Stat du Jour: Keep That Sh*t In Here!

[lethalweapon3]

In addition to steals, another activity that is in short supply during Hawks games are blocked shots.

Fewest Blocks per Game:

Pistons 4.05 (247/61)

Nuggets 4.11 (251/61)

Suns 4.16 (241/58)

HAWKS 4.18 (251/60)

Cavaliers 4.19 (247/59)

In the above bottom-five list are teams not known for having shotblockers on the roster, including the Suns and Cavs, the latter team losing their leading shotblocker (Varejao, himself not a great shotblocker) for the season. But also there are teams featuring notorious blockers (Andersen, Smoove, Big Ben) that have dialed it back a notch from their peak shot-rejecting seasons.

Lowest Block Rates (per 100 possessions, through 2/28/10, courtesy Hoopdata):

Nuggets 4.2

Suns 4.3

Cavaliers 4.3

Pistons 4.4

Raptors 4.4

HAWKS 4.5

Mavericks 4.5

Sixers 4.5

Magic 4.6

Celtics 4.7

For teams like Detroit, Atlanta, Boston, and Dallas, the low number of possessions is a contributing factor. Teams like Orlando, Boston, and Phoenix can point to the low proportion of opponent shot attempts at the rim, which is at least understandable in Orlando's case.

Smoove (1.7) and Horford (1.0) are momentarily down in per-game blocks from last season (2.1 and 1.1 last year, respectively). Marvin is also down from 0.6 to 0.3 this season. No one other than Smoove and Al are producing at a clip greater than 1-block-for-every-3 games. Theoretically, Smoove is relied upon less to provide help defense compared to previous seasons. Backup forward Josh Powell has amassed a whopping 4 blocked shots over the course of his 45 appearances.

On a per-minute basis, the Hawks have one guard/swingman who is in the top-25 at his position (Jeff Teague, who is first among NBA point guards getting more than 10 minutes per game). Backcourt players' blocks are up marginally, but not enough to offset the drop in frontcourt swats. None of the Hawks' centers are within the Top 40 at their position on a per-minute basis.

Blocks per 40 minutes (through 2/28/10, with 09-10 blocks in parentheses, courtesy Hoopdata):

Smoove 1.93 (2.39)

[Hilton-WAS] [1.55] (N/A)

Horf 1.19 (1.28)

Teague 1.03 (0.61)

Zaza 0.83 (1.10)

Damien 0.68 (N/A – Mario West, 0.00)

JaCo 0.57 (0.71)

Marvin 0.44 (0.75)

J-Pow 0.30 (N/A – Joe Smith, 1.28)

[Kirk-WAS] [0.27] (N/A)

Craw 0.24 (0.20)

[Mo - ATL] 0.24 (0.52)

[bibby- ATL] 0.14 (0.05)

Joe 0.13 (0.07)

As an aside, the Knicks are the league's leaders in Blocks per game (6.2), just two seasons removed from churning out the lowest number of Blocks per game (2.5) in recorded NBA history.

Knicks 05-06 3.3 (NBA Rank 29^th)

Knicks 06-07 3.2 (NBA Rank T-30^th)

Knicks 07-08 2.6 (NBA Rank 30^th)

Knicks 08-09 2.5 (NBA Rank 30^th)

Knicks 09-10 3.7 (NBA Rank T-30^th)

Knicks 10-11 6.2 (NBA Rank 1^st)

With 40 more blocks already than his entire total with the Suns last season, Amar'e is turning away as many shots nightly as ever before. But that league-leading figure is likely to go down, now that New York has traded away both Mozgov and the leading shotblocker from that 08-09 squad, Wilson Chandler, to Denver. When taking their high-paced approach into consideration, Denver will likely up their block rates and leave Atlanta in the basement of this category soon (last night's contest notwithstanding).

~lw3

Edited March 1, 2011 by lethalweapon3

[capstone21]

The move to SF for a period of time has taken Josh away from the basket. His blocks will start to go up a bit as he has been playing PF again.

