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BOOKMARK OR THERE WON'T BE A LATER

Google shows mostly pre-2000, well advertised, big staff, and big corporation sites in search results. Mostly the same old, often stale sites are shown, sites that editorially only go so far and no farther. This site is about the opposite of what is shown in search results. The vast majority of those who return to this Site use a bookmark since using Google Search to find it is more difficult to do. If you do not bookmark this page in some way, you will probably not be able to find it again. If you are a first time visitor, here is your Welcome and Introduction.

SCROLL DOWN for specific articles you are following a link to..........ALL QUEST PAGES FULLY LOAD in about 10 seconds or less on cable broadband.

Choose and click on a report and your tab will reload with that report showing about 1/10 the way down the page, below the two title listing panels just below here.

There are actually many more ways to choose and read Reports. For a complete description of all options, see this User Guide article.

REPORTS--#21 THROUGH #40


Thursday, May 26, 2011

Notice of Banner Violation and the Quest for the Ring Response

NOTICE OF BANNER VIOLATION
Issued by the Internet Police Department

Quest for the Ring (QFTR) is hereby charged with a banner violation for refusal to put the Dallas Mavericks banner on top of the Oklahoma Thunder banner following the Mavericks’ 4-1 series win over the Thunder in the 2011 West Conference Final. The banner rule is that the top two positions are occupied by the two teams in the NBA Championship from the time they are known until sometime in December. QFTR refuses to remove the Oklahoma Thunder banner from the top row and thus is in violation.

QFTR RESPONSE TO VIOLATION NOTICE
The short answer is that its’ my Site so if I want to violate the banner rule there isn’t anyone who is going to stop me. The Internet Police Department can take a hike.

The long answer is that I will NOT place the Mavericks banner on top of the Thunder banner for many reasons, the top ten ones being:

(1) The Oklahoma Thunder was and is the better team (as shown by Real Player Ratings) but Dallas was the much smarter team in the series. I reserve the right to place better over smarter even though QFTR is all about smart basketball. So it may be a paradox that I would prefer better over smarter on the banner but it is what it is and I’m not going to explain the paradox at this time. If you want to have the paradox explained read the multi-part Report on the series coming out this fall, the explanation will be there; or else you can always come back some day and put the word “paradox” in any of the custom search boxes and you will have a good chance of finding the paradox explained that way.

(2) Rounded to the nearest million dollars, Dallas had a 2010-11 payroll of 90 million dollars whereas Oklahoma had a 2010-11 payroll of 54 million dollars. Does that seem fair to you?

(3) Oklahoma had one of the all-time biggest collapses in playoffs history in game four of the series, blowing a 15 point lead with about 5 minutes left. Then in game five, they had one of the all-time most pathetic and lame (but smaller) collapses in history. I will NOT lower the banner of a team that had TWO games won but lost them to a very smart team with an extremely fat payroll chock loaded with smart veterans.

(4) Oklahoma clearly outplayed Dallas not only in game four (where they blew the 15 point lead with 5 minutes left) but also in game five (where a smaller lead was blown late in the 4th). I’ll grant you, the margin by which Oklahoma was better than Dallas was much smaller in game five than it was in game four (and it was indeed a small margin in game five). But for one thing, in game five, Oklahoma was the better team defensively and held Dallas to just 41.7% shooting and a reasonable 44 points in the paint. Meanwhile, Oklahoma shot 42.7% from the field and scored 50 points in the paint.

(5) The 50 points in the paint scored against Dallas in game five is a very good lead-in to the next reason why I refuse to put the Dallas banner at the top: with paint defending like that Dallas will be absolutely destroyed in the NBA Championship by either Miami or Chicago. We are looking at a 4-0 or a 4-1 Championship with Dallas on the short end of that stick. True, the Championship could easily have been 4-1 had it been Oklahoma versus Miami or Chicago, but just having a low payroll underdog type of team like Oklahoma IN the Championship would have been very satisfying and refreshing and entertaining and I am not at all happy about being denied all of that thanks to Marc Cuban's money and thanks to the strange way that Russell Westbrook thinks sometimes.

(6) Aside from the poor 2011 Championship that we will now get, obviously the 2011 West Final was also a poor one due to the rich and veteran team versus poor and young team dynamic involved. For one thing, the series was over in five games, whereas ALL Conference Championships should be either six or seven games. Now there won’t be any game on Friday May 27; Dallas Owner Marc Cuban can be counting his money rather than going to the game (which would have been in Oklahoma City had it taken place.)

