permits. Between the end of the regular season and before the Conference Finals begin (in late April and in early May) QFTR posts the final ratings for approximately the ten best teams as of the beginning of the playoffs. If there is a major upset in round one and/or round two by a team whose ratings were not yet posted, QFTR will make sure to post those asap.
These final ratings can be used in team grids that are very important parts of any playoff series preview.
Unfortunately, production time limits that are caused partly by limited traffic mean that only a small number of playoff series previews can be produced. Remember, you can help QFTR get more production time by posting links to QFTR wherever you can, and then QFTR will link back to you on request (click the contact link under the banner).
Game Real Player Ratings Reports are produced for every NBA Championship game, every NBA Conference Final game, and for selected NBA semifinal games. For the semifinals, normally, the most interesting semifinal (round two) series will be selected (out of the four of them) and Real Player Ratings for every game in that series will be posted.
After the playoffs are completely over and the off-season arrives, QFTR has enough time to produce and publish a final annual Real Player Ratings Report for all thirty NBA teams. These annual records of who was really the best and who really did what are scheduled to be posted in late June and in early July. They are posted in alphabetic order by team starting with the Atlanta Hawks and ending with the Washington Wizards. The ones for the top teams that were posted in late April-early May are repeated so there is a complete set in alpha and chronological sequence.
If you ever spend quality time at QFTR you will discover that there are other types of Real Player Rating Reports. Many of these appear in the summer. Among the most important ones that come out in the summer are the League-Wide Real Player Ratings Reports. Also, don't miss the Real Player Ratings Reports by position if you are a serious basketball person.
This section was a limited and brief overview of Real Player Ratings Reports in general. What you need if you want to understand how the Ratings are constructed and why QFTR knows they are the best possible ratings is the User Guide for Real Player Ratings. This User Guide was last revised and updated in May 2010; a new revision is "on order" and is expected to be completed in May or June of 2011. The May 2010 edition is still very useful; the only section of it that is not completely accurate is the one where the specific factors are shown; the factors have been adjusted a little to reflect the latest information and understanding QFTR has about exactly how playoff games are won. There has also been a significant improvement in the calibration and validation of Real Player Ratings components.
So 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.
Real Player Ratings for the 2011 East Semifinal Game Five: Miami Heat 97 Boston Celtics 87
2011 EAST SEMIFINAL MIAMI HEAT VS BOSTON CELTICS GAME FIVE REAL PLAYER RATINGS
MAY 11 2011
MIAMI, FLORIDA
MIAMI HEAT 97 BOSTON CELTICS 87
MIAMI WINS BEST OF SEVEN SERIES 4-1
KEY PLAYERS WHO DID NOT PLAY
--These are the above average players who would have or should have played but did not.
--The reason is shown after the player if and only if it is known with at least 85% certainty.
--Usually the reason is known with 100% certainty.
--If the reason is not known with at least 85% certainty, the reason "unknown" is given.
--Injuries are NOT perfectly reported and information about them is archived nowhere on the Internet. Therefore, it is possible that when Quest for the Ring identifies "coaching error" or "unknown" as the reason, the real reason may have been an injury.
--If the reason "traded" is shown then in many cases a player who was obtained in that trade played instead.
CELTICS Marquis Daniels >>> traded
CELTICS Kendrick Perkins >>> traded
CELTICS Shaquille O'Neal >>> injured
CELTICS Von Wafer >>> Two better players at the position played
HEAT Udonis Haslem >>> coaching error or possibly effects of previous injury
HEAT Eddie House >>> coaching error
REAL PLAYER RATINGS FOR THIS GAME
--Real Player Rating shows you the real basketball quality of players quickly and accurately.
--Players who played at least 7 minutes in the game are included.
--Each player's hidden defending rating from the regular season is used as the Hidden Defending Adjustment (HDA). Obviously, players in any individual game including this one were not exactly as good defenders as they were on the average during the regular season. But since there is no way to provide HDA for individual games and since it is better to have some reasonable HDA than none at all, we use the season HDA as a reasonable substitute.
--Beginning in 2011 we show just the combined listing; in prior years we separately showed the rank lists by team but this is now considered to be unnecessary.
Dwyane Wade, SG 1.285 HEAT
LeBron James, SF 1.033 HEAT
Nenad Krstic, C 0.998 CELTICS
Chris Bosh, PF 0.988 HEAT
Ray Allen, SG 0.941 CELTICS
Glen Davis, PF 0.759 CELTICS
Jeff Green, F 0.729 CELTICS
Kevin Garnett, PF 0.711 CELTICS
Rajon Rondo, PG 0.596 CELTICS
Paul Pierce, SF 0.500 CELTICS
Mike Bibby, PG 0.381 HEAT
Jermaine O'Neal, C 0.355 CELTICS
James Jones, SF 0.347 HEAT
Delonte West, SG 0.321 CELTICS
Joel Anthony, C 0.275 HEAT
Juwan Howard, PF 0.263 HEAT
Mario Chalmers, PG 0.129 HEAT
SCALE FOR REGULAR SEASON REAL PLAYER RATINGS FOR A SINGLE GAME
Perfect Player for all Practical Purposes / Major Historic Super Star 1.200 and more
Historic Super Star 1.080 1.199
Super Star 0.960 1.079
A Star Player / A well above normal starter 0.860 0.959
Very Good Player / A solid starter 0.780 0.859
Major Role Player / Good enough to start 0.700 0.779
Good Role Player / Often a good 6th man, can possibly start 0.620 0.699
Satisfactory Role Player / Generally should not start 0.540 0.619
Marginal Role Player / Should not start except in an emergency 0.460 0.539
Poor Player / Should never start 0.380 0.459
Very Poor Player 0.300 0.379
Extremely Poor Player 0.299 and less
AVERAGE RATINGS BY POSITION
Not all positions are created equal. In pro basketball, point guard and center are the most important positions, power forward is in the middle, and small forward and shooting guard are the least important. (Some teams will have a different pattern.) The following are good estimates for average ratings by position among all NBA players who play 300 minutes or more. There are very few small forwards and shooting guards who don't fit at other positions who are superstars. Most superstars are players who can play point guard, power forward, or center.
Point Guard .750
Shooting Guard .635
Small Forward .645
Power Forward .715
Center .755
All Positions / All Players (NBA Overall Average) .700
To quickly and fairly compare two players who play different positions, convert their Ratings as follows:
Point Guards: Subtract .050; for example, .700 becomes .650
Shooting Guards: Add .065; for example, .700 becomes .765
Small Forwards: Add .055; for example, .700 becomes .755
Power Forwards: Subtract .015; for example, .700 becomes .685
Centers: Subtract .055; for example, .700 becomes .645
REAL PLAYER PRODUCTION FOR THIS GAME
--Shows the real basketball production (or quantity) of players.
--Players who played at least 7 minutes in the game are included.
--An estimate of the value of hidden defending production is included in the total production for all players shown; as described above hidden defending ratings from the regular season are used.
--Beginning in 2011 we show just the combined listing; in prior years we separately showed the rank lists by team but this is now considered to be unnecessary.
Dwyane Wade, SG 55.26 HEAT
LeBron James, SF 47.52 HEAT
Ray Allen, SG 41.39 CELTICS
Chris Bosh, PF 39.52 HEAT
Kevin Garnett, PF 27.02 CELTICS
Rajon Rondo, PG 17.89 CELTICS
Jeff Green, F 17.50 CELTICS
Paul Pierce, SF 17.48 CELTICS
Nenad Krstic, C 15.96 CELTICS
Glen Davis, PF 12.14 CELTICS
Mike Bibby, PG 7.62 HEAT
James Jones, SF 7.29 HEAT
Joel Anthony, C 6.61 HEAT
Delonte West, SG 6.42 CELTICS
Jermaine O'Neal, C 6.03 CELTICS
Juwan Howard, PF 5.00 HEAT
Mario Chalmers, PG 3.09 HEAT
=============== OFFENSIVE AND DEFENSIVE SUB RATINGS FOR THIS GAME ===============
OFFENSIVE SUB RATINGS FOR THIS GAME
--Shows the real quality of players' offense.
--Players who played at least 7 minutes in the game are included.
--The hidden defending component is not a part of the offensive sub rating.
--Beginning in 2011 we show just the combined listing; in prior years we separately showed the rank lists by team but this is now considered to be unnecessary.
Dwyane Wade, SG 0.717 HEAT
LeBron James, SF 0.604 HEAT
Nenad Krstic, C 0.548 CELTICS
Ray Allen, SG 0.502 CELTICS
Chris Bosh, PF 0.493 HEAT
Glen Davis, PF 0.481 CELTICS
Jeff Green, F 0.361 CELTICS
Rajon Rondo, PG 0.244 CELTICS
Paul Pierce, SF 0.212 CELTICS
Mike Bibby, PG 0.201 HEAT
Kevin Garnett, PF 0.069 CELTICS
Delonte West, SG 0.057 CELTICS
James Jones, SF 0.041 HEAT
Juwan Howard, PF 0.009 HEAT
Mario Chalmers, PG -0.021 HEAT
Jermaine O'Neal, C -0.084 CELTICS
Joel Anthony, C -0.118 HEAT
THE AVERAGE OFFENSIVE SUB RATING
for all NBA players who play 300 minutes or more is about .385
DEFENSIVE SUB RATINGS FOR THIS GAME
--Shows the real quality of players' defense.
--Players who played at least 7 minutes in the game are included.
--The hidden defending component is included as described above.
--Beginning in 2011 we show just the combined listing; in prior years we separately showed the rank lists by team but this is now considered to be unnecessary.
Kevin Garnett, PF 0.642 CELTICS
Dwyane Wade, SG 0.568 HEAT
Chris Bosh, PF 0.495 HEAT
Nenad Krstic, C 0.449 CELTICS
Jermaine O'Neal, C 0.439 CELTICS
Ray Allen, SG 0.439 CELTICS
LeBron James, SF 0.429 HEAT
Joel Anthony, C 0.394 HEAT
Jeff Green, F 0.368 CELTICS
Rajon Rondo, PG 0.353 CELTICS
James Jones, SF 0.306 HEAT
Paul Pierce, SF 0.287 CELTICS
Glen Davis, PF 0.278 CELTICS
Delonte West, SG 0.264 CELTICS
Juwan Howard, PF 0.254 HEAT
Mike Bibby, PG 0.180 HEAT
Mario Chalmers, PG 0.150
THE AVERAGE DEFENSIVE SUB RATING
for all NBA players who play 300 minutes or more is about .315
The breakdown between hidden and unhidden defending is available on request.
THE ALL IMPORTANT, AWARD WINNING REAL PLAYER RATINGS USER GUIDE
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.
ABOUT REAL PLAYER RATINGS REPORTS
Of the several dozen types of Reports that Quest for the Ring (QFTR) produces, Team Real Player Rating Reports are among the most important. A Real Player Rating Report gives you four very important ratings for every player in the Report:
--Overall Real Player Rating
--Real Player Production
--Offensive Sub Rating
--Defensive Sub Rating
These Reports are formatted reports. Formatted reports have a pre-set format and there is little or no custom commentary included. The whole idea of formatted reports is to provide a very large amount of important information very efficiently. The carefully planned and long evolved and perfected formatting eliminates the need for time-consuming custom text reporting in contexts where there is really no need for it. But to fully understand a formatted Report you need to be familiar with the User Guide for it.
There are two things you can do to get the full value out of RPR Reports. First, you can read parts or all of the User Guide for them (the link to the Guide is below). Second, you can simply visit a lot and see a lot of Reports and then you will automatically become better at interpreting what you see.
In contrast to formatted reports, QFTR breaks new ground in general and reveals its latest discoveries about basketball in particular in free form (non-formatted) text reports. While formatted posts are "on the reservation", non-formatted text reports are where QFTR "goes off the reservation". Both types of reports are essential; having just one type without the other type would reduce the value of QFTR by MORE than half.
QFTR is considering some kind of labelling system for posts that will allow visitors to even more easily than ever get to content they want or need.
During the regular season beginning in late January (when we can first validly calculate the hidden defending adjustments) QFTR posts Team Real Player Ratings for major contending teams and other selected teams as time permits. Between the end of the regular season and before the Conference Finals begin (in late April and in early May) QFTR posts the final ratings for approximately the ten best teams as of the beginning of the playoffs. If there is a major upset in round one and/or round two by a team whose ratings were not yet posted, QFTR will make sure to post those asap.
These final ratings can be used in team grids that are very important parts of any playoff series preview.
Unfortunately, production time limits that are caused partly by limited traffic mean that only a small number of playoff series previews can be produced. Remember, you can help QFTR get more production time by posting links to QFTR wherever you can, and then QFTR will link back to you on request (click the contact link under the banner).
Game Real Player Ratings Reports are produced for every NBA Championship game, every NBA Conference Final game, and for selected NBA semifinal games. For the semifinals, normally, the most interesting semifinal (round two) series will be selected (out of the four of them) and Real Player Ratings for every game in that series will be posted.
After the playoffs are completely over and the off-season arrives, QFTR has enough time to produce and publish a final annual Real Player Ratings Report for all thirty NBA teams. These annual records of who was really the best and who really did what are scheduled to be posted in late June and in early July. They are posted in alphabetic order by team starting with the Atlanta Hawks and ending with the Washington Wizards. The ones for the top teams that were posted in late April-early May are repeated so there is a complete set in alpha and chronological sequence.
If you ever spend quality time at QFTR you will discover that there are other types of Real Player Rating Reports. Many of these appear in the summer. Among the most important ones that come out in the summer are the League-Wide Real Player Ratings Reports. Also, don't miss the Real Player Ratings Reports by position if you are a serious basketball person.
This section was a limited and brief overview of Real Player Ratings Reports in general. What you need if you want to understand how the Ratings are constructed and why QFTR knows they are the best possible ratings is the User Guide for Real Player Ratings. This User Guide was last revised and updated in May 2010; a new revision is "on order" and is expected to be completed in May or June of 2011. The May 2010 edition is still very useful; the only section of it that is not completely accurate is the one where the specific factors are shown; the factors have been adjusted a little to reflect the latest information and understanding QFTR has about exactly how playoff games are won. There has also been a significant improvement in the calibration and validation of Real Player Ratings components.
So 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.
MAY 11 2011
MIAMI, FLORIDA
MIAMI HEAT 97 BOSTON CELTICS 87
MIAMI WINS BEST OF SEVEN SERIES 4-1
KEY PLAYERS WHO DID NOT PLAY
--These are the above average players who would have or should have played but did not.
--The reason is shown after the player if and only if it is known with at least 85% certainty.
--Usually the reason is known with 100% certainty.
--If the reason is not known with at least 85% certainty, the reason "unknown" is given.
--Injuries are NOT perfectly reported and information about them is archived nowhere on the Internet. Therefore, it is possible that when Quest for the Ring identifies "coaching error" or "unknown" as the reason, the real reason may have been an injury.
--If the reason "traded" is shown then in many cases a player who was obtained in that trade played instead.
CELTICS Marquis Daniels >>> traded
CELTICS Kendrick Perkins >>> traded
CELTICS Shaquille O'Neal >>> injured
CELTICS Von Wafer >>> Two better players at the position played
HEAT Udonis Haslem >>> coaching error or possibly effects of previous injury
HEAT Eddie House >>> coaching error
REAL PLAYER RATINGS FOR THIS GAME
--Real Player Rating shows you the real basketball quality of players quickly and accurately.
--Players who played at least 7 minutes in the game are included.
--Each player's hidden defending rating from the regular season is used as the Hidden Defending Adjustment (HDA). Obviously, players in any individual game including this one were not exactly as good defenders as they were on the average during the regular season. But since there is no way to provide HDA for individual games and since it is better to have some reasonable HDA than none at all, we use the season HDA as a reasonable substitute.
--Beginning in 2011 we show just the combined listing; in prior years we separately showed the rank lists by team but this is now considered to be unnecessary.
Dwyane Wade, SG 1.285 HEAT
LeBron James, SF 1.033 HEAT
Nenad Krstic, C 0.998 CELTICS
Chris Bosh, PF 0.988 HEAT
Ray Allen, SG 0.941 CELTICS
Glen Davis, PF 0.759 CELTICS
Jeff Green, F 0.729 CELTICS
Kevin Garnett, PF 0.711 CELTICS
Rajon Rondo, PG 0.596 CELTICS
Paul Pierce, SF 0.500 CELTICS
Mike Bibby, PG 0.381 HEAT
Jermaine O'Neal, C 0.355 CELTICS
James Jones, SF 0.347 HEAT
Delonte West, SG 0.321 CELTICS
Joel Anthony, C 0.275 HEAT
Juwan Howard, PF 0.263 HEAT
Mario Chalmers, PG 0.129 HEAT
SCALE FOR REGULAR SEASON REAL PLAYER RATINGS FOR A SINGLE GAME
Perfect Player for all Practical Purposes / Major Historic Super Star 1.200 and more
Historic Super Star 1.080 1.199
Super Star 0.960 1.079
A Star Player / A well above normal starter 0.860 0.959
Very Good Player / A solid starter 0.780 0.859
Major Role Player / Good enough to start 0.700 0.779
Good Role Player / Often a good 6th man, can possibly start 0.620 0.699
Satisfactory Role Player / Generally should not start 0.540 0.619
Marginal Role Player / Should not start except in an emergency 0.460 0.539
Poor Player / Should never start 0.380 0.459
Very Poor Player 0.300 0.379
Extremely Poor Player 0.299 and less
AVERAGE RATINGS BY POSITION
Not all positions are created equal. In pro basketball, point guard and center are the most important positions, power forward is in the middle, and small forward and shooting guard are the least important. (Some teams will have a different pattern.) The following are good estimates for average ratings by position among all NBA players who play 300 minutes or more. There are very few small forwards and shooting guards who don't fit at other positions who are superstars. Most superstars are players who can play point guard, power forward, or center.
Point Guard .750
Shooting Guard .635
Small Forward .645
Power Forward .715
Center .755
All Positions / All Players (NBA Overall Average) .700
To quickly and fairly compare two players who play different positions, convert their Ratings as follows:
Point Guards: Subtract .050; for example, .700 becomes .650
Shooting Guards: Add .065; for example, .700 becomes .765
Small Forwards: Add .055; for example, .700 becomes .755
Power Forwards: Subtract .015; for example, .700 becomes .685
Centers: Subtract .055; for example, .700 becomes .645
REAL PLAYER PRODUCTION FOR THIS GAME
--Shows the real basketball production (or quantity) of players.
--Players who played at least 7 minutes in the game are included.
--An estimate of the value of hidden defending production is included in the total production for all players shown; as described above hidden defending ratings from the regular season are used.
--Beginning in 2011 we show just the combined listing; in prior years we separately showed the rank lists by team but this is now considered to be unnecessary.
Dwyane Wade, SG 55.26 HEAT
LeBron James, SF 47.52 HEAT
Ray Allen, SG 41.39 CELTICS
Chris Bosh, PF 39.52 HEAT
Kevin Garnett, PF 27.02 CELTICS
Rajon Rondo, PG 17.89 CELTICS
Jeff Green, F 17.50 CELTICS
Paul Pierce, SF 17.48 CELTICS
Nenad Krstic, C 15.96 CELTICS
Glen Davis, PF 12.14 CELTICS
Mike Bibby, PG 7.62 HEAT
James Jones, SF 7.29 HEAT
Joel Anthony, C 6.61 HEAT
Delonte West, SG 6.42 CELTICS
Jermaine O'Neal, C 6.03 CELTICS
Juwan Howard, PF 5.00 HEAT
Mario Chalmers, PG 3.09 HEAT
=============== OFFENSIVE AND DEFENSIVE SUB RATINGS FOR THIS GAME ===============
OFFENSIVE SUB RATINGS FOR THIS GAME
--Shows the real quality of players' offense.
--Players who played at least 7 minutes in the game are included.
--The hidden defending component is not a part of the offensive sub rating.
--Beginning in 2011 we show just the combined listing; in prior years we separately showed the rank lists by team but this is now considered to be unnecessary.
Dwyane Wade, SG 0.717 HEAT
LeBron James, SF 0.604 HEAT
Nenad Krstic, C 0.548 CELTICS
Ray Allen, SG 0.502 CELTICS
Chris Bosh, PF 0.493 HEAT
Glen Davis, PF 0.481 CELTICS
Jeff Green, F 0.361 CELTICS
Rajon Rondo, PG 0.244 CELTICS
Paul Pierce, SF 0.212 CELTICS
Mike Bibby, PG 0.201 HEAT
Kevin Garnett, PF 0.069 CELTICS
Delonte West, SG 0.057 CELTICS
James Jones, SF 0.041 HEAT
Juwan Howard, PF 0.009 HEAT
Mario Chalmers, PG -0.021 HEAT
Jermaine O'Neal, C -0.084 CELTICS
Joel Anthony, C -0.118 HEAT
THE AVERAGE OFFENSIVE SUB RATING
for all NBA players who play 300 minutes or more is about .385
DEFENSIVE SUB RATINGS FOR THIS GAME
--Shows the real quality of players' defense.
--Players who played at least 7 minutes in the game are included.
--The hidden defending component is included as described above.
--Beginning in 2011 we show just the combined listing; in prior years we separately showed the rank lists by team but this is now considered to be unnecessary.
Kevin Garnett, PF 0.642 CELTICS
Dwyane Wade, SG 0.568 HEAT
Chris Bosh, PF 0.495 HEAT
Nenad Krstic, C 0.449 CELTICS
Jermaine O'Neal, C 0.439 CELTICS
Ray Allen, SG 0.439 CELTICS
LeBron James, SF 0.429 HEAT
Joel Anthony, C 0.394 HEAT
Jeff Green, F 0.368 CELTICS
Rajon Rondo, PG 0.353 CELTICS
James Jones, SF 0.306 HEAT
Paul Pierce, SF 0.287 CELTICS
Glen Davis, PF 0.278 CELTICS
Delonte West, SG 0.264 CELTICS
Juwan Howard, PF 0.254 HEAT
Mike Bibby, PG 0.180 HEAT
Mario Chalmers, PG 0.150
THE AVERAGE DEFENSIVE SUB RATING
for all NBA players who play 300 minutes or more is about .315
The breakdown between hidden and unhidden defending is available on request.
THE ALL IMPORTANT, AWARD WINNING REAL PLAYER RATINGS USER GUIDE
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.
ABOUT REAL PLAYER RATINGS REPORTS
Of the several dozen types of Reports that Quest for the Ring (QFTR) produces, Team Real Player Rating Reports are among the most important. A Real Player Rating Report gives you four very important ratings for every player in the Report:
--Overall Real Player Rating
--Real Player Production
--Offensive Sub Rating
--Defensive Sub Rating
These Reports are formatted reports. Formatted reports have a pre-set format and there is little or no custom commentary included. The whole idea of formatted reports is to provide a very large amount of important information very efficiently. The carefully planned and long evolved and perfected formatting eliminates the need for time-consuming custom text reporting in contexts where there is really no need for it. But to fully understand a formatted Report you need to be familiar with the User Guide for it.
There are two things you can do to get the full value out of RPR Reports. First, you can read parts or all of the User Guide for them (the link to the Guide is below). Second, you can simply visit a lot and see a lot of Reports and then you will automatically become better at interpreting what you see.
In contrast to formatted reports, QFTR breaks new ground in general and reveals its latest discoveries about basketball in particular in free form (non-formatted) text reports. While formatted posts are "on the reservation", non-formatted text reports are where QFTR "goes off the reservation". Both types of reports are essential; having just one type without the other type would reduce the value of QFTR by MORE than half.
QFTR is considering some kind of labelling system for posts that will allow visitors to even more easily than ever get to content they want or need.
During the regular season beginning in late January (when we can first validly calculate the hidden defending adjustments) QFTR posts Team Real Player Ratings for major contending teams and other selected teams as time permits. Between the end of the regular season and before the Conference Finals begin (in late April and in early May) QFTR posts the final ratings for approximately the ten best teams as of the beginning of the playoffs. If there is a major upset in round one and/or round two by a team whose ratings were not yet posted, QFTR will make sure to post those asap.
These final ratings can be used in team grids that are very important parts of any playoff series preview.
Unfortunately, production time limits that are caused partly by limited traffic mean that only a small number of playoff series previews can be produced. Remember, you can help QFTR get more production time by posting links to QFTR wherever you can, and then QFTR will link back to you on request (click the contact link under the banner).
Game Real Player Ratings Reports are produced for every NBA Championship game, every NBA Conference Final game, and for selected NBA semifinal games. For the semifinals, normally, the most interesting semifinal (round two) series will be selected (out of the four of them) and Real Player Ratings for every game in that series will be posted.
After the playoffs are completely over and the off-season arrives, QFTR has enough time to produce and publish a final annual Real Player Ratings Report for all thirty NBA teams. These annual records of who was really the best and who really did what are scheduled to be posted in late June and in early July. They are posted in alphabetic order by team starting with the Atlanta Hawks and ending with the Washington Wizards. The ones for the top teams that were posted in late April-early May are repeated so there is a complete set in alpha and chronological sequence.
If you ever spend quality time at QFTR you will discover that there are other types of Real Player Rating Reports. Many of these appear in the summer. Among the most important ones that come out in the summer are the League-Wide Real Player Ratings Reports. Also, don't miss the Real Player Ratings Reports by position if you are a serious basketball person.
This section was a limited and brief overview of Real Player Ratings Reports in general. What you need if you want to understand how the Ratings are constructed and why QFTR knows they are the best possible ratings is the User Guide for Real Player Ratings. This User Guide was last revised and updated in May 2010; a new revision is "on order" and is expected to be completed in May or June of 2011. The May 2010 edition is still very useful; the only section of it that is not completely accurate is the one where the specific factors are shown; the factors have been adjusted a little to reflect the latest information and understanding QFTR has about exactly how playoff games are won. There has also been a significant improvement in the calibration and validation of Real Player Ratings components.
So 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.
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Real Player Ratings for the 2011 West Semifinal Game Four: Oklahoma Thunder 133 Memphis Grizzlies 123, 3 Overtimes
2011 SEMIFINAL OKLAHOMA THUNDER VS MEMPHIS GRIZZLIES GAME FOUR REAL PLAYER RATINGS
MAY 9 2011
MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE
OKLAHOMA THUNDER 133 MEMPHIS GRIZZLIES 123, 3 OVERTIMES
BEST OF SEVEN SERIES TIED 2-2
KEY PLAYERS WHO DID NOT PLAY
--These are the above average players who would have or should have played but did not.
--The reason is shown after the player if and only if it is known with at least 85% certainty.
--Usually the reason is known with 100% certainty.
--If the reason is not known with at least 85% certainty, the reason "unknown" is given.
--Injuries are NOT perfectly reported and information about them is archived nowhere on the Internet. Therefore, it is possible that when Quest for the Ring identifies "coaching error" or "unknown" as the reason, the real reason may have been an injury.
--If the reason "traded" is shown then in many cases a player who was obtained in that trade played instead.
GRIZZLIES Rudy Gay >>> injured
THUNDER All above average players played in this game.
REAL PLAYER RATINGS FOR THIS GAME
--Real Player Rating shows you the real basketball quality of players quickly and accurately.
--Players who played at least 7 minutes in the game are included.
--Each player's hidden defending rating from the regular season is used as the Hidden Defending Adjustment (HDA). Obviously, players in any individual game including this one were not exactly as good defenders as they were on the average during the regular season. But since there is no way to provide HDA for individual games and since it is better to have some reasonable HDA than none at all, we use the season HDA as a reasonable substitute.
--Beginning in 2011 we show just the combined listing; in prior years we separately showed the rank lists by team but this is now considered to be unnecessary.
James Harden, SG 1.079 THUNDER
Marc Gasol, C 1.055 GRIZZLIES
Russell Westbrook, PG 1.042 THUNDER
Zach Randolph, PF 0.985 GRIZZLIES
Kevin Durant, SF 0.938 THUNDER
O.J. Mayo, SG 0.917 GRIZZLIES
Nazr Mohammed, C 0.851 THUNDER
Greivis Vasquez, PG 0.800 GRIZZLIES
Shane Battier, SF 0.690 GRIZZLIES
Nick Collison, PF 0.664 THUNDER
Mike Conley, PG 0.625 GRIZZLIES
Daequan Cook, SG 0.621 THUNDER
Thabo Sefolosha, SG 0.559 THUNDER
Serge Ibaka, PF 0.402 THUNDER
Eric Maynor, PG 0.332 THUNDER
Kendrick Perkins, C 0.256 THUNDER
Tony Allen, SG 0.221 GRIZZLIES
Sam Young, SG 0.178 GRIZZLIES
Darrell Arthur, PF -0.117 GRIZZLIES
SCALE FOR REGULAR SEASON REAL PLAYER RATINGS FOR A SINGLE GAME
Perfect Player for all Practical Purposes / Major Historic Super Star 1.200 and more
Historic Super Star 1.080 1.199
Super Star 0.960 1.079
A Star Player / A well above normal starter 0.860 0.959
Very Good Player / A solid starter 0.780 0.859
Major Role Player / Good enough to start 0.700 0.779
Good Role Player / Often a good 6th man, can possibly start 0.620 0.699
Satisfactory Role Player / Generally should not start 0.540 0.619
Marginal Role Player / Should not start except in an emergency 0.460 0.539
Poor Player / Should never start 0.380 0.459
Very Poor Player 0.300 0.379
Extremely Poor Player 0.299 and less
AVERAGE RATINGS BY POSITION
Not all positions are created equal. In pro basketball, point guard and center are the most important positions, power forward is in the middle, and small forward and shooting guard are the least important. (Some teams will have a different pattern.) The following are good estimates for average ratings by position among all NBA players who play 300 minutes or more. There are very few small forwards and shooting guards who don't fit at other positions who are superstars. Most superstars are players who can play point guard, power forward, or center.
Point Guard .750
Shooting Guard .635
Small Forward .645
Power Forward .715
Center .755
All Positions / All Players (NBA Overall Average) .700
To quickly and fairly compare two players who play different positions, convert their Ratings as follows:
Point Guards: Subtract .050; for example, .700 becomes .650
Shooting Guards: Add .065; for example, .700 becomes .765
Small Forwards: Add .055; for example, .700 becomes .755
Power Forwards: Subtract .015; for example, .700 becomes .685
Centers: Subtract .055; for example, .700 becomes .645
REAL PLAYER PRODUCTION FOR THIS GAME
--Shows the real basketball production (or quantity) of players.
--Players who played at least 7 minutes in the game are included.
--An estimate of the value of hidden defending production is included in the total production for all players shown; as described above hidden defending ratings from the regular season are used.
--Beginning in 2011 we show just the combined listing; in prior years we separately showed the rank lists by team but this is now considered to be unnecessary.
Marc Gasol, C 60.11 GRIZZLIES
Zach Randolph, PF 55.16 GRIZZLIES
Kevin Durant, SF 53.48 THUNDER
Russell Westbrook, PG 53.14 THUNDER
James Harden, SG 52.87 THUNDER
O.J. Mayo, SG 33.92 GRIZZLIES
Shane Battier, SF 26.91 GRIZZLIES
Mike Conley, PG 23.75 GRIZZLIES
Nick Collison, PF 23.24 THUNDER
Greivis Vasquez, PG 21.60 GRIZZLIES
Nazr Mohammed, C 17.02 THUNDER
Daequan Cook, SG 14.90 THUNDER
Kendrick Perkins, C 8.96 THUNDER
Thabo Sefolosha, SG 8.38 THUNDER
Tony Allen, SG 7.28 GRIZZLIES
Serge Ibaka, PF 6.83 THUNDER
Eric Maynor, PG 3.99 THUNDER
Sam Young, SG 2.85 GRIZZLIES
Darrell Arthur, PF -1.05 GRIZZLIES
=============== OFFENSIVE AND DEFENSIVE SUB RATINGS FOR THIS GAME ===============
OFFENSIVE SUB RATINGS FOR THIS GAME
--Shows the real quality of players' offense.
--Players who played at least 7 minutes in the game are included.
--The hidden defending component is not a part of the offensive sub rating.
--Beginning in 2011 we show just the combined listing; in prior years we separately showed the rank lists by team but this is now considered to be unnecessary.
O.J. Mayo, SG 0.787 GRIZZLIES
Russell Westbrook, PG 0.706 THUNDER
James Harden, SG 0.666 THUNDER
Greivis Vasquez, PG 0.570 GRIZZLIES
Zach Randolph, PF 0.547 GRIZZLIES
Marc Gasol, C 0.502 GRIZZLIES
Kevin Durant, SF 0.455 THUNDER
Shane Battier, SF 0.385 GRIZZLIES
Nazr Mohammed, C 0.379 THUNDER
Mike Conley, PG 0.375 GRIZZLIES
Thabo Sefolosha, SG 0.296 THUNDER
Serge Ibaka, PF 0.246 THUNDER
Nick Collison, PF 0.183 THUNDER
Daequan Cook, SG 0.171 THUNDER
Eric Maynor, PG 0.137 THUNDER
Kendrick Perkins, C -0.062 THUNDER
Tony Allen, SG -0.106 GRIZZLIES
Sam Young, SG -0.164 GRIZZLIES
Darrell Arthur, PF -0.343 GRIZZLIES
THE AVERAGE OFFENSIVE SUB RATING
for all NBA players who play 300 minutes or more is about .385
DEFENSIVE SUB RATINGS FOR THIS GAME
--Shows the real quality of players' defense.
--Players who played at least 7 minutes in the game are included.
--The hidden defending component is included as described above.
--Beginning in 2011 we show just the combined listing; in prior years we separately showed the rank lists by team but this is now considered to be unnecessary.
Marc Gasol, C 0.553 GRIZZLIES
Kevin Durant, SF 0.483 THUNDER
Nick Collison, PF 0.481 THUNDER
Nazr Mohammed, C 0.472 THUNDER
Daequan Cook, SG 0.450 THUNDER
Zach Randolph, PF 0.438 GRIZZLIES
James Harden, SG 0.413 THUNDER
Sam Young, SG 0.343 GRIZZLIES
Russell Westbrook, PG 0.336 THUNDER
Tony Allen, SG 0.327 GRIZZLIES
Kendrick Perkins, C 0.317 THUNDER
Shane Battier, SF 0.305 GRIZZLIES
Thabo Sefolosha, SG 0.262 THUNDER
Mike Conley, PG 0.250 GRIZZLIES
Greivis Vasquez, PG 0.230 GRIZZLIES
Darrell Arthur, PF 0.226 GRIZZLIES
Eric Maynor, PG 0.195 THUNDER
Serge Ibaka, PF 0.156 THUNDER
O.J. Mayo, SG 0.130 GRIZZLIES
THE AVERAGE DEFENSIVE SUB RATING
for all NBA players who play 300 minutes or more is about .315
The breakdown between hidden and unhidden defending is available on request.
THE ALL IMPORTANT, AWARD WINNING REAL PLAYER RATINGS USER GUIDE
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.
ABOUT REAL PLAYER RATINGS REPORTS
Of the several dozen types of Reports that Quest for the Ring (QFTR) produces, Team Real Player Rating Reports are among the most important. A Real Player Rating Report gives you four very important ratings for every player in the Report:
--Overall Real Player Rating
--Real Player Production
--Offensive Sub Rating
--Defensive Sub Rating
These Reports are formatted reports. Formatted reports have a pre-set format and there is little or no custom commentary included. The whole idea of formatted reports is to provide a very large amount of important information very efficiently. The carefully planned and long evolved and perfected formatting eliminates the need for time-consuming custom text reporting in contexts where there is really no need for it. But to fully understand a formatted Report you need to be familiar with the User Guide for it.
There are two things you can do to get the full value out of RPR Reports. First, you can read parts or all of the User Guide for them (the link to the Guide is below). Second, you can simply visit a lot and see a lot of Reports and then you will automatically become better at interpreting what you see.
In contrast to formatted reports, QFTR breaks new ground in general and reveals its latest discoveries about basketball in particular in free form (non-formatted) text reports. While formatted posts are "on the reservation", non-formatted text reports are where QFTR "goes off the reservation". Both types of reports are essential; having just one type without the other type would reduce the value of QFTR by MORE than half.
QFTR is considering some kind of labelling system for posts that will allow visitors to even more easily than ever get to content they want or need.
During the regular season beginning in late January (when we can first validly calculate the hidden defending adjustments) QFTR posts Team Real Player Ratings for major contending teams and other selected teams as time permits. Between the end of the regular season and before the Conference Finals begin (in late April and in early May) QFTR posts the final ratings for approximately the ten best teams as of the beginning of the playoffs. If there is a major upset in round one and/or round two by a team whose ratings were not yet posted, QFTR will make sure to post those asap.
These final ratings can be used in team grids that are very important parts of any playoff series preview.
Unfortunately, production time limits that are caused partly by limited traffic mean that only a small number of playoff series previews can be produced. Remember, you can help QFTR get more production time by posting links to QFTR wherever you can, and then QFTR will link back to you on request (click the contact link under the banner).
Game Real Player Ratings Reports are produced for every NBA Championship game, every NBA Conference Final game, and for selected NBA semifinal games. For the semifinals, normally, the most interesting semifinal (round two) series will be selected (out of the four of them) and Real Player Ratings for every game in that series will be posted.
After the playoffs are completely over and the off-season arrives, QFTR has enough time to produce and publish a final annual Real Player Ratings Report for all thirty NBA teams. These annual records of who was really the best and who really did what are scheduled to be posted in late June and in early July. They are posted in alphabetic order by team starting with the Atlanta Hawks and ending with the Washington Wizards. The ones for the top teams that were posted in late April-early May are repeated so there is a complete set in alpha and chronological sequence.
If you ever spend quality time at QFTR you will discover that there are other types of Real Player Rating Reports. Many of these appear in the summer. Among the most important ones that come out in the summer are the League-Wide Real Player Ratings Reports. Also, don't miss the Real Player Ratings Reports by position if you are a serious basketball person.
This section was a limited and brief overview of Real Player Ratings Reports in general. What you need if you want to understand how the Ratings are constructed and why QFTR knows they are the best possible ratings is the User Guide for Real Player Ratings. This User Guide was last revised and updated in May 2010; a new revision is "on order" and is expected to be completed in May or June of 2011. The May 2010 edition is still very useful; the only section of it that is not completely accurate is the one where the specific factors are shown; the factors have been adjusted a little to reflect the latest information and understanding QFTR has about exactly how playoff games are won. There has also been a significant improvement in the calibration and validation of Real Player Ratings components.
So 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.
MAY 9 2011
MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE
OKLAHOMA THUNDER 133 MEMPHIS GRIZZLIES 123, 3 OVERTIMES
BEST OF SEVEN SERIES TIED 2-2
KEY PLAYERS WHO DID NOT PLAY
--These are the above average players who would have or should have played but did not.
--The reason is shown after the player if and only if it is known with at least 85% certainty.
--Usually the reason is known with 100% certainty.
--If the reason is not known with at least 85% certainty, the reason "unknown" is given.
--Injuries are NOT perfectly reported and information about them is archived nowhere on the Internet. Therefore, it is possible that when Quest for the Ring identifies "coaching error" or "unknown" as the reason, the real reason may have been an injury.
--If the reason "traded" is shown then in many cases a player who was obtained in that trade played instead.
GRIZZLIES Rudy Gay >>> injured
THUNDER All above average players played in this game.
REAL PLAYER RATINGS FOR THIS GAME
--Real Player Rating shows you the real basketball quality of players quickly and accurately.
--Players who played at least 7 minutes in the game are included.
--Each player's hidden defending rating from the regular season is used as the Hidden Defending Adjustment (HDA). Obviously, players in any individual game including this one were not exactly as good defenders as they were on the average during the regular season. But since there is no way to provide HDA for individual games and since it is better to have some reasonable HDA than none at all, we use the season HDA as a reasonable substitute.
--Beginning in 2011 we show just the combined listing; in prior years we separately showed the rank lists by team but this is now considered to be unnecessary.
James Harden, SG 1.079 THUNDER
Marc Gasol, C 1.055 GRIZZLIES
Russell Westbrook, PG 1.042 THUNDER
Zach Randolph, PF 0.985 GRIZZLIES
Kevin Durant, SF 0.938 THUNDER
O.J. Mayo, SG 0.917 GRIZZLIES
Nazr Mohammed, C 0.851 THUNDER
Greivis Vasquez, PG 0.800 GRIZZLIES
Shane Battier, SF 0.690 GRIZZLIES
Nick Collison, PF 0.664 THUNDER
Mike Conley, PG 0.625 GRIZZLIES
Daequan Cook, SG 0.621 THUNDER
Thabo Sefolosha, SG 0.559 THUNDER
Serge Ibaka, PF 0.402 THUNDER
Eric Maynor, PG 0.332 THUNDER
Kendrick Perkins, C 0.256 THUNDER
Tony Allen, SG 0.221 GRIZZLIES
Sam Young, SG 0.178 GRIZZLIES
Darrell Arthur, PF -0.117 GRIZZLIES
SCALE FOR REGULAR SEASON REAL PLAYER RATINGS FOR A SINGLE GAME
Perfect Player for all Practical Purposes / Major Historic Super Star 1.200 and more
Historic Super Star 1.080 1.199
Super Star 0.960 1.079
A Star Player / A well above normal starter 0.860 0.959
Very Good Player / A solid starter 0.780 0.859
Major Role Player / Good enough to start 0.700 0.779
Good Role Player / Often a good 6th man, can possibly start 0.620 0.699
Satisfactory Role Player / Generally should not start 0.540 0.619
Marginal Role Player / Should not start except in an emergency 0.460 0.539
Poor Player / Should never start 0.380 0.459
Very Poor Player 0.300 0.379
Extremely Poor Player 0.299 and less
AVERAGE RATINGS BY POSITION
Not all positions are created equal. In pro basketball, point guard and center are the most important positions, power forward is in the middle, and small forward and shooting guard are the least important. (Some teams will have a different pattern.) The following are good estimates for average ratings by position among all NBA players who play 300 minutes or more. There are very few small forwards and shooting guards who don't fit at other positions who are superstars. Most superstars are players who can play point guard, power forward, or center.
Point Guard .750
Shooting Guard .635
Small Forward .645
Power Forward .715
Center .755
All Positions / All Players (NBA Overall Average) .700
To quickly and fairly compare two players who play different positions, convert their Ratings as follows:
Point Guards: Subtract .050; for example, .700 becomes .650
Shooting Guards: Add .065; for example, .700 becomes .765
Small Forwards: Add .055; for example, .700 becomes .755
Power Forwards: Subtract .015; for example, .700 becomes .685
Centers: Subtract .055; for example, .700 becomes .645
REAL PLAYER PRODUCTION FOR THIS GAME
--Shows the real basketball production (or quantity) of players.
--Players who played at least 7 minutes in the game are included.
--An estimate of the value of hidden defending production is included in the total production for all players shown; as described above hidden defending ratings from the regular season are used.
--Beginning in 2011 we show just the combined listing; in prior years we separately showed the rank lists by team but this is now considered to be unnecessary.
Marc Gasol, C 60.11 GRIZZLIES
Zach Randolph, PF 55.16 GRIZZLIES
Kevin Durant, SF 53.48 THUNDER
Russell Westbrook, PG 53.14 THUNDER
James Harden, SG 52.87 THUNDER
O.J. Mayo, SG 33.92 GRIZZLIES
Shane Battier, SF 26.91 GRIZZLIES
Mike Conley, PG 23.75 GRIZZLIES
Nick Collison, PF 23.24 THUNDER
Greivis Vasquez, PG 21.60 GRIZZLIES
Nazr Mohammed, C 17.02 THUNDER
Daequan Cook, SG 14.90 THUNDER
Kendrick Perkins, C 8.96 THUNDER
Thabo Sefolosha, SG 8.38 THUNDER
Tony Allen, SG 7.28 GRIZZLIES
Serge Ibaka, PF 6.83 THUNDER
Eric Maynor, PG 3.99 THUNDER
Sam Young, SG 2.85 GRIZZLIES
Darrell Arthur, PF -1.05 GRIZZLIES
=============== OFFENSIVE AND DEFENSIVE SUB RATINGS FOR THIS GAME ===============
OFFENSIVE SUB RATINGS FOR THIS GAME
--Shows the real quality of players' offense.
--Players who played at least 7 minutes in the game are included.
--The hidden defending component is not a part of the offensive sub rating.
--Beginning in 2011 we show just the combined listing; in prior years we separately showed the rank lists by team but this is now considered to be unnecessary.
O.J. Mayo, SG 0.787 GRIZZLIES
Russell Westbrook, PG 0.706 THUNDER
James Harden, SG 0.666 THUNDER
Greivis Vasquez, PG 0.570 GRIZZLIES
Zach Randolph, PF 0.547 GRIZZLIES
Marc Gasol, C 0.502 GRIZZLIES
Kevin Durant, SF 0.455 THUNDER
Shane Battier, SF 0.385 GRIZZLIES
Nazr Mohammed, C 0.379 THUNDER
Mike Conley, PG 0.375 GRIZZLIES
Thabo Sefolosha, SG 0.296 THUNDER
Serge Ibaka, PF 0.246 THUNDER
Nick Collison, PF 0.183 THUNDER
Daequan Cook, SG 0.171 THUNDER
Eric Maynor, PG 0.137 THUNDER
Kendrick Perkins, C -0.062 THUNDER
Tony Allen, SG -0.106 GRIZZLIES
Sam Young, SG -0.164 GRIZZLIES
Darrell Arthur, PF -0.343 GRIZZLIES
THE AVERAGE OFFENSIVE SUB RATING
for all NBA players who play 300 minutes or more is about .385
DEFENSIVE SUB RATINGS FOR THIS GAME
--Shows the real quality of players' defense.
--Players who played at least 7 minutes in the game are included.
--The hidden defending component is included as described above.
--Beginning in 2011 we show just the combined listing; in prior years we separately showed the rank lists by team but this is now considered to be unnecessary.
Marc Gasol, C 0.553 GRIZZLIES
Kevin Durant, SF 0.483 THUNDER
Nick Collison, PF 0.481 THUNDER
Nazr Mohammed, C 0.472 THUNDER
Daequan Cook, SG 0.450 THUNDER
Zach Randolph, PF 0.438 GRIZZLIES
James Harden, SG 0.413 THUNDER
Sam Young, SG 0.343 GRIZZLIES
Russell Westbrook, PG 0.336 THUNDER
Tony Allen, SG 0.327 GRIZZLIES
Kendrick Perkins, C 0.317 THUNDER
Shane Battier, SF 0.305 GRIZZLIES
Thabo Sefolosha, SG 0.262 THUNDER
Mike Conley, PG 0.250 GRIZZLIES
Greivis Vasquez, PG 0.230 GRIZZLIES
Darrell Arthur, PF 0.226 GRIZZLIES
Eric Maynor, PG 0.195 THUNDER
Serge Ibaka, PF 0.156 THUNDER
O.J. Mayo, SG 0.130 GRIZZLIES
THE AVERAGE DEFENSIVE SUB RATING
for all NBA players who play 300 minutes or more is about .315
The breakdown between hidden and unhidden defending is available on request.
THE ALL IMPORTANT, AWARD WINNING REAL PLAYER RATINGS USER GUIDE
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.
ABOUT REAL PLAYER RATINGS REPORTS
Of the several dozen types of Reports that Quest for the Ring (QFTR) produces, Team Real Player Rating Reports are among the most important. A Real Player Rating Report gives you four very important ratings for every player in the Report:
--Overall Real Player Rating
--Real Player Production
--Offensive Sub Rating
--Defensive Sub Rating
These Reports are formatted reports. Formatted reports have a pre-set format and there is little or no custom commentary included. The whole idea of formatted reports is to provide a very large amount of important information very efficiently. The carefully planned and long evolved and perfected formatting eliminates the need for time-consuming custom text reporting in contexts where there is really no need for it. But to fully understand a formatted Report you need to be familiar with the User Guide for it.
There are two things you can do to get the full value out of RPR Reports. First, you can read parts or all of the User Guide for them (the link to the Guide is below). Second, you can simply visit a lot and see a lot of Reports and then you will automatically become better at interpreting what you see.
In contrast to formatted reports, QFTR breaks new ground in general and reveals its latest discoveries about basketball in particular in free form (non-formatted) text reports. While formatted posts are "on the reservation", non-formatted text reports are where QFTR "goes off the reservation". Both types of reports are essential; having just one type without the other type would reduce the value of QFTR by MORE than half.
QFTR is considering some kind of labelling system for posts that will allow visitors to even more easily than ever get to content they want or need.
During the regular season beginning in late January (when we can first validly calculate the hidden defending adjustments) QFTR posts Team Real Player Ratings for major contending teams and other selected teams as time permits. Between the end of the regular season and before the Conference Finals begin (in late April and in early May) QFTR posts the final ratings for approximately the ten best teams as of the beginning of the playoffs. If there is a major upset in round one and/or round two by a team whose ratings were not yet posted, QFTR will make sure to post those asap.
These final ratings can be used in team grids that are very important parts of any playoff series preview.
Unfortunately, production time limits that are caused partly by limited traffic mean that only a small number of playoff series previews can be produced. Remember, you can help QFTR get more production time by posting links to QFTR wherever you can, and then QFTR will link back to you on request (click the contact link under the banner).
Game Real Player Ratings Reports are produced for every NBA Championship game, every NBA Conference Final game, and for selected NBA semifinal games. For the semifinals, normally, the most interesting semifinal (round two) series will be selected (out of the four of them) and Real Player Ratings for every game in that series will be posted.
After the playoffs are completely over and the off-season arrives, QFTR has enough time to produce and publish a final annual Real Player Ratings Report for all thirty NBA teams. These annual records of who was really the best and who really did what are scheduled to be posted in late June and in early July. They are posted in alphabetic order by team starting with the Atlanta Hawks and ending with the Washington Wizards. The ones for the top teams that were posted in late April-early May are repeated so there is a complete set in alpha and chronological sequence.
If you ever spend quality time at QFTR you will discover that there are other types of Real Player Rating Reports. Many of these appear in the summer. Among the most important ones that come out in the summer are the League-Wide Real Player Ratings Reports. Also, don't miss the Real Player Ratings Reports by position if you are a serious basketball person.
This section was a limited and brief overview of Real Player Ratings Reports in general. What you need if you want to understand how the Ratings are constructed and why QFTR knows they are the best possible ratings is the User Guide for Real Player Ratings. This User Guide was last revised and updated in May 2010; a new revision is "on order" and is expected to be completed in May or June of 2011. The May 2010 edition is still very useful; the only section of it that is not completely accurate is the one where the specific factors are shown; the factors have been adjusted a little to reflect the latest information and understanding QFTR has about exactly how playoff games are won. There has also been a significant improvement in the calibration and validation of Real Player Ratings components.
So 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.
Real Player Ratings for the 2011 East Semifinal Game Four: Miami Heat 98 Boston Celtics 90, Overtime
2011 EAST SEMIFINAL MIAMI HEAT VS BOSTON CELTICS GAME FOUR REAL PLAYER RATINGS
MAY 9 2011
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS
MIAMI HEAT 98 BOSTON CELTICS 90, OVERTIME
MIAMI LEADS BEST OF SEVEN SERIES 3-1
KEY PLAYERS WHO DID NOT PLAY
--These are the above average players who would have or should have played but did not.
--The reason is shown after the player if and only if it is known with at least 85% certainty.
--Usually the reason is known with 100% certainty.
--If the reason is not known with at least 85% certainty, the reason "unknown" is given.
--Injuries are NOT perfectly reported and information about them is archived nowhere on the Internet. Therefore, it is possible that when Quest for the Ring identifies "coaching error" or "unknown" as the reason, the real reason may have been an injury.
--If the reason "traded" is shown then in many cases a player who was obtained in that trade played instead.
CELTICS Marquis Daniels >>> traded
CELTICS Kendrick Perkins >>> traded
CELTICS Shaquille O'Neal >>> played only 4 minutes > coaching error or possibly effects of previous injury
CELTICS Nenad Kristic >>> Two players as good or better at the position played
CELTICS Von Wafer >>> Two better players at the position played
HEAT Udonis Haslem >>> played only 3 minutes > coaching error or possibly effects of previous injury
HEAT Eddie House >>> played only 3 minutes > coaching error
REAL PLAYER RATINGS FOR THIS GAME
--Real Player Rating shows you the real basketball quality of players quickly and accurately.
--Players who played at least 7 minutes in the game are included.
--Each player's hidden defending rating from the regular season is used as the Hidden Defending Adjustment (HDA). Obviously, players in any individual game including this one were not exactly as good defenders as they were on the average during the regular season. But since there is no way to provide HDA for individual games and since it is better to have some reasonable HDA than none at all, we use the season HDA as a reasonable substitute.
--Beginning in 2011 we show just the combined listing; in prior years we separately showed the rank lists by team but this is now considered to be unnecessary.
LeBron James, SF 1.147 HEAT
Paul Pierce, SF 1.023 CELTICS
Chris Bosh, PF 0.939 HEAT
Dwyane Wade, SG 0.929 HEAT
Jermaine O'Neal, C 0.902 CELTICS
Delonte West, SG 0.645 CELTICS
Rajon Rondo, PG 0.643 CELTICS
Ray Allen, SG 0.639 CELTICS
Kevin Garnett, PF 0.606 CELTICS
Joel Anthony, C 0.549 HEAT
Jeff Green, F 0.524 CELTICS
Mario Chalmers, PG 0.445 HEAT
James Jones, SF 0.403 HEAT
Glen Davis, PF 0.143 CELTICS
Mike Bibby, PG -0.158 HEAT
Mike Miller, SG -0.362 HEAT
SCALE FOR REGULAR SEASON REAL PLAYER RATINGS FOR A SINGLE GAME
Perfect Player for all Practical Purposes / Major Historic Super Star 1.200 and more
Historic Super Star 1.080 1.199
Super Star 0.960 1.079
A Star Player / A well above normal starter 0.860 0.959
Very Good Player / A solid starter 0.780 0.859
Major Role Player / Good enough to start 0.700 0.779
Good Role Player / Often a good 6th man, can possibly start 0.620 0.699
Satisfactory Role Player / Generally should not start 0.540 0.619
Marginal Role Player / Should not start except in an emergency 0.460 0.539
Poor Player / Should never start 0.380 0.459
Very Poor Player 0.300 0.379
Extremely Poor Player 0.299 and less
AVERAGE RATINGS BY POSITION
Not all positions are created equal. In pro basketball, point guard and center are the most important positions, power forward is in the middle, and small forward and shooting guard are the least important. (Some teams will have a different pattern.) The following are good estimates for average ratings by position among all NBA players who play 300 minutes or more. There are very few small forwards and shooting guards who don't fit at other positions who are superstars. Most superstars are players who can play point guard, power forward, or center.
Point Guard .750
Shooting Guard .635
Small Forward .645
Power Forward .715
Center .755
All Positions / All Players (NBA Overall Average) .700
To quickly and fairly compare two players who play different positions, convert their Ratings as follows:
Point Guards: Subtract .050; for example, .700 becomes .650
Shooting Guards: Add .065; for example, .700 becomes .765
Small Forwards: Add .055; for example, .700 becomes .755
Power Forwards: Subtract .015; for example, .700 becomes .685
Centers: Subtract .055; for example, .700 becomes .645
REAL PLAYER PRODUCTION FOR THIS GAME
--Shows the real basketball production (or quantity) of players.
--Players who played at least 7 minutes in the game are included.
--An estimate of the value of hidden defending production is included in the total production for all players shown; as described above hidden defending ratings from the regular season are used.
--Beginning in 2011 we show just the combined listing; in prior years we separately showed the rank lists by team but this is now considered to be unnecessary.
LeBron James, SF 57.35 HEAT
Paul Pierce, SF 46.04 CELTICS
Chris Bosh, PF 42.27 HEAT
Dwyane Wade, SG 41.81 HEAT
Ray Allen, SG 28.77 CELTICS
Jermaine O'Neal, C 25.26 CELTICS
Kevin Garnett, PF 24.86 CELTICS
Rajon Rondo, PG 24.44 CELTICS
Delonte West, SG 19.36 CELTICS
Joel Anthony, C 17.03 HEAT
James Jones, SF 12.08 HEAT
Mario Chalmers, PG 11.57 HEAT
Jeff Green, F 8.91 CELTICS
Glen Davis, PF 2.43 CELTICS
Mike Miller, SG -2.54 HEAT
Mike Bibby, PG -3.31 HEAT
=============== OFFENSIVE AND DEFENSIVE SUB RATINGS FOR THIS GAME ===============
OFFENSIVE SUB RATINGS FOR THIS GAME
--Shows the real quality of players' offense.
--Players who played at least 7 minutes in the game are included.
--The hidden defending component is not a part of the offensive sub rating.
--Beginning in 2011 we show just the combined listing; in prior years we separately showed the rank lists by team but this is now considered to be unnecessary.
Dwyane Wade, SG 0.609 HEAT
LeBron James, SF 0.561 HEAT
Paul Pierce, SF 0.458 CELTICS
Jermaine O'Neal, C 0.451 CELTICS
Chris Bosh, PF 0.390 HEAT
Rajon Rondo, PG 0.385 CELTICS
Jeff Green, F 0.296 CELTICS
Ray Allen, SG 0.284 CELTICS
Delonte West, SG 0.163 CELTICS
Joel Anthony, C 0.094 HEAT
Mario Chalmers, PG 0.090 HEAT
James Jones, SF 0.015 HEAT
Glen Davis, PF -0.018 CELTICS
Kevin Garnett, PF -0.085 CELTICS
Mike Bibby, PG -0.156 HEAT
Mike Miller, SG -0.289 HEAT
THE AVERAGE OFFENSIVE SUB RATING
for all NBA players who play 300 minutes or more is about .385
DEFENSIVE SUB RATINGS FOR THIS GAME
--Shows the real quality of players' defense.
--Players who played at least 7 minutes in the game are included.
--The hidden defending component is included as described above.
--Beginning in 2011 we show just the combined listing; in prior years we separately showed the rank lists by team but this is now considered to be unnecessary.
Kevin Garnett, PF 0.691 CELTICS
LeBron James, SF 0.586 HEAT
Paul Pierce, SF 0.565 CELTICS
Chris Bosh, PF 0.549 HEAT
Delonte West, SG 0.483 CELTICS
Joel Anthony, C 0.455 HEAT
Jermaine O'Neal, C 0.451 CELTICS
James Jones, SF 0.387 HEAT
Ray Allen, SG 0.355 CELTICS
Mario Chalmers, PG 0.355 HEAT
Dwyane Wade, SG 0.320 HEAT
Rajon Rondo, PG 0.258 CELTICS
Jeff Green, F 0.228 CELTICS
Glen Davis, PF 0.161 CELTICS
Mike Bibby, PG -0.002 HEAT
Mike Miller, SG -0.073 HEAT
THE AVERAGE DEFENSIVE SUB RATING
for all NBA players who play 300 minutes or more is about .315
The breakdown between hidden and unhidden defending is available on request.
THE ALL IMPORTANT, AWARD WINNING REAL PLAYER RATINGS USER GUIDE
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.
ABOUT REAL PLAYER RATINGS REPORTS
Of the several dozen types of Reports that Quest for the Ring (QFTR) produces, Team Real Player Rating Reports are among the most important. A Real Player Rating Report gives you four very important ratings for every player in the Report:
--Overall Real Player Rating
--Real Player Production
--Offensive Sub Rating
--Defensive Sub Rating
These Reports are formatted reports. Formatted reports have a pre-set format and there is little or no custom commentary included. The whole idea of formatted reports is to provide a very large amount of important information very efficiently. The carefully planned and long evolved and perfected formatting eliminates the need for time-consuming custom text reporting in contexts where there is really no need for it. But to fully understand a formatted Report you need to be familiar with the User Guide for it.
There are two things you can do to get the full value out of RPR Reports. First, you can read parts or all of the User Guide for them (the link to the Guide is below). Second, you can simply visit a lot and see a lot of Reports and then you will automatically become better at interpreting what you see.
In contrast to formatted reports, QFTR breaks new ground in general and reveals its latest discoveries about basketball in particular in free form (non-formatted) text reports. While formatted posts are "on the reservation", non-formatted text reports are where QFTR "goes off the reservation". Both types of reports are essential; having just one type without the other type would reduce the value of QFTR by MORE than half.
QFTR is considering some kind of labelling system for posts that will allow visitors to even more easily than ever get to content they want or need.
During the regular season beginning in late January (when we can first validly calculate the hidden defending adjustments) QFTR posts Team Real Player Ratings for major contending teams and other selected teams as time permits. Between the end of the regular season and before the Conference Finals begin (in late April and in early May) QFTR posts the final ratings for approximately the ten best teams as of the beginning of the playoffs. If there is a major upset in round one and/or round two by a team whose ratings were not yet posted, QFTR will make sure to post those asap.
These final ratings can be used in team grids that are very important parts of any playoff series preview.
Unfortunately, production time limits that are caused partly by limited traffic mean that only a small number of playoff series previews can be produced. Remember, you can help QFTR get more production time by posting links to QFTR wherever you can, and then QFTR will link back to you on request (click the contact link under the banner).
Game Real Player Ratings Reports are produced for every NBA Championship game, every NBA Conference Final game, and for selected NBA semifinal games. For the semifinals, normally, the most interesting semifinal (round two) series will be selected (out of the four of them) and Real Player Ratings for every game in that series will be posted.
After the playoffs are completely over and the off-season arrives, QFTR has enough time to produce and publish a final annual Real Player Ratings Report for all thirty NBA teams. These annual records of who was really the best and who really did what are scheduled to be posted in late June and in early July. They are posted in alphabetic order by team starting with the Atlanta Hawks and ending with the Washington Wizards. The ones for the top teams that were posted in late April-early May are repeated so there is a complete set in alpha and chronological sequence.
If you ever spend quality time at QFTR you will discover that there are other types of Real Player Rating Reports. Many of these appear in the summer. Among the most important ones that come out in the summer are the League-Wide Real Player Ratings Reports. Also, don't miss the Real Player Ratings Reports by position if you are a serious basketball person.
This section was a limited and brief overview of Real Player Ratings Reports in general. What you need if you want to understand how the Ratings are constructed and why QFTR knows they are the best possible ratings is the User Guide for Real Player Ratings. This User Guide was last revised and updated in May 2010; a new revision is "on order" and is expected to be completed in May or June of 2011. The May 2010 edition is still very useful; the only section of it that is not completely accurate is the one where the specific factors are shown; the factors have been adjusted a little to reflect the latest information and understanding QFTR has about exactly how playoff games are won. There has also been a significant improvement in the calibration and validation of Real Player Ratings components.
So 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.
MAY 9 2011
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS
MIAMI HEAT 98 BOSTON CELTICS 90, OVERTIME
MIAMI LEADS BEST OF SEVEN SERIES 3-1
KEY PLAYERS WHO DID NOT PLAY
--These are the above average players who would have or should have played but did not.
--The reason is shown after the player if and only if it is known with at least 85% certainty.
--Usually the reason is known with 100% certainty.
--If the reason is not known with at least 85% certainty, the reason "unknown" is given.
--Injuries are NOT perfectly reported and information about them is archived nowhere on the Internet. Therefore, it is possible that when Quest for the Ring identifies "coaching error" or "unknown" as the reason, the real reason may have been an injury.
