I think it does confirm what I see with my eyes. My eyes tell me that Cooney's performance has been in decline, and this shows it - Cooney was the leader in every category at the end of the pre-conference season. My eyes tell me that Tyler Ennis is far and away the most important player on the team, despite his somewhat pedestrian numbers in the old-fashioned stats, and this confirms it. My eyes tell me that CJ, despite his good numbers in the old-fashioned stats, has not really made the leap as the featured offensive player, and advanced stats demonstrate that he has gone from a high efficiency, moderate volume player last year to a high volume, moderate efficiency player this year.
if you really want to know what each one signifies, it isn't that difficult to google their definitions.
Eh, I'm not so sure. Now I do appreciate these stats and certainly feel there's a place for advanced metrics in every sport. I also acknowledge I'm predisposed to defend anything CJ Fair does ... ever ... simply b/c I like him. That fact alone makes these numbers worth something if only from attempting to give an unbiased view of what's happening in these games.
But I do question the value of these numbers in a game like hoops where I still think you can tell a lot from old fashioned stats and, more importantly, watching games.
For example, Cooney's play has been in decline ... b/c he's shot terribly the past couple weeks. I'm not sure what value an advanced metric has that simply looking at his 3-pt % couldn't already tell you.
For Fair, whom I obviously love as a player, is there anyone watching games this year who is confused about the fact that he's a much better 2 or 3 option than the go-to guy? He's so good off the ball and smart and has such a unique game (mid-range, lefty, etc..) that he's a nightmare if you have to worry about Waiters and Kris Joseph or whomever else is out there. When he's the man, he's not quite at the same level. Having said that, there is also the truism that anybody who's "the man" is going to be less efficient. It's simply true. If Ennis had to carry the scoring load in addition to running the point, his percentages, efficiency and turnover rate would all suffer.
For Grant -- he's all or nothing. He's played better lately and obviously has all-world potential, but he has massive defensive lapses and serious holes offensively, which aren't as obvious due to Cooney/Fair/Ennis shouldering a good share of the scoring load.
For Xmas -- I like the kid but he has trouble not fouling out in 40 mins over two games, let alone one. so WS/40 are meaningless to a large degree. Also, he's accumulated 80% of the win-shares as Fair? Seriously? Or even more than half as many as Ennis? What in God's name could account for that? My assumption is that players get a good bump for 'efficiency' but that number is not taking into account that they're basically ignored by 90% of the teams we face on the offensive end.
I don't know. Like I said, there is some value in these numbers but I really don't think they add much beyond old-fashioned stats and game-watching. The idea that Xmas is worth twice what Baye is worth, is completely confusing as well.