December 12, 2011; Oakland, CA, USA; Golden State Warriors point guard Stephen Curry (30) types on the computer for Twitter during media day at the Golden State Warriors Practice Facility. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

Of the four major sports leagues, the NBA has embraced has embraced social media the most tightly.  In that spirit, it seems fair to evaluate the influence each team’s social media holds over its audience.  Klout, while not perfect, is the most well known method for measuring such social media impact.

Klout scours social media accounts, such as Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Instagram, and measures their data to create a “Klout Score.” Klout scores range from 1 to 100, with higher scores corresponding to a broader online social influence. The data below are broken up by NBA division, with measurements taken in June 2011 and May 2013.

A few notes:  Klout has reformulated its algorithms and measurement scales since 2011, so the scores of 2011 are not directly comparable with the scores of 2013.  Also, the scales aren’t linear — in fact, they’re probably closer to something logarithmic — so a score of 89 is actually better than a score of 88 by a good bit more than 1%.

Atlantic Division

Central Division

Southeast Division

Pacific Division

Northwest Division

Southwest Division 

Other team-based notes and trends:

• There is likely a fair bit of playoff bias in measurements taken in June and May; for example, in 2011, the Mavericks and Heat topped the league during their respective runs to the NBA Finals.  Out of the playoffs in 2013, Dallas finished with a score much closer to the league average.
• With a score of 95, Chicago finished with the highest 2013 score; Portland finished last with a mark of 84.
• Milwaukee, Phoenix, and Utah finished in a surprising tie for the sixth-highest score, following five teams from bigger markets with more television exposure: the Bulls, Lakers, Celtics, Knicks, and Heat.

Standing at 6’6″, Caldwell-Pope should immediately make Bucks fans intrigued because of his rather large height advantage over Monta Ellis, who stands at 6’3″. With that said, comparing the two players is completely ridiculous because their playing styles couldn’t be any more different. For example, Monta Ellis worked best when he was penetrating his way to the rim while Kentavious is more of a perimeter threat. Could the differences between the two players help the Bucks move past the Ellis/Jennings era? Well, let’s take a look.

Out of all the NCAA players who are projected to be a top-20 pick in next month’s draft, Caldwell-Pope probably played on the weakest team — the Georgia Bulldogs. They finished the season with a 15-16 record that put them near the bottom of the SEC but those issues shouldn’t rest fully on the shoulders of Kentavious. The reason for that is because of the huge progression that he made between his freshman and sophomore seasons. Compared to the 2011-12 season, Kentavious increased his PPG (13.2 in ’11-’12 compared to  18.5 in ’12-’13), RPG (5.2 to 7.1), FG% (39% to 43%), 3p% (30% to 37%) and FT% (65% to 80%). Those numbers and percentages are definitely promising because it shows the progression he’s made through his first two years but also the fact that he can continue improving as he grows as a player.

The above statement begs the question of what Kentavious needs to improve on as he makes his transition to the NBA. While he’s an extremely solid perimeter player, there are noticeable issues when it comes to his ball-handling ability. Caldwell-Pope is a very athletic but he fails to use that ability while penetrating to the basket because he struggles to pull together the moves capable of getting past a defender. He’s going to need to develop that skillset to make him into a better all-around player because he seems like a one-dimensional player at the moment. Of course, that could change if he does progress as a player or finds a complementary point guard who works well with his skill set.

Kentavious could work well in a pick-and-roll system with the likes of Sanders, Henson and Ilyasova because of his ability to shoot off the dribble. While that skill-set could work to perfection when paired with a multitude of front-court players, he’s shown that he can rely on that trait a little bit too much, ultimately resulting in some very questionable shot attempts. Now that could change when he surrounds himself with a more talented group of players or if he just matures as a player.

Defensively, Kentavious is a an above-average defender who uses his athleticism very well. He’s actually extremely aggressive as a man-to-man defender which is could be good or bad depending on your point of view. While he’s a solid on-ball defender, he does struggle working through screens but he should improve as he grows as a player.

Overall, I think Kentavious is an extremely solid prospect that could do well in the Bucks system. However he does need a good distributing point guard by his side so he can work more off the ball — something he rarely did while he was a member of the Bulldogs. With that said, he’s probably going to have a good NBA career ahead of him because of his skills around the perimeter and his ability to crash the defensive boards (8.7 defensive rebounds per 40 minutes).

Mar 7, 2013; Athens, GA, USA; Georgia Bulldogs guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope (1) drives the ball up the court against the Kentucky Wildcats during the second half at Stegeman Coliseum. Georgia defeated Kentucky 72-62. Mandatory Credit: Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports