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).

Top 100 NBA Players from 2009-2010 Season

Photo source: dfornal

I've combined the cumulative rankings for all five positions to create a master list of all the NBA players that logged more than 500 minutes during the 2009-2010 season.  To see my ranking system check out my first post that features the cumulative rankings for NBA point guards.

Instead of including an exhaustive list of all 327 NBA players that qualified, I've listed the top 100 below, with the sum of their rankings in all five categories included:

1. LeBron James, MIA 36
2. Tim Duncan, SAS 66
3. Kevin Durant, OKC 78
4. Pau Gasol, LAL 78
5. Dwight Howard, ORL 82
6. Manu Ginobili, SAS 105
7. Dwyane Wade, MIA 109
8. Greg Oden, POR 141
9. Dirk Nowitzki, DAL 147
10. Al Horford, ATL 155
11. Andrew Bynum, LAL 163
12. Gerald Wallace, CHA 169
13. Nene, DEN 184
14. Kevin Garnett, BOS 188
15. Andrei Kirilenko, UTH 192
16. Josh Smith, ATL 203
17. Marcus Camby, POR 210
18. Deron Williams, Utah 216
19. Anderson Varejao, CLE 216
20. Andrew Bogut, MIL 221
21. Rajon Rondo, BOS 224
22. Carlos Boozer, UTA 227
23. Kobe Bryant, LAL 237
24. Chris Paul, NOR 242
25. Marc Gasol, MEM 253
26. Chris Andersen, DEN 257
27. Jason Kidd, DAL 259
28. Paul Pierce, BOS 270
29. Nazr Mohammed, CHA 274
30. Brandon Roy, POR 276
31. Amare Stoudemire, PHO 279
32. Zach Randolph, MEM 290
33. Chris Bosh, TOR 292
34. Joakim Noah, CHI 317
35. David Lee, NYK 325
36. Chauncey Billups, DEN 332
37. Paul Millsap, UTH 340
38. Danny Granger, IND 342
39. Brendan Haywood, DAL 344
40. Kevin Love, MIN 351
41. Nicolas Batum, POR 357
42. Lamar Odom, LAL 358
43. Vince Carter, ORL 359
44. Steve Nash, PHO 360
45. Ben Wallace, DET 360
46. Ryan Anderson, ORL 363
47. LaMarcus Aldridge, POR 363
48. Carmelo Anthony, DEN 375
49. Joe Johnson, ATL 383
50. Andre Miller, POR 395
51. Jermaine O'Neal, MIA 397
52. Troy Murphy, IND 400
53. Luke Ridnour, MIL 402
54. Matt Bonner, SAS 437
55. Jamal Crawford, ATL 440
56. Samuel Dalembert, PHI 445
57. Russell Westbrook, OKC 448
58. Ray Allen, BOS 455
59. Antawn Jamison, CLE 462
60. Ersan Ilyasova, MIL 463
61. Brook Lopez, NJN 465
62. Amir Johnson, TOR 471
63. John Salmons, MIL 474
64. Carl Landry, SAC 474
65. Raymond Felton, CHA 478
66. DeJuan Blair, SAS 480
67. Lou Williams, PHI 482
68. Erick Dampier, DAL 482
69. Andre Iguodala, PHI 490
70. Kendrick Perkins, BOS 491
71. David West, NOR 497
72. Robin Lopez, PHO 498
73. Jason Richardson, PHO 501
74. Luol Deng, CHI 503
75. Rodrigue Beaubois, DAL 506
76. Matt Barnes, ORL 511
77. Derrick Rose, CHI 515
78. Dorell Wright, MIA 515
79. Tyrus Thomas, CHA 516
80. Jason Terry, DAL 522
81. Corey Maggette, GSW 528
82. Nick Collison, OKC 529
83. Ty Lawson, DEN 535
84. Kyle Lowry, HOU 542
85. Shaquille O'Neal, CLE 543
86. Al Jefferson, MIN 549
87. Channing Frye, PHO 550
88. Baron Davis, LAC 551
89. Brandon Bass, ORL 555
90. Mehmet Okur, UTH 555
91. George Hill, SAS 566
92. Emeka Okafor, NOR 570
93. Mo Williams, CLE 573
94. Kevin Martin, HOU 577
95. Stephen Jackson, CHA 579
96. Craig Smith, LAC 583
97. Udonis Haslem, MIA 584
98. Shawn Marion, DAL 588
99. James Harden, OKC 588
100. Rudy Gay, MEM 590

I think it's fascinating how the rankings shook out and I'll be posting my analysis in the next few days.  Let me know what your thoughts are in the comments section below.

