NBA to unveil "hustle" metrics for the post season. Just give Delly the MVP now
(Source) For the first time, the NBA in the playoffs will track a new batch of “hustle stats” and post them online within hours after the end of every game, league officials told ESPN.com.
The NBA tried this in a pilot program at Las Vegas Summer League last season, and distributed the numbers to media and teams there. The reaction was positive, and the NBA decided to compile the stats in games that count.
The league will track how often defenders contest two- and three-point shots; deflections by defensive players; charges taken; which players recover loose balls; and so-called “screen assists,” which the league defines as picks that lead directly to a made field-goal attempt by a teammate. The “screen assist” category will not include picks that result in a teammate drawing a shooting foul, or that free up someone for a shot one or two passes down the chain, officials said.
A bunch of guys who used to wear Rec-Specs to class took some time off from their day job of calling charges down at the Y to unveil a bunch of new stats for “hustle” that the NBA will be publicizing this postseason. And as a representative for all borderline-atheletic white guys I would like to just say its about time they came up with a stat to measure intangibles. You know how Deacon Jones played before the sack was an official metric? Thats how I feel about playing in a era before accidental deflections was measured. Doesn’t matter that I got scored on a lot, if you were selecting a pickup team based off of who would set the most unnessecary screens and call the most offensive fouls, I’m your guy.
The real interesting part is going to be to see how NBA “Superstars” look on these new stats after spending a lifetime crafting their games around the outdated thinking that points-scored was the most important part of playing hoops. Going to be pretty embarassing when LeBron has an 0-fer night in the box score because he selfishly blocked all of the shots that he should of been trying to contest instead.
What I love about this contested-shot stat is that finally getting dunked on can count as a positive, which could propel Shawn Bradley back into the discussion of potential HOFers. Anyone whose ever been teabagged in gym class can tell you that technically that’s a positive play for your team since 20% of the time you get jammed through the hardwood floor, you can call your opponent for a technical foul for hanging on the goal for too long. I would be shocked if the person who invented this stat wasn’t either a) Kelly Olynyk, or b) a blood relative of Matthew Dellavedova.
PS
Two things missing from the new Grit-metric:
1- Missing shots in such an egregiously weird fashion that it gets recovered by a teammate with a new 24 second clock. Until this becomes a quantifiable metric, Delly will never get the credit he deserves.
2- When you bounce the ball of your opponets leg and make it go out of bounds instead of calling a timeout. Would have won the game for Northern Iowa four times over in the last minute verse Texas A&M.