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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


Saturday, June 4, 2011

Real Player Ratings for the 2011 NBA Championship Game Two, Dallas Mavericks 95 Miami Heat 93

2011 NBA CHAMPIONSHIP MIAMI HEAT VS DALLAS MAVERICKS GAME TWO REAL PLAYER RATINGS
JUNE 2, 2011
MIAMI, FLORIDA
DALLAS MAVERICKS 95 MIAMI HEAT 93
BEST OF SEVEN SERIES TIED 1-1

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 almost 100% certainty.

--If the reason is not known with at least 85% certainty, the reason "unknown" is given.

--Injuries are NEVER 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.

MIAMI HEAT KEY PLAYERS WHO DID NOT PLAY
Eddie House >>> Did not play due to apparent coach error.

DALLAS MAVERICKS KEY PLAYERS WHO DID NOT PLAY
Caron Butler >>> Did not play due to injury.

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 1.559 HEAT
Mike Bibby, PG 1.169 HEAT
LeBron James, SF 0.978 HEAT
Shawn Marion, SF 0.912 MAVERICKS
Jason Terry, SG 0.910 MAVERICKS
DeShawn Stevenson, SG 0.908 MAVERICKS
Dirk Nowitzki, PF 0.905 MAVERICKS
Tyson Chandler, C 0.623 MAVERICKS
Mario Chalmers, PG 0.588 HEAT
Jason Kidd, PG 0.453 MAVERICKS
Jose Juan Barea, PG 0.443 MAVERICKS
Chris Bosh, PF 0.438 HEAT
Joel Anthony, C 0.383 HEAT
Mike Miller, SG 0.314 HEAT
Udonis Haslem, PF 0.195 HEAT
Brendan Haywood, C -0.154 MAVERICKS

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 65.48 HEAT
LeBron James, SF 39.12 HEAT
Dirk Nowitzki, PF 38.01 MAVERICKS
Shawn Marion, SF 37.39 MAVERICKS
Jason Terry, SG 28.21 MAVERICKS
Mike Bibby, PG 25.72 HEAT
Tyson Chandler, C 23.66 MAVERICKS
DeShawn Stevenson, SG 19.97 MAVERICKS
Chris Bosh, PF 17.50 HEAT
Jason Kidd, PG 17.21 MAVERICKS
Mario Chalmers, PG 14.70 HEAT
Joel Anthony, C 10.34 HEAT
Jose Juan Barea, PG 6.20 MAVERICKS
Udonis Haslem, PF 5.66 HEAT
Mike Miller, SG 4.71 HEAT
Brendan Haywood, C -1.24 MAVERICKS

=============== 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 1.083 HEAT
Jason Terry, SG 0.702 MAVERICKS
Mike Bibby, PG 0.619 HEAT
Shawn Marion, SF 0.596 MAVERICKS
Dirk Nowitzki, PF 0.399 MAVERICKS
Tyson Chandler, C 0.379 MAVERICKS
DeShawn Stevenson, SG 0.365 MAVERICKS
LeBron James, SF 0.342 HEAT
Mario Chalmers, PG 0.272 HEAT
Jose Juan Barea, PG 0.098 MAVERICKS
Jason Kidd, PG 0.075 MAVERICKS
Chris Bosh, PF 0.011 HEAT
Joel Anthony, C 0.000 HEAT
Brendan Haywood, C -0.087 MAVERICKS
Udonis Haslem, PF -0.096 HEAT
Mike Miller, SG -0.203 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.

LeBron James, SF 0.636 HEAT
Mike Bibby, PG 0.550 HEAT
DeShawn Stevenson, SG 0.543 MAVERICKS
Mike Miller, SG 0.516 HEAT
Dirk Nowitzki, PF 0.506 MAVERICKS
Dwyane Wade, SG 0.476 HEAT
Chris Bosh, PF 0.426 HEAT
Joel Anthony, C 0.383 HEAT
Jason Kidd, PG 0.378 MAVERICKS
Jose Juan Barea, PG 0.345 MAVERICKS
Shawn Marion, SF 0.316 MAVERICKS
Mario Chalmers, PG 0.316 HEAT
Udonis Haslem, PF 0.291 HEAT
Tyson Chandler, C 0.244 MAVERICKS
Jason Terry, SG 0.207 MAVERICKS
Brendan Haywood, C -0.067 MAVERICKS

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.

