Boston Celtics/Irving Statistical Defensive Jump

[slightly biased bias fan]

Opponent quantified shot quality: 49.9% (1st)

Defensive efficiency: 95.8                      (1st)

Opponent eFG%: 48%                           (1st)

Rebound Pct: 53%                                (2nd)*

*Ranked 27th last season

5 of the Top 10 player defensive rating in the league as of now are Celtics (Baynes, Brown, Rozier, Smart, Tatum)

Teams are shooting 31.4% from 3 against Jaylen Brown

Irving's Defensive RPM (active plus/minus) has jumped from 69th last season (among PG's) to 14th this season.

Irving has jumped into the top 10 in deflection after never placing higher 36th in his career.

[Monkhouse]

Opponent quantified shot quality: 49.9% (1st)

Defensive efficiency: 95.8                      (1st)

Opponent eFG%: 48%                           (1st)

Rebound Pct: 53%                                (2nd)*

*Ranked 27th last season

5 of the Top 10 player defensive rating in the league as of now are Celtics (Baynes, Brown, Rozier, Tatum, Smart)

Teams are shooting 31.4% from 3 against Jaylen Brown

Irving's Defensive RPM (active plus/minus) has jumped from 69th last season (among PG's) to 14th this season.

Irving has jumped into the top 10 in deflection after never placing higher 36th in his career.

My philosophy is this.

You cannot be a star, or even a superstar, if you cannot lead your team somehow. Irving's commitment to defense has shown how far he's come. If he can remain consistent, we certainly have a top 20 player on our hands. And that my friends is valuable.

[Roy H.]

Where is the quantified shot quality metric from? I’m not familiar with that one.

I’ll save my rank about RPM “stats”, other than a stat that incorporates a player’s height into it is garbage. Production is what stats should measure, without incorporating biases.

That aside, the defense has been excellent. The added length add d by JB, Tatum, Kyrie, Baynes and Theis have resulted in a vast improvement.

Rebounding also has a sneaky effect on DRtg, as offensive boards result in a continued possession. Therefore, a team that gives up an easy basket has the same DRtg as a team that forces three misses but fails to secure the rebounds, before finally giving up a basket. Despite only one shot in the first instance and four shots in the latter, the analysis is “1 possession, 2 points allowed”.

[slightly biased bias fan]

Where is the quantified shot quality metric from? I’m not familiar with that one.

I’ll save my rank about RPM “stats”, other than a stat that incorporates a player’s height into it is garbage. Production is what stats should measure, without incorporating biases.

That aside, the defense has been excellent. The added length add d by JB, Tatum, Kyrie, Baynes and Theis have resulted in a vast improvement.

Rebounding also has a sneaky effect on DRtg, as offensive boards result in a continued possession. Therefore, a team that gives up an easy basket has the same DRtg as a team that forces three misses but fails to secure the rebounds, before finally giving up a basket. Despite only one shot in the first instance and four shots in the latter, the analysis is “1 possession, 2 points allowed”.

http://www.espn.com/nba/playoffs/2016/story/_/id/15530589/what-advanced-tracking-data-reveals-nba-shooters

[KGs Knee]

I’ll save my rank about RPM “stats”, other than a stat that incorporates a player’s height into it is garbage. Production is what stats should measure, without incorporating biases.

RPM also uses age, years in the league, position, and prior performance as inputs to their model. Which is fine, considering that it isn't a descriptive statistic, but rather a predictive statistic.

And that is my biggest beef with RPM, it is wholly misrepresented by ESPN. Those who quote or reference it probably don't even realize that RPM tells you absolutely nothing about past performance. And that ESPN uses it to rank players for end of season awards is even more galling.

RPM is meant to be a prediction of future performance, not a measure of past performance.