2012-2013 Shot Clock Usage and The Jazz

[ema]

Since addictionary posted this thread about ten days ago,
https://jazzfanz.com/showthread.php?18951-Game-Pace-Stat

I was wondering about Utah Jazz's shot clock management last season comparing to the other teams in the league. 82games has a nice system of shot clock usage that is broken down into four segments:

0-10 seconds (quick possession)
11-15 seconds (early possession)
16-20 seconds (structured possession)
21-24 seconds (late possession)

Unfortunately they don't have a full list for all teams so I decided to compile the data for all teams and make a full list in Excel. I believe it would be a good source for us to compare the coming season to the Alfense that we ran last year and see the differences.

I am posting just two example charts, in the first one, I sorted the list for the most points scored by the "quick possessions". We were at 20th place while Denver, Houston and Milwaukee took the first three places unsurprisingly.

In this second chart, I sorted it for the most "late possessions" for the opponents(defensive shot clock usage) and unfortunately we were dead last in the NBA in this category. But surprisingly Spurs were also at the bottom with us.

Anyway, if you'd like to play around with the list, you can download the excel file here. You can sort it out for any category by using the little arrows next to the category titles.

Lastly, I know all are obvious but still... Att is the percentage of possessions, eFG% is the field goal percentage, Ast is the percentage of assisted possessions and Pts is the points.

Edit: All data is for the 2012-2013 Regular Season.

 

[CitizenofCapua]

Great work bro thanks.

I predict that we can climb that list on finishing at early possessions cause both Kanter and Favors can run the court pretty well and that will give us more fire powers at fast breaks and setting earlier at offensive end, dissimilarly from last seasons' Alfense.

 

[Jazz Spazz]

Nice work. I don't know what it means, haven't dived in... but good job. Maybe I'll take some time to dig in at some point, probably late in my life when I'm about to expire.

 

[Karadrys30]

My thoughts are that a good team would have high percentages in the 0-10 and 16-20 range. That means lots of fast breaks and making the other team work on def without getting stuck against the clock.

 

[LogGrad98]

I think it is important for us to use enough of the shot clock to help us get a good shot, but not so much that we allow it to expire and thereby lose our possession.

 

[Darkwing Duck]

EFG% is much higher on defense for the Jazz than the Spurs, though, so that's not a good thing.

Nice work.

 

[ema]

Great work bro thanks.

I predict that we can climb that list on finishing at early possessions cause both Kanter and Favors can run the court pretty well and that will give us more fire powers at fast breaks and setting earlier at offensive end, dissimilarly from last seasons' Alfense.

My thoughts are that a good team would have high percentages in the 0-10 and 16-20 range. That means lots of fast breaks and making the other team work on def without getting stuck against the clock.

I think it is important for us to use enough of the shot clock to help us get a good shot, but not so much that we allow it to expire and thereby lose our possession.

After examining the results a little bit more I think I'm inclined towards the conventional basketball more. Looking at this list again, majority of the good teams like New York, Indiana, Brooklyn, Chicago, San Antonio, Memphis, Miami were all in the second half of the list. On the other hand only Oklahoma, Denver and Clippers were solid with the high pace game. That means traditional basketball still wins. Though we still need more 0-10 possessions and better defense to force the opponents for late shots.

 

[ema]

Nice work. I don't know what it means, haven't dived in... but good job. Maybe I'll take some time to dig in at some point, probably late in my life when I'm about to expire.

I'm gonna calculate the conference and league averages when I have the time. It may help to understand our place in the league better.

I'd suggest you to dig in it sooner though if you have any wonder cause you never know when is the late time of your life. Remember Vizzini's end...

 

[LogGrad98]

I think we will win if we:

1) Use enough of the shot clock to get a good shot
B) Take a good shot before the shot clock expires
i) Make more shots than the other team
Banana) Score more points than the other team

 

[addictionary]

Great work bro thanks.

I predict that we can climb that list on finishing at early possessions cause both Kanter and Favors can run the court pretty well and that will give us more fire powers at fast breaks and setting earlier at offensive end, dissimilarly from last seasons' Alfense.

