Week 1 WP Numbers

For you new readers out there, make sure you know about the basics before you leave a cowardly, anonymous comment that insults my intelligence, while offering no argument in support of that position.

Here are the automated WP numbers from the Raptors first three games (or view as a spreadsheet here):



My thoughts for the first week of the season:

• Wow. Reggie Evans is actually getting playing time! What we saw in preseason wasn't just experimentation
• Evans is killing it on the boards - 25 reb/48 - and it's boosting up his WP48. He's 9th in the league in total wins right now!
• And yet...his scoring is total garbage. Good thing he isn't shooting at all
• Bargnani hasn't been terrible so far; bad, but not terrible
• Sure, he's scored 33 1/3 points per 48 on 1.08 PPS...but your starting centre is grabbing only 4.3 Reb per 48 (eeeewww)
• Overall, Calderon hasn't played well yet either
• After being a very players during the preseason, both Kleiza and Jack haven't played as well. Blame Jack's performance on injuries, Kleiza's on...poor rebounding and bad TO numbers
• DeRozan has played well - good rebounding numbers so far
• Andersen continues to be the rich man's Bargnani, and continues to shoot better and rebound better than the Italian
• Amir Johnson played three games without missing a FG!
• But he hasn't played very much - partly fouls, partly coaching. With Evans playing so well, what's the rotation going to be like when Davis gets back?
• Weems and Barbosa have to shoot better if they aren't going to produce in other areas
• After the promising victory over the Varejao-less Cavs, what a bad finish to the Sacramento game

Also, I'd like to address something: Bargnani is not a SF. He plays centre defensively most of the time, and if you squint really hard, you can pretend that he's a 3 on offense. But if you average those two aspects of the game, you get (at best) someone who is strictly a PF. The good thing is that Evans and Bargnani complement each other well; Evans can't (and doesn't) shoot, and Bargnani can't (and doesn't) rebound.  If you add the two together, you get two frontcourt players with the following per 48min averages:



It's important to remember two things, however: Evans should get all the credit for gaining the extra possessions (rebounds), and Evans will fall back to earth in a couple of games, making this average far less appealing in the near future. I'll be keeping track of the Bargnavans factor throughout the season if this keeps up.

 - Devin