Abacus’ Mid-season “Chalk-dust” Ratings (and maybe a few etcetera’s)

A funny thing happened on the way to – no longer the Fabulous Forum – the Staples Center. While LeBron James and a trio of elite contemporaries have migrated West in recent NBA times, the Association’s balance of power (particularly among its elite squads) has been evening out geographically … at least half of the Top Ten in each of my periodic (every three weeks) calculations has come from the Eastern Conference. [Only four East teams landed in the Top Ten for 2018-19.]

Through the games of Wednesday Jan. 15, 84 of this year’s 168 “playing dates” and 313 of its 1,230 scheduled Basketball Battles have been fought – about as “Mid-point” as a season can get … and for the third time in four tours through my simple counting machine, the Boston Celtic Algebra has graded out at the top of the class.

Criteria:

(1) Flow: An estimate of a team’s per-game performance (measured in “stops” of the opponent) in converting its possessions.

(2) Striping: An exact count (represented in “conversions”) of the impact of three-point shooting and foul shooting.

(3) SPOR-t: The calculation of a team’s total performance using percentages in overall FG shooting, Offensive Rebounding and Turnovers.

(4) Road Swag: The difference between a team’s Road wins and its Home losses – an attempt to measure a team’s “grit” and savvy.

For Flow, Striping and SPOR-t scores, the posted “plus or minus” is the differential between the team’s performance and that of its Opponents.

A team’s Final Grade is the sum of its four Category rankings. (An asterisk with a category ranking indicates a tie with one or more other teams.)

These ranking reflect all play through and including Wednesday’s slate of games. The Grading Scale is further explained below.



Flow: +2.10 – No. 5 overall          Striping: +0.95 – No. 4 overall
SPOR-t: +50 – No. 4 overall         Road Swag: +7 – No. 5* overall



Flow: +5.12 – No. 2 overall           Striping: -0.46 – No. 21 overall
SPOR-t: +81 – No. 2 overall          Road Swag: +12 – No. 2 overall



Flow: +7.71 – No. 1 overall           Striping: -0.99 – No. 25 overall
SPOR-t: +91 – No. 1 overall          Road Swag: +15 – No. 1 overall



Flow: +1.54 – No. 9 overall           Striping: +1.55 – No. 1 overall
SPOR-t: +25 – No. 7 overall          Road Swag: +4 – No. 12 overall



Flow: +2.88 – No. 3 overall           Striping: +0.71 – No. 7 overall
SPOR-t: +17 – No. 10 overall        Road Swag: +5 – No. 9* overall


Flow: +1.33 – No. 11 overall          Striping: +0.76 – No. 6 overall
SPOR-t: +62 – No. 3 overall           Road Swag: +5 – No. 9* overall




Flow: +1.50 – No. 8 overall           Striping: +0.85 – No. 5 overall
SPOR-t: -2 – No. 16 overall           Road Swag: +10 – No. 3 overall



Flow: +0.83 – No. 14 overall           Striping: +1.33 – No. 3 overall
SPOR-t: +6 – No. 13* overall          Road Swag: +7 – No. 5* overall



Flow: +2.02 – No. 6 overall            Striping: +0.02 – No. 18 overall
SPOR-t: +42 – No. 5 overall           Road Swag: +6 – No. 7* overall



Flow: +1.50 – No. 10 overall          Striping: +0.16 – No. 15 overall
SPOR-t: +20 – No. 8 overall           Road Swag: +9 – No. 4 overall



Flow: +2.41 – No. 4 overall            Striping: -0.06 – No. 19 overall
SPOR-t: +19 – No. 9 overall           Road Swag: +5 – No. 9* overall



Flow: +0.95 – No. 13 overall           Striping: +0.03 – No. 17 overall
SPOR-t: +34 – No. 6 overall            Road Swag: +6 – No. 7* overall





Flow: -0.29 – No. 17 overall            Striping: +0.16 – No. 16 overall
SPOR-t: +10 – No. 11 overall          Road Swag: -4 – No. 18* overall



Flow: -0.79 – No. 19 overall           Striping: +0.64 – No. 9 overall
SPOR-t: -28 – No. 23 overall          Road Swag: -1 – No. 14* overall



