Through two weeks, Rashard Lewis is the Magic's leader in minutes per game, 3-point field goal percentage, and effective field goal percentage.
Photo by Nick Laham, NBAE/Getty Images
Individual statistics
| Stat | Leader(s) | Value |
|---|---|---|
| Points Per Game | Dwight Howard | 21.3 |
| Rebounds Per Game | Dwight Howard | 14.2 |
| Assists Per Game | Jameer Nelson | 6.0 |
| Steals Per Game | Hedo Turkoglu | 1.4 |
| Blocks Per Game | Dwight Howard | 2.3 |
| Turnovers Per Game | Dwight Howard | 2.7 |
| Minutes Per Game | Rashard Lewis | 38.0 |
| Field Goal Percentage | Dwight Howard | .535 |
| 3-point Field Goal Percentage1 | Rashard Lewis | .500 |
| Free Throw Percentage2 | Jameer Nelson | .897 |
| eFG%3 | Rashard Lewis | .612 |
Dwight leads us in scoring and in rebounding, just as he did last year. I want to see Rashard take over scoring at least. With a good performance tomorrow night against Seattle, his former team, he could take over that category.
Team statistics
The four highlighted statistics in the table below comprise the "Four Factors," developed by statistician Dean Oliver and explained in his book, "Basketball On Paper". These statistics, in the order they are presented, are the most important factors in determining a given team's success on the court.
| Points | O Rating4 | eFG% | TO Rate5 | O Reb Rate6 | FT Rate7 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Orlando | 712 | 111.9 | .519 | 14.2 | 22.5 | 26.6 |
| Opponents | 688 | 106.5 | .481 | 14.8 | 27.4 | 20.1 |
We are scoring efficiently by shooting a high percentage and by getting to the foul line frequently. We've also done a good job of limiting our turnovers. However, the turnover battle is basically a wash because we are not forcing as many as we should, which is a concern. The most glaring weakness for us is still offensive rebounding, because we're a full 5% below the league average. However, we've improved our defensive rebounding, allowing opponents to gather 27% of their missed shots, which is exactly average. It's nice to see improvement in that facet of the game. It'll hopefully be even nicer once we acquire another center or power forward with our newly-awarded injury exception. Dale Davis is my choice.
We are currently on pace for 51 wins this season8, which is great. However, as Pradamaster at Bullets Forever would say, we should pound the salt on that statistic; it's too early in the season to put too much stock into it. Case in point: the Bulls are on pace for 14 wins. Pound. The. Salt.
As always, footnotes are after the jump.
Notes:
1 - Minimum 10 attempts
2 - Minimum 20 attempts
3 - Effective field goal percentage; measures field goal percentage by accounting for the fact that three-point shots are worth more points than two-point shots.
4 - Offensive rating; Points scored per 100 possessions.
5 - Turnover rate; turnovers per 100 possessions.
6 - Offensive rebound rate; Percentage of own missed shots resulting in an offensive rebound. The formula is O Reb/(O Reb + Opp D Reb). An average team rebounds 27% of its own misses.
7 - Free throw rate; percentage of free throws made divided by field goals attempted.
8 - The formula for projected win percentage is (points scored)14.5/(points scored14.5 + points allowed14. Multiply the result by 82 to get the projected win total.