[Note by Wil Cantrell, 11/01/10 8:49 AM MST ]: While it's a bit early to be looking at how the Suns rank in these categories, these statistics below tell the real story behind the game. Yes, numbers are boring to many, but if you can get into it, it's easier to understand why teams are doing what they are doing, or why they are not.
Also- a couple of excellent sites that incorporate these stats:
www.basketballreference.com (awesome historical and statistical data, and everything else in between)
www.82 games.com (May not be up and running yet for this season, but has great stuff on 5 man unit productivity)
Through my time of lurking, it was difficult not to notice all the fancy stats being thrown around like OReb Rate and DRtg. And while some of you may be fluent in statistics, many of us aren't so lucky. I thought it may come in handy to have some of the more commonly used new-fangled stats all in one spot.
ORtg - Offensive Rating
The points scored for every 100 possessions.
2010 League Avg: 107.6
2010 Suns: 115.3 Rank 1st
DRtg- Defensive Rating
The points allowed for every 100 possessions
2010 League Avg: 107.6 (Makes sense
2010 Suns: 110.2 Rank 23rd
DRB% -Defensive Rebounds Percentage
The percentage of available defensive rebounds the player, or team, collects.
2010 Team League Avg: .737
2010 Suns: .708 Rank 29th
ORB% - Offensive Rebounds Percentage
The percentage of available offensive rebounds the player, or team, collects
2010 Team League Avg: .263
2010 Suns: .276 Rank 8th
TOV% Offensive - Turnover Percentage
The percentage of turnovers for every 100 possessions
2010 League Avg: .133
2010 Suns: .136 Rank 19th
TOV% Defensive - Opponent Turnover Percentage
The percentage of turnovers forced for every 100 possessions
2010 League Avg: .113
2010 Suns: .116 Rank 30th
Pace
The amount of team possessions for every 48 minutes
2010 League Avg: 92.7
2010 Suns: 95.3 Rank 4th
Pythagorean Theorem
The expected W/L record for the team based of points allowed and scored.
2010 Suns expected: 54-27 (rounded)
SRS - Simple Rating System
To my understanding is the teams average point margin calibrated to their opponents.
Here’s a better understanding: http://www.basketball-reference.com/blog/?p=39
2010 League Avg: 0.00
2010 Suns: 4.68
The vast majority of information is from Basketball-Reference.com
Fun tidbit, Google OReb rate and see who comes up first.