Note:My earlier results had an error. Thanks to Albert Cross for alerting me to this (I had a column wrong in a vlookup).

Through the games of February 27, 2010 I rated all NBA teams, giving more weight to more recent games (I gave, for example ,game 1 half the weight of the most recent games). Then I used the great Excel simulation add-in @RISK to play out the rest of the season. Here are projected final standings and each team’s playoff chances.  Some key points.

• Note the race in the East looks like it will go down to the last day, while the West is not quite so close.  
• Also note that the race in the West for 2nd and 3rd  is very close.
•    I found the home edge this season to be around 2.7 points per game.
• By the way there is an 79% chance that the Nets win at least 10 games, avoiding a date with infamy.

 

Team	wins	losses	Playoff Chance
Cleveland Cavaliers	62	20	1
Orlando Magic	55	27	1
Atlanta Hawks	52	30	1
Boston Celtics	51	31	1
Miami Heat	43	39	0.84
Toronto Raptors	43	39	0.85
Milwaukee Bucks	43	39	0.83
Charlotte Bobcats	42	40	0.76
Chicago Bulls	42	40	0.72
Philadelphia 76ers	32	50	0
Washington Wizards	29	53	0
Detroit Pistons	29	53	0
Indiana Pacers	28	54	0
New York Knickerbockers	28	54	0
New Jersey Nets	11	71	0
Los Angeles Lakers	59	23	1
Utah Jazz	54	28	1
Denver Nuggets	54	28	1
Dallas Mavericks	52	30	1
Phoenix Suns	50	32	1
Oklahoma City Thunder	49	33	0.98
San Antonio Spurs	47	35	0.88
Portland Trail Blazers	47	35	0.88
Houston Rockets	42	40	0.11
New Orleans Hornets	41	41	0.08
Memphis Grizzlies	41	41	0.07
Los Angeles Clippers	32	50	0
Sacramento Kings	28	54	0
Golden State Warriors	26	56	0
Minnesota Timberwolves	19	63	0

The Bucks, Bobcats, Raptors, Heat and Bulls are engaged in a game of musical chairs for the last 4 Eastern Conference Playoff spots. Starting next week I will  be posting playoff odds, but because of the John Salmons trade I think the Bucks have a great shot. The Bulls gained cap room in this trade, but they may have sacrificed a playoff spot.

   Salmons has been great for the Bucks. With the Bucks his adjusted +/- Rating so far is 13 points better per 48 minutes than an average player. Even when Bogut or Jennings are out (the Bucks two other key players), the Bucks are better than average when Salmons is in. Here are some other key observations about the Bucks:

• Bogut with a +6.5 point Adjusted +/- Rating ranks 36th in the NBA. His solid play is due to great defense (-6 Defense Rating). This means when Bogut is in the game Bucks give up 6 less points per game than they would if Bogut were replaced by an average NBA defender.
• Jennings has an average points rating but ranks 36th in league in Impact, which measures how you change the chance of a team winning a game. Thus Jennings plays very well with the game on the line.
• The Bucks are horrible when both Bogut and Ilyasova are out: 10 points worse than average.
• When resting and Bogut, Ilyasova and Gadzuric in is good: Bucks play 10 points better than average.
• With Jennings out, Ridnour, Bogut, Ilyasova and Ridnour in is great: 17 points better than average.

Using this information to create lineups should really help the Bucks.

Let’s close by looking at the Bucks best lineups (among those that play often).

Note 1B is great for resting Bogut. Also note that the new lineup 7A with Salmons is great. Also unbelievably the only difference between 1A and 2A is Ilyasova in for Moute. Yet 2A appears to be 20 points per game better and plays less. Why? Playing 2A 189 minutes and 1A 108 minutes would surely have won the Bucks a few games and those games might be the difference between a playoff birth and sitting at home in May.