Real Player Ratings for the 2011 NBA Championship Game One: Miami Heat 92 Dallas Mavericks 84

2011 NBA CHAMPIONSHIP MIAMI HEAT VS DALLAS MAVERICKS GAME ONE REAL PLAYER RATINGS
MAY 31 2011
MIAMI, FLORIDA
MIAMI HEAT 92 DALLAS MAVERICKS 84
MIAMI LEADS BEST OF SEVEN SERIES 1-0

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 almost 100% certainty.

--If the reason is not known with at least 85% certainty, the reason "unknown" is given.

--Injuries are NEVER 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.

MIAMI HEAT KEY PLAYERS WHO DID NOT PLAY
Eddie House >>> Did not play due to apparent coach error.

DALLAS MAVERICKS KEY PLAYERS WHO DID NOT PLAY
Caron Butler >>> Did not play due to injury.

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 1.164 HEAT
Dwyane Wade, SG 1.030 HEAT
Dirk Nowitzki, PF 0.964 MAVERICKS
Shawn Marion, SF 0.952 MAVERICKS
Juwan Howard, PF 0.882 HEAT
Brendan Haywood, C 0.858 MAVERICKS
DeShawn Stevenson, SG 0.854 MAVERICKS
Chris Bosh, PF 0.788 HEAT
Jason Kidd, PG 0.634 MAVERICKS
Mario Chalmers, PG 0.588 HEAT
Tyson Chandler, C 0.568 MAVERICKS
Mike Bibby, PG 0.483 HEAT
Mike Miller, SG 0.422 HEAT
Udonis Haslem, PF 0.406 HEAT
Jason Terry, SG 0.343 MAVERICKS
Joel Anthony, C 0.265 HEAT
Jose Juan Barea, PG 0.226 MAVERICKS
Peja Stojakovic, SF 0.067 MAVERICKS

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 52.37 HEAT
Dwyane Wade, SG 39.14 HEAT
Dirk Nowitzki, PF 38.57 MAVERICKS
Shawn Marion, SF 33.30 MAVERICKS
Chris Bosh, PF 30.72 HEAT
Jason Kidd, PG 22.83 MAVERICKS
Tyson Chandler, C 19.32 MAVERICKS
Mario Chalmers, PG 16.46 HEAT
Udonis Haslem, PF 12.19 HEAT
Brendan Haywood, C 12.01 MAVERICKS
DeShawn Stevenson, SG 11.96 MAVERICKS
Jason Terry, SG 11.32 MAVERICKS
Mike Miller, SG 8.44 HEAT
Mike Bibby, PG 6.76 HEAT
Juwan Howard, PF 5.47 HEAT
Joel Anthony, C 4.78 HEAT
Jose Juan Barea, PG 4.07 MAVERICKS
Peja Stojakovic, SF 1.01 MAVERICKS

=============== 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.

LeBron James, SF 0.716 HEAT
Juwan Howard, PF 0.684 HEAT
Dirk Nowitzki, PF 0.585 MAVERICKS
Dwyane Wade, SG 0.567 HEAT
Shawn Marion, SF 0.510 MAVERICKS
DeShawn Stevenson, SG 0.506 MAVERICKS
Chris Bosh, PF 0.438 HEAT
Mike Miller, SG 0.365 HEAT
Jason Kidd, PG 0.339 MAVERICKS
Mario Chalmers, PG 0.278 HEAT
Jason Terry, SG 0.234 MAVERICKS
Tyson Chandler, C 0.190 MAVERICKS
Mike Bibby, PG 0.139 HEAT
Udonis Haslem, PF 0.083 HEAT
Jose Juan Barea, PG 0.033 MAVERICKS
Brendan Haywood, C -0.040 MAVERICKS
Joel Anthony, C -0.116 HEAT
Peja Stojakovic, SF -0.203 MAVERICKS

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.

