I went ahead and calculated the tempo-free stats from Monday night's exhibition game for those of you who care. (And believe me, you all will care if you read this blog with any regularity from here on out ...)
| PACE: 60 | OFFENSIVE | DEFENSIVE | |
| Efficiency | 126.3 | 51.5 | |
| Effective FG% | 45.6 | 19.6 | |
| Offensive Reb. % | 32.1 | 18.6 | |
| Turnover % | 10.0 | 16.6 | |
| Free Throw Rate | 14.0 | 31.4 |
It's hard to take too much away statistically from any blowout, given the garbage-time nature of much of the game. And since I wasn't there, Grady (or any number of you) probably can give you a better assessment of whether these numbers accurately reflect what went down.
But given the fact that these numbers say there weren't any underlying poor performance issues in spite of the margin, I think you can reasonably conclude one thing: This team is ready for the season to start.
By the way, if you have no idea what any of these numbers mean, a good place to start is here. For context:
- Average for efficiency nationally is generally around 100;
- The national median for EFG% in 2007-08 was 49.8;
- The national median for OR% in 2007-08 was 32.8;
- The national median for TO% in 2007-08 was 20.8;
- The national median for FTR in 2007-08 was 25.3.
I'll be putting together a more detailed post on just what these statistics mean later this week or early next week, because we will reference them heavily, and I realize they need some "plain English" explanation for the unitiated. But trust me, once you understand them, it will make you an exponentially smarter fan.
And automatically make you smarter than 98 percent of the broadcasters you will be forced to listen to this year.