Sorry Guys, but TJ Ford Still Isn't Any Good

Let me start out with some praise. The Pacers are a LOT better than I thought they would be at this point in the season. Hibbert is playing great and there is still room for improvement with him so he is only going to be getting better. McRobert's is doing the little stuff we needed him to do. Granger's shot is back (don't be fooled by his lower PPG... he isn't shooting as much. As soon as he gets to the line some more his PER will shoot back up) and he is playing the best defense of his life. All the Pacers are actually trying to play defense and it is showing.

But one thing that is grinding my gears is the fact Collison isn't playing 35 minutes a night and isn't finishing games. He is the future at the position. Oh, and he is light years better than TJ Ford.

But people will scream "but TJ Ford is better this year! He is accepting his role off the bench! He has been a good back up point guard. You are just a hater!" Which is really weird because whenever I see him on the court I just wish Collison was playing more and Price got off the pine.

So after the jump, the cold hard facts about TJ Ford's "good" year.

We will start off with the easy, traditional stats. Even these aren't pretty.

In 21 minutes a game, Ford is averaging 5.5 PPG, 3.5 APG, 2 TO on 36% FG, 32% 3FG

There isn't anything positive going on there. This field goal percentage is the 2nd worst of any of our rotation players (only Posey is worse... why does he play over Tyler again?). He still can't shoot. Still doesn't pass well. And still turns the ball over (3 TO per 36 mins). Oh and he is also shooting 57% FT... exactly what we want for our point guard who closes games.

It only gets uglier when you go to more advanced stats.

7.5 PER, 40% TS, 39% eFG, 26.5 AST%, 21.2 TO%, 85 ORtg, 105 DRtg, -0.013 WS/48

Now I am no Levy who lives for this stuff but holy moly... that is UUUUGLY.

His PER is worst on the team (for funsies.. Posey's is 7.7.. why is he playing again?) which according the Hollinger is between "definitely renting" and "next stop: D league." Average is 15 by the way. Oh and Collisons is 16.8.

His turnover rate is worst on the team for people who actually play by a long shot. Collison's if 14.7 by the way. TS% and eFG% is worst on the team again.

One thing people love to say is we look good when he is on the court. And that he is trying to play defense. Unfortunately...the stats do not bear this out. His ORtg is downright atrocious and easily the worst on the team (Collisons is 105 by the way). His DRtg is middle of the pack for our team and the same as Collisons. So, when TJ Ford is on the court, we give up 105 points per 100 possessions while scoring 85. (Collisons is 105 and 105 by the way). Unless I am understanding that stat wrong (which is possible and someone will point out I am sure)... that ain't good. In fact its treadful.The win shares point this out... his is negative. The worst on the team once again and the only player on our team in the negatives.

EDIT: in fact I am reading it wrong. From Levy below... (thanks again for clarifying)

Those individual ratings don’t reflect how the team plays when Ford is on the court, but instead are his individual contributions. His Offensive Rating of 85 is how many points he personally produces per 100 possessions. When calculating this rating he gets credit for points he scores and a partial credit for assists he hands out. With his poor shooting and A/TO ratio it’s easy to see why his rating is so low. His Defensive Rating is calculated by the point contributions of his counterpart point guard. Basically it’s the individual offensive ratings of the players he plays against.

If you wan’t to look at how the team is playing with Ford on and off the court, you have to take a look at a site like Basketball Value or 82games.com. Basketball Value shows the Pacers have an Off. Rating of 104.34 with Ford on the floor and 106.89 off the floor. The numbers for Collison are basically the opposite. So the Pacers’ are about 2 and a half points better offensively with Collison on the floor as opposed to Ford. Both of those offensive ratings are pretty poor, but not nearly as bad as Ford’s individual offensive rating. He isn’t contributing much offensive when he is on the floor but the team as a whole isn’t that bad offensively when he’s out there.

The team’s defensive rating is 97.80 when he’s on the floor and 105.05 when he’s off the floor. The team’s defensive rating is 106.10 with Collison on the floor and 97.50 with him off the floor. The Pacers are basically an average defensive team with Collison and a great defensive team with Ford. Now as you can tell by his individual defensive rating Ford isn’t generating a ton of stops, opposing point guards are still scoring on him, but the overall team defense is waaaaaaaay better with him out there.

so I will give TJ credit that we are a better defensive team with him out there for whatever reason.

So this is your TJ Ford guys. The player who ends games at the PG spot for us. The worst player on the team by most statistical measures.

And what makes it worse is that we have a stud in the making playing less than 30 minutes a game (Collison) and another young guy who was killing it in the preseason and in his only game this year (Price). But JOB knows best and his rotations are just awesome....