Brendan Haywood, C 0.898 MAVERICKS
Dwyane Wade, SG 0.463 HEAT
LeBron James, SF 0.448 HEAT
Shawn Marion, SF 0.442 MAVERICKS
Joel Anthony, C 0.381 HEAT
Dirk Nowitzki, PF 0.380 MAVERICKS
Tyson Chandler, C 0.378 MAVERICKS
Chris Bosh, PF 0.350 HEAT
DeShawn Stevenson, SG 0.348 MAVERICKS
Mike Bibby, PG 0.344 HEAT
Udonis Haslem, PF 0.323 HEAT
Mario Chalmers, PG 0.309 HEAT
Jason Kidd, PG 0.295 MAVERICKS
Peja Stojakovic, SF 0.270 MAVERICKS
Juwan Howard, PF 0.199 HEAT
Jose Juan Barea, PG 0.193 MAVERICKS
Jason Terry, SG 0.109 MAVERICKS
Mike Miller, SG 0.057 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 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.

Thursday, June 2, 2011

Real Player Ratings for the 2011 West Conference Final Game Five: Dallas Mavericks 100 Oklahoma Thunder 96

2011 WEST CONFERENCE FINAL OKLAHOMA THUNDER VS DALLAS MAVERICKS GAME FIVE REAL PLAYER RATINGS
MAY 25 2011
DALLAS, TEXAS
DALLAS MAVERICKS 100 OKLAHOMA THUNDER 96
DALLAS 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 almost 100% certainty.

--If the reason is not known with at least 85% certainty, the reason "unknown" is given.

--Injuries are NEVER 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.

THUNDER
Nazr Muhammed >>> Did not play due to apparent coaching error.

Daequan Cook >>> Played only 4 minutes due to apparent coaching error.

MAVERICKS
Caron Butler >>> Did not play due to injury.

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.

Jose Juan Barea, PG 1.393 MAVERICKS
James Harden, SG 1.348 THUNDER
Shawn Marion, SF 1.186 MAVERICKS
Nick Collison, PF 1.151 THUNDER
Russell Westbrook, PG 1.043 THUNDER
Dirk Nowitzki, PF 0.996 MAVERICKS
Jason Kidd, PG 0.858 MAVERICKS
Peja Stojakovic, SF 0.847 MAVERICKS
Tyson Chandler, C 0.709 MAVERICKS
Kevin Durant, SF 0.708 THUNDER
Brendan Haywood, C 0.626 MAVERICKS
Kendrick Perkins, C 0.497 THUNDER
Thabo Sefolosha, SG 0.270 THUNDER
Jason Terry, SG 0.261 MAVERICKS
Serge Ibaka, PF 0.155 THUNDER
Eric Maynor, PG 0.130 THUNDER
DeShawn Stevenson, SG 0.018 MAVERICKS

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.

Shawn Marion, SF 47.45 MAVERICKS
Russell Westbrook, PG 45.88 THUNDER
James Harden, SG 45.83 THUNDER
Nick Collison, PF 43.73 THUNDER
Dirk Nowitzki, PF 39.84 MAVERICKS
Jose Juan Barea, PG 30.65 MAVERICKS
Kevin Durant, SF 30.43 THUNDER
Jason Kidd, PG 29.18 MAVERICKS
Tyson Chandler, C 17.01 MAVERICKS
Kendrick Perkins, C 13.93 THUNDER
Brendan Haywood, C 10.02 MAVERICKS
Jason Terry, SG 8.11 MAVERICKS
Peja Stojakovic, SF 7.63 MAVERICKS
Thabo Sefolosha, SG 3.78 THUNDER
Eric Maynor, PG 2.72 THUNDER
Serge Ibaka, PF 2.18 THUNDER
DeShawn Stevenson, SG 0.46 MAVERICKS

=============== 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.

