Run The Numbers: Check on Who’s Most Affecting Categories

For the first few weeks of the season, I try not to focus on the standings. I look, of course, but I do so knowing that there have been outlier games, whose impacts are more pronounced due to the small sample size. Also, most teams have a player or two that’s missed the majority of the games and they might also have been starting a replacement player that’s not going to keep it up much longer. However, we’re now about a quarter of the way through the NBA season. The data is relatively predictable. You should know which categories you need to focus on in order to gain points and which ones to ignore, either because you’re stuck at the bottom or entrenched at the top of a category (or if you always win or lose the category by a ton in head-to-head).

Today, we’ll look at the ESPN Player Rater. Tony RP’s Player Rater updates will give you a picture of who’s most valuable by position. I thought I’d go by category to see who’s doing what for us. Here are the top 20 players by category plus the bottom 20 for relevant ones, skipping players that have hardly played. So, it’s just the per-game stat leaders you may be familiar with, except that the percentage categories are weighted by volume. Turnovers are from BasketballMonster, since ESPN doesn’t include them.

So, how is this useful? Obviously, you want players that score well overall on the Player Rater. But, if you’re like me, you’ll be surprised to see some of your players pop up on these lists. Also, keeping in mind which categories you need help in, this can help you find some trade targets. Or, if you’re out of it in points or FG%, maybe ship off a guy that’s in the top 20 that’s not doing much else for you. If you’re in the middle of the pack in FT% and you see that you have one of the worst offenders there, maybe you can ditch him and gain points (just keep in mind what you might be losing in other categories from him). A lot can be gained by learning what’s actually happening compared to what we assume is happening based on previous years or projections.

Next week, I’ll get back into multi-category rankings for those that are ignoring categories, whether intentionally or as a matter of the hand you’ve been dealt. Think punt FG% & TOs, or for FT% punters: 3PTM+AST+ST+PTS+TO rankings, which are what you want to complement your FT% anchors with. That’s when you can really find trade value, since all players now have a new value to your specific team.

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ESPN Player Rater Averages (per-game) through 11/27.

FG% Best

1. LeBron James
2. Clint Capela
3. Anthony Davis
4. Giannis Antetokounmpo
5. Enes Kanter
6. Steven Adams
7. Rudy Gobert
8. Hassan Whiteside
9. DeAndre Jordan
10. JaMychal Green
11. Dwight Howard
12. Kevin Durant
13. Dewayne Dedmon
14. Larry Nance Jr.
15. Nene
16. John Collins
17. Otto Porter Jr.
18. Karl-Anthony Towns
19. David West
20. Jakob Poeltl

FG% Worst

1. Lonzo Ball
2. Marcus Smart
3. Justin Holiday
4. Danilo Gallinari
5. Ersan Ilyasova
6. Sean Kilpatrick
7. Darrell Arthur
8. Michael Carter-Williams
9. Donovan Mitchell
10. Tyler Johnson
11. Mike Conley
12. Josh Richardson
13. Austin Rivers
14. Malik Monk
15. Kay Felder
16. Dennis Smith Jr.
17. Russell Westbrook
18. Paul Zipser
19. Eric Gordon
20. Patty Mills

FT% Best

1. Stephen Curry
2. Damian Lillard
3. Kevin Love
4. James Harden
5. Danilo Gallinari
6. Ricky Rubio
7. Lou Williams
8. Kemba Walker
9. Reggie Jackson
10. Devin Booker
11. Kevin Durant
12. Kristaps Porzingis
13. Rodney Hood
14. Eric Gordon
15. Kyrie Irving
16. Kyle Lowry
17. Derrick Rose
18. Delon Wright
19. Karl-Anthony Towns
20. Tyler Johnson

FT% Worst

1. Dwight Howard
2. Mason Plumlee
3. Ben Simmons
4. John Henson
5. Josh Jackson
6. Andrew Wiggins
7. Jaylen Brown
8. Willy Hernangomez
9. Andre Drummond
10. Elfrid Payton
11. Jahlil Okafor
12. Jusuf Nurkic
13. Brandon Ingram
14. Lonzo Ball
15. Ron Baker
16. Tristan Thompson
17. Trevor Booker
18. Kevon Looney
19. Pascal Siakam
20. Bismack Biyomo

