Posted by mlitney on 3/23/2022 10:22:00 AM (view original):
I think I see what you're saying gill. So if my team's ratings looked like this:
Pos/Ath/Spd/Def
PG/60/90/80
SG/80/80/75
SF/85/65/90
PF/90/30/90
C/75/15/80
In a 3-2 zone, they would be grouped as PG/SG/SF and PF/C to find each player's individual defensive ratings. PG/SG/SF would be 75 ath, 78 spd, and 81 def for all 3 players. PF/C would be 83 ath, 23 spd, and 85 def for each player's individual defensive ratings.
But when looking at an opposing player's chances of scoring, we'd look at the entire team average, which would be:
Pos/Ath/Spd/Def
PG/75/78/81
SG/75/78/81
SF/75/78/81
PF/83/23/85
C/83/23/85
And those are the numbers that the sim would use to determine the chance of a successful shot. Is that basically what you're saying? This is a bit confusing because I thought that opposing players were "guarded" by a particular group. So the opposing PF would be guarded by my PF/C average ratings. Would the PG/SG/SF ratings make a difference as well when considering a low post shot by a PF?
sort of. your big intermediate step, to average the pg-sg-sf together, is superfluous. it is a step that is not technically incorrect in any way, but it accomplishes nothing.
here is how i envision it:
Pos/Ath/Spd/Def
PG/60/90/80
SG/80/80/75
SF/85/65/90
PF/90/30/90
C/75/15/80
then there is a formula to convert each player to a score. the defenses of the 5 players, they are never going to be directly averaged. the defensive scores however, will be. so let's say
fn defpg(ath, spd, def) = 1*def + .7*ath + .5*spd
fn defc(ath, spd, def) = 1*def + .8*ath + .2*spd
then the def score for each of the 5 players would be as follows:
defpg (PG/60/90/80) => 167 (this is, hopefully, 80 + 60 * .7 + 90 * .5)
defpg (SG/80/80/75) => 171
defpg (SF/85/65/90) => 187
defc (PF/90/30/90) => 168
defc (C/75/15/80) => 143
then your average defense would be the average of those 5, basically, 836/5 = 167.2
alright - so that is the thrust of it. with that sort of approach, hopefully you can see how the numbers work out the same regardless of your intermediate averaging step for the pg-sg-sf and pf-c. they use the same equations, so what you are doing there hurts nothing, but gains nothing. i want to make sure we are square on the core of the misconception before moving on. i am going to move on but you might want to ignore this next part until we are square on the rest of it.
so, the other part of this (i don't have more parts in my pocket), is that the defensive functions relate to the distance from the basket. everyone knows the above function is a simplification, its not fn defpg (ath, spd def), we all know its more like fn defpg (ath, spd, def, blk, def iq, fatigue). but what you may not realize is, its really more like this (fn is just a function short hand... transforms inputs into outputs, more or less).
fn defpg (ath, spd, def, blk, def iq, fatigue, distance from basket).
that last one is a bit of a doozy, but it makes a lot of sense if you sit on it for a minute. your pgs ability to defend 3 feet from the basket and 25 feet is going to be very different, right? so that is what that is about.
so, now that you have converted your way of thinking from, pg-sg-sf in a 3-2 zone, to the whole team... let me just completely muddy the waters. at this point we are leaving sort of known science and entering the realm of random gillispie contemplations. here is what i assume is really happening. when you have a guy defending a 25 footer, his speed is going to be a much greater factor in the defensive equation, than it is at 5 feet. now, at 25 feet, all 5 players are going to contribute - but who is really bringing the speed? your 1-2-3 right... and even if your 4-5 brought the speed, likely their defensive equations do not weight speed THAT heavily at any distance.
similarly, at 3 feet, blk is probably pretty critical. and everyone's block could contribute, but at 3 feet, the pf-c formula probably has much higher weight on blk, than the pg-sg-sf formula does. so even if you had 100 blk everywhere, its probably the 4-5 doing most of the work.
so i kinda think its probably fair to say, that against a 99 per, 1 lp, +2 scorer, the pg-sg-sf have an outsized influence on his scoring. i suspect its still pretty far from the pf-c doing nothing there, though, because i imagine def is highly relevant to all shots, and all players can bring 95 def you know? and also, for a 99 lp, 1 per center on -2, the pf/c are probably particularly relevant. but again, i doubt they are anywhere close to 100% of the contribution. maybe instead of 40%, they are 50-60%, who knows? i am not a zone expert - i consider myself to know next to nothing about zone really. so i can't really weigh in on how this all shakes out. some day i will go back and get my 2nd zone title so i can say i have multiple titles in every set, maybe, its on my bucket list to run a real d1 zone program one day, and to actually make sense of the damn thing. but if i do its at least 1-2 years out from even starting. so probably never. but a man can dream?