Insider Power Outage: Most Aggressive Offensives

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NBA Power Outage: Pacers feature six-shooter attack

By Terry Brown

Wednesday, December 11 Updated 11:48 AM EST

You know as much as I know as much as anyone knows about the Indiana Pacers.

They can shoot. All of them. They can score. All of them. In a traditional 5 on 5 NBA game with three referees, official score keeper, assorted statisticians and peanut vendors, it seems, as though, they've got six, sometimes even seven players on the floor at any given moment.

Six Pacers average double-digits in scoring and there would be another one with only one more free throw a game if their point guard wasn't so busy leading them in assists at 8.1, which still doesn't include their pet project Jonathan Bender or high-priced forward Austin Croshere, who is injured or ought to be.

Let me try and explain how good they are right now.

Their opponents have shot the ball more times than they have (1616 to 1617). Their opponents have shot more free throws than they have (545 to 523). Their opponents have shot more three-pointers than they have (76 to 73).

But they still score 5.5 more points than their opponents (96.9 to 91.4) on their way to an impressive 15-5 record to lead the entire Eastern Conference.

It's really rather simple. They shoot 45 percent from the field while their opponents shoot 41. They also shoot 36 percent from long range and 76 percent from the line while those same opponents shoot 30 percent and 75 percent, respectively.

But it gets a little bit complicated when you realize that of the 14 players on their current roster, 12 of them were there last year, the only two new faces being Erick Strickland and Fred Jones, who have, combined, played the equivalent of 20 quarters in 20 games.

This is basically the same team that went 41-41 in 2001 and then 42-40 last year.

Which makes it even harder when you're trying to determine who are the most aggressive offensive teams in the league by taking each team's total number of shots, comparing them to that team's opponents' total number of shots, and ranking the differences. The Mavericks, by far the team with the best record in the league, are also right there in the middle with the Pacers, having taken 1,678 shots to their opponents' 1,675.

Sure, there are several other factors that go into determining the overall efficiency of an offense, just like there were several other factors that could have gone into determining the defensive side last week.

But you try explaining that to the other 26 teams in the NBA that have a worse record than the Pacers but are still scratching their heads.

MOST AGGRESSIVE OFFENSES

1. Denver Nuggets

Difference: ++180 (1678 shots to 1498)

Comment: When in doubt, shoot. When down by eight points, their usual margin of defeat, shoot. When your leading scorer is at 40 percent from the floor, second-leading scorer at 36 percent and third-leading scorer at 38, shoot. When your team only scores 79.1 points per game, having once scored 53 in a 48-minute game and 63 in another, then the best thing that you can possibly do as a Denver Nugget is shoot the ball. As a team, they shoot 38 percent from the field with no one having ever scored more than 25 in a game. They have no legitimate go-to guy, no post-up threat, no three-point shooter who hits more than one a game in the 21 they've played. It is an absolutely amazing that right here, right now, the Nuggets have taken the same exact amount of shots as the Dallas Mavericks. At the first crack of daylight, as slim as it may be, regardless of statistical consequences, for goodness sakes, shoot the ball so we can at least see the other team work an NBA offense.

2. Miami Heat

Difference: +124 (1626 shots to 1502)

Comment: Water down the above paragraph, rinse, repeat.

3. Phoenix Suns

Difference: +120 (1689 shots to 1569)

Comment: Stephon Marbury is faster with the ball in hands with the requirement to bounce it against the floor between each and every step he takes than you or I are without one in running shoes and a jet pack. He's also averaged 20 points per game over the last five years, taken a shot every 2.2 minutes in his career and handed out 3,610 assists so far. But don't think for a second that Shawn Marion to his left or Amare Stoudemire to his right can't keep up. Because when your leading assist man is also your leading scorer, then you either run at a similar pace or get left behind in the boxscore.

4. Philadelphia 76ers

Difference: +119 (1741 shots to 1622)

Comment: Two words: Allen Iverson. This guy could get a shot off while handcuffed in a straight jacket, gagged, double-teamed and sedated with a walkman humming Kenny G. By himself, he has taken 39 percent of the shots of the entire Detroit Piston team. No one has shot more field goals than Iverson (531) and no one has shot more free throws than Iverson (151). So it doesn't even matter that you can take the next two leading shot takers on the Sixers, add them together, and still be 35 shots short of AI. Keith Van Horn and Eric Snow are just happy enough that they don't have to guard the guy.