Jose Juan Barea, PG 0.972 MAVERICKS
James Harden, SG 0.935 THUNDER
Shawn Marion, SF 0.764 MAVERICKS
Russell Westbrook, PG 0.708 THUNDER
Jason Kidd, PG 0.564 MAVERICKS
Brendan Haywood, C 0.546 MAVERICKS
Nick Collison, PF 0.536 THUNDER
Dirk Nowitzki, PF 0.464 MAVERICKS
Peja Stojakovic, SF 0.335 MAVERICKS
Tyson Chandler, C 0.291 MAVERICKS
Kevin Durant, SF 0.279 THUNDER
Jason Terry, SG 0.093 MAVERICKS
Thabo Sefolosha, SG 0.000 THUNDER
Eric Maynor, PG -0.003 THUNDER
Kendrick Perkins, C -0.078 THUNDER
Serge Ibaka, PF -0.127 THUNDER
DeShawn Stevenson, SG -0.322 MAVERICKS

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.

Nick Collison, PF 0.615 THUNDER
Kendrick Perkins, C 0.575 THUNDER
Dirk Nowitzki, PF 0.532 MAVERICKS
Peja Stojakovic, SF 0.513 MAVERICKS
Kevin Durant, SF 0.429 THUNDER
Shawn Marion, SF 0.422 MAVERICKS
Jose Juan Barea, PG 0.421 MAVERICKS
Tyson Chandler, C 0.418 MAVERICKS
James Harden, SG 0.413 THUNDER
DeShawn Stevenson, SG 0.340 MAVERICKS
Russell Westbrook, PG 0.335 THUNDER
Jason Kidd, PG 0.294 MAVERICKS
Serge Ibaka, PF 0.282 THUNDER
Thabo Sefolosha, SG 0.270 THUNDER
Jason Terry, SG 0.168 MAVERICKS
Eric Maynor, PG 0.133 THUNDER
Brendan Haywood, C 0.080 MAVERICKS

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.

Real Player Ratings for the 2011 West Conference Final Game Four: Dallas Mavericks 112 Oklahoma Thunder 105, Overtime

2011 WEST CONFERENCE FINAL OKLAHOMA THUNDER VS DALLAS MAVERICKS GAME FOUR REAL PLAYER RATINGS
MAY 23 2011
OKLAHOMA CITY, OKLAHOMA
DALLAS MAVERICKS 112 OKLAHOMA THUNDER 105, OVERTIME
DALLAS 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 almost 100% certainty.

--If the reason is not known with at least 85% certainty, the reason "unknown" is given.

--Injuries are NEVER 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.

THUNDER
Nazr Muhammed >>> Did not play due to apparent coaching error.

Daequan Cook >>> Played only 6 minutes due to apparent coaching error.

MAVERICKS
Caron Butler >>> Did not play due to injury.

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.

Dirk Nowitzki, PF 1.207 MAVERICKS
Nick Collison, PF 1.157 THUNDER
Jason Kidd, PG 1.112 MAVERICKS
Eric Maynor, PG 1.048 THUNDER
Thabo Sefolosha, SG 0.940 THUNDER
Brendan Haywood, C 0.796 MAVERICKS
Serge Ibaka, PF 0.736 THUNDER
Kevin Durant, SF 0.722 THUNDER
Kendrick Perkins, C 0.695 THUNDER
Jose Juan Barea, PG 0.685 MAVERICKS
Jason Terry, SG 0.666 MAVERICKS
Tyson Chandler, C 0.643 MAVERICKS
Shawn Marion, SF 0.573 MAVERICKS
Russell Westbrook, PG 0.551 THUNDER
James Harden, SG 0.483 THUNDER
Peja Stojakovic, SF 0.062 MAVERICKS
DeShawn Stevenson, SG -0.191 MAVERICKS

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.

Dirk Nowitzki, PF 54.32 MAVERICKS
Jason Kidd, PG 45.59 MAVERICKS
Nick Collison, PF 35.87 THUNDER
Kevin Durant, SF 35.40 THUNDER
Serge Ibaka, PF 34.61 THUNDER
Thabo Sefolosha, SG 28.19 THUNDER
Jason Terry, SG 27.98 MAVERICKS
Russell Westbrook, PG 23.16 THUNDER
Tyson Chandler, C 22.50 MAVERICKS
Shawn Marion, SF 21.79 MAVERICKS
Kendrick Perkins, C 17.37 THUNDER
Brendan Haywood, C 14.33 MAVERICKS
Eric Maynor, PG 11.53 THUNDER
James Harden, SG 11.11 THUNDER
Jose Juan Barea, PG 10.96 MAVERICKS
Peja Stojakovic, SF 1.05 MAVERICKS
DeShawn Stevenson, SG -2.48 MAVERICKS

=============== 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.

