FanPost

A Few Advanced Statistics Defined

[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.