Re: PPS vs. FG%

[W <titans@ihug.com.au>]

Mark,

I calculate PPS using free throws....  (although its just points / field goals
attempted)

Heres the top 20 per game scorers from last year;

Allen Iverson - 31.1ppg - 1.217pps
Jerry Stackhouse - 29.8ppg - 1.235pps
Shaquille O'Neal - 28.7ppg - 1.494pps
Kobe Bryant - 28.5ppg - 1.283pps
Vince Carter - 27.6ppg - 1.250pps
Chris Webber - 27.1ppg - 1.161pps
Tracy McGrady - 26.7ppg - 1.198pps
Paul Pierce - 25.3ppg - 1.369pps
Antawn Jamison - 24.9ppg - 1.128pps
Stephon Marbury - 23.9ppg - 1.251pps
Antoine Walker - 23.4ppg - 1.100pps
Karl Malone - 23.2ppg - 1.396pps
Gary Payton - 23.1ppg - 1.146pps
Tim Duncan - 22.2ppg - 1.294pps
Glenn Robinson - 22.0ppg - 1.147pps
Kevin Garnett - 22.0ppg - 1.209pps
Ray Allen - 22.0ppg - 1.380pps
Dirk Nowitzki - 21.8ppg - 1.431pps
Michael Finley - 21.5ppg - 1.137pps
Antonio McDyess - 20.8ppg - 1.252pps

When looking at it closely, each player roughly takes 20 shots per game so in
the end the difference between say a Shaq and a Walker on pps is 7.88 points. It
may not look like much per shot, but when you multiply it, its a lot.. . Iverson
and Walker taking the same amount of shots works out to only 2.34 points, but
the mentality of the team is much worse. I tell you, I wouldn't mind it so bad
if we had some better big men who were good at grabbing offensive rebounds and
wing rebounders who could grab the long ones but more so if Antoine sank another
couple of free throw every game. His PPS increases to 1.194 if he did that. Of
course, that would mean playing more inside than outside which goes back to the
same argument. Really when it all boils down to it thats exactly what it is -
two different ways of arguing the exact same thing - Walker needs to play inside
and draw more fouls. Thats where imho Pierce has overtaken Walker as the better
player and really emerged as the "young superstar".

points per shot for the rest of the Celts

Kenny Anderson -  1.084
Vitaly Potapenko - 1.173
Tony Battie - 1.294
Eric Williams - 1.194 (classic example of a poor FG% shooter with a high PPS!)
Milt Palacio - 1.281
Randy Brown - 0.941
Mark Blount - 1.240
Chris Herren - 0.865
Walter McCarty - 1.031

Cheers,

W