2 Months into the NBA Season: Which player is most improved to date? Sports Analytics Inc pick...

 As we approach the 2 month mark of the NBA basketball season we've seen some big surprises and some typical 'same-old' 'same-olds'. 


The Big Surprises
1. The big surprises many experts have witnessed is the struggles of the Miami Heat. The exposure this high-profile team has received in the first two months of the season is unprecedented. However at Sports Analytics Inc, our analysts predicted Miami would not be as strong as they looked on paper. 


2. At the opposite end of expectation has been the amazing play of the San Antonio Spurs. Whilst they dropped a game the other night to the impressive Dallas Mavericks, the Spurs are playing incredible play with a deep 9-10 man rotation every night where all are contributing on top of the all-star form of Manu Ginobli. 


3. Another big surprise of the season has been the inspirational form of 2nd year power forward Blake Griffin. This guy has single-handedly turned the Los Angeles Clippers from unwatchable to a must see outfit night-in night-out. Griffin's rookie season (actually playing) is better than Tim Duncan's rookie year to date. That is a scary statistic. 


Blake Griffin's statistics to date:

2010-11 Statistics
	G	MIN	FG%	FT%	OFF	DEF	TOT	STL	BLK	TO	PF	AST	PTS
Season	17	35	0.51	0.57	3.7	7.7	11	0.7	0.5	2.5	2.9	2.4	19
Career	17	35	0.51	0.57	3.7	7.7	11	0.7	0.5	2.5	2.9	2.4	19

Tim Duncan's Rookie Year - Full Season:

YR	G	MIN	FG%	FT%	OFF	DEF	TOT	STL	BLK	TO	PF	AST	PTS
97/98	82	39	0.55	0.662	3.3	8.6	12	0.7	2.5	3.4	3.1	2.7	21

4. New Orleans and Dallas' Defense
At the beginning of the season if basketball tragic's like us at Sports Analytics said New Orleans and Dallas would be second only to Orlando in defensive statistics with a +.500 record, we would have rolled over and laughed, but the interior presence of both Okafor and Chandler have been scintillating and the turnovers forced have been exceptional. In particularly for Dallas, their fourth quarter defense has been outstanding. 

		POINTS			FG PCT		3PT PCT		FT%	TUROVERS
RK	TEAM	OWN	OPP	DIFF	OWN	OPP	OWN	OPP	FT%	OWN	OPP
1	NOR	96.6	91.1	5.5	0.46	0.432	0.38	0.33	0.77	13.5	14.7
2	MIL	91.4	91.9	-0.5	0.41	0.439	0.32	0.36	0.75	14.4	15.9
3	DAL	97.6	92.7	4.9	0.47	0.437	0.35	0.36	0.77	13.8	14.2
	ORL	99.1	92.7	6.4	0.47	0.438	0.37	0.36	0.67	15	14.3

5. Pau Gasol
At Sports Analytics Inc we all knew Pau Gasol, a two-time Championship player and perennial skilled big man was a good player. This year Pau has taken his game to the next level, arguably becoming the best and most creative big man in the post under Phil Jackson's triangle offense. 


Pau Gasol's improvement in production this season:

	MIN	FG%	FT%	OFF	DEF	TOT	STL	BLK	TO	PF	AST	PTS
Season	38.7	0.56	0.8	3.4	8.5	11.9	0.69	1.88	1.69	2.44	4.1	22
Career	35.9	0.52	0.74	2.7	6.3	9	0.54	1.72	2.42	2.36	3.2	18.9

Most Improved Players:
After looking over the big surprises for the year, Sports Analytics Inc thought we would look at the top 5 players who've been most improved this early into the season. The rationale for this is as follows:
1. Is the player helping their team win
2. Has the player increased their production this year compared to their career
3. Are they delivering on intangibles 


Number 1: Tyson Chandler
Chandler has come into the Mavericks and is delivering the X-factor the Mavericks have longed for an eternity. Defensive presence, shot-blocking ability and offensive rebounding. He has energy to burn and is changing opposition team's shots. Furthermore he is scoring as witnessed by the past 5 games where Dallas is 5-0 against contenders like Atlanta, Oklahoma, San Antonio and Miami. 

