Can someone explain the "plus-minus" system?

[Brickowski]

I don't even bookmark 82games.com any more.  Most of these derived statistics tell you little or nothing.  I trust my eyes.

What basketball statistic measures "hockey assists": the good pass that leads to the pass that creates the basket?  What statistic measures the pass that should have been an assist but the recipient blew the layup? I could cite at least two dozen other scenarios that numbers do not capture.

Baseball lends itself to meaningful statistical analysis because it is basically an individual sport played in a team context.  Basketball does not.   

[Fan from VT]

I don't think it's an all or nothing situation, and i don't think you should throw out some stats just because we know some things aren't measured.