--If the reason "traded" is shown then in many cases a player who was obtained in that trade played instead.
CELTICS Marquis Daniels >>> traded
CELTICS Kendrick Perkins >>> traded
CELTICS Shaquille O'Neal >>> played only 4 minutes > coaching error or possibly effects of previous injury
CELTICS Nenad Kristic >>> Two players as good or better at the position played
CELTICS Von Wafer >>> Two better players at the position played
HEAT Udonis Haslem >>> played only 3 minutes > coaching error or possibly effects of previous injury
HEAT Eddie House >>> played only 3 minutes > coaching error
REAL PLAYER RATINGS FOR THIS GAME
--Real Player Rating shows you the real basketball quality of players quickly and accurately.
--Players who played at least 7 minutes in the game are included.
--Each player's hidden defending rating from the regular season is used as the Hidden Defending Adjustment (HDA). Obviously, players in any individual game including this one were not exactly as good defenders as they were on the average during the regular season. But since there is no way to provide HDA for individual games and since it is better to have some reasonable HDA than none at all, we use the season HDA as a reasonable substitute.
--Beginning in 2011 we show just the combined listing; in prior years we separately showed the rank lists by team but this is now considered to be unnecessary.
LeBron James, SF 1.147 HEAT
Paul Pierce, SF 1.023 CELTICS
Chris Bosh, PF 0.939 HEAT
Dwyane Wade, SG 0.929 HEAT
Jermaine O'Neal, C 0.902 CELTICS
Delonte West, SG 0.645 CELTICS
Rajon Rondo, PG 0.643 CELTICS
Ray Allen, SG 0.639 CELTICS
Kevin Garnett, PF 0.606 CELTICS
Joel Anthony, C 0.549 HEAT
Jeff Green, F 0.524 CELTICS
Mario Chalmers, PG 0.445 HEAT
James Jones, SF 0.403 HEAT
Glen Davis, PF 0.143 CELTICS
Mike Bibby, PG -0.158 HEAT
Mike Miller, SG -0.362 HEAT
SCALE FOR REGULAR SEASON REAL PLAYER RATINGS FOR A SINGLE GAME
Perfect Player for all Practical Purposes / Major Historic Super Star 1.200 and more
Historic Super Star 1.080 1.199
Super Star 0.960 1.079
A Star Player / A well above normal starter 0.860 0.959
Very Good Player / A solid starter 0.780 0.859
Major Role Player / Good enough to start 0.700 0.779
Good Role Player / Often a good 6th man, can possibly start 0.620 0.699
Satisfactory Role Player / Generally should not start 0.540 0.619
Marginal Role Player / Should not start except in an emergency 0.460 0.539
Poor Player / Should never start 0.380 0.459
Very Poor Player 0.300 0.379
Extremely Poor Player 0.299 and less
AVERAGE RATINGS BY POSITION
Not all positions are created equal. In pro basketball, point guard and center are the most important positions, power forward is in the middle, and small forward and shooting guard are the least important. (Some teams will have a different pattern.) The following are good estimates for average ratings by position among all NBA players who play 300 minutes or more. There are very few small forwards and shooting guards who don't fit at other positions who are superstars. Most superstars are players who can play point guard, power forward, or center.
Point Guard .750
Shooting Guard .635
Small Forward .645
Power Forward .715
Center .755
All Positions / All Players (NBA Overall Average) .700
To quickly and fairly compare two players who play different positions, convert their Ratings as follows:
Point Guards: Subtract .050; for example, .700 becomes .650
Shooting Guards: Add .065; for example, .700 becomes .765
Small Forwards: Add .055; for example, .700 becomes .755
Power Forwards: Subtract .015; for example, .700 becomes .685
Centers: Subtract .055; for example, .700 becomes .645
REAL PLAYER PRODUCTION FOR THIS GAME
--Shows the real basketball production (or quantity) of players.
--Players who played at least 7 minutes in the game are included.
--An estimate of the value of hidden defending production is included in the total production for all players shown; as described above hidden defending ratings from the regular season are used.
--Beginning in 2011 we show just the combined listing; in prior years we separately showed the rank lists by team but this is now considered to be unnecessary.
LeBron James, SF 57.35 HEAT
Paul Pierce, SF 46.04 CELTICS
Chris Bosh, PF 42.27 HEAT
Dwyane Wade, SG 41.81 HEAT
Ray Allen, SG 28.77 CELTICS
Jermaine O'Neal, C 25.26 CELTICS
Kevin Garnett, PF 24.86 CELTICS
Rajon Rondo, PG 24.44 CELTICS
Delonte West, SG 19.36 CELTICS
Joel Anthony, C 17.03 HEAT
James Jones, SF 12.08 HEAT
Mario Chalmers, PG 11.57 HEAT
Jeff Green, F 8.91 CELTICS
Glen Davis, PF 2.43 CELTICS
Mike Miller, SG -2.54 HEAT
Mike Bibby, PG -3.31 HEAT
=============== OFFENSIVE AND DEFENSIVE SUB RATINGS FOR THIS GAME ===============
OFFENSIVE SUB RATINGS FOR THIS GAME
--Shows the real quality of players' offense.
--Players who played at least 7 minutes in the game are included.
--The hidden defending component is not a part of the offensive sub rating.
--Beginning in 2011 we show just the combined listing; in prior years we separately showed the rank lists by team but this is now considered to be unnecessary.
Dwyane Wade, SG 0.609 HEAT
LeBron James, SF 0.561 HEAT
Paul Pierce, SF 0.458 CELTICS
Jermaine O'Neal, C 0.451 CELTICS
Chris Bosh, PF 0.390 HEAT
Rajon Rondo, PG 0.385 CELTICS
Jeff Green, F 0.296 CELTICS
Ray Allen, SG 0.284 CELTICS
Delonte West, SG 0.163 CELTICS
Joel Anthony, C 0.094 HEAT
Mario Chalmers, PG 0.090 HEAT
James Jones, SF 0.015 HEAT
Glen Davis, PF -0.018 CELTICS
Kevin Garnett, PF -0.085 CELTICS
Mike Bibby, PG -0.156 HEAT
Mike Miller, SG -0.289 HEAT
THE AVERAGE OFFENSIVE SUB RATING
for all NBA players who play 300 minutes or more is about .385
DEFENSIVE SUB RATINGS FOR THIS GAME
--Shows the real quality of players' defense.
--Players who played at least 7 minutes in the game are included.
--The hidden defending component is included as described above.
--Beginning in 2011 we show just the combined listing; in prior years we separately showed the rank lists by team but this is now considered to be unnecessary.
Kevin Garnett, PF 0.691 CELTICS
LeBron James, SF 0.586 HEAT
Paul Pierce, SF 0.565 CELTICS
Chris Bosh, PF 0.549 HEAT
Delonte West, SG 0.483 CELTICS
Joel Anthony, C 0.455 HEAT
Jermaine O'Neal, C 0.451 CELTICS
James Jones, SF 0.387 HEAT
Ray Allen, SG 0.355 CELTICS
Mario Chalmers, PG 0.355 HEAT
Dwyane Wade, SG 0.320 HEAT
Rajon Rondo, PG 0.258 CELTICS
Jeff Green, F 0.228 CELTICS
Glen Davis, PF 0.161 CELTICS
Mike Bibby, PG -0.002 HEAT
Mike Miller, SG -0.073 HEAT
THE AVERAGE DEFENSIVE SUB RATING
for all NBA players who play 300 minutes or more is about .315
The breakdown between hidden and unhidden defending is available on request.
THE ALL IMPORTANT, AWARD WINNING REAL PLAYER RATINGS USER GUIDE
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.
ABOUT REAL PLAYER RATINGS REPORTS
Of the several dozen types of Reports that Quest for the Ring (QFTR) produces, Team Real Player Rating Reports are among the most important. A Real Player Rating Report gives you four very important ratings for every player in the Report:
--Overall Real Player Rating
--Real Player Production
--Offensive Sub Rating
--Defensive Sub Rating
These Reports are formatted reports. Formatted reports have a pre-set format and there is little or no custom commentary included. The whole idea of formatted reports is to provide a very large amount of important information very efficiently. The carefully planned and long evolved and perfected formatting eliminates the need for time-consuming custom text reporting in contexts where there is really no need for it. But to fully understand a formatted Report you need to be familiar with the User Guide for it.
There are two things you can do to get the full value out of RPR Reports. First, you can read parts or all of the User Guide for them (the link to the Guide is below). Second, you can simply visit a lot and see a lot of Reports and then you will automatically become better at interpreting what you see.
In contrast to formatted reports, QFTR breaks new ground in general and reveals its latest discoveries about basketball in particular in free form (non-formatted) text reports. While formatted posts are "on the reservation", non-formatted text reports are where QFTR "goes off the reservation". Both types of reports are essential; having just one type without the other type would reduce the value of QFTR by MORE than half.
QFTR is considering some kind of labelling system for posts that will allow visitors to even more easily than ever get to content they want or need.
During the regular season beginning in late January (when we can first validly calculate the hidden defending adjustments) QFTR posts Team Real Player Ratings for major contending teams and other selected teams as time permits. Between the end of the regular season and before the Conference Finals begin (in late April and in early May) QFTR posts the final ratings for approximately the ten best teams as of the beginning of the playoffs. If there is a major upset in round one and/or round two by a team whose ratings were not yet posted, QFTR will make sure to post those asap.
These final ratings can be used in team grids that are very important parts of any playoff series preview.
Unfortunately, production time limits that are caused partly by limited traffic mean that only a small number of playoff series previews can be produced. Remember, you can help QFTR get more production time by posting links to QFTR wherever you can, and then QFTR will link back to you on request (click the contact link under the banner).
Game Real Player Ratings Reports are produced for every NBA Championship game, every NBA Conference Final game, and for selected NBA semifinal games. For the semifinals, normally, the most interesting semifinal (round two) series will be selected (out of the four of them) and Real Player Ratings for every game in that series will be posted.
After the playoffs are completely over and the off-season arrives, QFTR has enough time to produce and publish a final annual Real Player Ratings Report for all thirty NBA teams. These annual records of who was really the best and who really did what are scheduled to be posted in late June and in early July. They are posted in alphabetic order by team starting with the Atlanta Hawks and ending with the Washington Wizards. The ones for the top teams that were posted in late April-early May are repeated so there is a complete set in alpha and chronological sequence.
If you ever spend quality time at QFTR you will discover that there are other types of Real Player Rating Reports. Many of these appear in the summer. Among the most important ones that come out in the summer are the League-Wide Real Player Ratings Reports. Also, don't miss the Real Player Ratings Reports by position if you are a serious basketball person.
This section was a limited and brief overview of Real Player Ratings Reports in general. What you need if you want to understand how the Ratings are constructed and why QFTR knows they are the best possible ratings is the User Guide for Real Player Ratings. This User Guide was last revised and updated in May 2010; a new revision is "on order" and is expected to be completed in May or June of 2011. The May 2010 edition is still very useful; the only section of it that is not completely accurate is the one where the specific factors are shown; the factors have been adjusted a little to reflect the latest information and understanding QFTR has about exactly how playoff games are won. There has also been a significant improvement in the calibration and validation of Real Player Ratings components.
So 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.
Monday, May 9, 2011
Real Player Ratings for the 2011 East Semifinal Game Three: Boston Celtics 97 Miami Heat 81
2011 SEMIFINAL OKLAHOMA THUNDER VS MEMPHIS GRIZZLIES GAME THREE REAL PLAYER RATINGS
MAY 7 2011
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS
BOSTON CELTICS 97 MIAMI HEAT 81
MIAMI LEADS BEST OF SEVEN SERIES 2-1
KEY PLAYERS WHO DID NOT PLAY
--These are the above average players who would have or should have played but did not.
--The reason is shown after the player if and only if it is known with at least 85% certainty.
--Usually the reason is known with 100% certainty.
--If the reason is not known with at least 85% certainty, the reason "unknown" is given.
--Injuries are NOT perfectly reported and information about them is archived nowhere on the Internet. Therefore, it is possible that when Quest for the Ring identifies "coaching error" or "unknown" as the reason, the real reason may have been an injury.
--If the reason "traded" is shown then in many cases a player who was obtained in that trade played instead.
CELTICS Marquis Daniels >>> traded
CELTICS Kendrick Perkins >>> traded
CELTICS Nenad Kristic >>> Two players as good or better at the position played
CELTICS Von Wafer >>> two better players at the position played
HEAT Udonis Haslem >>> injured
HEAT Eddie House >>> coaching error
REAL PLAYER RATINGS FOR THIS GAME
--Real Player Rating shows you the real basketball quality of players quickly and accurately.
--Players who played at least 7 minutes in the game are included.
--Each player's hidden defending rating from the regular season is used as the Hidden Defending Adjustment (HDA). Obviously, players in any individual game including this one were not exactly as good defenders as they were on the average during the regular season. But since there is no way to provide HDA for individual games and since it is better to have some reasonable HDA than none at all, we use the season HDA as a reasonable substitute.
--Beginning in 2011 we show just the combined listing; in prior years we separately showed the rank lists by team but this is now considered to be unnecessary.
Kevin Garnett, PF 1.722 CELTICS
Mario Chalmers, PG 1.381 HEAT
Paul Pierce, SF 1.306 CELTICS
Joel Anthony, C 1.072 HEAT
Dwyane Wade, SG 1.012 HEAT
Jermaine O'Neal, C 0.799 CELTICS
Rajon Rondo, PG 0.779 CELTICS
Jeff Green, F 0.731 CELTICS
Ray Allen, SG 0.712 CELTICS
Delonte West, SG 0.707 CELTICS
LeBron James, SF 0.671 HEAT
Glen Davis, PF 0.633 CELTICS
Zydrunas Ilgauskas, C 0.615 HEAT
Chris Bosh, PF 0.534 HEAT
James Jones, SF 0.354 HEAT
Shaquille O'Neal, C 0.298 CELTICS
Mike Bibby, PG -0.326 HEAT
SCALE FOR REGULAR SEASON REAL PLAYER RATINGS FOR A SINGLE GAME
Perfect Player for all Practical Purposes / Major Historic Super Star 1.200 and more
Historic Super Star 1.080 1.199
Super Star 0.960 1.079
A Star Player / A well above normal starter 0.860 0.959
Very Good Player / A solid starter 0.780 0.859
Major Role Player / Good enough to start 0.700 0.779
Good Role Player / Often a good 6th man, can possibly start 0.620 0.699
Satisfactory Role Player / Generally should not start 0.540 0.619
Marginal Role Player / Should not start except in an emergency 0.460 0.539
Poor Player / Should never start 0.380 0.459
Very Poor Player 0.300 0.379
Extremely Poor Player 0.299 and less
AVERAGE RATINGS BY POSITION
Not all positions are created equal. In pro basketball, point guard and center are the most important positions, power forward is in the middle, and small forward and shooting guard are the least important. (Some teams will have a different pattern.) The following are good estimates for average ratings by position among all NBA players who play 300 minutes or more. There are very few small forwards and shooting guards who don't fit at other positions who are superstars. Most superstars are players who can play point guard, power forward, or center.
Point Guard .750
Shooting Guard .635
Small Forward .645
Power Forward .715
Center .755
All Positions / All Players (NBA Overall Average) .700
To quickly and fairly compare two players who play different positions, convert their Ratings as follows:
Point Guards: Subtract .050; for example, .700 becomes .650
Shooting Guards: Add .065; for example, .700 becomes .765
Small Forwards: Add .055; for example, .700 becomes .755
Power Forwards: Subtract .015; for example, .700 becomes .685
Centers: Subtract .055; for example, .700 becomes .645
REAL PLAYER PRODUCTION FOR THIS GAME
--Shows the real basketball production (or quantity) of players.
--Players who played at least 7 minutes in the game are included.
--An estimate of the value of hidden defending production is included in the total production for all players shown; as described above hidden defending ratings from the regular season are used.