NBA Power Forwards 2010 - Cumulative Rankings

Photo source: Boss Banks

Pau Gasol took the top spot in the NBA power forward rankings for the 2009-2010 season by a big margin.  It does surprise me to see the differentiation between his final score and the other top contenders at the position.  Within the next couple of days I will be posting my full analysis of the rankings.

(If you missed previous posts you should start with the NBA point guards cumulative rankings, which also includes the explanation of my evaluation process.)

Here are the power forward rankings (500+ minutes played) with their cumulative totals included for differentiation:

1. Pau Gasol, LAL 23
2. Kevin Garnett, BOS 48
3. Dirk Nowitzki, DAL 49
4. Josh Smith, ATL 52
5. Marcus Camby, POR 55
6. Carlos Boozer, UTA 58
7. Anderson Varejao, CLE 64
8. Chris Bosh, TOR 74
9. Zach Randolph, MEM 76
10. Amare Stoudemire, PHO 76
11. Kevin Love, MIN 93
12. Lamar Odom, LAL 93
13. Paul Millsap, UTH 94
14. LaMarcus Aldridge, POR 97
15. Ryan Anderson, ORL 100
16. Troy Murphy, IND 103
17. Carl Landry, SAC 120
18. DeJuan Blair, SAS 122
19. Ersan Ilyasova, MIL 124
20. Matt Bonner, SAS 126
21. Amir Johnson, TOR 126
22. Tyrus Thomas, CHA 128
23. David West, NOR 128
24. Antawn Jamison, CLE 131
25. Brandon Bass, ORL 150
26. Nick Collison, OKC 151
27. Andray Blatche, WAS 154
28. Craig Smith, LAC 155
29. Luis Scola, HOU 156
30. Udonis Haslem, MIA 159
31. Serge Ibaka, OKC 159
32. Anthony Randolph, NYK 164
33. Josh McRoberts, IND 167
34. Shelden Williams, BOS 169
35. Rashard Lewis, ORL 173
36. Drew Gooden, LAC 175
37. Danilo Gallinari, NYK 177
38. Michael Beasley, MIA 180
39. Elton Brand, PHI 182
40. Dante Cunningham, POR 187
41. Taj Gibson, CHI 191
42. Hakim Warrick, CHI 193
43. Boris Diaw, CHA 194
44. J.J. Hickson, CLE 196
45. Jordan Hill, HOU 199
46. Jonas Jerebko, DET 204
47. Al Harrington, NYK 204
48. Kris Humphries, NJN 206
49. Kenyon Martin, DEN 215
50. Jeff Green, OKC 218
51. Jon Brockman, SAC 223
52. Derrick Brown, CHA 226
53. Antonio McDyess, SAS 228
54. Charlie Villanueva, DET 229
55. Tyler Hansbrough, IND 238
56. Jason Maxiell, DET 238
57. Thaddeus Young, PHI 270
58. Chris Hunter, GSW 276
59. Glen Davis, BOS 276
60. James Singleton, WAS 279
61. Yi Jianlian, NJN 284
62. Joe Smith, ATL 288
63. Juwan Howard, POR 289
64. Jared Jeffries, HOU 299
65. Darius Songaila, NOR 301
66. Jawad Williams, CLE 302
67. Andres Nocioni, SAC 321
68. DeMarre Carroll, MEM 324

What are your thoughts on the power forward rankings?  Feel free to share them in the comments section below.

NBA Small Forwards 2010 - Cumulative Rankings

As I expected LeBron James and Kevin Durant dominated the cumulative rankings of NBA small forwards in 2010.  There were some surprises after that to be sure.  I'll be posting my full analysis of the rankings within the next couple of days.

(If you missed previous posts you should start with the NBA point guards cumulative rankings, which also includes the explanation of my evaluation process.)

Here are the small forward rankings (500+ minutes played) with their cumulative totals included for differentiation:

