And he was involved in discussions over potential trades. “He’ll run the draft,” Pera told me, and indeed, last week, as the Grizzlies fought the Thunder in the playoffs’ second round, Hollinger was in Chicago for the combine, where prospective draftees do drills before the glares of scouts, coaches, and general managers. (Hollinger speculates that he's also the first NBA executive who knows his way around a blogging content management system.) The Grizzlies immediately entrusted Hollinger with much responsibility. Even Bill James, the unassuming Kansan ex-pork-and-beans factory security guard who 30 years ago essentially invented the advanced statistical analysis of baseball, is merely an advisor to the Boston Red Sox. In mid-December, Hollinger joined Memphis as vice president of basketball operations, making him the highest-profile outside analyst ever to be poached by a team-in any sport. ESPN turned him into a brand, posting daily updates to “Hollinger’s NBA Playoff Odds,” based on proprietary “Hollinger Power Rankings.”
A statistic Hollinger invented, player efficiency rating (PER), attained such currency that either using it or criticizing it (it favors bad shots! it doesn’t accurately measure defense!) was as big a part of other NBA writers’ jobs as having an opinion about LeBron James.
He had established himself as one of the most incisive and influential basketball observers of an advanced-analytics bent-the kind who prize data, and especially certain kinds of data, over gut intuition. At the time, Hollinger, who had done stints at The Oregonian, the New York Sun, and Sports Illustrated, was suiting up for his eighth season at ESPN. That analysis was pure Hollinger: sharp and sardonic. “If Memphis is going to contend with this nucleus,” he wrote, “now would be a good time to start.” 1 ESPN writer John Hollinger summed up the team’s situation in a preseason preview in October. Meanwhile, they were spending big bucks on their talent, especially all-star big men Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol and wing man Rudy Gay, placing them above the luxury tax threshold-an unsustainable position if you are not the Los Angeles Lakers, the New York Knicks, or another major-market one-percenter who can laugh off a $30 million penalty. Coming off two consecutive playoff runs, they were bound to compile a record sufficiently strong to fail to qualify for a lottery-high draft pick, yet not improved or even different enough to be likely to emerge from the super-competitive Western Conference to play for the championship. RPM is not the make-or-break stat for NBA players, but an intriguing assessment of how effective they are at both ends of the floor, and paints a picture of how the Spurs have played so far.The Memphis Grizzlies entered this NBA season as a good basketball team living in the worst of all possible worlds.
He may not reclaim a top-35 spot, but if this slump break-out is real, could he crack the top 100? These numbers should smoothen as the season moves forward, including a likely rise from Aldridge.
Cunningham, Pondexter and Poeltl are also plus on defense, while Belinelli and Mills trend towards offense. The rest of the aforementioned players fill out as expected. However, it's a dip from DeRozan's 15th placement in 2017-18, due to the few outside shots he makes and takes he's 5-for-28 through 15 games, after hitting a career-high 89 in 80 games last season. At 49 percent shooting, it's the 29-year-old's best mark since his rookie season, when he shot 49.8 percent on 6.6 attempts. His 2.54 ORPM is 27th overall, amid his most efficient season so far. Thus, San Antonio's second-best ORPM and good for 58th in the NBA.ĭeRozan, of course, is the catalyst. His breakout season has amounted to 12.6 points per game on 44.2 percent shooting from behind the arc. It's despite the Spurs owning a slightly better defensive rating when he's off the court, per NBA Advanced Stats.įorbes' RPM comes through offensively. The offense won't be there in his latter years, there's still value in him on the post. Gasol, despite missing a chunk of games, is 28th in DRPM. Though it rewards more frequent outside shooters, which the veteran forward is not, at 2.5 three-point attempts per game. Gay offense being a minus comes with his 51.6 percent shooting and 55.6 percent from behind the arc. But, even he remained a marginally plus defender. It's a startling fall for Aldridge, for reasons already outlined.