They don't call him "Nowitzki" for nothin'

Form passed along a link to this article on why the Mavs have been a better team without Steve Nash; basketball sabermetrics is apparently in vogue nowadays.

While this year's NBA Finals has the makings for domestic unrest, Sheryl (born and raised in south Florida) seems happy enough to back Dallas along with me. I don't know whether this is out of kindness towards me or a fascination a with improbably large Germans.

Comments

  1. FormJune 11, 2006

    Yestrday's times also had an Op-Ed about baseball Sabremetrics. Couldn't link to it because of Times' Select, but for those who have old newspapers around or pays the Times' blood money, it is worth a read as well.

    ReplyDelete
  2. UnknownJune 12, 2006

    I sent Form an e-mail objecting to the premise of the Slate article.

    I think my point was that while Nowitzki is certainly a great player, discounting the Mavs defense because of the reduced number of posessions per game is an attempt to misuse statistics in the service of contrarianism.

    There are a lot of ways to measure defense. Dallas' FG pct. defense is actually way down this season over the Nash's last year, even at a time when shooting percentages are up league-wide. Dallas' scoring margin is up more than a point per game over 2003-04 and nearly 2 points/100 possessions.

    Dirk is so good that the Maves are able to score almost as many points on six fewer possessions per game. But, even if it seems painfully like the conventional wisdom, Dallas really is better defensively this year.

    ReplyDelete

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