FanPost

The Larry H Miller Way

I was reading an article about Bob Hyde by BTS and the following statement caught my eye:

Hyde's handmade player-evaluation system continues to expand, evolving from Larry Miller's famed "batting average" to more than a dozen formulas that form the Jazz's "book."

It's always fun when we get a peak behind how the Jazz do things. The photo below was shared in Downbeat #836; and gave us a glimpse of what the Jazz look at in game.

Hustle

In the comments section, Yucca made suggestions on how this board could be improved, and he came up with the new "CRUSHED" statistic which stands for "Crummy Shots Forced" (I'm pretty certain that most of Brad Jones' job will entail the upkeep of this stat.)

I hadn't previously heard about the LHM batting average statistic, so I looked into it and it's pretty simple to calculate. You add up a player's points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocks and then subtract fouls, turnovers, and shots. The net number is then divided by the player's total minutes. Apparently, a .300 score means a player is approaching All-Star status, a .400 score means a player is definitely an All-Star, and a .500 score means a player is a likely MVP candidate.

I'm not certain the extent that the LHM batting average was used when this information surfaced, and I'm not certain how much it is used today, but it definitely shows that the Jazz do use some sort of empirical analysis to evaluate players.

How do the Jazz players rate on this scale? Here's the data for last year:

1. Jeremy Evans .392

2. Al Jefferson .372

3. Paul Millsap .357

4. Derrick Favors .326

5. Enes Kanter .291

6. Marvin Williams .277

7. Gordon Hayward .254

8. Earl Watson .206

9. Jamaal Tinsley .178

10. Alec Burks .162

11. Mo Williams .137

12. Randy Foye .130

13. DeMarre Carroll .089

My first observation from this is "context". For instance, Jeremy Evans is playing near definite All-Star status according to the LHM batting average, but for the most part, he was used as a situational type player. Consequently, the way I look at his LHM batting average is that he was extremely efficient in the opportunities that were provided to him. Based on this observation, I would use the LHM batting average in comparison of starters with other starters and role players with other role players.

Looking at the list, it is no wonder to me that when the Jazz played their big line-up of Jefferson, Millsap, Favors, Hayward, and Harris (Harris was our best point guard last year with a .241 average) that we had our best results. According to the stats we were marching out three near All-Star type players with two other solid players.

Secondly, the data tells me something that I'm pretty sure we all new already. No one has reached a definite All-Star status; Hayward still has a ways to go and Favors has a relatively short way to go.

My final observation - our guards need to step-up significantly for us to really improve. With Watson having the best LHM batting average of .206 among our point guards and achieving that against mostly second units, there is a definite concern in my mind here (especially since Watson is most-likely out for the time being.)

For those curious, the guys who will not be back on the team this year had the following LHM batting averages:

1. Devin Harris .241

2. Josh Howard .118 (assuming he doesn't sneak into a roster spot along the way)

3. CJ Miles .102

4. Raja Bell .058

5. Blake Ahearn -.333

I think the numbers here speak for themselves.

Let the trolling begin...



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