--Beginning in 2011 we show just the combined listing; in prior years we separately showed the rank lists by team but this is now considered to be unnecessary.
Kevin Garnett, PF 65.43 CELTICS
Paul Pierce, SF 53.55 CELTICS
Mario Chalmers, PG 42.80 HEAT
Dwyane Wade, SG 40.47 HEAT
Joel Anthony, C 39.66 HEAT
LeBron James, SF 28.87 HEAT
Ray Allen, SG 27.75 CELTICS
Rajon Rondo, PG 27.28 CELTICS
Delonte West, SG 17.68 CELTICS
Jermaine O'Neal, C 17.58 CELTICS
Chris Bosh, PF 16.01 HEAT
Jeff Green, F 15.35 CELTICS
James Jones, SF 9.55 HEAT
Glen Davis, PF 6.96 CELTICS
Zydrunas Ilgauskas, C 6.15 HEAT
Shaquille O'Neal, C 2.39 CELTICS
Mike Bibby, PG -5.54 HEAT
=============== OFFENSIVE AND DEFENSIVE SUB RATINGS FOR THIS GAME ===============
OFFENSIVE SUB RATINGS FOR THIS GAME
--Shows the real quality of players' offense.
--Players who played at least 7 minutes in the game are included.
--The hidden defending component is not a part of the offensive sub rating.
--Beginning in 2011 we show just the combined listing; in prior years we separately showed the rank lists by team but this is now considered to be unnecessary.
Kevin Garnett, PF 0.976 CELTICS
Paul Pierce, SF 0.839 CELTICS
Mario Chalmers, PG 0.796 HEAT
Dwyane Wade, SG 0.702 HEAT
Delonte West, SG 0.536 CELTICS
Joel Anthony, C 0.488 HEAT
Ray Allen, SG 0.446 CELTICS
Rajon Rondo, PG 0.408 CELTICS
Jermaine O'Neal, C 0.168 CELTICS
Chris Bosh, PF 0.126 HEAT
Jeff Green, F 0.124 CELTICS
James Jones, SF 0.112 HEAT
Glen Davis, PF 0.111 CELTICS
Zydrunas Ilgauskas, C 0.106 HEAT
LeBron James, SF 0.062 HEAT
Shaquille O'Neal, C -0.063 CELTICS
Mike Bibby, PG -0.337 HEAT
THE AVERAGE OFFENSIVE SUB RATING
for all NBA players who play 300 minutes or more is about .385
DEFENSIVE SUB RATINGS FOR THIS GAME
--Shows the real quality of players' defense.
--Players who played at least 7 minutes in the game are included.
--The hidden defending component is included as described above.
--Beginning in 2011 we show just the combined listing; in prior years we separately showed the rank lists by team but this is now considered to be unnecessary.
Kevin Garnett, PF 0.746 CELTICS
Jermaine O'Neal, C 0.631 CELTICS
LeBron James, SF 0.609 HEAT
Jeff Green, F 0.607 CELTICS
Joel Anthony, C 0.584 HEAT
Mario Chalmers, PG 0.584 HEAT
Glen Davis, PF 0.522 CELTICS
Zydrunas Ilgauskas, C 0.509 HEAT
Paul Pierce, SF 0.467 CELTICS
Chris Bosh, PF 0.408 HEAT
Rajon Rondo, PG 0.372 CELTICS
Shaquille O'Neal, C 0.362 CELTICS
Dwyane Wade, SG 0.310 HEAT
Ray Allen, SG 0.265 CELTICS
James Jones, SF 0.241 HEAT
Delonte West, SG 0.171 CELTICS
Mike Bibby, PG 0.011 HEAT
THE AVERAGE DEFENSIVE SUB RATING
for all NBA players who play 300 minutes or more is about .315
The breakdown between hidden and unhidden defending is available on request.
THE ALL IMPORTANT, AWARD WINNING REAL PLAYER RATINGS USER GUIDE
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.
ABOUT REAL PLAYER RATINGS REPORTS
Of the several dozen types of Reports that Quest for the Ring (QFTR) produces, Team Real Player Rating Reports are among the most important. A Real Player Rating Report gives you four very important ratings for every player in the Report:
--Overall Real Player Rating
--Real Player Production
--Offensive Sub Rating
--Defensive Sub Rating
These Reports are formatted reports. Formatted reports have a pre-set format and there is little or no custom commentary included. The whole idea of formatted reports is to provide a very large amount of important information very efficiently. The carefully planned and long evolved and perfected formatting eliminates the need for time-consuming custom text reporting in contexts where there is really no need for it. But to fully understand a formatted Report you need to be familiar with the User Guide for it.
There are two things you can do to get the full value out of RPR Reports. First, you can read parts or all of the User Guide for them (the link to the Guide is below). Second, you can simply visit a lot and see a lot of Reports and then you will automatically become better at interpreting what you see.
In contrast to formatted reports, QFTR breaks new ground in general and reveals its latest discoveries about basketball in particular in free form (non-formatted) text reports. While formatted posts are "on the reservation", non-formatted text reports are where QFTR "goes off the reservation". Both types of reports are essential; having just one type without the other type would reduce the value of QFTR by MORE than half.
QFTR is considering some kind of labelling system for posts that will allow visitors to even more easily than ever get to content they want or need.
During the regular season beginning in late January (when we can first validly calculate the hidden defending adjustments) QFTR posts Team Real Player Ratings for major contending teams and other selected teams as time permits. Between the end of the regular season and before the Conference Finals begin (in late April and in early May) QFTR posts the final ratings for approximately the ten best teams as of the beginning of the playoffs. If there is a major upset in round one and/or round two by a team whose ratings were not yet posted, QFTR will make sure to post those asap.
These final ratings can be used in team grids that are very important parts of any playoff series preview.
Unfortunately, production time limits that are caused partly by limited traffic mean that only a small number of playoff series previews can be produced. Remember, you can help QFTR get more production time by posting links to QFTR wherever you can, and then QFTR will link back to you on request (click the contact link under the banner).
Game Real Player Ratings Reports are produced for every NBA Championship game, every NBA Conference Final game, and for selected NBA semifinal games. For the semifinals, normally, the most interesting semifinal (round two) series will be selected (out of the four of them) and Real Player Ratings for every game in that series will be posted.
After the playoffs are completely over and the off-season arrives, QFTR has enough time to produce and publish a final annual Real Player Ratings Report for all thirty NBA teams. These annual records of who was really the best and who really did what are scheduled to be posted in late June and in early July. They are posted in alphabetic order by team starting with the Atlanta Hawks and ending with the Washington Wizards. The ones for the top teams that were posted in late April-early May are repeated so there is a complete set in alpha and chronological sequence.
If you ever spend quality time at QFTR you will discover that there are other types of Real Player Rating Reports. Many of these appear in the summer. Among the most important ones that come out in the summer are the League-Wide Real Player Ratings Reports. Also, don't miss the Real Player Ratings Reports by position if you are a serious basketball person.
This section was a limited and brief overview of Real Player Ratings Reports in general. What you need if you want to understand how the Ratings are constructed and why QFTR knows they are the best possible ratings is the User Guide for Real Player Ratings. This User Guide was last revised and updated in May 2010; a new revision is "on order" and is expected to be completed in May or June of 2011. The May 2010 edition is still very useful; the only section of it that is not completely accurate is the one where the specific factors are shown; the factors have been adjusted a little to reflect the latest information and understanding QFTR has about exactly how playoff games are won. There has also been a significant improvement in the calibration and validation of Real Player Ratings components.
So 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.
MAY 7 2011
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS
BOSTON CELTICS 97 MIAMI HEAT 81
MIAMI LEADS BEST OF SEVEN SERIES 2-1
KEY PLAYERS WHO DID NOT PLAY
--These are the above average players who would have or should have played but did not.
--The reason is shown after the player if and only if it is known with at least 85% certainty.
--Usually the reason is known with 100% certainty.
--If the reason is not known with at least 85% certainty, the reason "unknown" is given.
--Injuries are NOT perfectly reported and information about them is archived nowhere on the Internet. Therefore, it is possible that when Quest for the Ring identifies "coaching error" or "unknown" as the reason, the real reason may have been an injury.
--If the reason "traded" is shown then in many cases a player who was obtained in that trade played instead.
CELTICS Marquis Daniels >>> traded
CELTICS Kendrick Perkins >>> traded
CELTICS Nenad Kristic >>> Two players as good or better at the position played
CELTICS Von Wafer >>> two better players at the position played
HEAT Udonis Haslem >>> injured
HEAT Eddie House >>> coaching error
REAL PLAYER RATINGS FOR THIS GAME
--Real Player Rating shows you the real basketball quality of players quickly and accurately.
--Players who played at least 7 minutes in the game are included.
--Each player's hidden defending rating from the regular season is used as the Hidden Defending Adjustment (HDA). Obviously, players in any individual game including this one were not exactly as good defenders as they were on the average during the regular season. But since there is no way to provide HDA for individual games and since it is better to have some reasonable HDA than none at all, we use the season HDA as a reasonable substitute.
--Beginning in 2011 we show just the combined listing; in prior years we separately showed the rank lists by team but this is now considered to be unnecessary.
Kevin Garnett, PF 1.722 CELTICS
Mario Chalmers, PG 1.381 HEAT
Paul Pierce, SF 1.306 CELTICS
Joel Anthony, C 1.072 HEAT
Dwyane Wade, SG 1.012 HEAT
Jermaine O'Neal, C 0.799 CELTICS
Rajon Rondo, PG 0.779 CELTICS
Jeff Green, F 0.731 CELTICS
Ray Allen, SG 0.712 CELTICS
Delonte West, SG 0.707 CELTICS
LeBron James, SF 0.671 HEAT
Glen Davis, PF 0.633 CELTICS
Zydrunas Ilgauskas, C 0.615 HEAT
Chris Bosh, PF 0.534 HEAT
James Jones, SF 0.354 HEAT
Shaquille O'Neal, C 0.298 CELTICS
Mike Bibby, PG -0.326 HEAT
SCALE FOR REGULAR SEASON REAL PLAYER RATINGS FOR A SINGLE GAME
Perfect Player for all Practical Purposes / Major Historic Super Star 1.200 and more
Historic Super Star 1.080 1.199
Super Star 0.960 1.079
A Star Player / A well above normal starter 0.860 0.959
Very Good Player / A solid starter 0.780 0.859
Major Role Player / Good enough to start 0.700 0.779
Good Role Player / Often a good 6th man, can possibly start 0.620 0.699
Satisfactory Role Player / Generally should not start 0.540 0.619
Marginal Role Player / Should not start except in an emergency 0.460 0.539
Poor Player / Should never start 0.380 0.459
Very Poor Player 0.300 0.379
Extremely Poor Player 0.299 and less
AVERAGE RATINGS BY POSITION
Not all positions are created equal. In pro basketball, point guard and center are the most important positions, power forward is in the middle, and small forward and shooting guard are the least important. (Some teams will have a different pattern.) The following are good estimates for average ratings by position among all NBA players who play 300 minutes or more. There are very few small forwards and shooting guards who don't fit at other positions who are superstars. Most superstars are players who can play point guard, power forward, or center.
Point Guard .750
Shooting Guard .635
Small Forward .645
Power Forward .715
Center .755
All Positions / All Players (NBA Overall Average) .700
To quickly and fairly compare two players who play different positions, convert their Ratings as follows:
Point Guards: Subtract .050; for example, .700 becomes .650
Shooting Guards: Add .065; for example, .700 becomes .765
Small Forwards: Add .055; for example, .700 becomes .755
Power Forwards: Subtract .015; for example, .700 becomes .685
Centers: Subtract .055; for example, .700 becomes .645
REAL PLAYER PRODUCTION FOR THIS GAME
--Shows the real basketball production (or quantity) of players.
--Players who played at least 7 minutes in the game are included.
--An estimate of the value of hidden defending production is included in the total production for all players shown; as described above hidden defending ratings from the regular season are used.
--Beginning in 2011 we show just the combined listing; in prior years we separately showed the rank lists by team but this is now considered to be unnecessary.
Kevin Garnett, PF 65.43 CELTICS
Paul Pierce, SF 53.55 CELTICS
Mario Chalmers, PG 42.80 HEAT
Dwyane Wade, SG 40.47 HEAT
Joel Anthony, C 39.66 HEAT
LeBron James, SF 28.87 HEAT
Ray Allen, SG 27.75 CELTICS
Rajon Rondo, PG 27.28 CELTICS
Delonte West, SG 17.68 CELTICS
Jermaine O'Neal, C 17.58 CELTICS
Chris Bosh, PF 16.01 HEAT
Jeff Green, F 15.35 CELTICS
James Jones, SF 9.55 HEAT
Glen Davis, PF 6.96 CELTICS
Zydrunas Ilgauskas, C 6.15 HEAT
Shaquille O'Neal, C 2.39 CELTICS
Mike Bibby, PG -5.54 HEAT
=============== OFFENSIVE AND DEFENSIVE SUB RATINGS FOR THIS GAME ===============
OFFENSIVE SUB RATINGS FOR THIS GAME
--Shows the real quality of players' offense.
--Players who played at least 7 minutes in the game are included.
--The hidden defending component is not a part of the offensive sub rating.
--Beginning in 2011 we show just the combined listing; in prior years we separately showed the rank lists by team but this is now considered to be unnecessary.
Kevin Garnett, PF 0.976 CELTICS
Paul Pierce, SF 0.839 CELTICS
Mario Chalmers, PG 0.796 HEAT
Dwyane Wade, SG 0.702 HEAT
Delonte West, SG 0.536 CELTICS
Joel Anthony, C 0.488 HEAT
Ray Allen, SG 0.446 CELTICS
Rajon Rondo, PG 0.408 CELTICS
Jermaine O'Neal, C 0.168 CELTICS
Chris Bosh, PF 0.126 HEAT
Jeff Green, F 0.124 CELTICS
James Jones, SF 0.112 HEAT
Glen Davis, PF 0.111 CELTICS
Zydrunas Ilgauskas, C 0.106 HEAT
LeBron James, SF 0.062 HEAT
Shaquille O'Neal, C -0.063 CELTICS
Mike Bibby, PG -0.337 HEAT
THE AVERAGE OFFENSIVE SUB RATING
for all NBA players who play 300 minutes or more is about .385
DEFENSIVE SUB RATINGS FOR THIS GAME
--Shows the real quality of players' defense.
--Players who played at least 7 minutes in the game are included.
--The hidden defending component is included as described above.
--Beginning in 2011 we show just the combined listing; in prior years we separately showed the rank lists by team but this is now considered to be unnecessary.
Kevin Garnett, PF 0.746 CELTICS
Jermaine O'Neal, C 0.631 CELTICS
LeBron James, SF 0.609 HEAT
Jeff Green, F 0.607 CELTICS
Joel Anthony, C 0.584 HEAT
Mario Chalmers, PG 0.584 HEAT
Glen Davis, PF 0.522 CELTICS
Zydrunas Ilgauskas, C 0.509 HEAT
Paul Pierce, SF 0.467 CELTICS
Chris Bosh, PF 0.408 HEAT
Rajon Rondo, PG 0.372 CELTICS
Shaquille O'Neal, C 0.362 CELTICS
Dwyane Wade, SG 0.310 HEAT
Ray Allen, SG 0.265 CELTICS
James Jones, SF 0.241 HEAT
Delonte West, SG 0.171 CELTICS
Mike Bibby, PG 0.011 HEAT
THE AVERAGE DEFENSIVE SUB RATING
for all NBA players who play 300 minutes or more is about .315
The breakdown between hidden and unhidden defending is available on request.
THE ALL IMPORTANT, AWARD WINNING REAL PLAYER RATINGS USER GUIDE
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.
