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Message: [QUOTE="diggerfoot, post: 4855620, member: 1673"] PERS utilizes that type of data, not +/-. The latter is drawn from play by play to determine the scoring differentials while a player is in the game. A higher + value essentially means the team did better as a whole while that player was in the game. When a position has only two players mutually exclusive, their +/- should be that of the overall score. Thus Clingan was +6 last night, Johnson -5, and UConn beat Villanova by one point. Comparing +/- between players of different teams is meaningless, since the overall scoring differentials are different. Relative +/- is a little more revealing. If one player has the best +/- on their team and an opponent has only third best on theirs, then chances are the first player helps his/her team more. ((As a side note, there was one year in the WNBA when M. Moore had the highest +/- for her team, yet Parker won the MVP with a +/- that was only 3rd best for hers.) Comparing between teammates for one or a small sampling of games also is problematic, as anything could throw off the value, such as the teammates with you on the court. For example, a PG or experienced player might be left in at the end of games to stabilize the bench players, thus artificially reducing their +/-. In the previous example, I believe Johnson was in the game at the end when a Villanova player hit a meaningless half court shot, thus reducing his +/- by three. Also, the amount of time in the game will affect +/- outside of true value. However, the more games played in a season the more reliable +/- becomes to indicate relative impact on a team, at least between players of comparable minutes played. [/QUOTE]

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