October | 2009 | Wages of Wins Journal

Browsing All Posts published on »October, 2009«

Feeling Lawson Regrets Yet?

October 30, 2009 by dberri

Yes, it has only been two games (so this is a very small sample). And yes, Brandon Jennings and Ricky Rubio have to play in an NBA game. But look at what Ty Lawson has done (reported in Table One) across his first two games. Table One: Ty Lawson after Two Games These numbers weren’t […]

Showing that Criticism is not Equal to Hate

October 29, 2009 by dberri

In general, if you tell fans of a team that there is little hope before the season even starts, those fans are going to become unhappy. At least this has been true when I have discussed the fortunes of the less-fortunate teams in the NBA. Often when I state that a particular NBA team is […]

Previewing the Year of the Super Teams

October 27, 2009 by dberri

To the extent that competitive balance matters (and its importance tends to be overstated), the NBA has a competitive balance problem. As we detail in The Wages of Wins, relative to MLB, NFL, and the NHL; winning percentage (once one controls for schedule length) has a wider dispersion in the Association. And while competitive balance […]

Hoping for a Plan in Atlanta

October 26, 2009 by dberri

Note: The following repeats much of what I said about the Atlanta Hawks in August. Missing from that post was a table reporting what happened in 2008-09 and a listing of this team’s depth chart. These items have been constructed and the original post has now been re-written. With this post, Detroit is the only […]

Is Houston Destined for the Lottery?

October 25, 2009 by dberri

Note: The following repeats much of what I said about the Houston Rockets in August. Missing from that post was a table reporting what happened in 2008-09 and a complete discussion of this team’s depth chart. These items have been constructed and the original post has now been re-written. With this post, only Atlanta and […]

The Inconsistent Troy Murphy and the Consistent Pacers

October 25, 2009 by dberri

Prior to this past season Troy Murphy had played at least 2,000 minutes in four seasons in his NBA career. And in these four seasons his Wins Produced and WP48 [Wins Produced per 48 minutes] were as follows: 2002-03: 9.8 Wins Produced, 0.187 WP48 2004-05: 7.9 Wins Produced, 0.159 WP48 2005-06: 9.6 Wins Produced, 0.183 […]

Fantasy League Based on Win Score

October 24, 2009 by dberri

Just saw the following in the comments and thought I would make pass it along to everyone (by the way, I won’t have time to play in a fantasy league this year): I’ve just created an ESPN NBA.COM Fantasy League based on Win Score. You can check out the scoring settings for the league at […]

The Toronto Raptors and the Stats Revolution

October 23, 2009 by dberri

Here’s something I wish I would have seen before posting yesterday’s comment on the Toronto Raptors. Much has been made of NBA teams employing more and more statistical analysis in their decision-making process. It’s important to remember, though, that such analysis isn’t used by all teams (and even teams where this analysis happens, it’s not […]

Can Toronto Build a Winner Around Bosh?

October 22, 2009 by dberri

The Toronto Raptors appear to be on a mission. Somehow, someway, this team needs to convince Chris Bosh to stay in Canada. The issue for the Raptors isn’t money. To convince Bosh to stay, Toronto must convince Bosh that he will someday play for a winner. So far, though, the facts presented to Bosh haven’t […]

Minnesota Defies Pareto

October 20, 2009 by dberri

The Pareto Principle states that 80% of outcomes can be linked to 20% of people. Although it’s not clear (at least to me) how much this simple rule – originally noted by the famed economist Vilfredo Pareto – applies in the general economy; it does appear that the Pareto Principle works in the NBA. At […]

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