No Pistons do anything well – even when you adjust for pace

Bgulker and Thom made a couple great comments on my post about the Pistons not having anybody who ranks highly among NBA team leaders in the five major categories. Their comments noted the Pistons’ slow pace adversely affects per-game stats without actually impacting Detroit’s ability, an excellent point.

A review of the Pistons’ team leaders and their rankings among the other 29 team leaders:

• Points per game – Rodney Stuckey, 14.8 (30th)
• Rebounds per game – Ben Wallace, 6.6 (30th)
• Assists per game – Rodney Stuckey, 4.4 (30th)
• Steals per game – Rodney Stuckey, 1.1 (29th)
• Blocks per game – Ben Wallace, 1.0 (28th)

I adjusted the numbers for pace,* and the Pistons move up a total of two spots:

• Adjusted points per game – Rodney Stuckey, 15.5 (29th)
• Adjusted rebounds per game – Ben Wallace, 6.9 (30th)
• Adjusted assists per game – Rodney Stuckey, 4.6 (30th)
• Adjusted steals per game – Rodney Stuckey, 1.1 (28th)
• Adjusted blocks per game – Ben Wallace, 1.0 (28th)

*I multiplied each player’s per-game number by the league’s average pace, then divided by his team’s pace.

So, yes, considering pace makes the Pistons look better – barely.

Comparing to conference finals teams

Laser also guessed the Pistons’ leaders ranked low in these categories during the contending years. Not the case.

This time, I use paced-adjusted numbers.

• Points per game
• Rebounds per game
• Assists pre game
• Steals per game
• Blocks per game

In case you were wondering who led Detroit each of these seasons:

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