MIL       5.24 (    6.67   -4.71  -11.38   17.56    0.99    3.57)  189.08 minutes   57 appearances     1 A      4.82       19 $
Bell          Bogut         Delfino       Jennings      Mbah a Moute  25.36 years        398_MIL_2010

MIL      25.98 (   10.20    3.19   -7.01   27.19    1.55    2.54)  117.93 minutes   48 appearances     2 A     25.24       62 $
Bell          Bogut         Delfino       Ilyasova      Jennings      25.23 years        206_MIL_2010

MIL       6.65 (    5.61    0.46   -5.15   22.11    1.02    3.95)  101.89 minutes   60 appearances     3 A      5.18       11 $
Bell          Bogut         Delfino       Jennings      Warrick       26.20 years      16526_MIL_2010

MIL       8.03 (    3.67   -3.69   -7.35   20.37    0.80    3.49)   97.93 minutes   27 appearances     4 A      7.35       15 $
Bogut         Delfino       Ilyasova      Jennings      Mbah a Moute  23.73 years        460_MIL_2010

MIL      27.81 (   15.98   -1.79  -17.77   40.81    2.25    6.11)   63.09 minutes   23 appearances     7 A     23.58       31 $
Bogut         Delfino       Jennings      Mbah a Moute  Salmons       25.21 years     262540_MIL_2010

MIL      10.28 (    8.32    2.18   -6.15   19.42    1.19    1.86)   47.93 minutes   15 appearances     1 B      5.01        5 $
Bell          Delfino       Gadzuric      Ilyasova      Jennings      26.59 years        234_MIL_2010

Recently the Kings have been in turmoil. Players have complained that Coach Paul Westphal plays inconsistent lineups.  The Kings have played more different lineups (470) than any other team.

   I’d like to chime in with some analysis of the Kings. I am writing from Toluca Mexico (teaching operations research here this week). 75 degrees and sunny.

    The Kings play 4 points worse than average for the season. The sad thing is they traded Rodriguez, who had played great. When Sergio was in the Kings were an amazing 9 points better than average(after adjusting for strength of opponents). When Sergio was out Kings played 7 points worse than average. Here are the lineups played most by the Kings. For example lineup 1A has played 100 minutes and plays 2 points worse than average.

Note the 4 lineups that play the most are all worse than average! 2A-4A are poor.     4B-6B are all above average; why not play them more!

     ACTUAL    THEORY     OFF     DEF  IMPACT  ZSCORE   SIGMA     PLAYING TIME                             SIMPLE       �
SAC      -1.92 (   -5.67   -3.89    1.78   -5.12   -0.58    2.77)  100.01 minutes   28 appearances     1 A     -2.40       -5 $
Evans         Hawes         Nocioni       Thompson      Udrih         24.60 years      12836_SAC_2010

SAC      -9.24 (   -7.78   -4.29    3.49  -15.91   -1.02    2.25)   83.98 minutes   18 appearances     2 A     -6.29      -11 $
Evans         Greene        Hawes         Nocioni       Thompson      23.47 years       4660_SAC_2010

SAC     -10.54 (   -1.81   -3.92   -2.11    3.50   -0.07    2.19)   83.08 minutes   46 appearances     3 A    -13.87      -24 $
Casspi        Evans         Hawes         Thompson      Udrih         22.88 years      12326_SAC_2010

SAC      -8.89 (   -5.99   -0.55    5.44   10.93   -0.24    1.93)   73.86 minutes   21 appearances     4 A    -12.35      -19 $
Casspi        Evans         Greene        Hawes         Martin        22.45 years        118_SAC_2010

        ACTUAL    THEORY     OFF     DEF  IMPACT  ZSCORE   SIGMA     PLAYING TIME                             SIMPLE       �
SAC       1.94 (   -6.71   -4.95    1.77  -10.03   -0.82    1.84)   56.86 minutes   27 appearances     1 B     -2.53       -3 $
Casspi        Evans         Hawes         Martin        Thompson      22.77 years       4198_SAC_2010