Dirk Nowitzki, PF 0.887 MAVERICKS
Nick Collison, PF 0.823 THUNDER
Jason Kidd, PG 0.635 MAVERICKS
Brendan Haywood, C 0.594 MAVERICKS
Thabo Sefolosha, SG 0.506 THUNDER
Eric Maynor, PG 0.488 THUNDER
Kendrick Perkins, C 0.326 THUNDER
Kevin Durant, SF 0.297 THUNDER
Serge Ibaka, PF 0.293 THUNDER
Jason Terry, SG 0.245 MAVERICKS
Jose Juan Barea, PG 0.236 MAVERICKS
Russell Westbrook, PG 0.218 THUNDER
Tyson Chandler, C 0.202 MAVERICKS
Shawn Marion, SF 0.126 MAVERICKS
James Harden, SG 0.007 THUNDER
Peja Stojakovic, SF -0.025 MAVERICKS
DeShawn Stevenson, SG -0.184 MAVERICKS

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.

Eric Maynor, PG 0.559 THUNDER
Jason Kidd, PG 0.477 MAVERICKS
James Harden, SG 0.476 THUNDER
Jose Juan Barea, PG 0.449 MAVERICKS
Shawn Marion, SF 0.447 MAVERICKS
Serge Ibaka, PF 0.443 THUNDER
Tyson Chandler, C 0.441 MAVERICKS
Thabo Sefolosha, SG 0.434 THUNDER
Kevin Durant, SF 0.425 THUNDER
Jason Terry, SG 0.421 MAVERICKS
Kendrick Perkins, C 0.369 THUNDER
Nick Collison, PF 0.334 THUNDER
Russell Westbrook, PG 0.334 THUNDER
Dirk Nowitzki, PF 0.320 MAVERICKS
Brendan Haywood, C 0.202 MAVERICKS
Peja Stojakovic, SF 0.087 MAVERICKS
DeShawn Stevenson, SG -0.007 MAVERICKS

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.

Real Player Ratings for the 2011 West Conference Final Game Three: Dallas Mavericks 93 Oklahoma Thunder 87

2011 WEST CONFERENCE FINAL OKLAHOMA THUNDER VS DALLAS MAVERICKS GAME THREE REAL PLAYER RATINGS
MAY 21 2011
OKLAHOMA CITY, OKLAHOMA
DALLAS MAVERICKS 93 OKLAHOMA THUNDER 87
DALLAS 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 almost 100% certainty.

--If the reason is not known with at least 85% certainty, the reason "unknown" is given.

--Injuries are NEVER 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.

THUNDER
Nazr Muhammed >>> Did not play due to apparent coaching error.

Eric Maynor >>> Played only 6 minutes due to apparent coaching error.

MAVERICKS
Caron Butler >>> Did not play due to injury.

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.

Nick Collison, PF 1.453 THUNDER
Jason Kidd, PG 1.061 MAVERICKS
Kevin Durant, SF 1.050 THUNDER
Tyson Chandler, C 0.983 MAVERICKS
Jason Terry, SG 0.930 MAVERICKS
Shawn Marion, SF 0.912 MAVERICKS
Serge Ibaka, PF 0.880 THUNDER
Thabo Sefolosha, SG 0.600 THUNDER
Russell Westbrook, PG 0.598 THUNDER
Peja Stojakovic, SF 0.589 MAVERICKS
Jose Juan Barea, PG 0.583 MAVERICKS
Kendrick Perkins, C 0.558 THUNDER
DeShawn Stevenson, SG 0.557 MAVERICKS
James Harden, SG 0.479 THUNDER
Brendan Haywood, C 0.232 MAVERICKS
Dirk Nowitzki, PF 0.200 MAVERICKS
Daequan Cook, SG -0.068 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.