ABOUT REAL PLAYER RATINGS REPORTS
Of the several dozen types of Reports that Quest for the Ring (QFTR) produces, Team Real Player Rating Reports are among the most important. A Real Player Rating Report gives you four very important ratings for every player in the Report:
--Overall Real Player Rating
--Real Player Production
--Offensive Sub Rating
--Defensive Sub Rating
These Reports are formatted reports. Formatted reports have a pre-set format and there is little or no custom commentary included. The whole idea of formatted reports is to provide a very large amount of important information very efficiently. The carefully planned and long evolved and perfected formatting eliminates the need for time-consuming custom text reporting in contexts where there is really no need for it. But to fully understand a formatted Report you need to be familiar with the User Guide for it.
There are two things you can do to get the full value out of RPR Reports. First, you can read parts or all of the User Guide for them (the link to the Guide is below). Second, you can simply visit a lot and see a lot of Reports and then you will automatically become better at interpreting what you see.
In contrast to formatted reports, QFTR breaks new ground in general and reveals its latest discoveries about basketball in particular in free form (non-formatted) text reports. While formatted posts are "on the reservation", non-formatted text reports are where QFTR "goes off the reservation". Both types of reports are essential; having just one type without the other type would reduce the value of QFTR by MORE than half.
QFTR is considering some kind of labelling system for posts that will allow visitors to even more easily than ever get to content they want or need.
During the regular season beginning in late January (when we can first validly calculate the hidden defending adjustments) QFTR posts Team Real Player Ratings for major contending teams and other selected teams as time permits. Between the end of the regular season and before the Conference Finals begin (in late April and in early May) QFTR posts the final ratings for approximately the ten best teams as of the beginning of the playoffs. If there is a major upset in round one and/or round two by a team whose ratings were not yet posted, QFTR will make sure to post those asap.
These final ratings can be used in team grids that are very important parts of any playoff series preview.
Unfortunately, production time limits that are caused partly by limited traffic mean that only a small number of playoff series previews can be produced. Remember, you can help QFTR get more production time by posting links to QFTR wherever you can, and then QFTR will link back to you on request (click the contact link under the banner).
Game Real Player Ratings Reports are produced for every NBA Championship game, every NBA Conference Final game, and for selected NBA semifinal games. For the semifinals, normally, the most interesting semifinal (round two) series will be selected (out of the four of them) and Real Player Ratings for every game in that series will be posted.
After the playoffs are completely over and the off-season arrives, QFTR has enough time to produce and publish a final annual Real Player Ratings Report for all thirty NBA teams. These annual records of who was really the best and who really did what are scheduled to be posted in late June and in early July. They are posted in alphabetic order by team starting with the Atlanta Hawks and ending with the Washington Wizards. The ones for the top teams that were posted in late April-early May are repeated so there is a complete set in alpha and chronological sequence.
If you ever spend quality time at QFTR you will discover that there are other types of Real Player Rating Reports. Many of these appear in the summer. Among the most important ones that come out in the summer are the League-Wide Real Player Ratings Reports. Also, don't miss the Real Player Ratings Reports by position if you are a serious basketball person.
This section was a limited and brief overview of Real Player Ratings Reports in general. What you need if you want to understand how the Ratings are constructed and why QFTR knows they are the best possible ratings is the User Guide for Real Player Ratings. This User Guide was last revised and updated in May 2010; a new revision is "on order" and is expected to be completed in May or June of 2011. The May 2010 edition is still very useful; the only section of it that is not completely accurate is the one where the specific factors are shown; the factors have been adjusted a little to reflect the latest information and understanding QFTR has about exactly how playoff games are won. There has also been a significant improvement in the calibration and validation of Real Player Ratings components.
So 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.
Sunday, May 8, 2011
Real Player Ratings for the 2011 West Semifinal Game Three: Memphis Grizzlies 101 Oklahoma Thunder 93, Overtime
2011 SEMIFINAL OKLAHOMA THUNDER VS MEMPHIS GRIZZLIES GAME THREE REAL PLAYER RATINGS
MAY 7 2011
MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE
MEMPHIS GRIZZLIES 101 OKLAHOMA THUNDER 93, OVERTIME
MEMPHIS LEADS BEST OF SEVEN SERIES 2-1
KEY PLAYERS WHO DID NOT PLAY
--These are the above average players who would have or should have played but did not.
--The reason is shown after the player if and only if it is known with at least 85% certainty.
--Usually the reason is known with 100% certainty.
--If the reason is not known with at least 85% certainty, the reason "unknown" is given.
--Injuries are NOT perfectly reported and information about them is archived nowhere on the Internet. Therefore, it is possible that when Quest for the Ring identifies "coaching error" or "unknown" as the reason, the real reason may have been an injury.
--If the reason "traded" is shown then in many cases a player who was obtained in that trade played instead.
GRIZZLIES Rudy Gay >>> injured
THUNDER Nazr Muhammed >>> played only 6 minutes; coaching error
REAL PLAYER RATINGS FOR THIS GAME
--Real Player Rating shows you the real basketball quality of players quickly and accurately.
--Players who played at least 7 minutes in the game are included.
--Each player's hidden defending rating from the regular season is used as the Hidden Defending Adjustment (HDA). Obviously, players in any individual game including this one were not exactly as good defenders as they were on the average during the regular season. But since there is no way to provide HDA for individual games and since it is better to have some reasonable HDA than none at all, we use the season HDA as a reasonable substitute.
--Beginning in 2011 we show just the combined listing; in prior years we separately showed the rank lists by team but this is now considered to be unnecessary.
James Harden, G 1.053 THUNDER
Zach Randolph, PF 0.889 GRIZZLIES
O.J. Mayo, SG 0.884 GRIZZLIES
Kendrick Perkins, C 0.866 THUNDER
Serge Ibaka, PF 0.822 THUNDER
Russell Westbrook, PG 0.809 THUNDER
Mike Conley, PG 0.787 GRIZZLIES
Marc Gasol, C 0.751 GRIZZLIES
Eric Maynor, PG 0.688 THUNDER
Tony Allen, SG 0.638 GRIZZLIES
Nick Collison, PF 0.614 THUNDER
Kevin Durant, SF 0.600 THUNDER
Shane Battier, SF 0.585 GRIZZLIES
Thabo Sefolosha, SG 0.563 THUNDER
Sam Young, SG 0.362 GRIZZLIES
Darrell Arthur, PF 0.355 GRIZZLIES
Daequan Cook, SG -0.333 THUNDER
SCALE FOR REGULAR SEASON REAL PLAYER RATINGS FOR A SINGLE GAME
Perfect Player for all Practical Purposes / Major Historic Super Star 1.200 and more
Historic Super Star 1.080 1.199
Super Star 0.960 1.079
A Star Player / A well above normal starter 0.860 0.959
Very Good Player / A solid starter 0.780 0.859
Major Role Player / Good enough to start 0.700 0.779
Good Role Player / Often a good 6th man, can possibly start 0.620 0.699
Satisfactory Role Player / Generally should not start 0.540 0.619
Marginal Role Player / Should not start except in an emergency 0.460 0.539
Poor Player / Should never start 0.380 0.459
Very Poor Player 0.300 0.379
Extremely Poor Player 0.299 and less
AVERAGE RATINGS BY POSITION
Not all positions are created equal. In pro basketball, point guard and center are the most important positions, power forward is in the middle, and small forward and shooting guard are the least important. (Some teams will have a different pattern.) The following are good estimates for average ratings by position among all NBA players who play 300 minutes or more. There are very few small forwards and shooting guards who don't fit at other positions who are superstars. Most superstars are players who can play point guard, power forward, or center.
Point Guard .750
Shooting Guard .635
Small Forward .645
Power Forward .715
Center .755
All Positions / All Players (NBA Overall Average) .700
To quickly and fairly compare two players who play different positions, convert their Ratings as follows:
Point Guards: Subtract .050; for example, .700 becomes .650
Shooting Guards: Add .065; for example, .700 becomes .765
Small Forwards: Add .055; for example, .700 becomes .755
Power Forwards: Subtract .015; for example, .700 becomes .685
Centers: Subtract .055; for example, .700 becomes .645
REAL PLAYER PRODUCTION FOR THIS GAME
--Shows the real basketball production (or quantity) of players.
--Players who played at least 7 minutes in the game are included.
--An estimate of the value of hidden defending production is included in the total production for all players shown; as described above hidden defending ratings from the regular season are used.
--Beginning in 2011 we show just the combined listing; in prior years we separately showed the rank lists by team but this is now considered to be unnecessary.
Zach Randolph, PF 39.09 GRIZZLIES
O.J. Mayo, SG 37.11 GRIZZLIES
Mike Conley, PG 37.01 GRIZZLIES
Serge Ibaka, PF 35.34 THUNDER
Russell Westbrook, PG 34.78 THUNDER
Marc Gasol, C 29.29 GRIZZLIES
Kevin Durant, SF 28.80 THUNDER
Kendrick Perkins, C 26.85 THUNDER
James Harden, G 26.32 THUNDER
Tony Allen, SG 18.50 GRIZZLIES
Thabo Sefolosha, SG 15.75 THUNDER
Shane Battier, SF 14.62 GRIZZLIES
Nick Collison, PF 14.12 THUNDER
Sam Young, SG 5.78 GRIZZLIES
Eric Maynor, PG 4.54 THUNDER
Darrell Arthur, PF 3.91 GRIZZLIES
Daequan Cook, SG -2.67 THUNDER
=============== OFFENSIVE AND DEFENSIVE SUB RATINGS FOR THIS GAME ===============
OFFENSIVE SUB RATINGS FOR THIS GAME
--Shows the real quality of players' offense.
--Players who played at least 7 minutes in the game are included.
--The hidden defending component is not a part of the offensive sub rating.
--Beginning in 2011 we show just the combined listing; in prior years we separately showed the rank lists by team but this is now considered to be unnecessary.
Russell Westbrook, PG 0.610 THUNDER
James Harden, G 0.525 THUNDER
O.J. Mayo, SG 0.515 GRIZZLIES
Eric Maynor, PG 0.454 THUNDER
Mike Conley, PG 0.363 GRIZZLIES
Kendrick Perkins, C 0.358 THUNDER
Serge Ibaka, PF 0.322 THUNDER
Zach Randolph, PF 0.318 GRIZZLIES
Nick Collison, PF 0.258 THUNDER
Marc Gasol, C 0.253 GRIZZLIES
Shane Battier, SF 0.247 GRIZZLIES
Tony Allen, SG 0.218 GRIZZLIES
Thabo Sefolosha, SG 0.216 THUNDER
Kevin Durant, SF 0.202 THUNDER
Darrell Arthur, PF 0.114 GRIZZLIES
Sam Young, SG -0.232 GRIZZLIES
Daequan Cook, SG -0.380 THUNDER
THE AVERAGE OFFENSIVE SUB RATING
for all NBA players who play 300 minutes or more is about .385
DEFENSIVE SUB RATINGS FOR THIS GAME
--Shows the real quality of players' defense.
--Players who played at least 7 minutes in the game are included.
--The hidden defending component is included as described above.
--Beginning in 2011 we show just the combined listing; in prior years we separately showed the rank lists by team but this is now considered to be unnecessary.
Sam Young, SG 0.593 GRIZZLIES
Zach Randolph, PF 0.571 GRIZZLIES
James Harden, G 0.528 THUNDER
Kendrick Perkins, C 0.508 THUNDER
Serge Ibaka, PF 0.500 THUNDER
Marc Gasol, C 0.498 GRIZZLIES
Mike Conley, PG 0.424 GRIZZLIES
Tony Allen, SG 0.420 GRIZZLIES
Kevin Durant, SF 0.398 THUNDER
O.J. Mayo, SG 0.369 GRIZZLIES
Nick Collison, PF 0.356 THUNDER
Thabo Sefolosha, SG 0.346 THUNDER
Shane Battier, SF 0.338 GRIZZLIES
Darrell Arthur, PF 0.241 GRIZZLIES
Eric Maynor, PG 0.234 THUNDER
Russell Westbrook, PG 0.199 THUNDER
Daequan Cook, SG 0.047 THUNDER
THE AVERAGE DEFENSIVE SUB RATING
for all NBA players who play 300 minutes or more is about .315
The breakdown between hidden and unhidden defending is available on request.
THE ALL IMPORTANT, AWARD WINNING REAL PLAYER RATINGS USER GUIDE
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.
ABOUT REAL PLAYER RATINGS REPORTS
Of the several dozen types of Reports that Quest for the Ring (QFTR) produces, Team Real Player Rating Reports are among the most important. A Real Player Rating Report gives you four very important ratings for every player in the Report:
--Overall Real Player Rating
--Real Player Production
--Offensive Sub Rating
--Defensive Sub Rating
These Reports are formatted reports. Formatted reports have a pre-set format and there is little or no custom commentary included. The whole idea of formatted reports is to provide a very large amount of important information very efficiently. The carefully planned and long evolved and perfected formatting eliminates the need for time-consuming custom text reporting in contexts where there is really no need for it. But to fully understand a formatted Report you need to be familiar with the User Guide for it.
There are two things you can do to get the full value out of RPR Reports. First, you can read parts or all of the User Guide for them (the link to the Guide is below). Second, you can simply visit a lot and see a lot of Reports and then you will automatically become better at interpreting what you see.
In contrast to formatted reports, QFTR breaks new ground in general and reveals its latest discoveries about basketball in particular in free form (non-formatted) text reports. While formatted posts are "on the reservation", non-formatted text reports are where QFTR "goes off the reservation". Both types of reports are essential; having just one type without the other type would reduce the value of QFTR by MORE than half.
QFTR is considering some kind of labelling system for posts that will allow visitors to even more easily than ever get to content they want or need.
During the regular season beginning in late January (when we can first validly calculate the hidden defending adjustments) QFTR posts Team Real Player Ratings for major contending teams and other selected teams as time permits. Between the end of the regular season and before the Conference Finals begin (in late April and in early May) QFTR posts the final ratings for approximately the ten best teams as of the beginning of the playoffs. If there is a major upset in round one and/or round two by a team whose ratings were not yet posted, QFTR will make sure to post those asap.
These final ratings can be used in team grids that are very important parts of any playoff series preview.
Unfortunately, production time limits that are caused partly by limited traffic mean that only a small number of playoff series previews can be produced. Remember, you can help QFTR get more production time by posting links to QFTR wherever you can, and then QFTR will link back to you on request (click the contact link under the banner).
Game Real Player Ratings Reports are produced for every NBA Championship game, every NBA Conference Final game, and for selected NBA semifinal games. For the semifinals, normally, the most interesting semifinal (round two) series will be selected (out of the four of them) and Real Player Ratings for every game in that series will be posted.
After the playoffs are completely over and the off-season arrives, QFTR has enough time to produce and publish a final annual Real Player Ratings Report for all thirty NBA teams. These annual records of who was really the best and who really did what are scheduled to be posted in late June and in early July. They are posted in alphabetic order by team starting with the Atlanta Hawks and ending with the Washington Wizards. The ones for the top teams that were posted in late April-early May are repeated so there is a complete set in alpha and chronological sequence.
If you ever spend quality time at QFTR you will discover that there are other types of Real Player Rating Reports. Many of these appear in the summer. Among the most important ones that come out in the summer are the League-Wide Real Player Ratings Reports. Also, don't miss the Real Player Ratings Reports by position if you are a serious basketball person.
This section was a limited and brief overview of Real Player Ratings Reports in general. What you need if you want to understand how the Ratings are constructed and why QFTR knows they are the best possible ratings is the User Guide for Real Player Ratings. This User Guide was last revised and updated in May 2010; a new revision is "on order" and is expected to be completed in May or June of 2011. The May 2010 edition is still very useful; the only section of it that is not completely accurate is the one where the specific factors are shown; the factors have been adjusted a little to reflect the latest information and understanding QFTR has about exactly how playoff games are won. There has also been a significant improvement in the calibration and validation of Real Player Ratings components.
So 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.
MAY 7 2011
MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE
MEMPHIS GRIZZLIES 101 OKLAHOMA THUNDER 93, OVERTIME
MEMPHIS LEADS BEST OF SEVEN SERIES 2-1
KEY PLAYERS WHO DID NOT PLAY
--These are the above average players who would have or should have played but did not.
