Put Tom to work! RR Resident Statophile Tom Liston Season-long Q & A

[Liston]

Hi Tom,

Is there any way to see a comparison of how opposing small forwards faired against James Johnson? Like an average point total against JJ/Raptors and season average for that player? Perhaps the SF's with more notoriety.

For example...Luol Deng averaged x amount of points in 2011/2012 against the Raptors. His season average was x amount of points.

Not exactly.

This helps a bit: http://basketballvalue.com/player.ph...11-2012&id=812
You see he has a positive adjusted +/- rating. The On/off court defense differential is -2.72 (that's good - the team has a better defensive rating when he's on the floor). But this number is "unadjusted", so it doesn't take into account whether he was guarding elite players or bench players in garbage time. Since he started ~ 2/3rds the games last year, its reasonable to assume he largely played against above average wings. So, by the numbers, he is a good defender (the "eye test" confirms this as well).

This may also be helpful. It's a graph of Advanced Statistical Plus/Minus (ASPM) scores - both offense and defense.
As you can see, it shows Johnson as Toronto's best defender.

[SuperRaptor]

More proof that JJ is our best defender, thank you Tom.

Now can you show us how JJ's FG% changed from the beginning of the season as compared to the end of the season, then compare that to the rest of the raptors team, and also other SF's in the league?

For his FG% im specifically looking for improvement if any in his mid range jump shot.

[Quirk]

Hey Tom, can you give us something like the last articles from Wages of Wins?

http://wagesofwins.com/

[torch19]

Fellas, you see Bayless up there with Jose?

Just sayin

[Quirk]

Once thing is for sure. Austin Rivers will never be as good as Bayless. I have no idea why people want Rivers when we already have a much better version on the team.

[Liston]

The main TrueHoop section from ESPN.com picked up our latest Statophile piece.

http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/pos...ecame-a-raptor

The Toronto Raptors used the eighth overall pick to select Washington's Terrence Ross, a decision that inspired much confused glancing about from the media members assembled in laptop covered rows just to the left of the stage where Ross was shaking hands with David Stern. Ross is a sinewy 6-7 shooter with a promising defensive profile, but Chad Ford had him listed as the 11th-best available player on his Big Board and John Hollinger ranked him the 27th-best prospect.

Did the Raptors reach for Ross?

No way, says Toronto's statistical consultant Alex Rucker, who believes Ross was the seventh-best player in the draft. In an interview with Tom Liston of Raptors Republic, Rucker explains how Toronto's analytics team informs their choices on draft night

(see link for full details)

[Liston]

Hey Tom, can you give us something like the last articles from Wages of Wins?

http://wagesofwins.com/

For Free Agent options?

[Miekenstien]

some kind of measurement or comparison on small forwards mainly ilyasova, iggy, batum and chandler would be very nice. thank you

[Quirk]

For Free Agent options?

Sure! I posted that before the draft though, but that ship has sailed

Also, how about a breakdown of Calderon vs Nash vs Bayless and Ross vs DeRozan?

IMO, Nash is not much better than Calderon, but he is better, while Bayless is pretty good, but worse than both.

I'm guessing Ross projects far better than DeRozan.

[Puffer]

...Also, how about a breakdown of Calderon vs Nash vs Bayless and Ross vs DeRozan?....

Sign me up for this request as well.

[Mediumcore]

Hey Tom,

A lot of people keep saying Landry Fields is a good defender. Not sure if they are just repeating what someone else said or if there is actually any analytical proof to back it up?