SAC      -5.86 (   -2.48    1.33    3.81   -1.12   -0.24    2.12)   51.26 minutes   19 appearances     2 B     -9.36      -10 $
Casspi        Greene        Hawes         Thompson      Udrih         23.20 years      12338_SAC_2010

SAC      16.82 (  -10.58   -4.92    5.65  -18.65   -1.32    2.09)   49.54 minutes   17 appearances     3 B     10.66       11 $
Evans         Hawes         Martin        Nocioni       Thompson      24.48 years       4708_SAC_2010

SAC       3.35 (   -2.23    1.44    3.67   34.53    0.67    2.35)   44.92 minutes   26 appearances     4 B      6.41        6 $
Casspi        Evans         Nocioni       Thompson      Udrih         24.57 years      12806_SAC_2010

SAC       2.35 (   -1.45   -5.15   -3.70   -6.09   -0.26    2.20)   43.03 minutes   14 appearances     5 B     -4.46       -4 $
Evans         Greene        Hawes         Thompson      Udrih         22.95 years      12340_SAC_2010

SAC       0.94 (    2.00    0.19   -1.81   33.56    0.99    1.11)   40.66 minutes   28 appearances     6 B     -3.54       -3 $
Casspi        Evans         Greene        Thompson      Udrih         22.92 years      12310_SAC_2010

SAC       2.27 (   -3.92   -4.32   -0.40   -7.29   -0.51    1.73)   39.18 minutes   15 appearances     7 B      1.23        1 $
Casspi        Evans         Greene        Hawes         Thompson      21.76 years       4150_SAC_2010

SAC       1.87 (   -6.36   -6.18    0.18  -19.62   -1.01    1.90)   36.49 minutes   15 appearances     8 B      1.32        1 $
Evans         Greene        Hawes         Martin        Thompson      22.84 years       4212_SAC_2010

Some more comments on what works and what does not work: All numbers are per 48 minutes and are adjusted for strength of opponents.

• So far with Landry in Kings play 19 points worse than average.
• Brockman and Hawes in is poor: Kings play 20 points worse than average!
• Thompson, Udrih, Casspi and Greene in with Hawes out is great: 71 minutes 16 points better than average
• Nocioni, Udrih and Casspi in with Evans Brockman and Udoka out is great: 37 points better than average in  106 minutes.
• Evans , Udoka and Udrih in with Casspi out is great: 13 points better than average in 130 minutes.
• Brockman and Evans in with Hawes out is good: In 288 minutes Kings play 9 points better than average.
• With Rodriguez and Udrih out Kings are 8 points worse than average. But when Evans, Brockman and Casspi are in with these guys out Kings are fine: 5 points better than average,

You can’t blame Westphal for trying to find something that works. Looking at this data should make it easier to find the right combinations.

Last week I posted some suggested lineup changes for the struggling Celtics. In response to that post Crow made some great suggestions. He pointed out teams play several hundred lineups during the season but after a while good teams have a few (say 5-15) lineups that have shown themselves to be very effective. Why not cobble a rotation out of those few effective lineups? I really think this approach would improve the peformance of most teams. The reason why this approach has not caught on is that coaches usually think they know the “right matchups” based on who the opposition has put on the court.  Why not make the  other team react to your team’s strength?

      I still think playing lineups that have proved their effectiveness makes sense, so here is a suggested rotation of lineups for the Magic.

      These 6 lineups have played 17.65, 16.29, 15.38, 56.23, 20.58, and 27.26 points better than average, respectively. These lineups involve 11 players (all but Bass). For the season as a whole the Magic play 7 points better than average. How can they not play better if they primarily stuck to these lineups?. There are even 2 lineups that rest Dwight Howard well. Also, with this sequencing nobody  plays in more than 3 consecutive lineups, so rest is accounted for.