--The reason is shown after the player if and only if it is known with at least 85% certainty.
--Usually the reason is known with 100% certainty.
--If the reason is not known with at least 85% certainty, the reason "unknown" is given.
--Injuries are NOT perfectly reported and information about them is archived nowhere on the Internet. Therefore, it is possible that when Quest for the Ring identifies "coaching error" or "unknown" as the reason, the real reason may have been an injury.
--If the reason "traded" is shown then in many cases a player who was obtained in that trade played instead.
GRIZZLIES Rudy Gay >>> injured
THUNDER Nazr Muhammed >>> played only 6 minutes; coaching error
REAL PLAYER RATINGS FOR THIS GAME
--Real Player Rating shows you the real basketball quality of players quickly and accurately.
--Players who played at least 7 minutes in the game are included.
--Each player's hidden defending rating from the regular season is used as the Hidden Defending Adjustment (HDA). Obviously, players in any individual game including this one were not exactly as good defenders as they were on the average during the regular season. But since there is no way to provide HDA for individual games and since it is better to have some reasonable HDA than none at all, we use the season HDA as a reasonable substitute.
--Beginning in 2011 we show just the combined listing; in prior years we separately showed the rank lists by team but this is now considered to be unnecessary.
James Harden, G 1.053 THUNDER
Zach Randolph, PF 0.889 GRIZZLIES
O.J. Mayo, SG 0.884 GRIZZLIES
Kendrick Perkins, C 0.866 THUNDER
Serge Ibaka, PF 0.822 THUNDER
Russell Westbrook, PG 0.809 THUNDER
Mike Conley, PG 0.787 GRIZZLIES
Marc Gasol, C 0.751 GRIZZLIES
Eric Maynor, PG 0.688 THUNDER
Tony Allen, SG 0.638 GRIZZLIES
Nick Collison, PF 0.614 THUNDER
Kevin Durant, SF 0.600 THUNDER
Shane Battier, SF 0.585 GRIZZLIES
Thabo Sefolosha, SG 0.563 THUNDER
Sam Young, SG 0.362 GRIZZLIES
Darrell Arthur, PF 0.355 GRIZZLIES
Daequan Cook, SG -0.333 THUNDER
SCALE FOR REGULAR SEASON REAL PLAYER RATINGS FOR A SINGLE GAME
Perfect Player for all Practical Purposes / Major Historic Super Star 1.200 and more
Historic Super Star 1.080 1.199
Super Star 0.960 1.079
A Star Player / A well above normal starter 0.860 0.959
Very Good Player / A solid starter 0.780 0.859
Major Role Player / Good enough to start 0.700 0.779
Good Role Player / Often a good 6th man, can possibly start 0.620 0.699
Satisfactory Role Player / Generally should not start 0.540 0.619
Marginal Role Player / Should not start except in an emergency 0.460 0.539
Poor Player / Should never start 0.380 0.459
Very Poor Player 0.300 0.379
Extremely Poor Player 0.299 and less
AVERAGE RATINGS BY POSITION
Not all positions are created equal. In pro basketball, point guard and center are the most important positions, power forward is in the middle, and small forward and shooting guard are the least important. (Some teams will have a different pattern.) The following are good estimates for average ratings by position among all NBA players who play 300 minutes or more. There are very few small forwards and shooting guards who don't fit at other positions who are superstars. Most superstars are players who can play point guard, power forward, or center.
Point Guard .750
Shooting Guard .635
Small Forward .645
Power Forward .715
Center .755
All Positions / All Players (NBA Overall Average) .700
To quickly and fairly compare two players who play different positions, convert their Ratings as follows:
Point Guards: Subtract .050; for example, .700 becomes .650
Shooting Guards: Add .065; for example, .700 becomes .765
Small Forwards: Add .055; for example, .700 becomes .755
Power Forwards: Subtract .015; for example, .700 becomes .685
Centers: Subtract .055; for example, .700 becomes .645
REAL PLAYER PRODUCTION FOR THIS GAME
--Shows the real basketball production (or quantity) of players.
--Players who played at least 7 minutes in the game are included.
--An estimate of the value of hidden defending production is included in the total production for all players shown; as described above hidden defending ratings from the regular season are used.
--Beginning in 2011 we show just the combined listing; in prior years we separately showed the rank lists by team but this is now considered to be unnecessary.
Zach Randolph, PF 39.09 GRIZZLIES
O.J. Mayo, SG 37.11 GRIZZLIES
Mike Conley, PG 37.01 GRIZZLIES
Serge Ibaka, PF 35.34 THUNDER
Russell Westbrook, PG 34.78 THUNDER
Marc Gasol, C 29.29 GRIZZLIES
Kevin Durant, SF 28.80 THUNDER
Kendrick Perkins, C 26.85 THUNDER
James Harden, G 26.32 THUNDER
Tony Allen, SG 18.50 GRIZZLIES
Thabo Sefolosha, SG 15.75 THUNDER
Shane Battier, SF 14.62 GRIZZLIES
Nick Collison, PF 14.12 THUNDER
Sam Young, SG 5.78 GRIZZLIES
Eric Maynor, PG 4.54 THUNDER
Darrell Arthur, PF 3.91 GRIZZLIES
Daequan Cook, SG -2.67 THUNDER
=============== OFFENSIVE AND DEFENSIVE SUB RATINGS FOR THIS GAME ===============
OFFENSIVE SUB RATINGS FOR THIS GAME
--Shows the real quality of players' offense.
--Players who played at least 7 minutes in the game are included.
--The hidden defending component is not a part of the offensive sub rating.
--Beginning in 2011 we show just the combined listing; in prior years we separately showed the rank lists by team but this is now considered to be unnecessary.
Russell Westbrook, PG 0.610 THUNDER
James Harden, G 0.525 THUNDER
O.J. Mayo, SG 0.515 GRIZZLIES
Eric Maynor, PG 0.454 THUNDER
Mike Conley, PG 0.363 GRIZZLIES
Kendrick Perkins, C 0.358 THUNDER
Serge Ibaka, PF 0.322 THUNDER
Zach Randolph, PF 0.318 GRIZZLIES
Nick Collison, PF 0.258 THUNDER
Marc Gasol, C 0.253 GRIZZLIES
Shane Battier, SF 0.247 GRIZZLIES
Tony Allen, SG 0.218 GRIZZLIES
Thabo Sefolosha, SG 0.216 THUNDER
Kevin Durant, SF 0.202 THUNDER
Darrell Arthur, PF 0.114 GRIZZLIES
Sam Young, SG -0.232 GRIZZLIES
Daequan Cook, SG -0.380 THUNDER
THE AVERAGE OFFENSIVE SUB RATING
for all NBA players who play 300 minutes or more is about .385
DEFENSIVE SUB RATINGS FOR THIS GAME
--Shows the real quality of players' defense.
--Players who played at least 7 minutes in the game are included.
--The hidden defending component is included as described above.
--Beginning in 2011 we show just the combined listing; in prior years we separately showed the rank lists by team but this is now considered to be unnecessary.
Sam Young, SG 0.593 GRIZZLIES
Zach Randolph, PF 0.571 GRIZZLIES
James Harden, G 0.528 THUNDER
Kendrick Perkins, C 0.508 THUNDER
Serge Ibaka, PF 0.500 THUNDER
Marc Gasol, C 0.498 GRIZZLIES
Mike Conley, PG 0.424 GRIZZLIES
Tony Allen, SG 0.420 GRIZZLIES
Kevin Durant, SF 0.398 THUNDER
O.J. Mayo, SG 0.369 GRIZZLIES
Nick Collison, PF 0.356 THUNDER
Thabo Sefolosha, SG 0.346 THUNDER
Shane Battier, SF 0.338 GRIZZLIES
Darrell Arthur, PF 0.241 GRIZZLIES
Eric Maynor, PG 0.234 THUNDER
Russell Westbrook, PG 0.199 THUNDER
Daequan Cook, SG 0.047 THUNDER
THE AVERAGE DEFENSIVE SUB RATING
for all NBA players who play 300 minutes or more is about .315
The breakdown between hidden and unhidden defending is available on request.
THE ALL IMPORTANT, AWARD WINNING REAL PLAYER RATINGS USER GUIDE
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.
ABOUT REAL PLAYER RATINGS REPORTS
Of the several dozen types of Reports that Quest for the Ring (QFTR) produces, Team Real Player Rating Reports are among the most important. A Real Player Rating Report gives you four very important ratings for every player in the Report:
--Overall Real Player Rating
--Real Player Production
--Offensive Sub Rating
--Defensive Sub Rating
These Reports are formatted reports. Formatted reports have a pre-set format and there is little or no custom commentary included. The whole idea of formatted reports is to provide a very large amount of important information very efficiently. The carefully planned and long evolved and perfected formatting eliminates the need for time-consuming custom text reporting in contexts where there is really no need for it. But to fully understand a formatted Report you need to be familiar with the User Guide for it.
There are two things you can do to get the full value out of RPR Reports. First, you can read parts or all of the User Guide for them (the link to the Guide is below). Second, you can simply visit a lot and see a lot of Reports and then you will automatically become better at interpreting what you see.
In contrast to formatted reports, QFTR breaks new ground in general and reveals its latest discoveries about basketball in particular in free form (non-formatted) text reports. While formatted posts are "on the reservation", non-formatted text reports are where QFTR "goes off the reservation". Both types of reports are essential; having just one type without the other type would reduce the value of QFTR by MORE than half.
QFTR is considering some kind of labelling system for posts that will allow visitors to even more easily than ever get to content they want or need.
During the regular season beginning in late January (when we can first validly calculate the hidden defending adjustments) QFTR posts Team Real Player Ratings for major contending teams and other selected teams as time permits. Between the end of the regular season and before the Conference Finals begin (in late April and in early May) QFTR posts the final ratings for approximately the ten best teams as of the beginning of the playoffs. If there is a major upset in round one and/or round two by a team whose ratings were not yet posted, QFTR will make sure to post those asap.
These final ratings can be used in team grids that are very important parts of any playoff series preview.
Unfortunately, production time limits that are caused partly by limited traffic mean that only a small number of playoff series previews can be produced. Remember, you can help QFTR get more production time by posting links to QFTR wherever you can, and then QFTR will link back to you on request (click the contact link under the banner).
Game Real Player Ratings Reports are produced for every NBA Championship game, every NBA Conference Final game, and for selected NBA semifinal games. For the semifinals, normally, the most interesting semifinal (round two) series will be selected (out of the four of them) and Real Player Ratings for every game in that series will be posted.
After the playoffs are completely over and the off-season arrives, QFTR has enough time to produce and publish a final annual Real Player Ratings Report for all thirty NBA teams. These annual records of who was really the best and who really did what are scheduled to be posted in late June and in early July. They are posted in alphabetic order by team starting with the Atlanta Hawks and ending with the Washington Wizards. The ones for the top teams that were posted in late April-early May are repeated so there is a complete set in alpha and chronological sequence.
If you ever spend quality time at QFTR you will discover that there are other types of Real Player Rating Reports. Many of these appear in the summer. Among the most important ones that come out in the summer are the League-Wide Real Player Ratings Reports. Also, don't miss the Real Player Ratings Reports by position if you are a serious basketball person.
This section was a limited and brief overview of Real Player Ratings Reports in general. What you need if you want to understand how the Ratings are constructed and why QFTR knows they are the best possible ratings is the User Guide for Real Player Ratings. This User Guide was last revised and updated in May 2010; a new revision is "on order" and is expected to be completed in May or June of 2011. The May 2010 edition is still very useful; the only section of it that is not completely accurate is the one where the specific factors are shown; the factors have been adjusted a little to reflect the latest information and understanding QFTR has about exactly how playoff games are won. There has also been a significant improvement in the calibration and validation of Real Player Ratings components.
So 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.
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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.
Here are some quick links that you can use to find a place where you might post a link to Quest and/or to Quest content.
HOLD MOUSE HERE TO EXPAND THIS MENU OF PLACES ON WHICH YOU CAN POST A LINK TO QUEST:
BASKETBALL SITES THAT ARE OPEN FOR CONTENT FROM ANYONE
Note: Beware of "layered" sites. None of the following are layered sites, which are sites that allow contributions from the public only in hard to find, low traffic areas, while the main areas are off limits for public input and are only for a chosen few. All of the following have at least some notable traffic, and all of them allow relatively equal and open participation. The order is from most recommended to least recommended, based on about half a dozen factors.
Bleacher Report Open Posting Site
Inside Hoops NBA Forum
Real GM NBA and Team Forums
Pro Sports Daily NBA Forum
Basketball Forum NBA Forum
Sporting News NBA Forum
Hoops Hype NBA Forum
Armchair GM Open Posting Site
SportsTwo NBA Forum
NBA Dimensions NBA Forum
OTR Basketball Forums NBA Forum
NBA Boards NBA Forum
NBA Wire NBA Forum
KFFL NBA Forum
Note: there are other forums, but they are all very low traffic and activity compared to the ones above.
MESSAGE BOARDS AT HUGE COROPORATIONS
The Fox NBA board is very low traffic, and the MSNBC NBA board doesn't exist anymore. The CBS Sports NBA Message Board is a layered site; you can NOT post topics nor expect to be considered seriously there until you have spent a few years posting there. We do not recommend CBS Sports. So the only real, fully open NBA forum hosted by a big corporation is the ESPN message board. Be forewarned though that the ESPN board is dominated by very young fans who make very short comments. On the other hand, it is a high traffic site, so we won't stop you from posting a Quest link at ESPN if you want to.
ESPN NBA Message Board
GIVE US THE JUICE TO PRODUCE REPORTS MORE QUICKLY
Although there is a guaranteed minimum rate of Report production regardless of traffic, IT IS IN YOUR POWER to help double or triple the number of and frequency of Reports. Simply take two or three minutes as often as you can to recommend Quest and post links to Quest on your favorite sports and other sites. The resulting automatic increase of traffic will in turn increase the resources that go in to producing Quest, which in turn speeds up reporting. If you want, e-mail how you helped (include the url of where you posted a link to Quest) and we will throw some Internet love back to where you tell us on the Internet. Thank you.
Here are some quick links that you can use to find a place where you might post a link to Quest and/or to Quest content.
HOLD MOUSE HERE TO EXPAND THIS MENU OF PLACES ON WHICH YOU CAN POST A LINK TO QUEST:
BASKETBALL SITES THAT ARE OPEN FOR CONTENT FROM ANYONE
Note: Beware of "layered" sites. None of the following are layered sites, which are sites that allow contributions from the public only in hard to find, low traffic areas, while the main areas are off limits for public input and are only for a chosen few. All of the following have at least some notable traffic, and all of them allow relatively equal and open participation. The order is from most recommended to least recommended, based on about half a dozen factors.
Bleacher Report Open Posting Site
Inside Hoops NBA Forum
Real GM NBA and Team Forums
Pro Sports Daily NBA Forum
Basketball Forum NBA Forum
Sporting News NBA Forum
Hoops Hype NBA Forum
Armchair GM Open Posting Site
SportsTwo NBA Forum
NBA Dimensions NBA Forum
OTR Basketball Forums NBA Forum
NBA Boards NBA Forum
NBA Wire NBA Forum
KFFL NBA Forum
Note: there are other forums, but they are all very low traffic and activity compared to the ones above.
MESSAGE BOARDS AT HUGE COROPORATIONS
The Fox NBA board is very low traffic, and the MSNBC NBA board doesn't exist anymore. The CBS Sports NBA Message Board is a layered site; you can NOT post topics nor expect to be considered seriously there until you have spent a few years posting there. We do not recommend CBS Sports. So the only real, fully open NBA forum hosted by a big corporation is the ESPN message board. Be forewarned though that the ESPN board is dominated by very young fans who make very short comments. On the other hand, it is a high traffic site, so we won't stop you from posting a Quest link at ESPN if you want to.
ESPN NBA Message Board
LAKERS SIGN IN HOLLYWOOD
The Nuggets are scary, but Lakers fans can breathe a sigh of relief when they think of who coaches them!
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