Top 100 NBA Players Rankings Analysis

On Sunday I posted the top 100 NBA players by cumulative rankings based on their performance during the 2009-2010 season.  There certainly were some surprises and interesting tidbits in the list.  Here are my thoughts on the results:

Photo source: howieluvzus

• The first thing that jumps out at me is that a player that finishes ahead of another player in the position rankings is not guaranteed to finish ahead of them in the overall rankings.  For example, Dwight Howard beats out Tim Duncan by five points to top the NBA centers list.  But, in the overall rankings Duncan finishes second, beating Howard, who finishes fifth, by 16 points.
• LeBron James rules the top of the charts, besting Duncan by 30 points.
• Kevin Durant, Pau Gasol and Howard are not too far behind Duncan.
• Due to the much bigger pool of players the disparities between the total ranking points are much more pronounced than in the individual position rankings.
• The top 100 includes 28 power forwards, 25 centers, 17 point guards, 16 shooting guards and 14 small forwards.  So small forwards (LeBron and Durant) claim two out of the first three slots, but then only represent 12 of the remaining 97. 
• Power forward is clearly the impact position in the top 100.  It's certainly surprising to see guys like DeJuan Blair, Nick Collison and Brandon Bass make the list.
• Centers dominate the top 25 placing nine in that group.
• The first point guard on the list is Deron Williams at 18.
• LeBron is first in PER, WARP and Simple Rating.  Nicolas Batum tops Offensive Rating while Dwight Howard leads the Defensive Rating category.
• There are a lot of surprises to me, but the ones that rank the highest are - Greg Oden (aided by small number of minutes), Al Horford, Gerald Wallace, Andrei Kirilenko and Anderson Varejao.
• Really is hard for me to believe that Kobe Bryant doesn't appear until the 23rd spot.
• Rookies appearing in the top 100 - DeJuan Blair (66), Rodrigue Beaubois (75), Ty Lawson (83) and James Harden (99).  Tyreke Evans comes in at 107 while Stephen Curry is at 129.

Anything surprise you about the list?

In the next couple of months I plan to analyze the offseason moves of each NBA team based on the rankings.  Subscribe to the blog to make sure you don't miss your favorite team(s).