APBRmetrics

Back in the 80s, teams didn't have use for the guard/swingman who played like a big, especially since most actual bigs resided in the paint. And that was Dantley's game in a nutshell.

He was unique player who was also one of the best of his era on offense, but it wasn't the era for him.

But the point is that xRAPM isn't "right more often than not" - xRAPM overrates ALL bigs on defense just because they are bigs... I won't rehash v-zero's sound posts regarding RAPM and xRAPM. I'll simply add that whatever biases and pitfalls that you encounter with xRAPM (and, with RAPM, ...

EDIT: No problem J.E., I'm always bothered by the fixation on 'real' RAPM. That can be true of *any* metric of course, depending on the person using it. There's always the temptation to treat one's 'favorite' or 'go-to' stat as a holy grail summary of player ability. As for the bickering over xRAPM...

false - dantley was one of the game's best midrange shooters during his prime, in particular his set shot from 15'-18' anywhere near the foul line. if you had actually seen him play you would know this... Hey, I'm on your side here :) And I've watched Dantley play. He could certainly shoot the ball...

A nice general "who's who" list of NBA players. I would personally rank some players higher or lower (sorry, Paul Millsap!), but hey; the numbers aren't gospel. Gasol's DPOY was deserved. Dwight? From the tape, I thought it was an inconsistent season for him on defense, although he had to ...

But that's a lot of maybe's and it hasn't been proven yet.... Of course not; the guy is retired. I would also like to provide MJ with Dantley's teammates and coaches and prove that he'd have better impact with them, but I can't do that either. I find this inquiry into "player impact on his tea...

Could Dantley be used better? Could he be a great player? Sure, but we judge players on what happened. Amare could have been a good defender in the right situation, but he wasn't, and his horrible defense dragged down his value. Dantley was a great isolation, post-up scorer. In a vacuum that's grea...

Keep in mind that I first cited Dantley's teammate issue in my post above, so I'm well-aware of his baggage. It's also why he doesn't rank as high from my POV despite his production. But my Anthony example was simply intended to show this: when you coach a team well and implement a system properly, ...

The Bulls were pretty good without him but when he came back full-time in 96 they were the greatest team ever, broke the record for games won, and their point differential jumped from 4.8 to 12.2. So yes, I think the stats point to Jordan having a great impact.... This misses the point I was making...

I'm not making a blanket statement but a summation of why Dantley's offensive game doesn't help his team like you think it would by describing what he actually does on the court. It's also a "blanket statement" backed up by lots of results from Dantley switching teams or missing games. Da...

You're right, Neil Paine, it's not quite that simple. You and others here are brilliant analysts and statisticians, but I think that coaching and team philosophy plays an important role in this as much as anything else. It's the same reason why, for one of many examples, some in basketball circles t...