APBRmetrics

[Eli W]

Seattle has to have one of the most statistically interesting frontcourts in a while. In mutiple stats, their guys are very extreme - either extremely good or extremely bad. Here are some stats with how Seattle players rank league-wide:

GOOD:
Rebound rate - 1. Evans 3. Fortson
FT/FG - 1. Fortson 9. Evans
Points per shot attempt - 2. Fortson

BAD:
Turnover ratio - 1. Fortson 2. James 4. Evans
Fouls/minute - 1. Fortson 2. James 3. Collison
Assist ratio - 1. Fortson (1 is lowest)

I wonder how much of this is a result of Seattle's system? Are the big men instructed to hack away on defense?

Also, just looking at Fortson, he's having one of the most extreme seasons ever from a statistical standpoint. As good as it gets in rebounding, drawing fouls, and points per shot attempt; but as bad as it gets in turnovers, fouls and assists.

[kjb]

What measure are you using for turnover ratio? I wonder if the turnovers might be not much of a bad thing because these guys touch the ball so infrequently on offense.

Also, I doubt the Sonics are looking to Fortson for assists.

[Eli W]

I was using the turnover ratio as calculated on KnickerBlogger:

http://www.knickerblogger.net/stats/jh_ALL_TO.htm

(look at the very bottom of the page for the Sonic players)

[admin]

There's inter-connectedness between the turnover ratios and the foul rates. Many of those turnovers and a smaller percentage of the fouls are off of illegal screens. The Sonics probably screen more than any other team in the league, so naturally they got called for plenty of fouls on those.

The Sonics fouling is clearly not a coaching decision; Nate McMillan yelled a lot during training camp about not fouling. It might be intentional to the effect that the Sonics felt they could get away with someone as foul-prone as Fortson because of their frontcourt depth. His and James' fouling is certainly nothing new, and Collison just gets called for a lot of fouls because he's a rookie.