TO Best

1. Brandan Wright
2. Michael Kidd-Gilchrist
3. Ekpe Udoh
4. Marvin Williams
5. Wayne Ellington
6. David Nwaba
7. Tony Snell
8. Kyle Korver
9. Joe Harris
10. C.J. Miles
11. Shabazz Napier
12. Noah Vonleh
13. JaMychal Green
14. Nemanja Bjelica
15. Terry Rozier
16. Tobias Harris
17. Andre Iguodala
18. Ryan Anderson
19. Al-Farouq Aminu
20. Otto Porter

TO Worst

1. DeMarcus Cousins
2. James Harden
3. Russell Westbrook
4. LeBron James
5. Joel Embiid
6. D’Angelo Russell
7. Ben Simmons
8. Andre Drummond
9. Ricky Rubio
10. Kevin Durant
11. Jeff Teague
12. Victor Oladipo
13. Kris Dunn
14. Eric Bledsoe
15. Marc Gasol
16. Dennis Schroder
17. Devin Booker
18. John Wall
19. Giannis Antetokounmpo
20. Blake Griffin

PTS Best

1. James Harden
2. Giannis Antetokounmpo
3. LeBron James
4. Kristaps Porzingis
5. Anthony Davis
6. Stephen Curry
7. Damian Lillard
8. DeMarcus Cousins
9. Kevin Durant
10. Bradley Beal
11. Blake Griffin
12. Victor Oladipo
13. DeMar DeRozan
14. Joel Embiid
15. Kyrie Irving
16. Devin Booker
17. Kemba Walker
18. LaMarcus Aldridge
19. Russell Westbrook
20. C.J. McCollum

3PTM Best

1. James Harden
2. Stephen Curry
3. Klay Thompson
4. Eric Gordon
5. Robert Covington
6. Paul George
7. Ryan Anderson
8. Tobias Harris
9. C.J. McCollum
10. Rodney Hood
11. Kyle Lowry
12. Trevor Ariza
13. C.J. Miles
14. Joe Ingles
15. Justin Holiday
16. J.J. Redick
17. Wesley Matthews
18. Kevin Durant
19. Kyle Korver
20. Wayne Ellington

REB Best

1. Andre Drummond
2. DeAndre Jordan
3. Dwight Howard
4. Hassan Whiteside
5. DeMarcus Cousins
6. Karl-Anthony Towns
7. Anthony Davis
8. Nikola Jokic
9. Clint Capela
10. Joel Embiid
11. Rudy Gobert
12. Giannis Antetokounmpo
13. Enes Kanter
14. Kevin Love
15. Tyson Chandler
16. Alex Len
17. Ben Simmons
18. Russell Westbrook
19. Marc Gasol
20. Marcin Gortat

AST Best

1. Chris Paul
2. James Harden
3. Russell Westbrook
4. John Wall
5. LeBron James
6. Jeff Teague
7. Ben Simmons
8. Lonzo Ball
9. Kyle Lowry
10. Dennis Schroder
11. Draymond Green
12. Elfrid Payton
13. Darren Collison
14. Stephen Curry
15. Kemba Walker
16. Spencer Dinwiddie
17. Damian Lillard
18. Reggie Jackson
19. Jarrett Jack
20. Rajon Rondo

ST Best

1. Paul George
2. Chris Paul
3. Ben Simmons
4. Russell Westbrook
5. Kris Dunn
6. Jimmy Butler
7. Gary Harris
8. Thaddeus Young
9. Eric Bledsoe
10. Kent Bazemore
11. Stephen Curry
12. Jeff Teague
13. Ricky Rubio
14. Patrick Beverley
15. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope
16. Otto Porter Jr.
17. James Harden
18. Larry Nance Jr.
19. DeMarcus Cousins
20. Victor Oladipo

BLK Best

1. Rudy Gobert
2. Myles Turner
3. Kristaps Porzingis
4. Kevin Durant
5. Anthony Davis
6. Clint Capela
7. Giannis Antetokounmpo
8. Brook Lopez
9. Marc Gasol
10. Joel Embiid
11. Hassan Whiteside
12. DeMarcus Cousins
13. Salah Mejri
14. John Henson
15. Ekpe Udoh
16. Karl-Anthony Towns
17. Draymond Green
18. Bismack Biyombo
19. LaMarcus Aldridge
20. Pau Gasol

This week’s classic fantasy line:

89-90 Hakeem Olajuwon

Games: 82

MPG: 38.1

FG%: 50

FT%: 71

PPG: 24.3

RPG: 14.0

APG: 2.9

SPG: 2.1

BPG: 4.6

I see he was also a 20% career three-point shooter (in only 125 attempts), so I imagine these days, The Dream would also be knocking down a few of those each game as well.