Links to the Present: January 10, 2011
2012-01-10
“Varejao, second on the team in PER (18.7), the only member of the Cavaliers with at least a 1.0 win share, and currently 29 years of age, has long been a target of several NBA franchises due to his relatively friendly contract and unrelenting energy when on the court. The issue with a potential trade of Varejao, aside from the public relations impact of a transaction involving a fan favorite, would be the considerably thin frontcourt – Ryan Hollins, Semih Erden and Samardo Samuels – that would be forced into a considerably larger role.” [Scott Sargent on the possibility of a Varejao trade this season]
“Scott, who uses 10-game intervals to evaluate progress and ponder rotation tweaks, inferred that Casspi’s position is safe for now. He also said it’s fair to assume that Samuels could lose minutes to Semih Erden, who returned to the lineup Sunday after missing the first seven games and all the preseason with a broken thumb.” [Tom Reed]
“Joe Prunty is Scott’s offensive coordinator, and Jamahl Mosley handles the defense. What about lead assistant Paul Pressey? ‘Paul is my Mr. Everything,’ Scott said. ‘He does a little bit of everything for me. (Newcomer) Nate (Tibbetts) is obviously learning from all those guys. We’ve got a great staff. Guys work their butts off. Obviously, this summer we had a lot of work to do, especially on the defensive end, so me and Jamahl talked about what we needed to do and areas we needed to get better.'” [Bob Finnan]
It’s halftime and I haven’t been able to watch the game. Jamison is 3-12, 0-2 at the stripe, and at -8. No more box scores for me while he’s on the team.
The other big problem with PER: It underates fouls per minute. So it over rates big guys like Greg Oden with decent field goal percentages who get a lot boards and blocks, but can’t stay in the game because they’re always in foul trouble. I get Isaac’s point, but all these stats have their uses. I mean if you have a guy with a high PER, but a bad efficiency rating or true shooting percentage, you know he’s a chucker. Still it lets you figure out who’s putting up numbers, and who’s just floating out there. There’s lots of new… Read more »
I know it isn’t massively important (and that this isn’t a Cavs the Blog article), but why anyone still uses PER when we know this… “Hollinger argues that each two point field goal made is worth about 1.65 points. A three point field goal made is worth 2.65 points. A missed field goal, though, costs a team 0.72 points. Given these values, with a bit of math we can show that a player will break even on his two point field goal attempts if he hits on 30.4% of these shots. On three pointers the break-even point is 21.4%. If… Read more »