The lineups that shaped the 2006-07 Season: Part 1

08/13/2007

See the second part of this series here

One thought that I want to get down before I even begin to look at the numbers: I predict that the Bobcats most used lineups will actually have been successfully, and by successful, I mean have a positive adjusted +/-. For a team that had an average margin of victory/defeat of -3.7 points last season, that may seem like a strange assertion to make. But I am betting that the Bobcats best lineups were good enough to win, but the margin of defeat was created by the fact that the bench was too weak to maintain leads, and that the top lineups were less used by the Bobcats than by other teams due to injury.

With that out of the way, lets look at all of the lineups the Bobcats used last season that played more than 24 minutes together over the course of the season.

Player Names	Points	Poss	Opp Points	Opp Poss	Time	Off Eff	Def Eff	Adj +/-
Derek Anderson Emeka Okafor Matt Carroll Raymond Felton Sean May	76	54	60	60	28:31	1.4074	1.0000	0.4074
Their defense was only slightly above average, but this lineup could hardly miss, shooting 24 of 45 from the floor in their time together.
Brevin Knight Derek Anderson Emeka Okafor Raymond Felton Walter Herrmann	96	82	65	81	40:33	1.1707	0.8025	0.3683
This lineup would steal from their mothers: They forced 21 turnovers on their opponents 78 possessions.
Bernard Robinson Derek Anderson Emeka Okafor Matt Carroll Raymond Felton	21	19	15	20	24:36	1.1053	0.7500	0.3553
From stingy to down right greedy: Only 1 turnover and had 6 offensive rebounds to their opponents 5 defensive boards.
Derek Anderson Emeka Okafor Gerald Wallace Jeff McInnis Matt Carroll	64	54	49	57	33:17	1.1852	0.8596	0.3255
This lineup managed to grab 18 offensive rebounds off of only 26 misses from the field. That is going to give you a lot of good looks at the basket.
Brevin Knight Emeka Okafor Gerald Wallace Primoz Brezec Raymond Felton	77	68	59	72	37:06	1.1324	0.8194	0.3129
Another strong offensive rebounding unit, they grabbed about 1 out of 3 available offensive rebounds, giving them 14 more field goal attempts than their opponents, despite fewer possessions.
Adam Morrison Brevin Knight Emeka Okafor Gerald Wallace Sean May	74	64	65	71	40:18	1.1563	0.9155	0.2408
Everything well, nothing spectacular: A slight edge in the turnover battle and a slightly better fg% than their opponent. We also have our first appearance from Adam Morrison.
Emeka Okafor Gerald Wallace Jeff McInnis Matt Carroll Raymond Felton	62	51	54	55	25:44	1.2157	0.9818	0.2339
These guys got it done by being stingy, because they may be millionaires, but they're still living on Ramen Noodles. They took care of the ball, with only 4 giveaways on 49 possessions.
Brevin Knight Emeka Okafor Gerald Wallace Raymond Felton Walter Herrmann	160	135	137	139	79:29	1.1852	0.9856	0.1996
They struggled on the defensive boards (not surprising considering having two point guards and two small forwards out there), but continued the trend of forcing more turnovers than they committed.
Emeka Okafor Gerald Wallace Matt Carroll Raymond Felton Walter Herrmann	163	146	136	148	87:16	1.1164	0.9189	0.1975
The definition of ball control: 149 possessions, 6 turnovers.
Adam Morrison Emeka Okafor Gerald Wallace Matt Carroll Raymond Felton	295	274	244	275	151:02	1.0766	0.8873	0.1894
Holding your opponent to 38% shooting will win ball games, and that's what this group did. Additionally, they held a +15 mark in turnovers forced over the span of their nearly 3 games together.
Adam Morrison Derek Anderson Gerald Wallace Jake Voskuhl Raymond Felton	62	47	56	48	25:07	1.3191	1.1667	0.1525
Ok, take that last comment and just think bigger: As in 24 of 40 from the floor (that's 60% for those of you without a calculator handy).
Derek Anderson Gerald Wallace Matt Carroll Primoz Brezec Raymond Felton	115	110	108	117	56:53	1.0455	0.9231	0.1224
Even every where else, except for points scored from the free throw line: This squad took advantage of the freebies to offset being equal to their opponents in pretty much every other category.
Adam Morrison Gerald Wallace Matt Carroll Primoz Brezec Raymond Felton	62	53	59	56	29:16	1.1698	1.0536	0.1162
This lineup actually lost the turnover battle, and was only even on the boards. But, they managed to shoot 26 of 49 from the field, which can cover up a lot of mistakes.
Adam Morrison Emeka Okafor Gerald Wallace Jeff McInnis Matt Carroll	84	61	78	61	34:07	1.3770	1.2787	0.0984
27 missed field goal attempts and 13 offensive rebounds. These guys did not want to have to play D. But who can blame them: Opponents shot 59% against them. I wouldn't want to play defense either.
Adam Morrison Emeka Okafor Matt Carroll Raymond Felton Sean May	119	100	105	94	50:48	1.1900	1.1170	0.0730
Out of this lineup's 80 field goal attempts, how many of those do you think went to Okafor? 3? 4? I doubt he saw the ball much on offense with all of those scorers/shooters/black holes on the floor.
Brevin Knight Emeka Okafor Gerald Wallace Raymond Felton Sean May	96	107	90	106	52:46	0.8972	0.8491	0.0481
49% shooting from the field for themselves and only allowing the opponent to make 35%. Not sure I expected to see that shooting percentage from this lineup considering none of them are a consistent threat from much beyond the free throw line.
Adam Morrison Brevin Knight Emeka Okafor Gerald Wallace Primoz Brezec	51	51	54	54	25:10	1.0000	1.0000	0.0000
Nothing stood out about this group's performance, which is probably to be expected for a lineup that came even.

That's all I've got in me for tonight. I'll finish up tomorrow with all of the lineups that were a net minus for the team and some wrap-up comments on my findings.

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