Comments on: Mailbag: Highest Percentage of Games Started by Rookies

By: BSK

BSK — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 18:34:08 +0000

That 1989 Heat team was the expansion year for that franchise. While my initial assumption was that it made sense they had a lot of rookie starters that year, none of the other expansion teams from this era appear on the list (though the Grizzlies appear in their second year). Hm.

By: Panic

Panic — Sun, 21 Aug 2011 19:48:14 +0000

It should be noted that that '87 Cavs team at #1 had a rookie Mark Price, who played extensive minutes but did not start any games. If anything, that 59% UNDERestimates the rookies' contributions to the team. A year later, Price was the starting PG and a rookie Kevin Johnson was backing him up. Whoever was in charge of scouting for that Cavaliers team should have had his own religion.

By: Neil Paine

Neil Paine — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 04:33:14 +0000

#12 - Good work, I'm going to file a suggestion w/ Justin that we replace the null values w/ 0.

By: MCT

MCT — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 03:06:11 +0000

I missed that those seven players had null values -- I stand corrected about 1981-82 being complete.

Bailey, Lee and Robinson each made only brief appearances in the NBA that season, appearing in 1, 2 and 3 games, respectively.

Johnson, Kelser and Woodson were all traded early in the season (Johnson and Kelser were traded for each other). They have GS values shown for the teams they played the bulk of the season with, but are null for the teams they started the season with.

The only player who doesn't really fit into either of the above categories is Hayes. He played for two different teams, appearing in a total of 35 games, and is showing null GS for both teams.

For each team these guys played for, I added up the GS totals for all of the players with known GS. In all cases, they add up to a full 410 (82 X 5 = 410). Based on that, it appears that none of these guys started any games for the teams they are showing null GS.

By: Neil Paine

Neil Paine — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 23:35:13 +0000

#10 - I have NULL games started in 1982 for the following players:

Carl Bailey
Steve Hayes
Vinnie Johnson
Greg Kelser
Rock Lee
Jackie Robinson
Mike Woodson

1983 is the first season for which we have complete GS (i.e., no NULL values).

By: MCT

MCT — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 21:31:15 +0000

I'm under the impression that the NBA began keeping track of games started in the 1981-82 season. Before that, no official data exists. Some pre-1981 teams may have tabluted games started on their own, or it might be possible to construct games started data for some teams by going through newspaper box scores (assuming they identify the starters, which older box scores didn't always do).

Based on a Play Index search, this site appears to have data for all players back to 1981-82; data for one team only (Celtics) for 1979-80 and 1980-81, and nothing before that.

By: Jason J

Jason J — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 17:18:50 +0000

I actually went to a Cavs game at Gund Arena that year. Surprisingly fun team watch. If Kemp could hold it together and Anderson had developed there, they might have built something decent.

By: JB

JB — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 00:59:11 +0000

None of these teams built on these rookie starters and went to win a title within 5 years so far. Some still could. I didn't check all of them but I don't think there were many serious contenders.

By: AYC

AYC — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 21:28:13 +0000

Yeah, DRob was a rookie at 24....

By: Matt

Matt — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 16:48:10 +0000

If we assume a player peaks around 24 (correct me if WS has it different, or you want to be more specific), do lineups featuring guys in their 3-5th years win more?