Flow: +1.85 – No. 7 overall            Striping: -0.98 – No. 24 overall
SPOR-t: -20 – No. 22 overall          Road Swag: +2 – No. 13 overall


Flow: +0.23 – No. 16 overall           Striping: +0.31 – No. 12 overall
SPOR-t: 0 – No. 15 overall              Road Swag: -7 – No. 25* overall



Flow: -2.37 – No. 24 overall            Striping: +0.68 – No. 8 overall
SPOR-t: -10 – No. 18 overall           Road Swag: -4 – No. 18* overall


Flow: +1.08 – No. 12 overall            Striping: -1.06 – No. 27 overall
SPOR-t: +6 – No. 13* overall           Road Swag: -3 – No. 17 overall



Flow: +0.51 – No. 15 overall          Striping: -1.09 – No. 28 overall
SPOR-t: +7 – No. 12 overall           Road Swag: -1 – No. 14* overall





Flow: -2.36 – No. 23 overall            Striping: +1.36 – No. 2 overall
SPOR-t: -19 – No. 21 overall           Road Swag: -7 – No. 25* overall



Flow: -1.93 – No. 21 overall            Striping: +0.41 – No. 11 overall
SPOR-t: -12 – No. 19 overall           Road Swag: -6 – No. 22* overall



Flow: -0.72 – No. 18 overall            Striping: -0.50 – No. 22 overall
SPOR-t: -13 – No. 20 overall           Road Swag: -2 – No. 16 overall


Flow: -2.02 – No. 22 overall            Striping: +0.21 – No. 13 overall
SPOR-t: -29 – No. 24 overall           Road Swag: -4 – No. 18* overall



Flow: -2.62 – No. 26 overall            Striping: +0.19 – No. 14 overall
SPOR-t: -38 – No. 25 overall           Road Swag: -6 – No. 22* overall





Flow: -1.52 – No. 20 overall           Striping: -0.32 – No. 20 overall
SPOR-t: -40 – No. 26 overall          Road Swag: -6 – No. 22* overall



Flow: -5.59 – No. 30 overall           Striping: +0.51 – No. 10 overall
SPOR-t: -91 – No. 30 overall          Road Swag: -10 – No. 29 overall



Flow: -2.75 – No. 28 overall           Striping: -0.67 – No. 23 overall
SPOR-t: -59 – No. 28 overall          Road Swag: -5 – No. 21 overall



Flow: -2.63 – No. 27 overall           Striping: -1.99 – No. 30 overall
SPOR-t: -7 – No. 17 overall            Road Swag: -8 – No. 27* overall



Flow: -2.48 – No. 25 overall           Striping: -1.60 – No. 29 overall
SPOR-t: -49 – No. 27 overall          Road Swag: -11 – No. 30 overall



Flow: -5.20 – No. 29 overall            Striping: -1.00 – No. 26 overall
SPOR-t: -61 – No. 29 overall           Road Swag: -8 – No. 27* overall


The Grading Scale

“Flow”: this calculation puts a number to a team’s unsuccessful possessions (i.e. the other guys’ “stops”). Just take their missed field goals (attempts minus makes), subtract the offensive rebounds, and then add the turnovers. The “scores” represent per-game performance.

“Striping”: this calculation measures the impact of missed free throws and made treys. By subtracting the former from the latter [3’s minus missed FT’s], we identify a team’s gain or loss in points through “specialty shooting.” Again the “scores” are per-game. (A further division by two converts “points” to “conversions” – thus they can be combined with the “Flow” score.)

"Road Swag": this calculation is a way to measure a team’s grit and savvy through its ability to defend its home court and win on the road, a simple calculation (road wins minus home losses) for generally reliable info.

“SPOR-t”: SPOR-t stands for “Shooting Plus Offensive Rebounds minus turnovers.” Add a team’s FG percentage and its offensive rebounding percentage (o. boards divided by the sum of those o. boards and the opposition's d. boards). Then subtract the percentage of a team’s possessions lost to turnovers. For example, a team shoots field goals at a .488 clip, offensive rebounds at a rate of .199, and commits a turnover on .143 of its possessions. So its SPOR-t is (488+199-143) or 544. Once again, our measurement will be the difference between the SPOR-t scores of a team and its opposition.

We’ll rank the teams from 1 to 30 in all criteria and simply add up the rankings. Low score wins, naturally.