[benhillboy]

The dropoff in blocks and steals are alarming. It's always a problem for any team when they cant get these type of stops and run in transition as much as possible. And I hate to hate you-know-who as much as I do, but you guys just keep coming up with fuel. Less prone to block a shot than Bibby? Amazing.

Edited March 1, 2011 by benhillboy

[capstone21]

I am never worried about steals. They are an overrated defensive stat. I would rather the team stay in front of their man instead of gambling.

[Guest]

Our steals will go up if Teague continues to get consistent minutes....he does't gamble much but has quick hands that deflect a lot of balls

[tremor]

Smoove's block stats dropped also because of ... counting. Here's an exercise for non-belivers: count his blocks during the game and then check the box score. He's robbed on block or two almost every game.

[Diesel]

The move to SF for a period of time has taken Josh away from the basket. His blocks will start to go up a bit as he has been playing PF again.

Although this seems right, the truth is that at Pf, PFs know to body Smoove and he becomes useless as a shot blocker.

I remember seeing Illsova and Milsap just abusing Smoove and no answer. Smoove is getting older, his athletic ability is going to start to leave him. If hes to be a shot blocker, he has to roam... He can do that from any position.

[MaceCase]

Despite this our defensive rating has remained the same from last season in terms of rank (13th) yet we are actually allowing 1 point less per 100 possessions (106.7 in 09-10 to 105.7 in 10-11). Truly is baffling because one would suspect that we would be much worse with the dropoff in steals and blocks but once again Larry Drew is proving that his vanilla defense is far more effective than one would be led to believe. Now his offense on the other hand.....

[niremetal]

Our steals will go up if Teague continues to get consistent minutes....he does't gamble much but has quick hands that deflect a lot of balls

I strongly disagree with the bolded part. He's gotten better since last year, mind, but he's still very reach-in-happy. He also bites on ball fakes worse than anyone else on the team, bar none (he took that title away from Smoove). He averaged 4.1 fouls per 36 minutes last year, which is a ton for a PG (especially considering the Hawks' very slow pace). This year, it's 3.3, which is still well below average (again, especially considering the Hawks' very slow pace). The very thing that his held him back as a defender is that he has relied too much on his "quick hands" and has taken too many gambles.

But I worry about neither blocks nor steals. They are actually among the weaker indicators of a player or team's defensive prowess. Good teams would rather contest every shot than gamble on steals and blocks (the latter of which often does not even lead to a change of possession). I'd rather have a guy like Battier who contests every shot than a guy like Monta Ellis, who gets a ton of steals but forgets to contest his man's shot on possessions where he can't get a steal. Teague only had 1 steal against Phoenix, but I loved the way he defended Nash that game. Defend with your feet, not your hands!

Edited March 2, 2011 by niremetal

[lethalweapon3]

Final Tallies...

Fewest Blocks per Game:

Pistons 4.00 (328)

HAWKS 4.16 (341)

Cavaliers 4.16 (341)

Celtics 4.20 (344)

Raptors 4.27 (350)

As predicted post-Melo trade, the Nuggets (4.29) fell out of the bottom 5, while the Knicks (5.79) finished 4th overall without Chandler and Mozgov. Post-Perkins trade, the Celtics joined the basement in this category, while the Thunder (5.94) finished second to Javale's Wizards.

Lowest Block Rates (per 100 possessions, courtesy Hoopdata):

Cavaliers 4.3

Pistons 4.3

Nuggets 4.4

Suns 4.4

Raptors 4.4

HAWKS 4.5

Celtics 4.5

Mavericks 4.6

Rockets 4.6

Sixers 4.6

Jeff Teague did finish with the highest per-minute block rate among NBA point guards getting 10+ minutes per game (1.04 per 40 minutes).

Returning Player Block Rates (per 40 minutes, courtesy Hoopdata):

Smoove 1.81 (2.39)

Horf 1.18 (1.28)

Teague 1.04 (0.61)

Zaza 0.71 (1.10)

JaCo 0.61 (0.71)

Marvin 0.49 (0.75)

Craw 0.24 (0.20)

Joe 0.11 (0.07)

~lw3

Edited April 16, 2011 by lethalweapon3