1. LeBron James, MIA 8
2. Kevin Durant, OKC 18
3. Andrei Kirilenko, UTH 27
4. Gerald Wallace, CHA 32
5. Paul Pierce, BOS 45
6. Nicolas Batum, POR 52
7. Danny Granger, IND 58
8. Carmelo Anthony, DEN 63
9. Matt Barnes, ORL 69
10. Dorell Wright, MIA 76
11. Luol Deng, CHI 77
12. Shawn Marion, DAL 84
13. Rudy Gay, MEM 90
14. Corey Maggette, GSW 92
15. Jared Dudley, PHO 109
16. Tayshaun Prince, DET 111
17. Richard Jefferson, SAS 113
18. Jamario Moon, CLE 113
19. Grant Hill, PHO 114
20. Carlos Delfino, MIL 117
21. Chase Budinger, HOU 117
22. Marvin Williams, ATL 119
23. Ron Artest, LAL 120
24. Reggie Williams, GSW 129
25. Trevor Ariza, HOU 133
26. Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, MIL 135
27. Mike Dunleavy, IND 137
28. Caron Butler, DAL 139
29. Shane Battier, HOU 149
30. Omri Casspi, SAC 152
31. Martell Webster, POR 152
32. Hedo Turkoglu, TOR 153
33. Travis Outlaw, LAC 158
34. Wilson Chandler, NYK 165
35. Rodney Carney, PHI 168
36. Mickael Pietrus, ORL 169
37. Maurice Evans, ATL 169
38. Devean George, GSW 171
39. Josh Howard, WAS 185
40. Austin Daye, DET 190
41. Peja Stojakovic, NOR 192
42. Julian Wright, NOR 195
43. Stephen Graham, CHA 195
44. James Jones, MIA 195
45. Damien Wilkins, MIN 199
46. Ryan Gomes, MIN 214
47. James Johnson, CHI 216
48. Terrence Williams, NJN 223
49. Al Thornton, WAS 223
50. C.J. Miles, UTH 224
51. Ime Udoka, SAC 225
52. Donte Greene, SAC 225
53. James Posey, NOR 231
54. Chris Douglas-Roberts, NJN 248
55. Jarvis Hayes, NJN 254
56. Jason Kapono, PHI 273
57. Vladimir Radmanovic, GSW 276
58. Antoine Wright, TOR 278
59. Trenton Hassell, NJN 292
60. Sasha Pavlovic, MIN 294

Please share your thoughts on the rankings in the comments section below.

NBA Shooting Guards 2010 - Cumulative Rankings

The results of my cumulative rankings for NBA shooting guards were a definite surprise.  I did not expect Manu Ginobili to top the charts.  Dwayne Wade was pretty close to him but Ginobili's #3 Offensive Rating compared to Wade's #12 ranking in that category made the difference. 

(I've previously posted the full details on the ranking system, as well as the 2010 NBA Point Guard Rankings.)

Here's what the rankings of NBA shooting guards looks like for the 2009-2010 season, with their cumulative totals included for differentiation:

1. Manu Ginobili, SAS 13
2. Dwyane Wade, MIA 17
3. Kobe Bryant, LAL 40
4. Brandon Roy, POR 51
5. Vince Carter, ORL 54
6. Ray Allen, BOS 70
7. Joe Johnson, ATL 70
8. John Salmons, MIL 75
9. Rodrigue Beaubois, DAL 79
10. Jamal Crawford, ATL 80
11. Jason Richardson, PHO 81
12. Kevin Martin, HOU 94
13. Andre Iguodala, PHI 95
14. Jason Terry, DAL 95
15. Stephen Jackson, CHA 98
16. Kyle Korver, UTH 98
17. James Harden, OKC 100
18. Quentin Richardson, MIA 103
19. J.J. Redick, ORL 107
20. Marcus Thornton, NOR 119
21. Delonte West, CLE 121
22. J.R. Smith, DEN 131
23. Mike Miller, WAS 133
24. Rudy Fernandez, POR 143
25. Tony Allen, BOS 148
26. A.J. Price, IND 153
27. Anthony Morrow, GSW 154
28. O.J. Mayo, MEM 155
29. Bill Walker, NYK 155
30. Toney Douglas, NYK 161
31. Wesley Matthews, UTH 169
32. Ronnie Brewer, MEM 174
33. Eric Gordon, LAC 177
34. Leandro Barbosa, PHO 186
35. Sasha Vujacic, LAL 191
36. Marco Belinelli, TOR 193
37. Monta Ellis, GSW 193
38. Anthony Parker, CLE 195
39. Kirk Hinrich, CHI 198
40. Richard Hamilton, DET 199
41. Francisco Garcia, SAC 200
42. Courtney Lee, NJN 202
43. Thabo Sefolosha, OKS 213
44. Randy Foye, WAS 217
45. Jerry Stackhouse, MIL 218
46. Allen Iverson, PHI 219
47. Ben Gordon, DET 219
48. Arron Afflalo, DEN 220
49. Keyon Dooling, NJN 222
50. Larry Hughes, CHA 222
51. Luther Head, IND 231
52. Willie Green, PHI 234
53. Sonny Weems, TOR 239
54. Ronald Murray, CHI 246
55. Marquis Daniels, BOS 249
56. Tracy McGrady, NYK 251
57. Jodie Meeks, PHI 252
58. Sam Young, MEM 253
59. Joey Graham, DEN 254
60. DeMar DeRozan, TOR 260
61. Keith Bogans, SAS 260
62. Rasual Butler, LAC 262
63. Nick Young, WAS 263
64. Dahntay Jones, IND 269
65. Roger Mason, SAS 269
66. Corey Brewer, MIN 270
67. Charlie Bell, GSW 275
68. Brandon Rush, IND 276
69. Daequan Cook, MIA 284
70. Devin Brown, NOH 285
71. Wayne Ellington, MIN 295
72. Morris Peterson, NOR 302
73. DeShawn Stevenson, DAL 341

