flossy: @110: Whoops, my bad.But your link doesn’t lessen my skepticism about WP.I mean… we’re talking about an algorithm that’s telling us Chuck Hayes is significantly better/more valuable than Amar’e Stoudemire.That to me says “massive defect?”Or at the very least “huge grain of salt.”  

Oh I’m with you- really the only outlier on the list you posted was Ryan Anderson (and a couple of guys with very limited minutes) while Berri’s numbers produce a bunch- Humphries, Reggie Evans, Landry Fields (sorry Landry! I love you but you’re not twice as valuable to the team as Amar’e!!), etc… I do think Berri’s numbers are valuable as a corrective to something like PER, I just think the truth lies somewhere between the two.

latke:
The chart at the bottom of this entry essentially refutes Silver’s main point — Even though his teammates are marginally more efficient with ‘Melo on the floor, when you add ‘melo’s mediocre efficiency into the mix, they are worse. In other words, overall, they were a more efficient team with ‘melo on the bench.http://arturogalletti.wordpress.com/2011/01/16/a-simple-response-to-mr-silver/  

I don’t want to get on this horse, but I have some issues with galletti’s analysis, which is based on ppfga, despite pretty glaring gains in wp/48 that are on that chart. It’s unusual to proclaim the evidence as damning when the evidence is clearly contradictory. He then comments on his own work that after adding in melo’s defense and shot selection the ppfga measure looks worse (without substantiating that claim.) IMHO, neither Galletti nor Berri are particularly good statisticians.

In watching Melo in this admittedly small sample, you can’t help but notice that he has a great low-post/mid-range game and a series of deft moves to free himself for said shot. He really reminds me of Paul Pierce and though I HATE PP personally. I LOVE his game. He does force shots galore, though he clearly can be a good passer when he wants to be, and he can get really lazy on defense, though again, when he puts his mind to it, he can be decent.

I also think he’ll age well as a player. He’s not dependent on otherworldy speed/hops so when he loses a step, he should still be able to perform at 90% of his peak. Amar’e's started making this transition too. He’s starting to look a lot more like Karl Malone — a pick and pop PF v. pick and roll to the basket. I was worried that once Amar’e's knees went, he’d be toast, but this growth in his shooting ability is great news for those of us (like me) who were really worried that in two years, his contract would be awful.

I still have the same qualms about flexibility and cap space going forward (not to mention what Gallo may or may not become), but there are more positive signs than I anticipated

Yeah, or that too.

And they generally fit right in with what you’d figure. For the Knicks, the top win shares guys were Amar’e then Gallo then Fields. Sounds about right. Also, they have Billups as already contributing more to the Knicks than Walker has all season – which also sounds about right (sorry, Bill!).

Spree8nyk8:
How many of those 14 games were against .500 or better teams though?Bc during the 6-3 we went 5-1 against them which I’m fairly sure is our best 6 game stretch against .500 or better teams.  

First of all, we have lost to 2 sub-500 teams. I don’t think you can just ignore those losses in your assessment. Second, while we have beaten teams above .500, the only really good win was v. Miami. Utah without williams is not a .500 team. Atlanta has been falling apart lately (3-6 since all-star break), and New Orleans hasn’t looked great since January (7-13 in their last 20). Memphis is a middling team.

Second, if I’m allowed to cherry pick a nine game stretch, here you go: 12/22-1/11:

We went 6-3, beating San Antonio, Chicago, OKC, Phoenix, Portland, and Indiana. San Antonio and Chicago wins are better than any wins we’ve had since.

But I’m not saying that this so far we haven’t looked good. We have. All I’m saying is that we haven’t done enough to make any kind of conclusive claim. I’m really excited about tonight. Hopefully we play all 4 quarters, instead of the 2 1/2 – 3 quarters we’ve played in most of our recent losses.

Z-man: I posted this article in a past thread, and didn’t see much of a response.Now that we are seeing him up close and personal, can anyone refute the premise of this article (not the title of it, which is obviously tongue-in-cheek):http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/15/why-carmelo-anthony-is-the-ultimate-team-player-and-what-advanced-stats-miss-about-him/  

The chart at the bottom of this entry essentially refutes Silver’s main point — Even though his teammates are marginally more efficient with ‘Melo on the floor, when you add ‘melo’s mediocre efficiency into the mix, they are worse. In other words, overall, they were a more efficient team with ‘melo on the bench.

http://arturogalletti.wordpress.com/2011/01/16/a-simple-response-to-mr-silver/