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İbrahim Ekşi

@bloggeldi.bsky.social

7 followers 20 following 36 posts

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İbrahim Ekşi @bloggeldi.bsky.social · 2d

A bit later in the discussion, they asked the stream team and I guess I pick Kevin Love to win with Nurkić finishing a close second.

İbrahim Ekşi @bloggeldi.bsky.social · 2d

Great to have the full @nodunksinc.bsky.social squad back in the factory 2.0, already producing classics in the preseason.

Who would win a race between Kevin Love, Georges Niang, Kyle Anderson and Jusuf Nurkić ? #NBAsky

İbrahim Ekşi @bloggeldi.bsky.social · 8d

Looking forward to seeing what the boys got in the factory 2.0 👀
Will you make it to the preview pods next week as well ?

İbrahim Ekşi @bloggeldi.bsky.social · Aug 28

That’s a nice surprise, most of the games have been blowouts but can’t wait to hear you guys talk about the ugly courts and Goga’s new hairstyle. Ever since Eurobasket expanded to 24 teams, the real tournament starts after the group stage, but it’s good to have basketball back.

İbrahim Ekşi @bloggeldi.bsky.social · Apr 19

The fact that one of Nuggets and Clippers will be eliminated in the 1st round should be the only reason the league needs to get rid of the conferences. Just pick the best 16 teams and make sure the better teams play each other later in the playoffs #NBAsky

İbrahim Ekşi @bloggeldi.bsky.social · Apr 15

The Knicks, Celtics and Lakers are the only teams to have 4 different players that scored 40+

Knicks = Brunson, Towns, Bridges, Anunoby
Celtics = Tatum, Brown, White, Pritchard
Lakers = James, Doncic, Reaves, Davis*

AD had all 3 of his 40+ games with Lakers. Luka has 1 with both Lakers and Mavs.

İbrahim Ekşi @bloggeldi.bsky.social · Apr 15

Thanks man, I found it really fascinating to look at these numbers. For instance, 55 different players scored 40+ this season, but the following teams did not have any of those:

Indiana (highest was 38 by Mathurin)
Portland (Scoot had 39)
Toronto (Barrett had 39)
Utah (Markkanen and George had 35)

İbrahim Ekşi @bloggeldi.bsky.social · Apr 15

Also interesting is the fact that the Thunder and Pelicans !? are the only teams to have not allowed a single 40+ point game to an opposing player.

Most OKC allowed is 38 points to Fred VanVleet.

Most NOP allowed is 39 points to Michael Porter Jr. and Jalen Brunson. #NBAsky

İbrahim Ekşi @bloggeldi.bsky.social · Apr 15

So Wizards still led the league for the 2nd straight season, but had lower such games than last year. In fact, the overall number of 40+ point games in the league declined for the 3rd season in a row:

2024-25: Wizards - 10 (league total 139)
2023-24: Wizards - 13 (162)
2022-23: Rockets - 16 (203)

İbrahim Ekşi @bloggeldi.bsky.social · Apr 15

The clutch 41 points that the Wizards allowed Jaime Jaquez in the last game allowed them to keep the No. 1 spot on this list, just a game ahead of the Pistons.

Most 40+ point games allowed in 2024/25 regular season:

Wizards = 10
Pistons = 9
Cavs, Pacers, Jazz = 8

İbrahim Ekşi @bloggeldi.bsky.social · Apr 15

About 3 months ago, @jeskeets.bsky.social mentioned that the Wizards had already allowed 8 players to score 40+ points on them. So I collected the data and found out that the all-time record was 16 such games by 2022-23 Rockets.

Now that the regular season is over, time to check the final numbers.

İbrahim Ekşi @bloggeldi.bsky.social · Feb 19

Last season’s top 6 teams show almost no difference in their shot selection. The way those shots are created are different for some teams, but in the end we see games being determined by 3-point shooting.

So this lack of variety is what the league needs to fix, not the All-Star game.

İbrahim Ekşi @bloggeldi.bsky.social · Feb 19

In fact, the top 6 teams in the league back in 2004-05 had distinct shot charts. It was the era of power forwards, who usually operated in midrange from the baseline to the elbows.

For example, the Mavs’ shot chart shows clearly where Nowitzki liked to take those fadeaways. #NBAsky

İbrahim Ekşi @bloggeldi.bsky.social · Feb 19

Teams have left the midrange in favor of 3s and that resulted in very similar looking shot charts.