1.  ORL      17.65 (   14.63    4.88   -9.76   27.91    1.76    6.87)  335.71 minutes  111 appearances     1 A     13.30       93 $

Barnes        Carter        Howard        Lewis         Nelson        29.02 years       1610_ORL_2010

 

 

2.  ORL      16.29 (   -2.00    1.52    3.52   -2.18   -0.22    5.97)   74.48 minutes   48 appearances     6 A     24.49       38 $

Anderson      Gortat        Pietrus       Redick        Williams      27.01 years      14369_ORL_2010

 

 

 

3.  ORL      15.38 (   11.33    3.57   -7.76   39.75    1.83    6.45)   31.80 minutes   27 appearances     2 C     12.07        8 $

Carter        Howard        Lewis         Redick        Williams      29.41 years      12872_ORL_2010

 

 

 

4.  ORL      56.23 (   20.21   12.19   -8.02   47.74    2.66    4.19)   63.29 minutes   26 appearances     7 A     55.36       73 $

Anderson      Barnes        Howard        Nelson        Redick        25.79

years       5187_ORL_2010

 

5.  ORL      20.58 (   12.58    4.31   -8.28   49.07    2.08    7.18)   28.99 minutes   21 appearances     3 C     18.21       11 $

Barnes        Carter        Howard        A. Johnson    Lewis         30.49 years        714_ORL_2010

 

 

6.  ORL      27.26 (  -15.54   -6.73    8.82  -36.59   -2.10    5.45)   26.92 minutes   18 appearances     6 C     28.53       16 $

Gortat        Lewis         Pietrus       Redick        Williams      28.76 years      14880_ORL_2010

It looks like the Mavs are going to trade Josh Howard, Drew Gooden, James Singleton and Quinton Ross for Caron Butler, Brendon, Haywood, and DeShaun Stevenson . This is a great trade for the Mavs. The major players are Howard, Gooden, Butler and Haywood, so let’s focus on them.

 Let’s first look at the Mavs big weakness: poor defense in the backcourt. Here are the Adjusted +/- Defensive Ratings for the Mavs Guards:

Terry +8, Kidd +8, Barea +7, Beaubois +14.

This means, for example, if Beaubois plays 48 minutes in lieu of an average NBA defensive player we believe the Mavs would yield 14 more points per 48 minutes.

These are the worst defensive numbers for any backcourt in the league except for the Wizards:

Arenas +13, Foye +10, Young +4, Stevenson +8, Boykins +9.

So what do you do to mitigate the weakness of a bad defensive backcourt? Bring in a great defensive center who can cover up the guards’  mistakes. Enter Brendon Haywood whose -16 Adjusted +/- Defense Rating is the league’s best. Haywood is weak offensively ( -9 Adjusted +/- Offense Rating), but he should be able to cover for many defensive lapses by the Mavs guards. If he does not work out, the Mavs do not have to resign him.

   Caron Butler has a +3 Adjusted +/- Points Rating this year.  Butler has a +2 Points Offense Rating and -1 Points defense Rating, so he is not a bad defender. Butler’s contract does run through 2011, so the Mavs do need him to pan out.

 Butler’s current numbers are similar to Josh Howard’s past ratings. If Josh can regain his pre-injury form, the Butler for Howard portion of the trade is probably a wash.   So unless Howard recaptures his old form, this part of the swap is great for the Mavs.

    We also have an Impact Rating, that is based on how player’s change the chance of their team winning,. For example, if you are down by 20 points with 2 minutes to go and your team loses the game by only 5 your Adjusted +/- rating shoots up, but your Impact ratings is  hardly affected.  Here are how the four players rank in Impact Rating among the 200 NBA players who have averaged at least 25 minutes per game.

Butler 43rd, Haywood 59th, Howard 83rd, Gooden 190th.

Again, by this metric the trade is a steal for the Mavs

Drew Gooden’s Adjusted +/- rating this season  is -4 and the past 3 years he has averaged an Adjusted +/- of -6, so he will probably not help the Wizards much. Certainly the Haywood for Gooden part of the deal is a huge plus for the Mavs. 