Kevin Durant, SF 48.31 THUNDER
Jason Kidd, PG 39.27 MAVERICKS
Tyson Chandler, C 35.39 MAVERICKS
Nick Collison, PF 34.86 THUNDER
Shawn Marion, SF 34.64 MAVERICKS
Jason Terry, SG 28.83 MAVERICKS
Russell Westbrook, PG 25.13 THUNDER
Serge Ibaka, PF 21.12 THUNDER
James Harden, SG 17.26 THUNDER
Kendrick Perkins, C 16.73 THUNDER
DeShawn Stevenson, SG 12.25 MAVERICKS
Thabo Sefolosha, SG 11.39 THUNDER
Peja Stojakovic, SF 9.43 MAVERICKS
Jose Juan Barea, PG 8.17 MAVERICKS
Dirk Nowitzki, PF 7.40 MAVERICKS
Brendan Haywood, C 2.32 MAVERICKS
Daequan Cook, SG -0.96 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.

Nick Collison, PF 0.699 THUNDER
Jose Juan Barea, PG 0.643 MAVERICKS
Jason Terry, SG 0.631 MAVERICKS
Jason Kidd, PG 0.590 MAVERICKS
Shawn Marion, SF 0.570 MAVERICKS
Kevin Durant, SF 0.562 THUNDER
Russell Westbrook, PG 0.406 THUNDER
Tyson Chandler, C 0.406 MAVERICKS
DeShawn Stevenson, SG 0.340 MAVERICKS
Peja Stojakovic, SF 0.304 MAVERICKS
Serge Ibaka, PF 0.248 THUNDER
Thabo Sefolosha, SG 0.182 THUNDER
James Harden, SG 0.001 THUNDER
Kendrick Perkins, C -0.003 THUNDER
Brendan Haywood, C -0.103 MAVERICKS
Dirk Nowitzki, PF -0.131 MAVERICKS
Daequan Cook, SG -0.145 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.

Nick Collison, PF 0.754 THUNDER
Serge Ibaka, PF 0.632 THUNDER
Tyson Chandler, C 0.577 MAVERICKS
Kendrick Perkins, C 0.561 THUNDER
Kevin Durant, SF 0.488 THUNDER
James Harden, SG 0.478 THUNDER
Jason Kidd, PG 0.471 MAVERICKS
Thabo Sefolosha, SG 0.418 THUNDER
Shawn Marion, SF 0.341 MAVERICKS
Brendan Haywood, C 0.335 MAVERICKS
Dirk Nowitzki, PF 0.331 MAVERICKS
Jason Terry, SG 0.299 MAVERICKS
Peja Stojakovic, SF 0.285 MAVERICKS
DeShawn Stevenson, SG 0.217 MAVERICKS
Russell Westbrook, PG 0.192 THUNDER
Daequan Cook, SG 0.076 THUNDER
Jose Juan Barea, PG -0.059 MAVERICKS

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.

Real Player Ratings for the 2011 East Conference Final Game Five Miami Heat 83 Chicago Bulls 80

2011 EAST CONFERENCE FINAL CHICAGO BULLS VS MIAMI HEAT GAME FIVE REAL PLAYER RATINGS
MAY 26 2011
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS
MIAMI HEAT 83 CHICAGO BULLS 80
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 almost 100% certainty.

--If the reason is not known with at least 85% certainty, the reason "unknown" is given.

--Injuries are NEVER 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.

BULLS
--C.J. Watson did not play due to apparent coaching error.

--Omer Asik did not play due to the fact that two better players at the center position did play; however, arguably Asik should have played as well.

