Kevin Pelton ESPN Chat FAQ

How do I get my question answered?
First, a few ways to not get your question answered. Don't repeat it over and over again. I eventually see most every question that comes in, so you're not helping your chances; I'm much less likely to pick a repeated question. The same is true, to a lesser extent, with multiple questions, especially about the same team.

There are a few types of questions I find difficult to answer because they are too abstract. "What do you expect from [player/team]?" is a good example. (I expect them to play basketball!) Another is ceiling/floor. In some cases, this is particularly relevant -- a prospect with role-player skills may have notably low ceiling -- but in most cases the ceiling is Michael Jordan and the floor is ... I'm not going to single someone out, but suffice it to say there's a lot of room to negotiate in between.

The better questions are usually as specific as possible. "Do you think [team X] is the favorite to win the division?" (or even, acknowledging the randomness of life and the NBA, "What are the chances of [team X] winning the division?") are good. "Who would you rather have, [Player A] or [Player B]?" also works well. Shorter questions are better than long ones with multiple parts. And the best questions are ones that make me think about something I've never before considered. Those are going to get answered every time.

Oh, also, ask a question instead of delivering a monologue. I'm afraid that's the way the format works.

Why aren't you answering my question?
See above.

Is there any chance that ...?
The answer is almost always yes, although it's possible to find exceptions if you try hard enough. The same applies to many questions with "ever" -- ever is a long time!

Is Gordon Hayward as good as Paul George? They had identical PERs in 2012-13.
PER is a summary of box-score statistics, which are disproportionately tracked on the offensive end. In terms of my WARP rating system, which weights defense more heavily, George comes out as the superior player, albeit perhaps by a smaller margin than the relative hype around the two players would have you believe (.593 win percentage vs. .520 for Hayward).

Essentially, the two players are similar offensively (Hayward perhaps even has the edge) but worlds apart defensively. Hayward is nothing better than average defensively, while George is one of the NBA's best perimeter defenders. He played a key role on a defense that was the league's best on a per-possession basis in 2012-13.

So George is (by a substantial margin) the better player, which is hardly a knock against Hayward -- a fine player in his own right. Comparing him to George, and forcing the media to explain why he's worse, does Hayward a disservice.

How do I get you to say nice things about my favorite player/team?
In related to the previous question, the easiest way to get a negative response is to overrate your favorite player or team, because that's going to create negative counterarguments. Instead, the better way is to be realistic or possibly even a bit pessimistic (going too far over the top with pessimism will probably be easy to detect), therefore creating either agreement (which isn't as interesting as part of a chat) or positive counterarguments.

What's the longest you've ever chatted? Is it a record?
My longest chat is 5 hours and 14 minutes on the afternoon Dwight Howard signed in Houston. But that's not even close to the ESPN record, which is 13 hours and 12 minutes by fantasy expert Matthew Berry. I might make a run at the record someday.

What is replacement level and what does it have to do with [fast food/vegetables/any other thing that comes to mind]?
Replacement level is an important tenet of statistical analysis that underlies WARP (wins above replacement player). It's a serious matter for teams trying to find players better than replacement. But it's also humorous when applied to other things, especially subjective ones. Baseball Prospectus defined replacement level as the performance of players "obtained with minimal expenditure of team resources," and the same thing can be said of replacement level in other categories.

Replacement level:

• Pizza: Little Caesar's
• Fruit: Apple/orange/banana
• Vegetable: Potato (a controversial choice)

Are your chats better than replacement level?
No comment.