FIBA U19 WC: Team Summaries I

Devin Dignam (of NBeh? “fame”) is the Toronto Raptors writer for the Wages of Wins Network. His background with the Raptors gives him unique insight into many areas including the draft, overpaid players and overrated players.

The FIBA U19 World Championships took place from June 30th to July 10th, but it has taken me until now to compile all 62 box scores and calculate the Estimated Wins Produced numbers. Over the next week or two, I’ll be writing several posts about this tournament that focus on familiar Wages of Wins themes.

Team Summaries (Part I)

Starting with the bottom, I’ll be posting short summaries of each team that participated in the tournament. In this installment I’ll be looking at renowned basketball powerhouses Tunisia, Korea, and Taiwan.

#16: Tunisia

Record: 0-5
EWP: -1.80
EWP40: -0.072

Tunisia finished 16th in the tournament – dead last – and without a single win. Their closest loss – to the 15th placed team, Korea – was by 6 points, and followed losses of 11, 20, 22, and 41 points. The team played so poorly that its Estimated Wins Produced were significantly negative after only five games. Only four players on the team posted a positive EWP40, and only one player, Sofian M’Rad, bested the average EWP40 mark of 0.100 (although Hamdi Karoui was very close). The best performer on the team was M’Rad, who produced an estimated 0.39 wins. The worst performer on the team was Aymen Mahmoud, who produced an estimated -0.60 wins. The best performance in a single game was by M’Rad, with 0.45 EWP, and the worst performance in a single game was by Maher Souabni, with -0.33 EWP.

Player	Position	EWP40	EWP
O. ABADA	G	-0.230	-0.59
F. HEMDANI	F/C	-0.708	-0.28
B. SADDADI	F/C	-0.135	-0.25
L. ROUDESLI	G	0.032	0.06
S. M’RAD	F	0.101	0.39
M. SOUABNI	G	-0.035	-0.13
M. AMMAR	F	-0.335	-0.04
A. MAHMOUD	G/F	-0.304	-0.60
Y. MEJRI	F/C	-0.117	-0.26
M. FARJALLAH	F	-0.119	-0.33
A. MANAI	C	0.054	0.15
H. KAROUI	G	0.098	0.09

Tunisia's MVP: Sofian M'Rad

15: Korea

Record: 2-3
EWP: -0.10
EWP40: -0.004

Despite a 2-3 record, Korea finished 15th (out of 16) in the tournament. Their two wins were over the aforementioned Tunisia (6 pts) and an upset over Croatia (4 pts), who finished 8th. However, because the team finished ranked 13th in Estimated Wins, their record is somewhat deceiving. Half the team posted positive EWP40s, with two players – Seungwook Choi and Sanghyeok Han – above 0.200. The best performer on the team was Dong Yeop Lee, who produced an estimated 0.47 wins. The worst performer on the team was Seounghyun Lee, who produced an estimated -0.66 wins. The best performance in a single game was by Giyun Kim, with 0.41 EWP, and the worst performance in a single game was by Seounghyun Lee, with -0.58 EWP.

Player	Position	EWP40	EWP
J. LEE	G	-0.743	-0.09
S. CHOI	F	0.230	0.19
S. HAN	G	0.203	0.40
G. KIM	G	0.081	0.33
U. HEO	G	0.113	0.18
S. MOON	G/F	-0.066	-0.15
S. LEE	C	-0.208	-0.66
D. LEE	G/F	0.179	0.47
H. KIM	G/F	-0.191	-0.45
M. KIM	F/C	0.016	0.04
H. HAN	F	-0.878	-0.26
J. KIM	F/C	-0.030	-0.10

Korea's MVP: Dong Yeop Lee

14: Chinese Taipei (Taiwan)

Record: 1-4
EWP: -0.63
EWP40: -0.025

Taiwan finished 14th in the tournament. Their lone win was an 11 point win over last place Tunisia. The team’s play was mostly in-line with their record, as Korea finished with the second fewest Estimated Wins. Five players posted positive EWP40s, with two players – Shih-En Fan and Ying-Chun Chen- above 0.200. The best performer on the team was Chen, who produced an estimated 0.85 wins. The worst performer on the team was Wei-Ju Chien, who produced an estimated -0.39 wins. The best performance in a single game was also by Chen, with 0.66 EWP, and the worst performance in a single game was also by Chien, with -0.40 EWP.

Player	Position	EWP40	EWP
C. CHIEN	G	-0.206	-0.39
C. LI	C	-0.277	-0.36
P. HUANG	G	0.010	0.03
C. YU	G/F	0.006	0.01
S. FAN	C	0.269	0.40
Y. CHEN	G	0.224	0.85
L. HU	F/C	-0.153	-0.26
T. CHENG	G/F	-0.185	-0.36
W. CHIEN	G/F	-0.182	-0.39
K. HUNG	F	-0.081	-0.30
C. LIN	C	-0.662	-0.10
K. CHEN	F/C	0.147	0.23

Korea's MVP: Ying-Chun Chen

 – Devin

*Author’s note: You’ve probably noticed that I refer to “Estimated Wins Produced” in this article. Estimated Wins Produced are slightly less accurate, but easier to calculate than “regular” Wins Produced. To calculate Estimated Wins Produced, take a player’s Win Score per minute and adjust it for position played. From there, PAWSmin is plugged into a formula to determine Estimated WP40.

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Posted in: Basketball Stories, Devin