5. Los Angeles Lakers

Difference: +93 (1874 shots to 1781)

Comment: Can we even have this category without mentioning Kobe Bryant. With 27.6 points per game, he is Iverson refined. With seven assists per game, he is Marbury reinforced. With Shaq playing only 10 of the team's first 22 games, he is 22 shots per game without blinking an eye, once taking 47 in a single game. With Daddy back in the post, the Lakers' shot total will go down as their field goal percentage goes up, but we'll always have the memories.

MOST PASSIVE OFFENSES

25. Utah Jazz

Difference: -57 (1571 shots to 1628)

Comment: Stockton to Malone. Stockton to Malone. Stockton to Malone. ZZZZZZ. Guess who's leading the team in scoring? Guess who's leading the team in assists? But before you turn the channel, let's not forget that some of the greatest shooting performances over a season in NBA history in terms of field goal, three-point and free-throw percentages have come from this very offense, the latest being Matt Harping, who is at 50 percent, 43 percent and 81 percent, respectively; Andrei Kirilenko, 55 percent, 43 percent and 83 percent; and John Stockton, 50 percent, 52 percent, 78 percent. Boring, yes. Better, yes, too.

26. San Antonio Spurs

Difference: -101 (1617 shots to 1718)

Comment: It is no coincidence that Tim Duncan is averaging 4.6 fewer points per game than last year as the Spurs average 5.5 less points per game this year. No coincidence that Duncan is also averaging 1.3 less shots per game than last year and almost a whole free throw. And no coincidence that that big, shiny MVP trophy casts an awful big shadow that may have become tougher to get around than any defender in front of him.

27. Memphis Grizzlies

Difference: -105 (1703 shots to 1808

Comment: Twenty-one games into the season and 11 different players have already started and eight different players have led them in scoring in three victories and 18 loses. Please make sure all name tags are facing forward and written in English and let's try to stay below 18 turnovers tonight, huh . . .

28. Atlanta Hawks

Difference: -145 (1586 shots to 1731)

Comment: Glenn Robinson, Shareef Abdur-Rahim, Jason Terry. Period. Stop. Big, red octagonal sign. Those are the only three players worth guarding on this team to start with and not one of them can play a lick of defense to end with. Of course, the other team is going to get more shots off. But that doesn't necessarily mean they're going to make more of them as this team still outshoots their opponents, percentage-wise, from the field, line and three-point area.

29. Los Angeles Clippers

Difference: -167 (1593 shots to 1760)

Comment: Despite the addition of Andre Miller, last year's league assist leader, this team is scoring less, shooting worse and totaling fewer assists per game than the season before. Only the names have been changed to protect the innocent.

[Diesel]

Is it Lon's plan to be conservative with the ball? I don't believe in shooting just to be shooting, however, I believe if our offense were more organized, we'd be spoken of in the same light as Indy and Dallas and Not Memphis and LAC?

[KZ3]

I think he is forgetting that the main reason that the Hawks don't have as many shots as their opponents is that they turn the ball over so many times. If your possessions are wasted because you can't handle the ball properly, your opponents are bound to get more opportunities shooting than you are. I don't buy into his equation for determining offensive aggressiveness. There are too many variables that he leaves out for that formula to prove anything. Assuming that teams get roughly the same number of possessions in a game, the factors that affect the number of shots they get off include: turnovers (giving up possession without a shot), and offensive rebounds (more than one shot opportunity per possession). The opposite of both (forcing turnovers, and preventing offensive rebounds) also has an effect. Also, what does that mean that you are aggressive? No team's gameplan involves "not shooting the ball on offense". I bet that if you look at team stats, the top 5 on that list are good at forcing turnovers and getting o-boards, whereas the bottom 5 are the opposite. It really has nothing to do with aggression. Even if you put up a shot 5 seconds in to every possession, your opponent will get a possession right back unless you force a turnover or get an offensive rebound.

[Traceman]

[Diesel]

If you're talking about me, I didn't forget about turnovers.

I believe that if the offense were better structures where players actually had a gameplan that the turnovers would cease or at the least decrease significantly.

However, we're busy playing a simple offense with no idea of who to pass to or where to expect the next person to be.

[KZ3]

Actually I was talking about Terry Brown.