   Of course, when players are traded, they often perform better or worse than expected. But as we said, the Mavs need to cover for their poor defensive guard play, and Haywood has done that with the Wizard’s poor defensive backcourt, so there is every reason to expect that his great defense will be lead to a revitalized Mavs defense.

  We leave you with one final statistic:

When Butler and Haywood are both in this year for the Wizards, the Wizards play 2 points better than average. The rest of the season the Wizards play 13 points worse than average. So together Butler and Haywood can turn a poor team into an above average team. 

See my NBA All Star picks on the Huffington POst http://bit.ly/bWgMTz.

Since Christmas the Boston Celtics have played like an average NBA team (.65 points better than average). This will not satisfy fans of the sports’ most storied franchise. Is there any hope for the Celtics to recapture their 2007-2008 level of greatness?

     The first point to make is that KG in his current level of health is not having a big impact. Since Christmas with Pierce, Rondo, Ray Allen, and KG on the court the Celtics have played 6 points better than average. When Pierce, Rondo and Ray are on court with KG out the Celtics have played around the same: 5 points better than average. I am not a doctor, but KG 2010 is not playing at his past level. His Adjusted +/- this year is -3. During his last 5 seasons his Adjusted +/- averaged out to +11. Unless KG can regain his previous abilities, it will be tough for the Celtics to make the conference finals.

  Still, there are ways for the Celtics to improve. Let’s partition all Celtic minutes played since Christmas based on which of Pierce, Rondo, and Ray Allen are on the court and see how things went:

• All 3 in : 5 points better than average.
• Pierce and Rondo in, Ray out- 20 points better than average.
• Pierce and Allen in, Rondo out- 9 points better than average
• Rondo and Allen in Pierce out-2 points worse than average
• At most one of Rondo, Pierce and  Allen in-10 points worse than average.

From these numbers it looks like when at least two of Pierce, Rondo, and Ray Allen are in the Celtics are ok. Having all 3 in does not make them that much better. Therefore, it looks like the Celtics would improve if they would rest Pierce, Rondo, and Ray Allen one at a time more often and lessen the time two or more of them are out.

For example, Pierce can be rested with

BOS      10.85 (    7.74   -0.11   -7.85    3.01    0.62    6.52)  110.14 minutes   50 appearances     3 A     14.38       33 $
T. Allen      R. Allen      Garnett       Perkins       Rondo         29.01 years       1299

This lineup plays 11 points better than average and rests Pierce.

To rest Ray Allen I would recommend

BOS      30.36 (   -0.19   -5.02   -4.83  -18.94   -0.47    4.48)   22.60 minutes   15 appearances     6 C     29.73       14 $
T. Allen      Garnett       Perkins       Pierce        Rondo         28.56 years       1809_BOS_2010
This lineup has played 30 points better than average.

To rest Rondo it appears that the quartet of Ray Allen, Wallace, House and Davis has played well recently (+58 rating in 15 minutes).

Also, the return of Marquis Daniels should create some lineups that can better rest  Rondo or Ray Allen,

In summary, things can go better even if KG’s level of play does not improve. But without a return to KG’s past level of greatness, it looks like no Championship in Boston this season.

By the way, Ray Allen is mentioned in trade talk. His Adjusted +/- is +10 this season (despite a decline in box score stats), so trading Ray Allen would really reduce the Celtics level of performance during the rest of the season.

Every time I watch the Nuggets on TV or read a blog entry I am bombarded with the fact that Melo and Billups are the two stars of this team.  Both players have PER ratings in the league’s Top 20. Ergo,  they must be great.

    Actually, I think there is strong evidence that Nene and Birdman key the Nuggets success far more than Melo and Billups.  Both Birdman and Nene have Adjusted +/- ratings around +19, which indicates that per 48 minutes played, they make their team 19 points better. Here are some numbers that should convince you that the media hype surrounding Melo and Billups is overblown. All numbers are adjusted for strength of opponent’s players.

