Stumbling on Another Contest


Stumbling on WinsOne of the perks of writing a sports blog and focusing on advanced statistics is that sometimes you get to have conversations with the guys who came up with those advanced statistics.  Another perk is we also sometimes luck into great giveaways as a result of our unique non-traditional audience.

Well, today, I get to mix those perks and announce a contest to win a copy of Stumbling on Wins, the new book by Dave Berri and Martin Schmidt, authors of a book I reference a lot on this site: The Wages of Wins.  If you have any interest in advanced statistics and basketball, the Wins books by Berri and Schmidt and Dean Oliver’s Basketball on Paper are must reads. 

So, if you’re an aspiring geek, simply like stats, or have no head for numbers and need something to put you to sleep at night, here’s your chance.

Contest rules:

The contest itself is simple:  Answer the five multiple choice questions below in the comments.  Everyone who even tries to answer will be entered in a drawing to win.  However, for every right answer you get, you’ll get two additional entries.  (I.E. if Naill answers “Beer!” to every question, he’ll still get his name in the drawing once.  If Joe answers every question right, he’ll get his name in the drawing 11 times.)

Oh, and unsurprisingly, the answers to the questions(except for #5) are derived using the formulas described in the Wages of Wins.  Any disagreement about the correct answers, therefore, will be resolved by those formulae.

The contest will run until Friday, April 2nd, at 8:00 PM EST.   After that, I’ll close the entries, draw out the winner, and get in contact with them via email in order to arrange delivery of the book.  (So please, make sure your profile has your correct email information.)

The Questions

1. Last season, behind Chris Paul, which of the following Point Guards was the second most productive in the league?

A. Rajon Rondo
B. Deron Williams
C. Jason Kidd
D. Steve Nash

2. Which of the following Hornets had the most productive rookie seasons, per minute?

A. Marcus Thornton
B. Julian Wright
C. Hilton Armstrong
D. Darren Collison

3. Which of the following power forwards, is, essentially, totally average?

A. David West
B. Kurt Thomas
C. Troy Murphy
D. Darius Songaila

4. Which of the following Hornets has had the largest decline in production from last year to this year?

A. Emeka Okafor
B. Peja Stojakovic
C. James Posey
D. Chris Paul

5. Which of the following starting Hornets posts the worst defensive numbers according to opponent PER?

A. Peja Stojakovic
B. Marcus Thornton
C. Chris Paul
D. Emeka Okafor
E. David West


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