Gameday Statistical Notes

by Hoopinion on Dec 9, 2008 11:19 AM EST

It's been mentioned in more than one game thread here. Drew's written about it. CoCo's written about it.

ITEM: Flip Murray and Acie Law IV do not form an effective backcourt combination.

They are -42 in 137 minutes on the court together.
Over the 137 minutes they've shared in the backcourt, the Hawks have averaged 86 points per 100 possessions.

During their shared minutes...

Acie Law has shot 39.5% from the field*. Overall, Law has shot 41.5% from the field.
Law averages 6.1 A/40. Overall, Law averages 6.8 A/40
Flip Murray has shot 31.7% from the field. Overall Flip Murray has shot 38.7% from the field.
Murray averages 17.5 FGA/40. Overall, Murray averages 16.2 FGA/40.

*This is the old, less revealing FG% rather than eFG% as the former is that's listed with the player pairs stats at 82games.

Admittedly, 137 minutes is not a huge sample size but I believe that it's time to try something else, be it more minutes for Law alongside Mike Bibby (with Law serving as the primary ball-handler), giving Flip Murray's minutes to Thomas Gardner* for a month, or using Maurice Evans for the vast majority of the minutes backing up both Marvin Williams and Joe Johnson.

*Gardner would certainly maintain Murray's tradition of bad defense and turnovers but would possibly make more shots while handling the ball less often.

Some more fun Flip Murray stats to make you feel ill...

Player	Min	FGA	FGA/36	FTA/36	A/36	TO/36
Al Horford	542	137	9.1	4.3	2.7	1.5
Flip Murray	401	163	14.6	4.3	1.7	2.2

Just think how good the Hawks offense (6th in the league) could be if Flip Murray (43.6 eFG%) didn't shoot 60% more often than Al Horford (53.3 eFG%).

Only Joe Johnson (27.5) has a higher usage rate* than Flip Murray (26.2). Josh Smith (21.7) and Mike Bibby (21.5) are third and fourth on the team in usage rate.

Only Zaza Pachulia (TO%: 20.2) finishes more of his possessions with a turnover than does Flip Murray (TO%: 18.6).

*Usage rate estimates of the percentage of team possessions used by an individual player when he is on the court.

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Comments

flip murray was the best 6th man in the league for the first 6 games of the season.
since then he has been the least positive energy off the bench, he just doesnt make plays for others ever, when he says Woodson lets him “play his game” it couldnt mean he PLAYS BY HIMSELF because thats how murray looks alot, although he makes shots, he makes plays scoring, and i still believe he and evans should both average 9+ ppg this season, but flip should definetly shoot less than al horford, and definetly play less PG than acie law

these games are as much Woodson’s test as the players who minutes he controls

by higherself08 on Dec 9, 2008 1:57 PM EST reply actions

I really didn't need to read this

while we’re doing the Texas tour.

by Co Co on Dec 9, 2008 2:49 PM EST reply actions

I really ought to buy up the domain "FreeAcie.com"

I posted a comment on Drew’s blog the day of the Knicks game where I did a breakdown of Acie’s efficiency (and other stats) when he wasn’t paired with Flip.

Basically, Acie has a higher assist rate, higher shooting percentage, and much better offensive efficiency when Flip is not on the floor. And without taking the time to go through basketballvalues.com and get all of his 5 man units, I’m assuming most of those 50-something (maybe 60, by now) minutes are still played with lower rotation guys. Yet he still plays 70+% of his minutes with Flip basically dominating the ball-assuming JJ isn’t there to dominate the ball.

Let’s face it, Acie has a limited off-the-ball game. He doesn’t have a great jumpshot (yet-I believe he can develop that), and he can’t work inside to get post position. I believe he could be effective if he fan the half-court as the point and had the opportunity to create shots by driving to the basket or simply facilitating ball movement.

Honestly, as an experiment (one that’s almost certain to fail) I wouldn’t mind seeing MARIO get all of Flip’s minutes. He’s a small sample size hero in terms of offensive efficiency, and perhaps it’s just because he isn’t Flip.

by Bronn on Dec 9, 2008 6:42 PM EST reply actions

Mario's

well down my list of guys Mike Woodson has used in direct opposition to their talents but he’s still on that list.

Playing your energy guy in sub-:30 increments…

(shakes head in disbelief)

by Hoopinion on Dec 9, 2008 8:10 PM EST up reply actions

Flip

I hate to seem like an I told you so, but anybody in Seattle or Detroit could’ve told you that Flip is nothing to get excited about. He can certainly fill it up, but he is a ball hog and he shoots too much, and not all that well some of the time. He plays like he thinks he’s D-Wade, but ummm as you know, he is not.

by Joe-Thunderguru.com on Dec 9, 2008 7:45 PM EST reply actions

We know

The author of this blog and several of us commentors have voiced our distaste for this acquisition since before the season started.

The dim hope was that Woodson would limit his minutes and force him to focus more on playing defense than getting his shot off. A dim hope indeed. There was a little blip of positive energy for Flip after the first four games, but in the 15 games since he’s probably had a larger negative impact than the rest of our limited bench combined.

by Bronn on Dec 9, 2008 8:19 PM EST up reply actions