At A Glance - 1st qtr
The Statistical Landscape of the NLL (by nick)

We're over a quarter of the way through the season and we now have a good sample size to start statistical analysis. Like in previous seasons, every quarter of the season weeks i will provide a writeup of the best & worst teams and players of the 2011/12 season. This writeup is about 2 weeks late because i away, but that only means we have a bigger sample size. Enjoy!

Top 5 Offensive Teams

(rated by offensive officiency)

#	Pic	Team	W/L	OEff	Comments
1		Miami Heat	24-3	118.61	The Heat are the hottest team in the league right now, coming off a ridiculous 20 game win streak and counting. I can't remember seeing a win streak that big in NLL. This should send a message to folks of NLL - as fun as collecting young studs is, it's the old vets who get the job done. Right now Tim Duncan is averaging 25.4ppg on 63% for the league's hottest offensive team. And the recent addition of Andris Biedrins should only improve their offense. Well, maybe not.
2		Brooklyn Nets	20-7	118.31	We call him the 2k professor for a reason - he knows the game. It should be of no surprise to see craig's Brooklyn Nets as an elite offensive team in the league. The Nets are getting solid production all around from Wade, Bosh, G.Green, Miles and Terry.
3		Sacramento Kings	19-9	117.17	The Kings recently bit the bullet and traded away their injury-riddled center Andrew Bynum, but they still have one of the best perimeter combos in the league in JR Smith (23ppg), Chris Paul, Paul George and Tyreke Evans. Losing Kevin Love hurts though,
4		Dallas Mavericks	16-9	116.32	Dallas seem to be in this top 5 every year, and it's thanks to Mr Carmelo Anthony. He now finally has his star frontcourt duo in Al Horford. Horf is yet to find his stride yet, but strong play from their backcourt has gotten them into this top 5. Not to mention Melo is averaging a eye-popping 33.7ppg on 57%.
5		LA Lakers	14-12	115.76	The Lakers are another team who has cleverly stocked up on forgotten older vets who can really play in the game. They're getting extremely solid all-round production from guys such as Kevin Garnett, Jason Richardson, David Lee and Jameer Nelson.

Bottom 5 Offensive Teams

(rated by offensive officiency)

#	Pic	Team	W/L	OEff	Comments
26		Chicago Bulls	10-17	105.00	Will the Bulls ever be mentioned in the top 5 of anything some day? It seems like they've been a poor rebuilding team since forever. Currently they have no reliable go-to scorers, but Kemba is close.
27		Charlotte Bobcats	5-22	104.14	You know things are bad when the lone bright spot of your season has been Anthony Randolph. However Eric Gordon is finally back in action so expect the Bobcats to fall out of the bottom 5 eventually..
28		Utah Jazz	5-20	102.80	Beasley is ripping it up in Utah with 27.4ppg, but beyond that they have nobody significant. Wilson Chandler will return next week though which could provide a nice boost to their offense.
29		Oklahoma City Thunder	6-20	101.11	The revolving door in OKC continues, and now they will roll with Dirk Diggler and a wobbly Pau Gasol. Gasol's return could shift OKC's chances. In the meantime, Dirk has averaged a nice 24ppg in 10 games.
30		Golden State Warriors	3-23	98.37	The Warriors GM has done everything he can to turn this team into a winner, and for that you must commend his winning spirit. However he may have jumped too far ahead of himself in the process because right now they are plain bad. Al Jefferson has been doing his best but everyone else has been mediocre. And Derrick Williams doesn't look like the future star they were hoping for yet. Be interesting to see how things pan out for GSW.

Top 5 Defensive Teams

(rated by defensive officiency)

#	Pic	Team	W/L	OEff	Comments
1		New York Knicks	22-5	105.09	The Knicks have been the best defensive team in the league so far, and looking over the roster it appears due to a team effort. Perhaps Deandre Jordan is the biggest reason behind their defense, along with maybe Luol Deng. But their roster is just so deep and talented that it has no defensive holes.
2		Cleveland Cavaliers	24-4	105.18	The Cavs are one of the other beasts from the east that is locking teams down. They have 2 of arguably the best defensive players in NLL manning their frontcourt spots in Serge Ibaka and Lebron James. Kevin Seraphin is solid on D at center, but it's Andre Drummond Drummond and Metta World Peace giving them great defensive minutes off the bench that gives the Cavs a real defensive edge.
3		Miami Heat	24-3	106.58	Timmy D is still one of the best post defenders in the league, along with an elite perimeter defender in Andre Iguodala. Jared Dudley has also been known to play smart D. Elton Brand off the bench provides some good backup stopping power too.
4		Detroit Pistons	15-10	107.28	The Pistons started the season with a bang, thanks to having a lockdown perimeter defense (Rudy Gay, Arron Afflalo, George Hill), but have since cooled off due to lack of frontcourt presence. Andreson Varejao's return could not come soon enough.
5		Sacramento Kings	19-9	107.63	Paul George and Chris Paul are good defenders, and Splitter is solid. JR Smith has also recieved a handsome steal rating update, but beyond that they're nothing special defensively from what i can see.