Last year, Nuggets took the least amount of 3s with 34.8% of their shots. That would have lead the league by a wide margin 20 years ago.

İbrahim Ekşi @bloggeldi.bsky.social · Feb 19

All-Star weekend was so bad, it made active players complain about NBA basketball being boring. That’s the result of the optimization of the game which forces teams to only take 3s or layups. So I looked at how similar teams have gotten over the past 20 years based on shot location. #NBAsky

İbrahim Ekşi @bloggeldi.bsky.social · Feb 8

This was a schedule loss for the Rockets as soon as that trade happened. There is no way they can stop an AD playing like it’s the Game 7 of NBA finals.

It will be their 6th straight loss, might drop to 5th before the All-Star break. Their 2nd half will be about hanging onto the 6th seed. #NBAsky

İbrahim Ekşi @bloggeldi.bsky.social · Jan 30

You guys made great points about the flow of the FIBA game, but to me the biggest reason for that is not allowing live-ball timeouts. So we get to see consecutive possessions which naturally builds excitement.

NBA should look into adopting that instead of letting coaches stop all the momentum.

İbrahim Ekşi @bloggeldi.bsky.social · Jan 30

Here are my “Algorithm” All-Star Reserves: #NBAsky

West:
Jackson Jr. / AD / J-Dub
Edwards / Kyrie
Şengün / Harden

East:
Brown / Mobley / Allen
Maxey / Lillard
Cade / Trae

İbrahim Ekşi @bloggeldi.bsky.social · Jan 30

So my model went 4 for 5 on the East and 2 for 5 on the West Starters. In the West, it seems like the players and fans wanted to honor the OGs as starters, they were going to make it as reserves anyway.

İbrahim Ekşi @bloggeldi.bsky.social · Jan 23

The only other player I would replace is Jaren Jackson Jr. who should make the team as a reserve but not as a starter. That spot will go to Wemby, who the algorithm ranks 4th in West Frontcourt, just 0.7% chance less than AD, due to the Spurs’ 19-22 record.

İbrahim Ekşi @bloggeldi.bsky.social · Jan 23

Every year, there is a player that the model values too much based on individual stats despite team success and that is LaMelo Ball this year. As he is leading the fan votes among East guards, he might end up being an All-Star Starter depending on how the players vote.

İbrahim Ekşi @bloggeldi.bsky.social · Jan 23

Based on wins, games played and individual stats from the last 25 seasons, I built a machine learning model to identify #NBAsky All-Stars.

Ahead of tonight’s announcement, here are my “Algorithm” All-Star Starters:

West:
Jokić-Jackson Jr.-AD
SGA-Edwards

East:
Giannis-Tatum-Towns
Brunson-LaMelo

İbrahim Ekşi @bloggeldi.bsky.social · Jan 22

Was looking forward to seeing who Michael picked out of the Sengun-Jaren-Sabonis trio, turns out they all made it. It feels like J-Dub will replace one of them just so OKC can get 2 in the end, hope it’s not Sengun.

Great analysis as always and thanks for sharing the links to all advanced stats.

Michael Pina @michaelvpina.bsky.social · Jan 22

Here's my 2024-25 All-Star team, including the 10 starters on my official ballot: www.theringer.com/2025/01/22/n...

The 24 Players Who Deserve to Be 2025 NBA All-Stars

Breaking down my official starters ballot for San Francisco, plus a deep dive on my bench picks for the East and West

www.theringer.com

İbrahim Ekşi @bloggeldi.bsky.social · Jan 14

So the 2024-25 Wizards are currently on pace to break the all-time record of 16 40+ point games allowed to 15 different players. This might be the only reason to check the box scores from the Wizards games for the rest of this season.

İbrahim Ekşi @bloggeldi.bsky.social · Jan 14

2009-10: Warriors - 8 (72)
2008-09: Bulls and Kings - 7 (74)
2007-08: Grizzlies - 7 (59)
2006-07: Wizards - 6 (79)
2005-06: Heat and Suns - 8 (108)
2004-05: Bucks - 6 (67)
2003-04: Clippers - 5 (41)
2002-03: Bucks - 7 (71)
2001-02: Nets - 6 (54)
2000-01: Rockets - 6 (81)