HEAT
--Eddie House did not play due to apparent 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 1.237 HEAT
Chris Bosh, PF 1.088 HEAT
Ronnie Brewer, SG 0.981 BULLS
Kurt Thomas, C 0.971 BULLS
Joakim Noah, C 0.863 BULLS
Luol Deng, SF 0.795 BULLS
Derrick Rose, PG 0.785 BULLS
Mike Miller, SG 0.590 HEAT
Keith Bogans, SG 0.587 BULLS
Taj Gibson, PF 0.553 BULLS
Kyle Korver, SG 0.514 BULLS
Joel Anthony, C 0.408 HEAT
Dwyane Wade, SG 0.367 HEAT
Carlos Boozer, PF 0.341 BULLS
Mario Chalmers, PG 0.302 HEAT
Udonis Haslem, PF 0.169 HEAT
Mike Bibby, PG 0.061 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 56.90 HEAT
Chris Bosh, PF 45.71 HEAT
Derrick Rose, PG 32.98 BULLS
Luol Deng, SF 28.62 BULLS
Ronnie Brewer, SG 26.49 BULLS
Joakim Noah, C 24.16 BULLS
Kurt Thomas, C 17.49 BULLS
Mike Miller, SG 14.15 HEAT
Dwyane Wade, SG 13.95 HEAT
Taj Gibson, PF 13.28 BULLS
Keith Bogans, SG 11.74 BULLS
Joel Anthony, C 11.41 HEAT
Carlos Boozer, PF 8.86 BULLS
Kyle Korver, SG 6.68 BULLS
Mario Chalmers, PG 5.73 HEAT
Udonis Haslem, PF 4.41 HEAT
Mike Bibby, PG 0.98 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.

LeBron James, SF 0.533 HEAT
Ronnie Brewer, SG 0.510 BULLS
Mike Miller, SG 0.466 HEAT
Derrick Rose, PG 0.455 BULLS
Chris Bosh, PF 0.395 HEAT
Kurt Thomas, C 0.385 BULLS
Luol Deng, SF 0.345 BULLS
Keith Bogans, SG 0.286 BULLS
Kyle Korver, SG 0.191 BULLS
Joakim Noah, C 0.133 BULLS
Mario Chalmers, PG 0.117 HEAT
Dwyane Wade, SG 0.021 HEAT
Carlos Boozer, PF 0.010 BULLS
Mike Bibby, PG -0.021 HEAT
Joel Anthony, C -0.041 HEAT
Taj Gibson, PF -0.100 BULLS
Udonis Haslem, PF -0.178 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.

Joakim Noah, C 0.730 BULLS
LeBron James, SF 0.704 HEAT
Chris Bosh, PF 0.694 HEAT
Taj Gibson, PF 0.653 BULLS
Kurt Thomas, C 0.586 BULLS
Ronnie Brewer, SG 0.471 BULLS
Luol Deng, SF 0.450 BULLS
Joel Anthony, C 0.449 HEAT
Udonis Haslem, PF 0.347 HEAT
Dwyane Wade, SG 0.347 HEAT
Carlos Boozer, PF 0.331 BULLS
Derrick Rose, PG 0.330 BULLS
Kyle Korver, SG 0.323 BULLS
Keith Bogans, SG 0.301 BULLS
Mario Chalmers, PG 0.185 HEAT
Mike Miller, SG 0.124 HEAT
Mike Bibby, PG 0.082 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 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.

Real Player Ratings for the 2011 East Conference Final Game Four Miami Heat 101 Chicago Bulls 93, Overtime

2011 EAST CONFERENCE FINAL CHICAGO BULLS VS MIAMI HEAT GAME FOUR REAL PLAYER RATINGS
MAY 24 2011
MIAMI, FLORIDA
MIAMI HEAT 101 CHICAGO BULLS 93
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 almost 100% certainty.

--If the reason is not known with at least 85% certainty, the reason "unknown" is given.

--Injuries are NEVER 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.

BULLS
--Kurt Thomas did not play due to apparent coaching error.

--Omer Asik did not play due to apparent coaching error.

Note: Thomas and Asik are both centers and so arguably only one of the two should have played (since one center and two power forwards did play). But it's clear that neither of them playing was a coaching error.

HEAT
--Eddie House did not play due to apparent 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.

