12-12-2019, 02:04 AM
http://www.espn.com/nba/statistics/rpm
Noteable numbers.
Luka ranks 15th in the league. 5th among SFs. He has the worst DRPM among regular rotation players at -0.9. On offense he ranks 7th in the entire league.
Brunson really suprises with the 17th best overall RPM. 3rd among PGs. Nearly a +2 on defense.
Delon ranks 15th among PGs. JJB manages to sneak in right in front of him. Ranking 13th among PGs in a really small sample size.
Curry ranks 23th among SG. Only + 0.13 ORPM but +1.26 DRPM.
THJ is right behind him at 26. His numbers are the direct opposite of Currys. +1.26 ORPM, -0.05 DRPM.
DFS is the only regular Mavs rotation with a negative RPM (-0.23). Him being the 2nd worst defender (-0.85 DRPM) among them is a real suprise. Right now he is 38th among SFs.
Jackson is clearly in front of him. Negative on defense as well (-0.59 DRPM) but a big plus on offense (+1.28 ORPM). Ranking 24th among SFs.
Kleber and Powell are clearly in front of KP. Powell has balanced numbers (+0.6 ORPM on offense, +0.7 DRPM on defense). Ranking 13th in the league.
Kleber shows himself as a defensive specialist. He is by far the worst offensive player in the rotation (-1.42 ORPM) but also by far the best defender (+2.11 DRPM). Overall that leaves him with rank 22 among PFs. 9th on defense.
KP ranks 36th among PFs. -0.76 ORPM / 0.94 DRPM. Not a big suprise to see him that low but I expected him to be closer to Maxi on defense and even worse on offense.
Boban ranks 18th among centers. The numbers agree with the eye test. He ranks 6th on offense (+1.08 ORPM) but is a slight negative on defense (-0.03).
Some non Mavs related numbers. AD only ranks 61th in the league and 143rd on defense. Trae Young is the 4th best in ORPM and the 3rd last in DRPM. Will Barton and Jayson Tatum lead the league in DRPM. James Harden is a +2 on defense.
Interpretation: Always take RPM with a grain of salt. Despite Engelmanns attempts to sell it it is not the holy grail of stats. As long as they don´t release the formula we simply don´t know how important prior data and boxscore numbers are.
Especially early in the year there is a lot of noise. Based on the rankings of previous years boxscore numbers and prior data have a bigger impact early in the season. That leads to strange results. Especially on defense. Good example would be Hardens DRPM. He always starts out as positive but the numbers regress as the season progresses.
Next important aspect is the best way to use those numbers. Does it make sense to compare a high usage superstar to a role player? No. Does it make sense to compare players with similar roles? Yes.
For example. Is DFS the worst defender on the roster? No. Is he worse than Curry? No.
DFS defends the best opposing scorer every night. That obviously influences his numbers. Switching their roles wouldn´t help the Mavs. Curry would have no chance to stop LeBron, Kawhi or Harden.
DRPM tells us that Curry is achieving better defensive results in his given role but that doesn´t make him the better defender.
Noteable numbers.
Luka ranks 15th in the league. 5th among SFs. He has the worst DRPM among regular rotation players at -0.9. On offense he ranks 7th in the entire league.
Brunson really suprises with the 17th best overall RPM. 3rd among PGs. Nearly a +2 on defense.
Delon ranks 15th among PGs. JJB manages to sneak in right in front of him. Ranking 13th among PGs in a really small sample size.
Curry ranks 23th among SG. Only + 0.13 ORPM but +1.26 DRPM.
THJ is right behind him at 26. His numbers are the direct opposite of Currys. +1.26 ORPM, -0.05 DRPM.
DFS is the only regular Mavs rotation with a negative RPM (-0.23). Him being the 2nd worst defender (-0.85 DRPM) among them is a real suprise. Right now he is 38th among SFs.
Jackson is clearly in front of him. Negative on defense as well (-0.59 DRPM) but a big plus on offense (+1.28 ORPM). Ranking 24th among SFs.
Kleber and Powell are clearly in front of KP. Powell has balanced numbers (+0.6 ORPM on offense, +0.7 DRPM on defense). Ranking 13th in the league.
Kleber shows himself as a defensive specialist. He is by far the worst offensive player in the rotation (-1.42 ORPM) but also by far the best defender (+2.11 DRPM). Overall that leaves him with rank 22 among PFs. 9th on defense.
KP ranks 36th among PFs. -0.76 ORPM / 0.94 DRPM. Not a big suprise to see him that low but I expected him to be closer to Maxi on defense and even worse on offense.
Boban ranks 18th among centers. The numbers agree with the eye test. He ranks 6th on offense (+1.08 ORPM) but is a slight negative on defense (-0.03).
Some non Mavs related numbers. AD only ranks 61th in the league and 143rd on defense. Trae Young is the 4th best in ORPM and the 3rd last in DRPM. Will Barton and Jayson Tatum lead the league in DRPM. James Harden is a +2 on defense.
Interpretation: Always take RPM with a grain of salt. Despite Engelmanns attempts to sell it it is not the holy grail of stats. As long as they don´t release the formula we simply don´t know how important prior data and boxscore numbers are.
Especially early in the year there is a lot of noise. Based on the rankings of previous years boxscore numbers and prior data have a bigger impact early in the season. That leads to strange results. Especially on defense. Good example would be Hardens DRPM. He always starts out as positive but the numbers regress as the season progresses.
Next important aspect is the best way to use those numbers. Does it make sense to compare a high usage superstar to a role player? No. Does it make sense to compare players with similar roles? Yes.
For example. Is DFS the worst defender on the roster? No. Is he worse than Curry? No.
DFS defends the best opposing scorer every night. That obviously influences his numbers. Switching their roles wouldn´t help the Mavs. Curry would have no chance to stop LeBron, Kawhi or Harden.
DRPM tells us that Curry is achieving better defensive results in his given role but that doesn´t make him the better defender.