No Pistons do anything well, not that it necessarily matters
Thanks to Glenn Metzger for providing the idea of this post.
Among team leaders in every major statistical category, the Pistons’ leader ranks at or near the bottom (the NBA has 30 teams):
- 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)
How much does this matter? Not all that much, it appears. The correlation between a leader in a given stat and winning percentage is statistically significant for only points per game. (I’m not getting into causation.)
I’ve put this data into graphs. Here’s how to read each of them
- Upper right: above-average leader in given category, above-average winning percentage
- Lower right: above-average leader in given category, below-average winning percentage
- Upper left: below-average leader in given category, above-average winning percentage
- Lower left: below-average leader in given category, below-average winning percentage
You can mouse over a logo to see which player represents each team.
Points per game
Rebounds per game
Assists per game
Steals per game
Blocks per game
Posted in Analysis • 8 Comments
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Feb 16, 2011 • 4:06 pm
by Laser
yeah this immediately struck me as both unsurprising and not particularly meaningful. the pistons probably ranked similarly in these categories (i mean, maybe not dead last in most of them) when they were perennial contenders.
the more surprising and upsetting issue is that stuckey is statistically our best player, it would seem by a wide margin. i’m not close to convinced he’s even a starting player in the NBA. very solid sixth man material, probably, but he’s not a good enough passer or shooter to be a PG or SG, respectively.
Feb 16, 2011 • 4:19 pm
by Patrick Hayes
“the pistons probably ranked similarly in these categories (i mean, maybe not dead last in most of them) when they were perennial contenders.”
Well, it’s doubtful they did in rebounds/blocks when Ben Wallace was on the team. They were probably top three in those categories each of his seasons.
As for Stuckey, it’s all in who you surround him with. If he starts at PG next to Kobe Bryant, who dominates the ball anyway, and just has to bring the ball up, get it to Kobe, defend opposing PGs and move without the ball, he’d probably be pretty good.
Similarly, at SG next to a PG who shoots/passes well (let’s say Steve Nash), Stuckey’s slashing game would probably compliment it well.
I think the more accurate assessment is he won’t ever be the best guard on a good team. But I could definitely see him being the second best guard on a good team depending on where their other pieces are.
Feb 17, 2011 • 2:15 pm
by Tim
I think the only category the contending Pistons’ leaders were near last in were points (but even then Hamilton was putting up close to 20 ppg). As Hayes pointed out, Wallace was a phenomenal rebounder and blocker. Even after he left, Sheed and Webber weren’t bad. Billups wasn’t top of the league but probably around 10th in assists. I remember he always seemed to be top 5-10 in ast/TO anyway. And I have no idea who led in steals, maybe they would have been bad in that category too. Anyway, my point is that their leaders then probably would have averaged about 10th in the league instead of 29th now. That’s still low for a definitive top 5 team, but not insanely so.
Feb 16, 2011 • 10:35 pm
by brgulker
Dan,
One thing to consider, though, is pace. We’re one of the slowest teams in the league, which is going to impact totals (as opposed to rates or percentages).
Feb 16, 2011 • 10:39 pm
by Thom
It’s not surprising that we don’t have many players close to leading the league in total points/rebounds/assists/etc., mainly because the Pistons play an incredibly slow, halfcourt offense. Detroit plays at the slowest pace in the league, so someone like Ben Wallace or Greg Monroe’s rebound totals aren’t really indicative of what percentage of available rebounds they get, whereas someone like Amar’e Stoudamire (whose Knicks play at the 2nd fastest pace in the league) appears to be a better rebounder than he actually is.
Feb 16, 2011 • 10:40 pm
by Thom
Shoot! Gulk beat me to it…
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Feb 17, 2011 • 5:37 am
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Oct 18, 2011 • 4:53 am
by aksaray kategorileri
emre aydin kagit evler…
aksaray firmalar…