Feb. 19, 2012; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Indiana Pacers center Roy Hibbert (55) loses the ball as Charlotte Bobcats center Bismack Biyombo (0) and Charlotte Bobcats power forward Boris Diaw (32) defend at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. Indiana defeated Charlotte 108-73. Mandatory credit: Michael Hickey-USA TODAY Sports

I’m an NBA stats freak.

When I was a kid, I nerded out on Knicks box scores every morning, and as I’ve grown up, I’ve come to love websites like basketball-reference.com.

I use the Per 36 minutes stat in almost every long-term analysis I write for Roberto Gato, and I can’t get enough of almost everything on that site.

I say “almost everything”, because, until recently, I did really obsess over every advanced stat I knew about.

Then the Bobcats let Boris Diaw walk to the San Antonio Spurs after he quit on the team and his defensive rating went from 111 to 102.

Defensive rating is a stat that estimates the points a player allows per 100 possessions. So in his final year with Charlotte, Diaw essentially gave up 111 points per 100 possessions. Then in San Antonio, in the same season, after sitting on the bench for most of February for quitting on Charlotte, Diaw magically became a better defender and gave up nine less points per 100 possessions? I don’t think so.

For his entire career, Diaw’s defensive rating hovered closer to 110 than 100, at least until he got to San Antonio.

Diaw played his first two NBA seasons in Atlanta. In 2003/04, his defensive rating was a 107. In 2004/2005 it was 112. Respectively, Atlanta ranked 23rd and 29th defensively those years.

He moved on to Phoenix and his defensive ratings in 05/06, 06/07, 07/08 and 08/09 were: 106, 109, 109 and 114. Respectively, the Suns ranked 28th, 23rd, 25th and 27th defensively in those same seasons.

I have a feeling you’re noticing the trend, but I’ll keep going to drive home the point.

He moved on to Charlotte during that 08/09 season and posted a 107 defensive rating. That’s seven points fewer per 100 possessions than it was in Phoenix, and in 08/09 Charlotte ranked ninth defensively.

In 09/10, 10/11 and 11/12 Diaw’s defensive ratings were 105, 108 and 111. The ‘Cats ranked first, 11th and 27th respectively those years.

Isn’t it really, really weird that Diaw’s best defensive rating of his career to that point came when he played on the best defensive team of his career?

And isn’t it really, really weird that in the two seasons Diaw got traded, his defensive rating magically, and significantly improved when he got sent to better defensive teams?

It’s not weird. It’s also, in my eyes, why defensive rating is the worst advanced statistic out there.

There are good defenders on the Charlotte Bobcats; Michael Kidd-Gilchrist can already play very good NBA defense, and Gerald Henderson is known as an annoying player around the league, because of the solid wing defense he plays. But Charlotte as a team is horrible defensively, and MKG and Hendo have defensive ratings at 110+

Even this stat’s direct opposite, offensive rating, is somewhat smooth no matter where a certain player ends up; The Bobcats are equally bad offensively as there on on D, and players like Ramon Sessions, Kemba Walker and Gerald Henderson, guys I would consider solid on offense, all have offensive ratings above 100.

Seriously, Washington is the worst offensive team in the league, and they have seven players with offensive ratings at 100 or higher.

But the worst defensive team in the league, Sacramento, has just one player at or below a 106 defensive rating. He’s Cole Aldrich. He’s played 10 minutes this season.

So even for a guy like me who loves almost all things advanced-statistic-wise, there comes a point where you have to realize that this level of analytics is not the holy grail of measuring a professional basketball player.

Let’s be serious. You could put Tim Duncan (the league leader in defensive rating right now) on the Bobcats, and he’d struggle to get his defensive rating below, or even at 100 by the time the season ended.

It’s a team-reliant stat that, honestly, should have no bearing at all on determining how good a player is defensively.

Mar 2, 2012; San Antonio, TX, USA; Charlotte Bobcats center Boris Diaw (32) shoots against the San Antonio Spurs during the second half at the AT

The worst season in NBA history is in the books, and it’s time to look at the players who made it all possible.

In the coming days I’ll take a look at every single Bobcats player (and I mean every single one), grade their season, and take a look into their future.

The other day I looked at DJ White’s (mediocre-at-best) season. Today, it’s Boris Diaw’s turn.

Offense: D+

There once was a man in the NBA who played the forward-center position, even though he was a severely undersized 5. After his first two seasons in the league, his true shooting percentage (takes into account free-throws and three pointers) never dipped below 50 percent. Until this year.

Even with such accuracy, he never averaged more than 14.4 points per 36 minutes. He was a good passer, though, and throughout his career he’s averaged just under 4.5 assists per 36 minutes.

Those assists usually came at the expense of the rest of his offense; He would constantly pass up wide open jumpers to *try* and thread a razor sharp pass under the rim to a teammate. This might have something to do with why he averaged close to 2.5 turnovers per 36 minutes.

His name was Boris Diaw, and I painted that long and pointless picture to tell you that in short, a guy who was an average scorer and passer throughout his career, magically became a below-average-to-dreadful scorer and thought he was a point guard in his final season with the Bobcats.

His per 36 scoring numbers dropped to 9.6, but his per 36 assist numbers hovered around six the entire year.

His coach benched him for an extended period of time leading up to the all star break, and for some unfathomable reason, when the Bobcats couldn’t trade him, they let him walk… to the San Antonio Spurs… who could very well win the NBA championship this year… Are you kidding me?

What’s freaking hilarious is the fact that with Charlotte in 2012, his offensive rating was a *&$#@#ing 89, but with the Spurs, it’s now 111. I know San Antonio runs a much better offensive system than Charlotte, but come on.

Defense: F

This stat cannot be explained by a system. It can only be explained by effort.

Boris Diaw’s defensive rating with Charlotte this season was 111. With San Antonio it’s 102. That’s nine points fewer per 100 possessions that Diaw’s giving up. Those nine points could have been the difference between Charlotte being the worst NBA team ever or being the second, or maybe even third worst team ever.

AND CHARLOTTE LET HIM WALK TO A CHAMPIONSHIP CONTENDER!

Miscellaneous: F

Perhaps (definitely) I’m being harsh.

Diaw had a pretty decent rebound percentage, grabbing 11 percent of available boards while he was on the floor. He averaged 1.2 steals and half a block per 36 minutes and averaged just 2.5 fouls per 36 minutes.

But i’m failing him here partially because his turnover percentage (turnovers per 100 possessions) was 22 percent, and mostly because after the way he performed this year for the Bobcats, he doesn’t deserve anything better than an F.

Overall: F

I’ve said just about all I can say here.

The Spurs gained one more hater by picking up Diaw.

I gotta say, that's some solid defense. Credit: Jim O US Presswire

Boris Diaw wants out, his coach wants him out, the fans have wanted him out and pretty much, one way or another, he’s not going to be a Charlotte Bobcat for much longer.  He’s been deactivated from the roster.  Paul Silas ripped him a new one in the press, and everyone is buzzing about it.  The “Boris Diaw trade rumors” search is the #1 thing bringing people to the site and we haven’t really even talked about it.  But, seriously, how will this end? (more…)