Team Continuity, Part II
Posted by Neil Paine on September 2, 2009
Following up on our post from Monday, where we looked at the % of minutes played by common players between teams in back-to-back years, here's a list that uses the same methodology -- but instead of minutes played, we're looking for the smallest % of common individual possessions used (as defined by Dean Oliver in basketball on Paper) between players on a team in consecutive seasons:
| Year | Team | PossContinuity |
|---|---|---|
| 2005 | ORL | 9.3% |
| 1980 | NOJ | 9.4% |
| 2005 | ATL | 10.2% |
| 1998 | CLE | 18.4% |
| 2002 | VAN | 23.3% |
| 1978 | NYN | 24.1% |
| 2009 | LAC | 24.1% |
| 1990 | SAS | 25.2% |
| 1991 | SAC | 25.6% |
| 2000 | CHI | 26.9% |
| 1979 | BUF | 27.2% |
| 1997 | DAL | 27.4% |
| 1998 | DEN | 28.0% |
| 1999 | SAC | 28.4% |
| 1981 | GSW | 30.2% |
| 1982 | DAL | 30.2% |
| 2000 | ORL | 30.5% |
| 2005 | HOU | 30.8% |
| 1993 | MIN | 31.8% |
| 2004 | DEN | 32.3% |
| 1982 | NJN | 32.4% |
| 1996 | PHI | 32.6% |
| 1996 | MIA | 33.3% |
| 1982 | CLE | 33.3% |
| 2005 | LAL | 33.6% |
| 2005 | NOH | 33.7% |
| 1978 | IND | 34.7% |
| 1978 | LAL | 34.9% |
| 1999 | DEN | 35.3% |
| 2000 | HOU | 35.3% |
| 2004 | MIN | 35.6% |
| 1978 | SEA | 35.7% |
| 1999 | CHH | 35.7% |
| 1993 | MIL | 36.2% |
| 1987 | CLE | 36.2% |
| 1978 | BUF | 36.6% |
| 2008 | MIN | 36.9% |
| 1982 | KCK | 38.8% |
| 1987 | WSB | 38.9% |
| 1983 | NYK | 39.4% |
| 1980 | DET | 39.5% |
| 1997 | VAN | 40.0% |
Remember, since possessions require individual turnovers, we can only track this stat back to 1977-78.
September 2nd, 2009 at 11:42 am
And don't worry Jason, I'm still thinking about how to implement your idea of considering low-minute guys "newcomers"... This post was scheduled ahead of time, is all.
September 2nd, 2009 at 12:06 pm
;-)
I'm a little surprised the 1999 Bulls aren't on this list. They lost Jordan, Pippen, Longley, and Kerr.
September 2nd, 2009 at 12:31 pm
They actually retained 60.7% of possessions by players who were on the roster in 1998, which is low, but not record-breakingly low. I think the real turnover came in 2000 & 2001, when they purged everyone (remember our series on experience, they fielded one of the most inexperienced rosters ever that year). Not surprisingly, at the other end of the spectrum the 1997 Bulls have one of the highest possession continuity scores ever -- 96.9% of their possessions were used by players who had been on the team in '96. Last year's Lakers also rank pretty high, with 95.5% possession continuity.
September 3rd, 2009 at 1:31 am
Wow, good list and great blog. I never knew how much turnover there was on that Magic team. Only 3 players were consistent between those seasons. Sure it was the first year of D. Howard, Hill, Francis, Nelson, and Turkoglu... I guess that accounts for much of it. Garity, Stevenson, and DeClercq couldn't overcome that turnover for any bit of continuity. I guess Stevenson had some consistency, but he only had half a season in Orlando in 2003-04.