Looking at Trends

This season is about two weeks old, and already we are seeing some statistical surprises from certain players. We've gone through some stats and picked out some that you'll be able to impress your friends with.



1) Adonal Foyle is earning $8,125,000 this year, which breaks down to approximately $99,085 for each game. Foyle has played only ten minutes in seven games this year -- that's $693,595 for ten minutes of work. $69,359 for each minute he has played. Can you imagine working 40 hours a week at a rate like that?

2) The three worst players in the NBA according to John Hollinger's PER formula? Robert Hite of Miami has a -40.84 PER, Alan Henderson of Phildelphia has a -56.47 PER, and Mile Ilic of New Jersey takes it all with a -58.55 PER. Here is Hollinger's reference guide for PER:

A Year For the Ages: 35.0
Pretty good player: 15.0
On next plane to Yakima: 5.0

In order to judge the performance the worst players in basketball, we'll finish up the reference guide for you:

-10: Recently got schooled by a backup on the local AAU team.
-20: Is actually a professional curling player.
-30: Has never actually touched a basketball before. Shot ball in the wrong hoop to start his NBA career.
-40: Paraplegic.
-50: Paraplegic, and lobotomy was performed instead of a scheduled shoulder surgery.
-60: Todd Fuller.

3) Allen Iverson is on pace to turn the ball over 423 times. That would break an all-time record set by Artie Gilmore, who turned the ball over 366 times in 1978. That's kind of funny. Like the idea of Philly earning a playoff spot.

4) Adam Morrison kind of sucks. He shoots at a 36% clip and averages 2.6 rebounds despite playing 31.9 minutes a game. No need to cry over spilled draft picks though, Bernie Bickerstaff. You only picked Emeka Okafor over Dwight Howard, Sean May over about 30 other productive role players, and Morrison over Brandon Roy.