Tyson Chandler bringing the energy 

  

	MIN	FG%	FT%	OFF	DEF	TOT	STL	BLK	TO	PF	AST	PTS
Season	27.9	0.7	0.8	2.5	6.5	9	0.44	1.56	1.06	3.44	0.3	9.4
Career	27.6	0.56	0.62	3.1	5.7	8.8	0.52	1.38	1.58	3.11	0.8	8.1

Number 2: Russell Westbrook
Westbrook's play has been phenomenal this year, particular when Durant has been injured and he has single-handedly carried the Thunder to wins. Westbrook's scoring production is up a whopping 7 points per game and whilst averaging 2 more assists per game. This is great maturity from a player who could have been excused for slipping after a breakout year with the rising Thunder last year. 

	MIN	FG%	FT%	OFF	DEF	TOT	STL	BLK	TO	PF	AST	PTS
Season	37.4	0.44	0.9	1.4	3.8	5.2	2	0.5	3.88	2.56	8.3	23.8
Career	33.8	0.41	0.81	1.9	3	4.9	1.39	0.32	3.36	2.42	6.8	16.4

Westbrook taking care of the ball

Number 3: Kevin Love
Love has been a beast on the boards this year. Tag-teaming with Beasley to form a formidable front-court for the Timberwolves. Love hauled an amazing 31 points and 31 rebounds game earlier in November. Love's defense is on the improve and he is averaging 6 more points per game in just under 3 minutes more per game. Just to prove how big of a monster Love is on the boards this year he is averaging a huge 5.5 offensive rebounds a game.
  

	MIN	FG%	FT%	OFF	DEF	TOT	STL	BLK	TO	PF	AST	PTS
Season	29.6	0.4	0.83	5.5	9.1	14.6	0.3	0.5	2.4	2.4	1.8	18
Career	26.9	0.45	0.8	3.7	6.5	10.2	0.54	0.52	1.72	2.42	1.6	12

Love monstering another rebound

Number 4: Rajon Rondo
Many people from the outside might claim, Rondo was already brilliant, but this year he has taken facilitation and ball handling to another level. Leading an ageing Celtics team Rondo has had to carry the weight of this team and make the game easy for his veteran teammates. Whilst over summer he built a mid-range and scoring game, this has enabled him to penetrate and facilitate averaging a huge 14.2 assists per game. That's right folks he contributes 28 points a game through his passing at the bare minimum. Not to mention Rondo's ability to lead a great defensive team to be the best defending point guard in the league. 

	MIN	FG%	FT%	OFF	DEF	TOT	STL	BLK	TO	PF	AST	PTS
Season	39.2	0.49	0.47	1.6	3.2	4.8	2.54	0.23	4	2.15	14.2	10.6
Career	31.2	0.49	0.63	1.1	3.3	4.4	1.91	0.14	2.4	2.39	7.1	10.7

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Rondo penetrating and dishing...as usual

Number 5. Paul Millsap
When Carlos Boozer chased the money to the windy city, and left Utah without their premier power forward, skeptics thought Utah would slip. Millsap had other ideas, and has been producing consistent play for the Jazz in both Boozer and Okur's absence. So good has Millsap been he has regularly become the go-to-guy in crunch time when Deron Williams is not feeling it or being doubled. This was evidenced with Millsap nailing the long-range shot against Miami and Orlando in come from behind wins. Millsap's production in scoring has jumped a lofty 9 points per game in 12 extra minutes per game. Many analysts might say "So his averages should rise" but such has been the efficiency of Millsap his field goal percentage is also up from last year, highlighting he is making the most of his shots. 
  

	MIN	FG%	3P%	FT%	OFF	DEF	TOT	STL	TO	PF	AST	PTS
Season	36.4	0.56	0.57	0.8	2.1	6.8	8.9	1.24	1.47	3.65	2.6	19.2
Career	24.7	0.53	0.22	0.7	2.4	4.2	6.6	0.89	1.33	3.36	1.3	10.4

Millsap coming into his own

Well there you have it folks, Sports Analytics Inc believes the start to the NBA season has seen the rise of the power forward back to being a strong position across the league and with a bevy of point guards producing at astonishing numbers, we are in for some exciting two-man games throughout the season.

Statistics are courtesy of the ever resourceful espn.com/nba - visit espn.com/nba for further quality NBA basketball news