The Sixers can't shoot.

Anyone surprised? Doubtful. The Sixers are last in the league in three pointers made this year, following up a last in the league performance last year. This isn't simply a byproduct of a run-and-gun system that doesn't focus on the 3-ball, either. They were last in the league in 3 pt% both of those years as well.

For example, did you know that Andre Iguodala shoots only 28.5% on shots generated off isolations?

For more stats like that, click below.
Continue reading "Shooting Blanks: By the numbers"

After the previous 5 losses, you wanted to find something, anything, to pin your hat on and keep your spirits up. After throwing away any chance they had at the 5 seed, and thus any realistic chance of advancing a round in the playoffs, I was begging for something to take my mind off the inevitability of the end of the Sixers season.

As such, this game had good and bad. The good is quite obvious. After missing 7 straight games, the huge question mark entering the game was whether Thad Young could successfully return from his ankle injury, and what kind of rust he would show after missing hte previous 2 weeks. The answer is yes, and not much. Sure, I think he was a little gassed, and it might have affected him a little, but he more or less looked like Thaddeus Young. And if the Sixers want to have any shot of making the first round close, he's going to have to play like he did the previous 15+ games before getting injured.

The bad? Equally as obvious. The Celtics had nothing to play for. Garnett continued to rest his injury, Ray Allen served his suspension. All the Sixers had to do for the 6th seed was to win out, and yet the Celtics still came out on top. Somehow, someway, with the Celtics missing 2/3 of their "big 3" and nothing to play for, the Sixers got out-executed down the stretch.

I think Paul Pierce is still hitting 3's.

Off topic for a moment. For conspiracy theorists out there, it was reported a while back that the Sixers were switching back to their retro 82-83 jerseys next year. This hasn't been substantiated. Today, the Sixers had jerseys and apparel for 76% off as part of their fan appreciation night. All except for retro garb. Or, as the cashier said, "anything with the circle on it". Hm....

Is that really the best play they could call up? I'm not talking about the prayer heave from Iguodala, but the isolation play on the previous possession. Iguodala is just not very good in those situations. Iguodala shoots a woeful 31.3% on isolations from the top of the key. Down by 1 with 20 or so seconds left? We need to find a higher percentage shot.

I agree with Brian at DepressedFan that the rotations tonight were questionable, but I'm going to leave analyzing rotations against Boston until it's 100% certain we're playing them in the playoffs.

Nice to see Thad back and healthy. Unfortunately, we may only see him for 4 more games this year.

Andre Iguodala's commonly labeled a slashing wing player, requiring shooters on the perimeter to open up the lane for his forays into the paint. I've repeatedly disagreed with this assessment, including in my 2009-2010 Sixers Preview. Iguodala's first step is average (respective to the rest of his dynamic athleticism), his body control is below average, and his touch around the hoop sometimes erratic. This, in my opinion, is holding him back from being a legitimate #1 scoring option as much, if not more so, than his jumper.

This post is not to try to put down Andre Iguodala the player. I've thought this about Iguodala's half-court game for quite some time, and I fully appreciate the overall game he brings to the table. I generally agree that Iguodala is not overpaid, and don't want to see him traded for cap space. That being said, I do recognize the need to get a better half-court offensive player in here, and think that will greatly help Iguodala concentrate on what he does best.

Let's examine a couple of metrics. The general gist of the article will focus on two things:
- Andre Iguodala's shot distribution
- Andre Iguodala's effectiveness in those situations.

I'm then going to compare that data to his previous years, as well as to some other wingmen in the league.

Continue reading "Mythbusters: Iguodala the Slasher"

One of the often stated strengths of Jrue Holiday coming out of high school was that he was a good finisher with either hand. Watching him last year at UCLA, it seemed he almost preferred driving left. This year in the NBA, it's becoming increasingly obvious. I decided to look at the stats and determine whether the stats backed up our anecdotal observations.

After the jump we'll take a look at Holiday's tendencies on isolation situations, and how efficient he is during those situations. The charts include breakdowns from both his 1 year at UCLA and his rookie year in the NBA (up to this point).
Continue reading "Jrue Holiday's weak hand"

This is a rather major site announcement, which I'll quickly announce and then get into what it means.

Jordan Sams from LibertyBallers of the SBNation network has made an offer for me to join LibertyBallers, which I've accepted.

What does this mean for PhillyArena ?

Since I'll now be covering the Sixers for LibertyBallers, this means I will no longer be writing articles here, at PhillyArena. This was a hard decision to come to, as PhillyArena has been my personal pet project, and it's always tough to leave your baby. That being said, I do believe it's the right choice.

But PhillyArena's not going to die.

My primary purpose for starting this site was for two things:
1) To scratch an itch I have for website/database development.
2) To develop statistical tools that I felt were lacking and create a comprehensive 76ers resource.

Articles and news posts will not be made on this site anymore, outside of announcements for new features. For that, please visit LibertyBallers. I will, however, continue to maintain the stats database, and will be looking to add many new features, and expand on the ones I already have developed (such as the Searchable Rotations and Searchable Stats).

What does this mean for you?

Nothing. I'm still going to be writing for about the Sixers (in fact, if anything this should help me do a better job of covering the team), and these statistical tools are still going to remain online.

I'd like to thank you all for reading my rants and ramblings over the previous month, and hope you follow me over to LibertyBallers. Thanks!