Like I did with the point guards, I'll be posting my thoughts on the rankings in a couple of days.  Let me know what you think by posting a comment below.

NBA Point Guards 2010 - Cumulative Rankings

First, welcome to Behind the Arc.  As you might guess the focus here is basketball.  Initially I plan to heavily cover the NBA, with some college hoops as well.  But that is subject to change.

For my first project I have been researching all of the different methods for evaluating NBA players.  There are a number of statistical approaches that very intelligent basketball experts have put together.  I pulled together multiple evaluations that I think help to paint the picture.  They include:

• John Hollinger's Player Efficiency Ratings at ESPN
• Wins Above Replacement Player at the Basketball Prospectus
• Offensive and Defensive Ratings at Basketball-Reference.com
• Simple Ratings at 82 Games

I looked at player performance from the 2009-2010 regular season and pulled the evaluations in those five categories.  I then ranked them based on those numbers and added up the rankings to get a total rank with lower numbers being better than higher numbers.

Here are the point guard rankings (500+ minutes played) with their cumulative totals included for differentiation:

1. Deron Williams, Utah 31
2. Rajon Rondo, BOS 32
3. Chris Paul, NOR 38
4. Jason Kidd, DAL 41
5. Chauncey Billups, DEN 60
6. Andre Miller, POR 64
7. Steve Nash, PHO 69
8. Russell Westbrook, OKC 70
9. Luke Ridnour, MIL 70
10. Raymond Felton, CHA 84
11. Derrick Rose, CHI 87
12. Lou Williams, PHI 90
13. Baron Davis, LAC 95
14. Tyreke Evans, SAC 102
15. Ty Lawson, DEN 103
16. Mo Williams, CLE 106
17. Kyle Lowry, HOU 109
18. Jameer Nelson, ORL 109
19. George Hill, SAS 110
20. Tony Parker, SAS 119
21. Jason Williams, ORL 127
22. Stephen Curry, GSW 128
23. Gilbert Arenas, WAS 129
24. Brandon Jennings, MIL 129
25. Beno Udrih, SAC 130
26. Jarrett Jack, TOR 138
27. Aaron Brooks, HOU 142
28. Jose Calderon, TOR 144
29. Rodney Stuckey, DET 154
30. C.J. Watson, GSW 154
31. Darren Collison, NOR 155
32. Mike Bibby, ATL 156
33. Carlos Arroyo, MIA 156
34. Nate Robinson, BOS 159
35. Mike Conley, MEM 167
36. Goran Dragic, PHO 169
37. Daniel Gibson, CLE 171
38. Devin Harris, NJN 173
39. Jerryd Bayless, POR 180
40. Sergio Rodriguez, NYK 183
41. Eric Maynor, OKC 187
42. Jordan Farmar, LAL 189
43. Shannon Brown, LAL 196
44. T.J. Ford, IND 197
45. Shaun Livingston, WAS 200
46. D.J. Augustin, CHA 204
47. Earl Watson, IND 207
48. Mario Chalmers, MIA 213
49. Ramon Sessions, MIN 215
50. Derek Fisher, LAL 218
51. Jose Juan Barea, DAL 225
52. Will Bynum, DET 227
53. Jrue Holiday, PHI 233
54. Steve Blake, POR 240
55. Ronnie Price, UTH 242
56. Jeff Teague, ATL 243
57. Anthony Carter, DEN 251
58. Earl Boykins, WAS 252
59. Chris Duhon, NYK 254
60. Jannero Pargo, CHI 270
61. Jonny Flynn, MIN 270
62. Eddie House, NYK 273
63. Jamaal Tinsley, MEM 278
64. Sebastian Telfair, LAC 279
65. Marcus Williams, MEM 293
66. Rafer Alston, MIA 295
67. Chucky Atkins, DET 303
68. Bobby Brown, LAC 315

In the next few days I will post my analysis of the rankings, including some thoughts on surprises.  I'll also be posting the rankings for the other four positions, as well as the overall rankings.  In the mean time, please share your thoughts in the comments section below.