Bottom 5 Defensive Teams

(rated by defensive officiency)

#	Pic	Team	W/L	OEff	Comments
26		Golden State Warriors	3-23	113.14	There's a few defensive liabilities on this team stopping them from fully stopping teams.
27		Oklahoma City Thunder	6-20	113.98	The Thunder have a few scrubs in their starting lineup that aren't doing them any favors defensively. Don't expect the acquisitions of Dirk Nowitzki and Pau Gasol to help them much defensively either.
28		Portland Trailblazers	7-19	114.05	If they still had Iguodala they probably wouldn't be heard but at this stage they have a few too many scrubs to able to stop teams.
29		LA Clippers	10-15	115.22	Amare Stoudemire and Monta Ellis have never been known for their defense in the NBA, but they're still rated pretty decently in 2k, plus they have one of the best perimeter defenders in the league in Tony Allen coming off the bench, so i'm really not sure what the reason is behind their poor defense. Maybe their coach profile? Don't expect them to be hear in the next installment of this article.
30		Utah Jazz	5-20	117.52	Hakim Warrick is their starting PF, Michael Beasley is their starting SF, DeQuan Jones is their starting SG, and Aaron Brooks is their starting PG. Need i say more?

Top 5 Best Teams
(judged by Wins & Losses)

#	Pic	Team	W/L	Ranks	Comments
1		Miami Heat	24-3	Off: 1st Def: 3rd Reb: 4th	The Heat are riding a ridiculous 20 game win streak and have never looked this good. They're top 5 in all three categories (Offensive efficiency, defensive effeiciency, rebounding %). They're also 1st in eFG% and 7th in TO's per 100 possessions. It's no surprise that this team has the best record in the league, but now the question is - can they keep this kind of form up?
2		Cleveland Cavaliers	24-4	Off: 7th Def: 2nd Reb: 1st	Lebron James is turning the Cavs into an elite team yet again. They're currently the best rebounding team and 2nd in defensive efficiency. Interestingly they're also the 2nd fastest paced team in the league, aswell as being 7th in eFG%. A testament to their dominance all over the court. The Cavs look primed for another title run this season.
2		New York Knicks	22-5	Off: 6th Def: 1st Reb: 3rd	Similar to the Cavs, The Knicks are also elite defensive and rebounding team. Unlike the Cavs though the Knicks have one major achilles heal - turnovers. They're 28th in the league in TO/100possessions (Cavs are 8th). The Knicks get to the freethrow line at a higher rate than the Cavs though, slightly evening things out. The Knicks have one of the deepest, youngest and most exciting rosters in the league. And this writer is jealous. :)
4		Brooklyn Nets	20-7	Off: 2nd Def: 8th Reb: 11th	Yet another Beast from the East. The Nets' offense has been firing on all cylinders this season (2nd in Off.Eff), and are also good on D and rebounding. The Nets are very rounded seemingly have no holes, which has been the reason for their success. Right now they're probably a notch below the top 3 teams, but i wouldn't past Craig to make a few tweaks that put his team over the top. Even though they're 4th in the East, if they were a Western team they'd be #1.
4		Sacramento Kings	19-9	Off: 3rd Def: 5th Reb: 13th	Sactown stands alone as the only Western team in the top 5 teams of the league, a testament to the strength of the East. The Kings are the best in the business at protecting the ball (#1 in TO's/100pos), and that's no surprise with Chris Paul on the roster. They're also a slow paced team who like to make the right decisions and then get back and play D (27th in pace, 5th in Def.Eff). And when you consider that JR Smith is averaging 23ppg in such a slow offense you can't help but raise your eyebrows. One area where the Kings are just average is rebounding (13th), and will need Kevin Love back asap to bolster that. In the meantime the Kings may drop a bit without Love.

Top 10 players

Melo and Kobe, just like last season, are offensive phenoms for their teams. Jamal Crawford is off to a flier in his new team, despite playing off the bench. Tim Duncan has turned into his vintage counterpart and is leading the Heat to the best record in the league. LeBron is LeBron. Rudy Gay is looking like a Melo-lite. Manu has been productive in what could be his last season. Wade hasn't lost his explosiveness in 2k yet and is helping the Nets be an elite team. JR Smith has been a scoring machine despite playing a slow-paced offense. And Caron Butler has been a nice surprise for the Cavs but it could be a fluke. Pretty safe to say that this season is perimeter-dominated.

MVP RACE
1		Carmelo Anthony PER 35.09 MVP 41.49	16-9
2		Kobe Bryant PER 35.94 MVP 40.74	12-13
3		Jamal Crawford PER 32.97 MVP 38.87	16-11
4		Tim Duncan PER 29.12 MVP 38.02	24-3
5		Lebron James PER 29.24 MVP 37.84	24-4
6		Rudy Gay PER 30.85 MVP 36.85	15-10
7		Manu Ginobili PER 29.27 MVP 35.47	16-10
8		Dwyane Wade PER 27.74 MVP 35.14	20-7
9		JR Smith PER 28.21 MVP 35.01	19-9
10		Caron Butler PER 25.83 MVP 34.43	24-4

Keep an eye out for the next update at the half way point of the season!