ESPN: Chat with John Hollinger

[Shine88 80]

quote:

Magic: With a record of 17-5, how can we be #11 on your power rankings?

 

John Hollinger: (3:48 PM ET ) Orlando has played the league's easiest schedule. Their opponents have a .409 winning pct. when not playing the Magic.

 

quote:

Dan (DC): Please say something about Javaris Crittendon. And do you think N.O. did well to get Daniels as a real backup point guard?

 

John Hollinger: (3:23 PM ET ) GREAT trade for New Orleans, they upgraded at backup PG at no cost (actually saved about 200K if I remember correctly) becuase the Wizards need to make it a 3-way deal to get Crittenton from Memphis. I'm intrigued by Crittenton but wonder if he isn't more of a 2 than a 1 -- it's very rare for a player of his size to stay at the 1 his whole career.

http://proxy.espn.go.com/chat/chatESPN?event_id=24070

[Shine88 80]

quote:

Magic: With a record of 17-5, how can we be #11 on your power rankings?

 

John Hollinger: (3:48 PM ET ) Orlando has played the league's easiest schedule. Their opponents have a .409 winning pct. when not playing the Magic.

 

quote:

Dan (DC): Please say something about Javaris Crittendon. And do you think N.O. did well to get Daniels as a real backup point guard?

 

John Hollinger: (3:23 PM ET ) GREAT trade for New Orleans, they upgraded at backup PG at no cost (actually saved about 200K if I remember correctly) becuase the Wizards need to make it a 3-way deal to get Crittenton from Memphis. I'm intrigued by Crittenton but wonder if he isn't more of a 2 than a 1 -- it's very rare for a player of his size to stay at the 1 his whole career.

http://proxy.espn.go.com/chat/chatESPN?event_id=24070

[Penny Hardaway's Ghost 260]

I thought NO had the easiest schedule...

[Shine88 80]

quote:

"Winter Storm 2008" (Portland weather hype machine): Are you prepared for the impending snowy armageddon? Maybe you should get to the airport now! Ridiculous... Seems the Magic figured out the way to stop the Blazers is to trap BRoy. Rough patch for Portland if that catches on. Thoughts?

 

John Hollinger: (3:46 PM ET ) Yes, I'm anxious about the quarter-inch of wet snow that is sure to snarl traffic and create widespread mayhem during the 15 minutes before it melts. Scary, scary stuff. As for the Magic's trap, I suspect Nate worked on that all day in practice on Wednesday. He was VERY upset after the game about how they handled that.

[Berto 338]

Cleveland has had an easy schedule as well and they're ranked #1. Personally i've never liked Hollinger's system. It's kind of pointless to me.

[Penny Hardaway's Ghost 260]

I just double checked, We do have the "easiest" according to the Hollinger rankings...poor Indy, check out that schedule...

[Shine88 80]

quote:

Dave, SLC: Has Millsap's improved play made him a starter in this league? And can or should the Jazz resign both Sap and Boozer?

 

John Hollinger: (3:53 PM ET ) Millsap is 10th among power forwards in PER and has sharply cut his foul rate, which was the big thing that prevented him from playing big minutes before. At this point,Jazz have two high-caliber PFs to pay next summer, so it makes sense to keep one and sign-and-trade the other. The interesting part is determining who stays and who goes.

 

If the Jazz resign Boozer. Otis should consider doing a sign-and-trade with them, sending Hedo to the Jazz for Millsap and C.J. Miles.

 

The numbers should work, since Millsap will most likely be looking for the full MLE, and Miles will makes about $3.5 mill next year, and Hedo should be in for around $10 mill per year.

[KillingInTheNameOf 63]

quote:

Originally posted by truth393:

quote:

Magic: With a record of 17-5, how can we be #11 on your power rankings?

 

John Hollinger: (3:48 PM ET ) Orlando has played the league's easiest schedule. Their opponents have a .409 winning pct. when not playing the Magic.

 

Talk about form fitting. I honestly thought you ESPN conspiracy theorists were delusional, but eliminating the Magic from this equation is blatant manipulation to make the case for an established bias.

 

Granted, Hollinger may actually just think he's producing some new evolved statistical analysis. But, if that's part of his power ranking formula, it's just whacked. By that logic, you wouldn't have a read on any team by the end of the season.

 

 

All this talk of strength of schedule in the NBA is vastly overrated anyway. This isn't the NFL, it all evens out eventually without any dramatic advantages.

[SmackDaddy 30]

For what it's worth, strength of schedule:

 

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/sagarin/nba0809.htm

 

Orlando (29th)

Boston (26th)

Cleveland (23rd)

 

The Trail Blazers have actually had the 5th toughest schedule so far. That speaks volumes about their early season success thus far.

[Captain Hi-Top 791]

quote:

Originally posted by KillingInTheNameOf:

quote:

Originally posted by truth393:

quote:

Magic: With a record of 17-5, how can we be #11 on your power rankings?

 

John Hollinger: (3:48 PM ET ) Orlando has played the league's easiest schedule. Their opponents have a .409 winning pct. when not playing the Magic.

 

Talk about form fitting. I honestly thought you ESPN conspiracy theorists were delusional, but eliminating the Magic from this equation is blatant manipulation to make the case for an established bias.

 

Granted, Hollinger may actually just think he's producing some new evolved statistical analysis. But, if that's part of his power ranking formula, it's just whacked. By that logic, you wouldn't have a read on any team by the end of the season.

 

 

All this talk of strength of schedule in the NBA is vastly overrated anyway. This isn't the NFL, it all evens out eventually without any dramatic advantages.

 

It really only evens out inter conference though, right, not across the league itself?

 

Also, KITNO, related question for you...

 

Aren't Hollinger's Power Rankings discounting themselves by using a straight win-loss record to derive the strength of schedule?

 

His own rankings put a team like Indiana in the top half of the league, yet we are basically penalized for playing them twice so far as part of the 'easiest schedule in the league'.

[KillingInTheNameOf 63]

You can chase your tail all day with this SOS stuff if you want to however.

 

For example, the premise is that Orlando is overrated because they've played a weak schedule. Portland's played Orlando in 10% of their games. But we are crediting them with playing a strong schedule in part based on Orlando's good record against a weak schedule? On & on...

[Captain Hi-Top 791]

quote:

Originally posted by KillingInTheNameOf:

You can chase your tail all day with this SOS stuff if you want to however.

 

For example, the premise is that Orlando is overrated because they've played a weak schedule. Portland's played Orlando in 10% of their games. But we are crediting them with playing a strong schedule in part based on Orlando's good record against a weak schedule? On & on...

 

Which kind of leads back to my point though, you can ignore SOS, or embrace it, but Hollinger is trying to create his own auto ranking system, in leu of just standings and/or observation. Wouldn't it be a little more telling for him to embrace his own results and adjust the SOS accordingly?

 

Kind of hypocritcal to ignore his own stat in this case, isn't it?