I started a project awhile back where I take all of the statistics the NBA provides on players and come up with a point value of how much a player is worth to their team. The player must have played at least 4 years in the league to go into my spreadsheet. So far I have statistics on 740 players from 1977 until now and statistics on 248 players pre 1977. I separate pre 1977 from today's players because they didn't keep statistics on turnovers assists and steals for every year of these players careers before 1977. (some might have it, but not most so I just left it off for all of them) I felt it would not be an accurate comparison against players from 1977 until now.
I take everything (that statistics provides) into account and come up with a final number.
Points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocks are all positive things
Turnovers are negative
I also use a factor for the number of years a person played in the league. I think a guy who can maintain 15 ppg, 8 rpg and 4 apg for 15 years should get a little bonus over a guy who could only do it for 8.
I also correct for free throw percentage. Free throws are FREE points for your team. If you are missing them you are hurting your team.
The last thing I do is use minutes played and not games played for my calculation. This is for two reasons. Your only grading a player based on the number of minutes he was on the floor. Also, later in a great players career he plays less minutes. I feel his numbers should not suffer because he is not as young as he once used to be. So instead of averaging 15 ppg his first 10 years and only 6 ppg his last 5 years, he might consistently average .63 "points" per minute he is on the floor.
I realize this reference is not perfect. There are no statistics yet (I don't think anyway) for lock down defense and things like heart, drive determination, competitive spirit, leadership and a lot of other things that make basketball players worth something to their team. But I wanted to see just from a statistical standpoint how players stacked up against each other.
If you want to see some examples, pick 5 players and I will give you my breakdown in order from top to bottom of who is the most valuable and least valuable statistically in the group using my formula.
Here is an example in order from most valuable to least valuable. This doesn't mean you wouldn't want any of these players on your team. It just means statistically the top player does more for his team than the bottom player. I realize some of these guys are still playing so the ranking might not be accurate until after they retire. But here it is anyway.
John Stockton
Steve Nash
Sam Cassell
Allen Iverson
Jason Kidd
Guys this is just my formula and my project, I am not saying it is fact. I am doing it for fun. We don't have to agree on how the players rate against each other.
I take everything (that statistics provides) into account and come up with a final number.
Points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocks are all positive things
Turnovers are negative
I also use a factor for the number of years a person played in the league. I think a guy who can maintain 15 ppg, 8 rpg and 4 apg for 15 years should get a little bonus over a guy who could only do it for 8.
I also correct for free throw percentage. Free throws are FREE points for your team. If you are missing them you are hurting your team.
The last thing I do is use minutes played and not games played for my calculation. This is for two reasons. Your only grading a player based on the number of minutes he was on the floor. Also, later in a great players career he plays less minutes. I feel his numbers should not suffer because he is not as young as he once used to be. So instead of averaging 15 ppg his first 10 years and only 6 ppg his last 5 years, he might consistently average .63 "points" per minute he is on the floor.
I realize this reference is not perfect. There are no statistics yet (I don't think anyway) for lock down defense and things like heart, drive determination, competitive spirit, leadership and a lot of other things that make basketball players worth something to their team. But I wanted to see just from a statistical standpoint how players stacked up against each other.
If you want to see some examples, pick 5 players and I will give you my breakdown in order from top to bottom of who is the most valuable and least valuable statistically in the group using my formula.
Here is an example in order from most valuable to least valuable. This doesn't mean you wouldn't want any of these players on your team. It just means statistically the top player does more for his team than the bottom player. I realize some of these guys are still playing so the ranking might not be accurate until after they retire. But here it is anyway.
John Stockton
Steve Nash
Sam Cassell
Allen Iverson
Jason Kidd
Guys this is just my formula and my project, I am not saying it is fact. I am doing it for fun. We don't have to agree on how the players rate against each other.