+1

 

[addictionary]

Well it cannot be the weather since Denver is the opposite end of the list. New season: A New Hope...

 

[CitizenofCapua]

Well it cannot be the weather since Denver is the opposite end of the list. New season: A New Hope...

Great post. That gave me a good idea;

Episode IV
A NEW HOPE

It's a period of tanking,
Jazz' young guns striking from both ends,
have won the first victory against the evil Golden State Warriors.

During the season Jazz FO managed to steal secret plans around the league
for getting 2014 NBA Drafts ultimate weapon ANDREW WIGGINS,
a freakishly gifted athlete with enough power to destroy an entire team singlehandedly.

Pursued by the CAKAR, Princess Jefferson races Charlotte aboard her starship
and that can save Jazz and bring championship to them.​

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjMNNpIksaI
We need a freaking theme music for this.​

 

[jope]

unfortunately we were dead last in the NBA in this category.

I'm confused as to why its bad to be bottom in the category of "last second - throw it at the basket and hope it hits the rim" type possessions. aren't those usually an indication that your offense didn't work and now you have to get it to someone who can throw up a desperation 3 or something? Shouldnt we be happy that we are last in that category? or am i missing something because it's early as ****?

 

[ema]

I'm confused as to why its bad to be bottom in the category of "last second - throw it at the basket and hope it hits the rim" type possessions. aren't those usually an indication that your offense didn't work and now you have to get it to someone who can throw up a desperation 3 or something? Shouldnt we be happy that we are last in that category? or am i missing something because it's early as ****?

It's the defensive end of the side(not the same list with the first one) and that means we were the team that forced the opponents for the least amount of late possessions. In another saying, only 12% of the opponent's shots were forced to the late possessions.

I know, it was confusing for me too, at first.

 

[jope]

It's the defensive end of the side(not the same list with the first one) and that means we were the team that forced the opponents for the least amount of late possessions. In another saying, only 12% of the opponent's shots were forced to the late possessions.

I know, it was confusing for me too, at first.

right, missed that. good find

 

[addictionary]

Great post. That gave me a good idea;

Episode IV
A NEW HOPE

It's a period of tanking,
Jazz' young guns striking from both ends,
have won the first victory against the evil Golden State Warriors.

During the season Jazz FO managed to steal secret plans around the league
for getting 2014 NBA Drafts ultimate weapon ANDREW WIGGINS,
a freakishly gifted athlete with enough power to destroy an entire team singlehandedly.

Pursued by the CAKAR, Princess Jefferson races Charlotte aboard her starship
and that can save Jazz and bring championship to them.​

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjMNNpIksaI
We need a freaking theme music for this.​

LoL. Sorry man I'm all out of reps.

 

[ema]

I'm gonna calculate the conference and league averages when I have the time. It may help to understand our place in the league better.

This was the offensive averages of the league.

As you can clearly see, the most efficient scoring comes from the 0-10 second, hence the fast breaks. That's not surprising as we all know the fast breaks are likely to be baskets. But the surprising thing is, the early possessions(11-15 seconds) are also have more efficiency than the structured possessions(16-20 seconds) league wide. Actually there were only 5 teams in the NBA that shot better at the 16-20 seconds possessions(Milwaukee, Dallas, Miami, Washington and Memphis) and they were all close. The rest of the NBA was significantly better at the 11-15 seconds except Oklahoma that shot practically with the same efficiency(.511 and .510).

As for Utah, we were significantly below the average at quick possessions(0-10 seconds) and early possession(11-15 seconds) and we were mostly going for structured possession(16-20 seconds). The term "structured possession" doesn't sound terrible and it could be a well sign of a traditional basketball but we all know it was rather the Alfense than a structured offense. And being very well above the average at the late possessions(21-24 seconds) is backing that up. We were too dependent on last second shots at 17% comparing the 14% of the western conference average.

And the defensive averages.

Defensively we gave fast breaks and early possessions above the league average and we could not force the opponents for late possessions as much as the rest of the league did. Maybe one good thing for our defense was the low eFG%(.407) the opponents had at the 21-24 seconds shots. We couldn't force the opponents for late possessions much but when we did, we defended them rather better.