Those advantages for the 2006 team extend to the defensive side of the ball as well. To shorten things up a bit, here is where the 2006 team is better: creating more turnovers, getting a higher percentage of defensive rebounds, allowing a lower effective field goal percentage, and also a lower floor percentage. Floor percentage is the percentage of a team's possessions where they score at least one point and is a Dean Oliver statistic.
One major difference between the two teams besides the 2006 team clearly being superior is the pace at which they play the game. Because the international games are only forty minutes long, I had to extend the number of team possessions to how many they would have had if they continued their pace and played in an average NBA length game (242 minutes for both 2004 and 2006). After I did the adjustment to their pace, the 2004 team played at a pace factor of 87.8. The average 2004 NBA team had a pace factor 90.1. Now, Larry Brown is notorious for playing at a deliberate pace, but when you have what are supposedly some of your country's best players, your team should play faster than the average NBA team. If the team does not, the players' potential cannot be maximized. Coach K has taken a vastly different approach and what looks to be the right one. Under him, the 2006 version has a pace factor of 100.9 when the average 2006 NBA team played with a pace factor of 90.6. That is how an All-Star squad should be used.
Not only has the 2006 squad played infinitely better, but they have also been coached infinitely better.
I used the term All-Star squad loosely, but All-Star teams play at a frenetic pace during All-Star games. The winners of the 2004 and 2006 All-Star Game had pace factors of 120.3 and 118.4, respectively. Perhaps I should have used the term controlled All-Star squad.
Article comments
1 - Tan The Man
A more superficial analysis would be to say that the players are more team-oriented under Coach K. Take a look at the points that LeBron and Carmelo have -- under 20. They spread the play around.
2 - Matthew T. Sussman
Tough to pencil them in for a championship this year. They're definitely on the upswing, however, and should be ready to contend by '08.