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The Knicks' 2011-2012 Offensive Outcomes

By Seth
Apr. 13, 2012; New York, NY, USA; New York Knicks small forward Steve Novak (16) shoots a three-pointer during the second half against the Washington Wizards at Madison Square Garden. Knicks won 103-65. Mandatory Credit: Debby Wong-US PRESSWIRE
Apr. 13, 2012; New York, NY, USA; New York Knicks small forward Steve Novak (16) shoots a three-pointer during the second half against the Washington Wizards at Madison Square Garden. Knicks won 103-65. Mandatory Credit: Debby Wong-US PRESSWIRE

Ian Levy of Hickory-High has a gift for collating, analyzing, and presenting NBA data in such a way that even a cave-dwelling fart-sniffer like me can learn something. Yesterday, I passed along his neat little web charts of offensive outcomes. We shook our heads at that giant "Carmelo Anthony- Isolation" icicle, puzzled over the "Tyson Chandler- PnR Ball Handler" sector that ended up being a typo, and learned much.

Today, Levy approached that data set from another angle, looking at the best (and worst) producers in the league for each offensive outcome (that gets tracked by mySynergySports.com). If that sounds interesting to you, I highly recommend heading over there to check out the rankings (making sure to have the league averages in mind), but I'll share a few of the interesting Knicks results here:

- Steve Novak was the most effective spot-up shooter in the NBA this season and it's not even close. In fact, at 1.51 points per possession (PPP), a Novak spot-up was the second most productive play of any kind this year.

- Hitting Tyson Chandler cutting to the rim (also 1.51 PPP) wasn't a bad idea either.

- Amar'e Stoudemire (1.22 PPP) was the third most efficient scorer after setting the screen in a pick-and-roll.

- Among the five least effective plays in the entire league this year: Baron Davis (0.54 PPP) or Iman Shumpert (0.55 PPP) trying to score out of the pick-and-roll. Recall that one of those two individuals was New York's starting point guard in about a third of the games played this season (and Baron started four of five playoff games).

- Jeremy Lin, meanwhile, was slightly above league average (0.80 PPP) at scoring as the ball handler out of the pick-and-roll. Carmelo Anthony (0.97 PPP) was quite effective in relatively few possessions of that kind.

- Several of the Knicks were below league average in spot-up shooting, but among them, only Landry Fields attempted to finish a lot (over 200) of plays that way.

There's much more to be glean, and I encourage you to head over there, glean away, and then report on what you learn in the comments.

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