Some statistical analysis

My buddy Stu took some time to compile the average years played in the NBA for each team in the league. I told him if he sent me the data I'd blog it, so here I am.

To begin, here are the numbers:

Sacramento: 2.57 24-58

Minnesota: 2.69 17-65

Washington: 2.80 23-59

Toronto: 3.06 22-60

LaC: 3.21 32-50

Houston 3.26 43-49

Golden State: 3.5 36-46

Portland: 3.571 48-34

Cleveland 3.6 19-63

OK City 3.714 55-27

Memphis: 3.66 46-36

New Jersey: 3.73 24-58

New Orleans: 4.06 46-36

Indiana: 4.13 37-45

San Antonio: 4.73 61-21

Denver 4.78 50-32

Utah 4.9 39-43

NY: 5.0 42-40

Philadelphia: 5.06 41-41

Phoenix: 5.21 40-42

Detroit: 5.26 30-52

Charlotte: 5.40 34-48

Milwaukee: 5.42 35-47

Chicago 5.46 62-20

Atlanta 5.714 44-38

Orlando: 5.923 52-30

Dallas 7.8 57-25

Boston: 8.26 56-26

Miami: 8.26 58-24

LAL 8.5 57-25

Boy that is ugly. Maybe if I were better with Excel I could manage to make it look prettier.

Anyway, the last stats class I took was my senior year of high school, so let's see what I can do.

For starters, the top seven teams are in the playoffs. The bottom seven teams are out of the playoffs. Milwaukee has the honor of being the oldest team in the NBA to not make the post season, while the Blazers are the youngest.

Two jumps up from Portland we have the Thunder, who are not only super young, but also a real threat to win the West. Meanwhile, the Pistons, Bobcats and Suns struggled mightily while being older than most teams in the league.

Obvious outliers (oooh a fancy stats term):

-Houston because they are so young but still almost managed to sneak into the playoffs.

-Portland for being so young and so good.

-OK City for the same reason as Portland, only moreso.
-San Antonio for winning 61 games while having the average experience of squads like the Pacers and Nuggets. I had no idea Duncan, Parker and Ginobili were surrounded by such relative newcomers.

-Detroit for having as much experience as the Knicks and Jazz but winning only 30 games total. They've got three guys with over 11 years of playing time and can't even make the playoffs. Of course, who can blame them when these three guys are Ben Wallace, Tracy McGrady and Richard Hamilton?

What does this show? Well, my poor methodology displays the fact that unless you get super lucky in the draft and end up with really young studs like Oklahoma City, having experience on your team definitely helps you reach the top of the NBA standings.

Unless it doesn't. Then you probably made some bad signings somewhere along the way.

Feel free to forward this invaluable information to and NBA GM's you know.

And if any of you are stat heads, feel free to enlighten me to hidden nuggets of information I may have missed. I can offer temporary, limited fame!