C.J. Watson, PG 1.167 BULLS
Mario Chalmers, PG 1.153 HEAT
LeBron James, SF 1.107 HEAT
Mike Miller, SG 1.102 HEAT
Luol Deng, SF 1.031 BULLS
Carlos Boozer, PF 0.816 BULLS
Joakim Noah, C 0.794 BULLS
Chris Bosh, PF 0.751 HEAT
Ronnie Brewer, SG 0.742 BULLS
Joel Anthony, C 0.679 HEAT
Dwyane Wade, SG 0.633 HEAT
Derrick Rose, PG 0.463 BULLS
Keith Bogans, SG 0.450 BULLS
Udonis Haslem, PF 0.307 HEAT
Taj Gibson, PF 0.177 BULLS
Kyle Korver, SG -0.016 BULLS
Mike Bibby, PG -0.181 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 54.25 HEAT
Luol Deng, SF 45.37 BULLS
Carlos Boozer, PF 39.99 BULLS
Joakim Noah, C 35.72 BULLS
Chris Bosh, PF 32.28 HEAT
Mike Miller, SG 28.66 HEAT
Dwyane Wade, SG 25.97 HEAT
Mario Chalmers, PG 24.21 HEAT
Derrick Rose, PG 22.71 BULLS
Joel Anthony, C 19.68 HEAT
Ronnie Brewer, SG 15.58 BULLS
Udonis Haslem, PF 10.43 HEAT
Keith Bogans, SG 10.36 BULLS
C.J. Watson, PG 8.17 BULLS
Taj Gibson, PF 1.77 BULLS
Kyle Korver, SG -0.26 BULLS
Mike Bibby, PG -3.98 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.

LeBron James, SF 0.683 HEAT
C.J. Watson, PG 0.672 BULLS
Mike Miller, SG 0.634 HEAT
Mario Chalmers, PG 0.482 HEAT
Chris Bosh, PF 0.458 HEAT
Luol Deng, SF 0.381 BULLS
Ronnie Brewer, SG 0.361 BULLS
Joakim Noah, C 0.342 BULLS
Carlos Boozer, PF 0.338 BULLS
Keith Bogans, SG 0.155 BULLS
Derrick Rose, PG 0.119 BULLS
Dwyane Wade, SG 0.094 HEAT
Taj Gibson, PF 0.015 BULLS
Joel Anthony, C -0.010 HEAT
Udonis Haslem, PF -0.094 HEAT
Kyle Korver, SG -0.135 BULLS
Mike Bibby, PG -0.166 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.

Joel Anthony, C 0.688 HEAT
Mario Chalmers, PG 0.671 HEAT
Luol Deng, SF 0.650 BULLS
Dwyane Wade, SG 0.540 HEAT
C.J. Watson, PG 0.496 BULLS
Carlos Boozer, PF 0.478 BULLS
Mike Miller, SG 0.469 HEAT
Joakim Noah, C 0.452 BULLS
LeBron James, SF 0.424 HEAT
Udonis Haslem, PF 0.400 HEAT
Ronnie Brewer, SG 0.381 BULLS
Derrick Rose, PG 0.345 BULLS
Keith Bogans, SG 0.295 BULLS
Chris Bosh, PF 0.292 HEAT
Taj Gibson, PF 0.162 BULLS
Kyle Korver, SG 0.119 BULLS
Mike Bibby, PG -0.015 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 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.

Post your response to anything on Quest HERE

GIVE US THE JUICE TO PRODUCE REPORTS MORE QUICKLY

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

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

Share/Bookmark


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


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

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

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

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

ESPN NBA Message Board

LAKERS SIGN IN HOLLYWOOD

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Custom Search
SEARCH THE 15 BOOKS / 1.5 MILLION WORDS

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

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

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

Blog Archive


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


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

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

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

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

QUEST FOR THE RING USER GUIDE

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

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



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


WORD IS BOND

WELCOME TO THE QUEST--THINGS ARE VERY DIFFERENT HERE

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

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

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


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Custom Search
SEARCH THE 15 BOOKS / 1.5 MILLION WORDS

QUEST REPORTS #81 TO #100 GOING BACK IN TIME

RECOMMENDED SCHOOL--CLICK FOR DETAILS


VIDEOS

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

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

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

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

MOST RECENT LEAGUE WIDE REAL PLAYER RATINGS

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

NBA REAL PLAYER RATINGS
2009-10 REGULAR SEASON

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

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

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

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

NBA REAL PLAYER RATINGS
2009-10 REGULAR SEASON

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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