• When Birdman and Nene are out (91 minutes) the Nuggets play 24 points worse than an average team.
• When Birdman and Nene are both in the Nuggets in 437 min play 17 points better than average.
• When Birdman and Nene are in with Melo out the Nuggets play 16 points better than average in 232 minutes.
• When Birdman and Nene are in and Billups is out, the Nuggets play 26 points better than average in 297 minutes.

I think these numbers make a strong case that Nene and Birdman deserve a lot more money!! Birdman has a -13 Adjusted +/- Defense Rating and Nene a -9 adjusted +/- defense rating. Their defensive abilities often do not show up in box score stats, but they certainly affect the final score.

It is now unbelievably February. Through the lens of Adjusted +/-, let’s review the performance of each team in January. Note that an Adjusted  +/- of +10 means the player played 10 points better than average in January; An Offense rating of +5 means his team scores 5 more points per game than they would if an average offensive player replaced the player; a Defense rating of say -5 means his team gives up 5 fewer points per game than they would if an average defender replaced the player.

Atlanta

  Few Hawks did well. Joe Johnson played poorly (-13 Points rating) primarily due to poor defense (+10 rating). Rookie Jeff Teague showed improvement due to his great defense.

Boston

The Celtics played poorly. Main culprits include  KG (-11 points rating). KG’s Offense rating was a very poor -21. This means the Celtics offense ground to a jalt when KG was in. Glen Davis (-14 points rating) also played poorly.

Charlotte

Nazr Mohammed played poorly (-8 points rating). Flip Murray (+11 Points), Gerald Wallace (+15 points) Steven Jackson (+8 points) keyed the Bobcats continued success.

Chicago

Luol Deng (+16 Points rating) continued his great play. John Salmons (+12 point rating) also was great. Everyone else stepped up their game a little bit, so it looks like the Bulls have gelled.

Cleveland

The King has a +21 rating for January and has continued his season long great play. Shaq has really improved. Through December his Points rating was -4 and in January it jumped to +4.

Dallas

The Mavs had a poor January due to poor defensive guard play. Barea (+7 defense), Terry (+9) and Kidd (+18) have all  killed the Mavs with their poor defensive play. The bright spot wasrookie Roddie Beaubois who played poorly through December (-15 Points rating) but played at at -3 level in January. James Singleton had a great Janauary (+16 rating, -11 Defense Rating).

Denver

    This team is totally keyed by the great play of  Nene and Birdman, both of whom had a +23 Points rating in January. Billups and Melo are not nearly as important as the media believes.

Detroit

Rodney Stuckey (+7 points rating) keyed their limited success. Ben Wallace (-14 Defense rating) has been a defensive  pillar of strength. Charlie V (-14 Points rating) and the backup centers killed the Pisotns in January.

Golden State

Andris Biedrins (-11 Points rating) has played poorly. Rookie Stephen Curry (+7 points rating) has been great.

Houston

David Andersen (+7 Points Rating) played very well. Chuck Hayes (-9 Points Rating , -11 Offense Rating) has killed the Rockets’ offense.

Indiana

 The Pacers have two stars . Danny Granger and Mike Dunleavy both have +10 points ratings for January and the season. Solomon Jones (-25 Points rating) and Troy Murphy (-14 points rating) have really hurt the team in January and all season.

LA Clippers

Marcus Camby, Baron Davis, and Chris Kaman (all +5 Points rating0 have been solid in January. Craig Smith (+22 point rating) has been fantastic.

LA Lakers

Ron Artest (-1 Point rating) has not been the same player since suffering a concussion and dealing with foot issues. Sasha Vujacic (+16 Points rating) has been great, Kobe (+16 Points rating) has played great while battling injuries. Gasol (+6 Points rating) and Odom (+9 Points Rating) have been solid.

