The Orlando Magic concluded the opening half of their 2010/11 NBA schedule Monday evening with a 109-106 loss against the Boston Celtics. With precisely half the season in the past, let's take a look at some per-game, per-minute, and shooting statistics for the eight players in Orlando's rotation. First, your traditional, per-game stats. The leaders are shaded, but there aren't any real surprises as far as they're concerned: Dwight Howard leads the team in minutes, scoring, rebounding, steals, and shot-blocking, while Jameer Nelson paces the Magic in assists. You may have been able to predict as much prior to the season.
| Per-Game Stats | ||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Min | Pts | Reb | Ast | Stl | Blk | TO | |||||||||||
| Ryan Anderson | 17.2 | 8.9 | 4.4 | 0.6 | 0.5 | 0.7 | 0.6 | |||||||||||
| Gilbert Arenas | 21.7 | 9.2 | 2.7 | 4.1 | 1.0 | 0.3 | 2.4 | |||||||||||
| Brandon Bass | 24.0 | 11.0 | 5.4 | 0.9 | 0.3 | 0.4 | 1.2 | |||||||||||
| Dwight Howard | 36.5 | 22.0 | 13.3 | 1.2 | 1.2 | 2.2 | 3.6 | |||||||||||
| Jameer Nelson | 30.3 | 12.9 | 2.7 | 6.7 | 0.9 | 0 | 2.5 | |||||||||||
| J.J. Redick | 25.7 | 10.3 | 1.9 | 1.7 | 0.5 | 0 | 0.9 | |||||||||||
| Jason Richardson | 34.9 | 15.2 | 4.1 | 1.6 | 0.8 | 0.2 | 1.2 | |||||||||||
| Hedo Turkoglu | 34.6 | 11.5 | 4.8 | 6.2 | 1.2 | 0.3 | 1.9 | |||||||||||
Six of the eight Magic players who see regular action average at least 10 points per game, and the two who don't aren't exactly lagging behind. Jason Richarson has proven as-advertised with regard to scoring, putting up 15 per night to complement Howard. Hedo Turkoglu continues to do his all-around thing--in addition to scoring 11.5 points, he's third in rebounding and second in assists--in his second Orlando stint.
It's nice to see the Magic's top playmakers combining for 17 assists per game. Few teams, if any, have three players posting at least 4 assists each, I suspect.
Negatives? Not a lot that I can see, frankly, although I expected more assists from J.J. Redick this season. And Gilbert Arenas needs to rein in those turnovers.
What happens if we quiet the noise, to a degree, and evaluate the same eight players on a per-minute, rather than per-game, basis? Uh, this:
| Per-36-Minute Stats | ||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Pts | Rebs | Ast | Stl | Blks | TO | ||||||||||||
| Ryan Anderson | 18.5 | 9.2 | 1.2 | 1.0 | 1.5 | 1.2 | ||||||||||||
| Gilbert Arenas | 15.2 | 4.4 | 6.7 | 1.7 | 0.4 | 4.0 | ||||||||||||
| Brandon Bass | 16.6 | 8.1 | 1.3 | 0.4 | 0.6 | 1.8 | ||||||||||||
| Dwight Howard | 21.7 | 13.1 | 1.2 | 1.2 | 2.2 | 3.5 | ||||||||||||
| Jameer Nelson | 15.4 | 3.2 | 7.9 | 1.1 | 0 | 2.9 | ||||||||||||
| J.J. Redick | 14.4 | 2.6 | 2.4 | 0.7 | 0 | 1.2 | ||||||||||||
| Jason Richardson | 15.7 | 4.3 | 1.7 | 0.8 | 0.2 | 1.2 | ||||||||||||
| Hedo Turkoglu | 12.0 | 5.0 | 6.5 | 1.2 | 0.3 | 1.9 | ||||||||||||
Once again, Howard comes out looking like a champ, but let's not overlook Anderson here. The third-year power forward, who now spells Howard at center on occasion, ranks second on the team in per-minute scoring, rebounding, and shot-blocking.
This analysis only further confirms that Arenas has a bad case of butterfingers, turning the ball over once every nine minutes.
We'll close with a look at traditional and advanced shooting metrics:
| Shooting Stats | ||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | FG% | 3FG% | FT% | eFG% | TS% | |||||||||||||
| Ryan Anderson | 44.4 | 40.7 | 78.6 | 56.6 | 60.2 | |||||||||||||
| Gilbert Arenas | 35.9 | 32.3 | 69.6 | 43.0 | 45.4 | |||||||||||||
| Brandon Bass | 51.0 | 0.0 | 85.3 | 51.0 | 56.9 | |||||||||||||
| Dwight Howard | 56.7 | 0.0 | 59.4 | 56.7 | 59.6 | |||||||||||||
| Jameer Nelson | 44.5 | 41.0 | 81.3 | 52.2 | 55.6 | |||||||||||||
| J.J. Redick | 44.5 | 41.3 | 88.6 | 55.0 | 60.1 | |||||||||||||
| Jason Richardson | 48.1 | 40.9 | 81.8 | 58.0 | 59.8 | |||||||||||||
| Hedo Turkoglu | 43.6 | 41.4 | 65.9 | 52.1 | 54.7 | |||||||||||||
Orlando's enviable offensive versatility, and potentially lethal firepower, really shines through here. Five of Orlando's six perimeter players top the 40-percent mark from three-point range, while Howard and Brandon Bass are converting more than half their opportunities inside the arc. Anderson and Redick are True Shooting the lights out, with marks in the elite 60-percent range, and Howard and Richardson are not far behind them.
All told, only Arenas and ranks below average with regard to scoring efficiency. Turkoglu's at 54.7 percent True Shooting so far, just above the league average of 54.3 percent, so he's lose to the border. However, his track record suggests he'll boost that with an improved standing at the free-throw line.
Arenas? Well--and this is a dispatch directly from the Not Saying Much Dept.--he's better than Chris Duhon, who fell out of the rotation after Arenas' arrival in Orlando.
I'll include data for the rest of Orlando's players in a future FanPost.