The Wages of Wins probably comes fairly close to determining how many wins a player creates. However, the Iverson Factor proves that it – like pretty much all analysis that purports to rely entirely on stats – is ultimately flawed. Because when Leandro Barbosa got rolling in Game Three of the Western Conference Finals, he reached a level where he was able to so devastate the defense that he got his teammate Boris Diaw a wide open layup. TNT’s Doug Collins went on and on about Barbosa’s ability to create and to “make it happen” for his team, discussing the “value” in having a player that can penetrate the defense.
Yet in the box score, he gets an FGA and nothing else.
And if someone were to write a book about who contributed “wins” to the Suns in the 2006 Playoffs, this important and valuable play would fail to show up in their analysis.
That’s why you shouldn’t rely on books like The Wages of Wins. More importantly, that is why you should look beyond the stats and appreciate the little things that players do on the court that lead to wins. The pass that leads to the pass (think of LeBron moving the ball out of the double team and getting it to Larry Hughes who turned and passed it to Damon Jones for the winning shot in the Washington series). The tipped ball that results in a dunk on one end or a fast break on the other. And yes, the missed shot in traffic that works just like a pass.
Maybe we can’t come up with a stat to reward guys like Allen Iverson and Leandro Barbosa, but we can at least try to appreciate it when it happens. Maybe we will reach a point where the “good miss” reaches the level of the one-yard run for a first down (bad for the average, great for the team) in football and the ground ball to the right side to move the runner to third in baseball.
Hey, I can dream.
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