Memphis

The wrong  Gasol got chosen for the all star team: Marc Gasol had a +22 point rating in January with a -18 Defense rating. Zach Randolph continued his great play (+10 Points Rating) while rookie Hasheem Thabeet slipped a bit( Points Rating of +9 through December and -1 in January). Sam Young (-15 Points rating) really hurt the Griz.

Miami

Alston, Arroyo, Jones, and Chalmers played poorly in January (-14 Point rating).  DWade continuted his wonderful play (+22 points rating). Dorrell Wright (+11 points rating in January) has been great all year.

Milwaukee

Charlie Bell (+10 Points rating) had a great month.

Minnesota

Rookie Jonny Flynn (-13 Points Rating, +12 Defense rating) continued to kill the Wolves on defense. Ryan Hollins (+1 Point Rating) greatly improved his play. Sasha Pavlovic (-25 Points Rating) killed the Wolves on both ends of the court.

New Jersey

Kenyon Dooling (+5 Points Rating) and Brook Lopez (+2 Points Rating) have been the main green shoots here.

New Orleans

Marcus Thornton (+9 Points rating) and Chris Paul (+8 Points rating) were a solid backcourt in January.

New York

Jonathan Bender (-22 Points Rating), Toney Douglas (-28 points rating) and Chris Duhon (-10 Points rating) have killed the Knicks. Gallo (+7 points rating) and Jeffries (+5 Points rating) have been solid.

OKC

KD with his +26 points rating was the league’s best player in January.  Jeff Green (-10 Points Rating) has hurt the team all season.

Orlando

Backup center Gortat (-1 points rating) has greatly improved in January while Brnadon Bass (-25 Points Rating) is struggling to fit in. Rashard Lewis (-14 Points Rating) has struggled all season.

Philadelphia

Nothing too interesting to report here.  Despite an excellent PER rating Marreese Speights (Points Rating of -10, Defense Rating of +8) has hurt the 76ers.

Phoenix

The Suns set quickly in January. Teams caught on to Frye and his points rating through December of +13 dropped to +2. Amare, Richardson, Hill, Dragic and Amundson had Points ratings for January between -9 and -11. Robin Lopez was the lone bright spot with a +9 Points Rating.

Portland

Amazing they are still afloat after all those injuries. Batum (+16), Bayless (+10), Miller (+13) and Webster (+13) all had great Point Ratings in January. The replacement centers (Howard  -18 and Pendergraph -14) have played poorly.

Sacramento

 The Kings had a dismal January. . Sergio Rodirguez (+18 Points Rating for Janaury) has been great all year.Beno Udrih’s Points rating in January was -4 which is a big drop from his +8 Points Rating through December. Udoka  (-10 Points rating) also played poorly in January.

San Antonio

 Bogans  and Hill (-8 Points Ratings) struggled in January. Duncan (+10 Points Rating) played to his usual All Star Level. Matt Bonner missed most of the month but has played at a +10 Points level all year and his return should really help the Spurs.

Toronto

The Raptors had a great month. Amir Johnson (+20 Points Rating -23 Defense Rating) and Maro Bellinelli (+14 Points Rating) were amazing, Calderon (+11 Points Rating) and Bosh (+9 Points Rating )  and Antoine Wright (+8 Points Rating) were also solid. Only rookie Demar DeRozan (-7 Points Rating) struggled.

Utah

The Jazz had an excellent January sparked by Deron Williams (+17 Points rating). AK47, Boozer and Korver all had Points Ratings around  +10 for January, so they also played very well

Washington

Despite the off court turmoil, the Wizards kept soldiering on. Butler and Jamison (+5 Points Rating) were solid. Brendon Haywood (+11 Points Rating, -17 Defense Rating) has been great all season and gets no respect. Foye (-12 Points Rating) and Boykins (-22 Points Rating) killed the Wizards in January.