(7) Scott Brooks is clearly a much better coach than Rick Carlisle but Brooks could not come up with a formula to get the Oklahoma offense to operate in the higher gears it is theoretically capable of operating in. Yet Brooks tried a lot of very smart things (much more about those things in the Report series coming this fall) and its’ a shame that he and the Thunder fell just short of slaying the dragon.

(8) Oklahoma easily and quickly defeated George “I can win in the regular season but won’t ever win much in the playoffs” Karl and his Denver “Yes we are way overrated but what are you going to do about it?” Nuggets. Just for that I am very grateful and appreciative of the young and extremely talented Thunder.

(9) I might officially change the banner rule in the near future and allow one of the two top banner positions to be occupied by the team that could most easily win a Championship if it could play smarter. Or, I might change the banner rule and have the banner positions dictated by the Real Player Ratings as opposed to who actually gets into and who actually wins the Conference Finals. The existing banner rule may be a little too slavish toward high payroll teams that tend to pull out the wins even when they are inferior teams. Changing the banner rule would signal that QFTR is a progressive type of Site rather than one slavishly devoted to the establishment and to big money. Because again, Dallas used it’s big money, long-time veteran players to outsmart the much more talented Thunder, and I’m not sure (to say the least) that I want to glorify that in any way.

(10) Keeping the Thunder at the top of the banner will keep me motivated to produce a huge multi-part Report on the 2011 West Final which will be chock loaded with advice for the Thunder on how they can win playoff series and even the Championship in the coming years.

So there you go, the top ten reasons why I am violating the banner rule. And I intend to get away with it, too, suckas!

The Internet Police Department? The Denver “Yes we are way overrated but what are you going to do about it?” Nuggets? Laugh out loud!

PS: Next year Dallas will be TOO OLD to beat hardly anyone in the playoffs whereas Oklahoma will be maturing nicely. There is no way Dallas beats Oklahoma next year so next year will most definitely be better than this year was with respect to Dallas versus Oklahoma. It won’t be sad like this year was.

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Oklahoma Thunder and Fans of the Team: Help is on the Way

Last year about this time (in May) Quest for the Ring (QFTR) pledged we would upgrade the Real Coach Ratings system and finally prove beyond any shadow of a doubt that certain coaches will almost certainly never win The Quest for the Ring. The result was the Playoff Series and Coaches Database and the resulting improvements in the Real Coach Ratings. That pledge was titled “Help is on the Way for Mavericks and Nuggets Fans,” or something similar to that.

QFTR was motivated to make the Help is on the Way Pledge a year ago when both Coach Rick Carlisle for the Dallas Mavericks and Coach George Karl for the Denver Nuggets were torched in the playoffs. It was obvious that the sorry performances of the Mavericks and of the Nuggets in the 2010 playoffs were partly due to bad coaching, and we wanted to go on record at the time promising that the Database would get done and that the improvements in the Coach Ratings would get done. These tools would prove beyond any shadow of a doubt that Carlisle and Karl were largely to blame for those and for many other playoffs flame-outs.

By late in 2010 all of what we promised in May 2010 was done. Help was delivered to Mavericks and Nuggets fans and managers in the form of proof that your coaches were and are poor playoffs coaches.

Of course, Mavericks Coach Rick Carlisle doesn’t look as bad right now because here in 2011 he swept the Los Angeles Lakers (coached by Phil Jackson no less, the all-time best playoffs coach) and as of this writing he is up 3-1 versus one of the best young teams in the history of the NBA. Well, either Carlisle’s usual playoff mistakes are not being made (due to Carlisle learning to not make them or due to sheer dumb luck) or else Coach Scott Brooks and the Thunder are losing out to the Mavericks due to the Thunder’s whopping payroll and experience deficits versus the Mavericks. I’d definitely bet the latter if I were betting, laugh out loud.

As for Carlisle winning the 2011 Quest? Please! I am afraid that at this point the West Conference is completely screwed and that either LeBron James or Derrick Rose is going to win his first Ring. Quite honestly, in the last few years, the West has gone from being the dominant Conference to more or less a joke when you compare it to the East.

QFTR has been known to fail to meet pledges in a timely fashion (and that is an understatement). But Help is on the Way pledges are special, and just as we met last year’s pledge, we WILL meet this year’s May Help is on the Way pledge. This May, as the Oklahoma Thunder collapse and burn in one of the biggest playoff series collapses in the history of the NBA (for example, blowing a 15 point lead late in the fourth quarter in game four against Dallas in the West final) QFTR is officially pledging right here and now that we WILL produce a multi-part Report on the Western Conference Final.

