Re: Celtics just lucky?

["Donald Liles" <dliles@xxxxxxxxxx>]

I agree totally that the Celts are not as good a shooting, rebounding, passing team as 
most of the playoff bound teams in the league. I also would agree that they are not 
as good at the coaching level as many teams that are not even going to the playoffs. 

My whole point was that at some times, Bill James and the guy who wrote this seem 
to need to come up with additional statistical categories to explain certain things. 
Truly, you do not need some of this stuff. 

Case in point on relying too much on stats and making choices due to it. I remember 
the Cubs trading Rafael Palmeiro long long ago because he did not have enough 
Game Winning RBIs. Bill James annually annoints some joker who statistically is 
very good, but is not that good of a player and shows with his own stat categories 
why that player will make the hall of fame.


From:           	Eggcentric@AOL.com
Date sent:      	Wed, 26 Mar 2003 09:40:27 EST
Subject:        	Re: Celtics just lucky?
To:             	igtcjosh@yahoo.com, celtics@igtc.com

< Put me in the camp that thinks the article stupid as well.  
This is exactly why I hate statistics and don't even bother to read 
them most of the time. > - Josh

Well Josh and Shizz and dajubo and dliles -  this column really 
raised your hackles. Sure it is not about to be nominated for a Pulitzer, 
but equally as sure is that it incorporates all those distasteful stats 
that no Celt true-blue wishes to own up to. 

< It would be more rewarding to think of a few statistics 
that actually tell you something than ones that don't. > -Josh

These stats, like your prejudices, are but one man's slant. But who is 
to say that these stats are actually misleading or stupid?

< They're a holdover from the bad old days before the internet and 
league pass, when there was nothing better to do than parse box 
scores every day. > - Josh

Perhaps some of us would have a better grasp of our team's current 
condition if we did  "parse " our box scores a little more closely.  
We are, after all, behind our opponents in FG%, RPG, APG, BPG, PPG, etc.  
And yes, due to this it IS surprising that we have a better than 
.500 record.  

Egg