Iowa's 2 best players the last 2 years

[jonesy5960]

Last year was obvious right? It was Garza and and Joe W.:
Here are their minutes per game, Efficiency Ratings and their production numbers on a per 40 basis in conference play:

	MPG	PER	PPG	EFG	RPG	APG	Blocks	Steals
Garza	32​	30.5​	27​	53%​	10.6​	2.3​	1.7​	0.6​
JoeW	29​	23.2​	20​	62%​	9.1​	1.9​	0.4​	1.5​

Everyone was sure that losing 2 NBA players, one being the player of the year was going to be catastrophic. Here are the top 2 players in terms of PER metrics in conference so far this year:

	MPG	PER	PPG	EFG	RPG	APG	Blocks	Steals
Keegan	31.3​	35.8​	29.8​	66%​	7.7​	0.3​	3.2​	1.9​
Kris	20.6​	30.8​	24.1​	58%​	9.3​	2.7​	2.3​	2.3​

At first glance it would appear as though the 4 players in terms of metrics are very close and they are. You could even argue that the Murrays are operating at a slightly higher level than Garza and JoeW were last year. Keegan's PER and effective field goal percentage are currently significantly higher than Garza and JW. Garza's advantage is rebounding and assists. Surprisingly Kris has the second highest PER in this group so far edging out Garza by just .3.

The only number that really stands out as different amongst all of these statistics are the minutes per game that Kris is playing. He's averaging 9-10 minutes less so far even after playing 29 minutes in the foul plagued game against Indiana where Keegan spent half the game on the bench. Garza's player of the year performance last year was awesome and his PER showed it. By all accounts, Keegan's play has surpassed it to date and aside from Keegan, Kris' game is as efficient today as anyone Fran has had in his tenure. Hopefully going forward Kris gets the minutes that this team needs to maximize its opportunities. It's all up to Fran.

 

[hawkjt]

Good data.
Let's see if Fran adjusts the minutes.
But it is a dynamic situation during a game and coaching is more art than science.
Otherwise they would just be computers on the sidelines..robot coaches are coming someday but AI needs to advance a bit more first.

 

[KcTo]

Good data.
Let's see if Fran adjusts the minutes.
But it is a dynamic situation during a game and coaching is more art than science.
Otherwise they would just be computers on the sidelines..robot coaches are coming someday but AI needs to advance a bit more first.

For Fran to make an adjustment with Kris would imply that Fran’s use of Kris up to this point in season,
Fran doesn’t seem like the kind of guy that admits that he’s wrong….

we see in Money Ball how data science was superior to the old school art of selecting who,gets playing time.

the original analysis above is another example of this….

 

[CyberJJ]

Everyone was sure that losing 2 NBA players, one being the player of the year was going to be catastrophic. Here are the top 2 players in terms of PER metrics in conference so far this year:

Most of your post was comparing top two players on efficiency factors, but this comment is about the team. What you failed to mention was that all 4 were on last year's team but only two of them are this year. The two that left were not replaced with similar talent than the two that came off the bench much of last year.

 

[DodgerHawki]

Good data.
Let's see if Fran adjusts the minutes.
But it is a dynamic situation during a game and coaching is more art than science.
Otherwise they would just be computers on the sidelines..robot coaches are coming someday but AI needs to advance a bit more first.

Of course a coach needs to be able to make split second decisions. But the nice thing about the amount of good data is that it can inform decisions and help a coach think through decisions before a game actually occurs. No one coming at this from a logic perspective could look at this and think "yeah, I'll just wing it for how much the two Murrays play." The starting point should be "these are my 2 best players. They are both going to play as much as they can handle, and the rest of the team will fill in that gives us the best chance to win. But this would imply that there may be times in the game when neither of the coach's sons are in the game.

I like this team. They are playing together, and they have some spunk. Even if the coach changes the approach to minutes, they are still likely have to fight to get to .500 in the league. Just not good enough on the perimeter. And can get beat up inside by good big teams.

 

[KcTo]

Last year was obvious right? It was Garza and and Joe W.:
Here are their minutes per game, Efficiency Ratings and their production numbers on a per 40 basis in conference play:

	MPG	PER	PPG	EFG	RPG	APG	Blocks	Steals
Garza	32​	30.5​	27​	53%​	10.6​	2.3​	1.7​	0.6​
JoeW	29​	23.2​	20​	62%​	9.1​	1.9​	0.4​	1.5​

Everyone was sure that losing 2 NBA players, one being the player of the year was going to be catastrophic. Here are the top 2 players in terms of PER metrics in conference so far this year:

	MPG	PER	PPG	EFG	RPG	APG	Blocks	Steals
Keegan	31.3​	35.8​	29.8​	66%​	7.7​	0.3​	3.2​	1.9​
Kris	20.6​	30.8​	24.1​	58%​	9.3​	2.7​	2.3​	2.3​

At first glance it would appear as though the 4 players in terms of metrics are very close and they are. You could even argue that the Murrays are operating at a slightly higher level than Garza and JoeW were last year. Keegan's PER and effective field goal percentage are currently significantly higher than Garza and JW. Garza's advantage is rebounding and assists. Surprisingly Kris has the second highest PER in this group so far edging out Garza by just .3.

The only number that really stands out as different amongst all of these statistics are the minutes per game that Kris is playing. He's averaging 9-10 minutes less so far even after playing 29 minutes in the foul plagued game against Indiana where Keegan spent half the game on the bench. Garza's player of the year performance last year was awesome and his PER showed it. By all accounts, Keegan's play has surpassed it to date and aside from Keegan, Kris' game is as efficient today as anyone Fran has had in his tenure. Hopefully going forward Kris gets the minutes that this team needs to maximize its opportunities. It's all up to Fran.

Again, objective results based data and evidence conclusively show who is performing at the highest level…

again it’s a coaching blunder to not let these metrics drive some playing time decisions.

again, if the Murray’s and JoeT were allowed to play with Wieskamp and Garza imagine where that units defensive efficiency would be at? Maybe top 5? Or top 10?

= huge irreversible coaching blunder…..

 

[jonesy5960]

Most of your post was comparing top two players on efficiency factors, but this comment is about the team. What you failed to mention was that all 4 were on last year's team but only two of them are this year. The two that left were not replaced with similar talent than the two that came off the bench much of last year.

Keegan was an excellent player last year and could have been a difference maker. Unfortunately he only averaged 19 minutes per game and it took injuries to starters to get to that level. Kris might have been a good player last year but we'll never know because he rarely saw the floor in conference play averaging 3 minutes mostly in mop up duty. So yes, we had two very talented bench players last year but they only averaged around 20 minutes between them. Were it not for a few games this year where foul problems and injuries forced his hand, Kris would only be averaging around 14 per game in conference play this year.

Sometimes the issue isn't all about talent. Sometimes the issue is not playing the talent that you have.

 

[jonesy5960]

Again, objective results based data and evidence conclusively show who is performing at the highest level…

again it’s a coaching blunder to not let these metrics drive some playing time decisions.

again, if the Murray’s and JoeT were allowed to play with Wieskamp and Garza imagine where that units defensive efficiency would be at? Maybe top 5? Or top 10?

= huge irreversible coaching blunder…..

Kris carried the team to a win with 29 points a day or 2 before I posted this. Fran proceeded to play him a total of 22 minutes the next 2 games. Kris has averaged 16 minutes per game since this post. He would be lower had Fran not been forced to play him 24 due to fouls and injury in the last game. Fran's not stupid and these aren't blunders. He knows what he's doing. He's playing the players he wants to play.