Actually, the Official QFTR Production Plan calls for three multi-part Reports, two on the Conference finals and one on the NBA Championship. But we are wisely limiting this Help is on the Way pledge to just one multi-part Report, on the West Conference Final. (QFTR is trying to once and for all put an end to pledges not kept, and we would for once like to exceed expectations and pledges rather than put up another air ball, laugh out loud.)

More specifically, we pledge that in the multi-part Report on the West Conference Final we will identify in detail every single reason why the Thunder were outclassed by the Mavericks and why specifically the Thunder blew a series that they could have and should have won. We will extensively discuss just how much of an advantage a big payroll and very experienced players are over a small payroll and very inexperienced players. Then, using this perfect example (Thunder versus Mavericks) we will explain exactly how a small payroll, inexperienced team can defeat the favored team. In other words, we will explain in great detail how Oklahoma could have (and should have) defeated the Mavericks.

Although Dallas was favored by “the establishment,” the truth is that Oklahoma is (was) the better team and should have won the series. QFTR has clear evidence that the Oklahoma Thunder is (was) a better team than the Dallas Mavericks in 2011. So although the Report that we produce later this year could in the future be used to produce an outright upset, with respect to the 2011 Thunder we will be reporting how they could have won a series that they should have won because they in truth were the real, true favorite.

To make a long story short, the Thunder, the better team, played foolishly and lost whereas the Mavericks played smart and won. QFTR is always warning that the better team can lose if it plays foolishly. If anyone thinks that correct management and correct strategy and tactics don’t count for very much this is yet another series clearly and beyond any shadow of a doubt proving that you are very, very wrong. The better but dumber team lost while the lesser but smarter team won.

All of the details will be in the multi-part Report that will most likely be at least 12,000 words long, which is more than ten times as long as a “blog post” in some ordinary blog. (And face facts, there are virtually and probably literally no blogs out there, high traffic or otherwise, that produce Reports even half that long.)

The Mavericks-Thunder 2011 West Conference Final is (was if you are reading this after the series is over) a classic rich team-poor team confrontation. It is (or was) also a classic old team-young team confrontation. Oklahoma Coach Scott Brooks is most definitely a better coach than Dallas Coach Rick Carlisle, yet Brooks is (was) unable to overcome the disadvantages of a low payroll and of a very young, inexperienced team.

Brooks should have and could have overcome those disadvantages. Brooks and the Thunder could fairly easily have won the 2011 West final, especially since Carlisle has a track record of being a poor playoffs coach. If the Thunder follow some or all of the guidance we will produce, they will in the future (including next year!) be able to avoid collapses like their 2011 collapse to the Mavericks.

QUEST FOR THE RING REPORTING ON CONFERENCE AND NBA FINALS
The current, state of the art Quest for the Ring Production Plan calls for Reports on each Conference final and on the NBA Championship to be produced and posted in the fall or at the latest in December. These are supposed to be extensive, multi-part Reports totaling 10,000-20,000 words. (That’s the equivalent of 10-25 typical blog posts and it is the equivalent of 10-20% of a lengthy book.)

We have for several years wanted to post at least three multi-part series Reports on the Conference and on the NBA finals, but due to the following things, all of which soak up large amounts of time, QFTR has never yet even come close to producing all three mega Reports in one year:

--We have been unable to free ourselves of using up a lot of valuable production time on the Denver Nuggets. QFTR started out as a Nuggets Site, but certainly as of 2011 we are supposed to be a full scale NBA site and the Nuggets are supposed to be in the rear view mirror. But like we have said before, we are like a loyal dog that does not run away from home even though our owner is a lousy one indeed. So we have continued to report on the Nuggets, a team that most people can see will not possibly win The Quest for the Ring doing what they are doing.

The truth is that we will always do some reporting on the Nuggets that we would never do for any other team; that is, we will never completely rid ourselves of our seeming compulsion to “cover” the Nuggets. But we WILL eventually have Nuggets coverage scaled back to a nice minimal level.

--Extensive time has been going into developing new features and resources, most of which are unique across the entire World Wide Web. You would be amazed at some of the things that no one else has ever been able to produce, leaving QFTR to do those things, as much for its’ own benefit as for anyone else’s.

--Features that we have deployed on the Internet are continually breaking down and self-destructing, necessitating very large amounts of maintenance time. To say that a feature rich Internet Site requires a lot of maintenance time is an understatement; it requires a massive amount of maintenance time.

--Even when they don’t break down or self-destruct features need to be updated; for example, links need to be updated at least annually.

--Content Back-up requirements. Just as you can’t depend on a single copy of your data on a hard drive you need to back up everything posted on the Internet as well because there are reasons (most of which are more or less secret or at least unknowable) as to why your content (or your whole site for that matter) could be here today and gone tomorrow.

--Occasionally Google (which hosts QFTR and we take this opportunity to thank them for that) needs some help or guidance from QFTR, and also, occasionally, Google commits some error or foul that forces QFTR to spend valuable time trying to make sure that damage caused by that error or foul is limited. You would not believe how many hours can be soaked up due to “the Google factor,” due to Google not being perfect, alone.

--Due to limited traffic QFTR is unable to command the full amount of production time we would really want to give to it. (But there is a minimum time that can not be interfered with regardless of how limited traffic is. And also, ultimately, unlike with so many other Internet sites operated by a tiny number of people, QFTR will never be discontinued due to having traffic much less than it should.

SOME NOTES REGARDING TRAFFIC
Incidentally, the traffic thing is ultimately both a “yes we care”, but also a “No we don’t care” type of issue. That is, we care in some limited respects but mainly we don't care about how much traffic QFTR gets.

QFTR has only a relatively small fraction of the traffic that it should have if traffic were distributed according to the real value of Sites. If traffic was the be all and the end all QFTR would have been scrapped at least a year and a half ago!

Assuming that low traffic really reflects the lack of interest in pro basketball looked at with no hype and with a lot of sophisticated and detailed information (call it anti-hype) we are very disappointed in the abstract. But in the practical sense QFTR has been proved to be correct in seemingly controversial claims so many times that we are going to continue on regardless of traffic, regardless of what Google does, and regardless of how limited the audience really is for high level, sophisticated, no hype basketball reporting.

Your primary QFTR producer has gained a lot from producing this Site despite the limited traffic. Aside from learning and teaching basketball at the highest level, your primary QFTR producer has and will continue to become expert at an ever lengthening list of programs, computer system skills, and Internet publishing skills. In other words, by producing QFTR, we are in effect getting a free degree in practical computer science. So if you think we are not getting paid for producing QFTR you are very wrong because when you make something that is extremely expensive free, you just got paid.

SNEAK PEAK AT OKLAHOMA THUNDER: HELP IS ON THE WAY
Obviously the Thunder can’t do anything about the fact that they are very young and have a very light payroll whereas the Mavericks are very experienced and have a very fat payroll. But the Thunder made really dumb and fairly dumb mistakes which allowed Dallas to use their basic advantages to win a series they should not have won. The biggest mistake the Thunder made was that they disrespected the point guard concept.

As the Report later this year will show in extensive detail, the Thunder most likely would have won the Series if they had simply avoided committing the worst offense against basketball you can: disrespecting the point guard concept. In this report we introduced you to how Oklahoma point guard Russell Westbrook sometimes disrespects the concept and essentially forfeits games. We did so before “the Westbrook Thing” became public knowledge due to it being fairly heavily reported by TNT and ESPN broadcasters.

For the sneak peak right here and now I’ll skip most of the evidence and most of the details (due obviously to lack of time at the moment) and get to the bottom line: When a point guard disrespects the point guard concept he starts promoting isolation plays by all his teammates and he also starts running them himself. In a playoff game, more so than in the regular season, this (a) completely ruins the offense and (b) makes it impossible to win a playoff series against a smart, veteran team that is following the point guard concept even if you actually have a better team and are supposed to win that series. In other words, when you disrespect the point guard concept you can in effect forfeit a playoff series.

Tell me for example how game four in Oklahoma was not essentially the Thunder forfeiting to the Mavericks. When Russell Westbrook quit playing point guard about half way through the fourth, the Thunder might as well have walked off the court right then and there and gone straight to the locker room and not come back.

The interesting thing about the monumental collapse of the Thunder in the last five minutes of game four is that Russell Westbrook apparently (and I would assume by accident) proved that there is one thing even worse than disrespecting the importance of the point guard concept for an entire game. Even worse than that is following the point guard concept for most of a game, building up a big lead and then deciding you can completely scrap the concept and run only isolation plays in the second half of the 4th quarter. So then, since you are in the freaking West Conference Final and you are playing a great team with a monster historical superstar (Dirk Nowitzki) you collapse and lose the game when you quit using the point guard concept and you try to go back over to isolation, gimmick, fast break, and random sheer luck plays for offense.

I mean, the Thunder would have had roughly as good a chance to win game four had Russell decided to not follow the point guard concept the entire night (which is more or less what happened in game three). At least then they would have had SOME offense late in the fourth. At least then major confusion could have been avoided. Whereas, what actually happened in game four was that when Westbrook quit trying to make plays the Thunder were out of rhythm, hopelessly confused, and not warmed up with the isolation and gimmick plays, which is to say the Thunder were left with essentially no offense at all, thus the complete collapse. I mean seriously, I saw the game, and I saw with my own eyes that after Russell quit there was basically nothing there in Oklahoma's offense but confusion and helplessness.

Or to put it another way, the only thing worse than Russell Westbrook not running the point correctly for a whole game is for him to quit running it during the fourth quarter with a big lead, and then the Thunder blow the game! Yikes that was miserable to watch. After the collapse I thought about smashing my monitor into about a dozen pieces but thought better of it, laugh out loud.

After Russell Westbrook decided he didn't need to run point anymore what did he produce in isolation in the last five minutes of the game? He made one shot out of five! Every one of his shots were mid-range jumpers and threes. He's a good jump shooter but those shots would not go in! He even missed BOTH free throws in a trip to the line! Well, you know what they say; "Ball don't lie"! The ball was saying: "Russell, you are disrespecting the point guard concept and trying to cheat basketball. Therefore, you are going to blow this game!" Gosh it's really true, that ball don't lie, laugh out loud!

QFTR Memo to Russell Westbrook and to all point guards: the point guard concept is like air; you need to use it ALL of the time and not just some of the time. You can not run point only when you want to; you have to run it all of the time if you want to defeat teams like the Dallas Mavericks.

A series forfeit due to refusal to follow the point guard concept is apparently what is going to happen in the 2011 Thunder-Mavericks series (which at the moment is 3-1 Mavericks).

Maybe the Thunder can learn the hard way? Maybe someone will read this or this preview right here or else this falls’ detailed Report and get the Thunder to change their ways? If after the details are produced and posted the Thunder continue to play dumb next year, if they in other words don’t follow the advice in the Report that comes out of this Help is on the Way pledge, at least no one will be able to say that QFTR didn’t fulfill its’ duties as the site that “explains exactly how Championships are won and lost”.

As for the here and now, I projected a Thunder win because I naively thought (I dream too much, it's true) that somehow Westbrook, Brooks, and the Thunder could “grow up in a hurry” and respect the point guard concept. (And in my defense they at least recognized and talked about the problem.) I thought that Westbrook would make more plays and get more assists than he did. I was wrong, but it’s ultimately just one lost year and obviously the Thunder are very, very young. They will very likely win at least one Championship if they eventually stop what they are doing and follow the number one rule of pro basketball offense in the playoffs: you WILL follow the point guard concept or you will definitely NOT be winning the Championship even if you could have won it otherwise.

Just as you don’t have any choice about how high the hoop is off the floor, you don’t have any choice regarding following the point guard concept. The point guard concept is just as much a fact of basketball that you can't do anything about as is how high the hoop is off the floor. Either a point guard (the starting one or a backup) or at the least a player at another position acting as if he was the point guard (or some combination of those players) makes (or make) a few plays EVERY SINGLE QUARTER and therefore prevent(s) the team from falling into the isolation trap and prevent(s) the offense from running down to next to nothing or the team forfeits any chance to win the Championship. In a playoff game against a great team, whenever you almost completely stop making plays you are toast and you will win only if you get very, very lucky.

If you don’t understand or if you don't believe that to win a Championship the ball absolutely must often move between players and that a few plays involving at least two players have to made every single quarter (but not every single play of course) you really need to find another sport.

For example, tennis is good if you don't agree with the point guard concept. I am sure Russell Westbrook would be at least a good tennis player, and probably an outstanding one. I am also sure he would be a great point guard if he just agreed to be one all of the time.

Post your response to anything on Quest HERE

GIVE US THE JUICE TO PRODUCE REPORTS MORE QUICKLY

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

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

Share/Bookmark


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


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

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

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

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

ESPN NBA Message Board

LAKERS SIGN IN HOLLYWOOD

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Custom Search
SEARCH THE 15 BOOKS / 1.5 MILLION WORDS

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

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

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

Blog Archive


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


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

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

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

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

QUEST FOR THE RING USER GUIDE

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


WORD IS BOND

WELCOME TO THE QUEST--THINGS ARE VERY DIFFERENT HERE

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

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

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


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Custom Search
SEARCH THE 15 BOOKS / 1.5 MILLION WORDS

QUEST REPORTS #81 TO #100 GOING BACK IN TIME

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VIDEOS

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

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

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MOST RECENT LEAGUE WIDE REAL PLAYER RATINGS

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

NBA REAL PLAYER RATINGS
2009-10 REGULAR SEASON

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

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

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

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

NBA REAL PLAYER RATINGS
2009-10 REGULAR SEASON

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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