2009 Trailblazers: Easiest schedule in the NBA

shuppatsu — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 10:09:49 -0000

I generate the numbers I use for Strength of Schedule off of my own spreadsheet. They are just slightly different than Hollinger's. I calculate the SoS for a given team my looking at the winning percentage of the opponents when they DON'T play that given team. I don't know if Hollinger does that, but it might explain the slight discrepancy. Anyway, by my numbers, Portland has had the toughest SoS in the Western Conference (fifth overall, as the Eastern Conference is stronger overall this year--fewer outright dogs). More importantly for us hoping for the Blazers continued success, we have the easiest remaining SoS for the 2009 year.

Team	W	L	%	SoS	Sos so far	Remaining SoS
Portland	20	12	.625	.496	.535	.472
Phoenix	18	12	.600	.493	.524	.476
Chicago	14	18	.438	.507	.555	.477
Denver	21	12	.636	.497	.519	.482
Sacramento	8	24	.250	.501	.526	.485
Indiana	10	21	.323	.516	.559	.491
Washington	6	24	.200	.512	.548	.491
L.A. Lakers	25	5	.833	.494	.493	.494
Toronto	12	20	.375	.510	.536	.494
Golden State	10	24	.294	.496	.497	.495
Minnesota	6	25	.194	.499	.507	.495
New Orleans	19	9	.679	.498	.504	.495
Milwaukee	15	18	.455	.510	.533	.495
Oklahoma City	4	29	.121	.496	.496	.496
Charlotte	11	21	.344	.502	.508	.498
San Antonio	20	11	.645	.490	.470	.502
Utah	19	14	.576	.492	.473	.504
Dallas	19	12	.613	.495	.477	.506
Houston	21	12	.636	.499	.484	.509
L.A. Clippers	8	23	.258	.502	.489	.509
New York	12	18	.400	.510	.507	.512
Philadelphia	13	18	.419	.502	.485	.512
Atlanta	21	9	.700	.507	.496	.513
Memphis	10	22	.313	.503	.482	.516
Cleveland	26	5	.839	.504	.479	.519
Detroit	19	11	.633	.503	.470	.522
Boston	28	5	.848	.514	.495	.527
New Jersey	15	17	.469	.504	.462	.530
Orlando	25	7	.781	.499	.449	.530
Miami	17	13	.567	.513	.466	.539

Some SoS numbers.

shuppatsu — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 22:42:10 -0000

I had a little fun with Excel today, and calculated the Strength of Schedule for the three Northwest contenders, based on current records and subtracting out the games played by that team. The numbers echo what Dave and others have been saying. One thing to note is, that in terms of difficulty of opponents, the Nuggets season closely mirrors our own. One big caveat is that I did not factor in the effect of home vs. away, and the effect of back-to-back games.

SoS for the season--

Portland: .491

Utah: .484

Denver: .491

SoS so far--

Portland: .532

Utah: .412

Denver: .516

Yeah, I know these numbers are different from what Hollinger gives. I don't know his methodology. But my numbers do match up with the numbers at playoffstatus.com.

SoS for the remainder--

Portland: .479

Utah: .504

Denver: .484

SoS for December--

Portland: .547

Utah: .535

Denver: .524

SoS after December--

Portland: .460

Utah: .495

Denver: .472

SB Nation User Blog: shuppatsu

2009 Trailblazers: Easiest schedule in the NBA

Some SoS numbers.