Comments on: NY Times: Kevin Love’s Rare Combination of Talents

By: Joel

Joel — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 05:47:42 +0000

The Timberwolves have the worst guards in the league, and Darko Milcic as their center. It's hard to read too much into Love's defensive ability in that context. Frankly, it's hard to say whether his rebound rates are partially inflated due to the weakness of his supporting cast (not to say that he's not a great rebounder).

By: Nick

Nick — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 21:54:35 +0000

Regarding Love on D, I think if he was on a team that played good D, he'd be a lot better. It's not like the guy is lacking in the effort department. Any number of players have gone from being utter defensive liabilities to being solid when put into a good system that utilizes their abilities well.

By: Greyberger

Greyberger — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 07:41:57 +0000

Re:7, not exactly, because I think WS will sum closer to Pythagorean wins than actual W-L. For example the Twolves' Win shares sum to 15 or 16, which is the wins you'd expect given their point differential and average 'luck' in close games.

By: Greyberger

Greyberger — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 07:38:10 +0000

I was just rambling about Love as an all-star in general. The defense thing is just a knock on what's still been a remarkable season for him. I'd go for Aldridge this season for the All-star, but this is pretty far off-topic.

By: BSK

BSK — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 05:04:43 +0000

DSMok- Thanks. I guess I was thinking of a back and forth game, where teams might not otherwise be fouling. I'm sure most end of game scenarios have enough other factors where putting the ball in Dwight's hands wouldn't be ideal. But I wanted to make sure I understood the theory correctly.

By: DSMok1

DSMok1 — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 04:10:37 +0000

"I'm missing something, right?" No, you're not. However, at the end of games when being fouled, you'd like a good bit more than 1.16 PPP--it's quite easy to do better with good shooters (see how OKC closes out the close games). That 1.16 doesn't account for turnovers, though, so it probably would be down near 1.00.

By: BSK

BSK — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 03:03:54 +0000

Totally off-topic but I just thought about it while watching Heats/Magic. The announcers were talking about how it is hard to win with a player like Howard because you can't go to him at the end of the game due to his poor free throw shooting. They noted his 58% career mark (though it may have just been the season mark). Anyway, if I understand Offensive Efficiency property, it is generally given as Points per 100 possessions, yes? Well, if a player is fouled every time down the court and makes 58% of his free throws, doesn't that work out to an OE of 116P/100Pos? Am I missing something? Isn't that phenomenal? Now, I realize that Dwight or other similar players would have limited utility if a team is trying to make a quick comeback and that a 58% shooter cannot be relied up to make 1.16 points every time down the court. But why wouldn't you just let the team hack him, pickup the occasional And-1 and put up an absurd OE? I'm missing something, right?

By: Jason J

Jason J — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 22:26:53 +0000

Good point, Justin. I guess fouls committed is poor indicator of defensive intensity.

By: AYC

AYC — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 22:24:42 +0000

It's amazing a player with his production can have such a bad team record. Of course, according to WS, he is personally responsible for 86% of their 11 wins.

By: Walter

Walter — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 20:56:49 +0000

How is Kurt Rambis not fired yet? How can any coach justify playing Anthony Toliver over Love like Rambis did to start the year?

Steve Nash is a poor defender (probably worse than Love), but at no point in time would a coach have said "I really should play Barbosa and sit Nash... it gives me the best chance at winning."