Month: July 2021


  • Top 10 NBA Players of 2021 (#1-3)

    Top 10 NBA Players of 2021 (#1-3)

    During the last post, I continued the top-10 series I introduced two days ago by covering the fourth through sixth rankings. Today, I’ll wrap up the “list” with spots one through three and discuss the skills and tendencies of the absolute very best basketball players in the game today. As a recap, here’s the criteria I laid out in the series’s introductory post:

    Criteria

    Consistent with my previous rankings, players are assessed based on how they impact success at the team level. Thanks to the revolutionary work from various basketball researchers, we have a great idea of not only which skills are most valuable, but also how much of an impact one player can have on a team’s success. I won’t belabor the topic, as I’ve engaged in many different conversations on it before, but this approach is antithetical to other, more common methods, which value skills next to one another based on the ranker’s personal belief system (a heuristic that isn’t guaranteed to be correct). To capture as much truth as possible, the value of different skills is viewed through my closest attempt to an objective lens.

    The next major part of the list concerns not the player, but the team around him. The endgame for every NBA team (as far as on-court performance is involved) is a championship. However, if we evaluated players based only on how he affects his own team’s title odds, a chunk of the league’s most talented players would lose their due representation. Paired with the fact that teammate synergies and coaching can actually cloud the strengths and weaknesses of a player’s value, the “title odds on a random team” criterion was adopted. (Note: The “economic” side of basketball isn’t included in these evaluations, e.g. contracts, salaries, enticement for free agents.)

    Perhaps the largest theme of this ranking, however, is how to react to single-season performances. Similar to the aforementioned factor of team construction around a player, the opponents a player’s team faces also play similar roles in augmenting, for example, box scores. Rudy Gobert received hearty criticisms for his ostensibly poor defensive performance against the Clippers in the second round, but more astute viewers noted the collapse of Utah’s perimeter defensive plan that led to an emphasized stress on Gobert to concede more long jumpers. The Clippers were a textbook “bad matchup” for a player of Gobert’s style, and while there are deeper conversations about drop coverage in the Playoffs, a lot of Gobert’s heavy scrutiny can be identified as an overreaction to results heavily influenced by situation.

    Because league-wide offensive efficacy has been shattering glass ceilings in the past two seasons, paired with the perceived psychological effects of zero fans in the stadium, larger-sample three-point shooting percentages are losing descriptive power. This is an example of where this list accounts for “good” and “bad” luck, and as the ultimate goal is to capture a player’s tangible skill and value, these rankings can be considered both retrodictive and predictive; meaning, there are instances in which the past sheds light on the present, and that reference points still hold value in these types of contexts. So while lucky or streaky box scores can be “appreciated,” that’s not the purpose of this list.

    Lastly, but certainly not least, this list ranks players at their fullest health, meaning players who suffered injuries won’t be penalized.

    The List

    10. James Harden (BKN)

    9. Joel Embiid (PHI)

    8. Luka Doncic (DAL)

    7. Kevin Durant (BKN)

    6. Kawhi Leonard (LAC)

    5. Anthony Davis (LAL)

    4. Nikola Jokic (DEN)

    3. LeBron James (LAL)

    During the preseason, my biggest concern with LeBron James is whether last season’s hiatus allowed for more time to replenish his athleticism, which then couldn’t be replicated in the following seasons. However, it seems James’s ability to pressure the rim largely carried over into 2021. He was in the 84th percentile with 10.5 drives per 75 possessions, 74% of which were unassisted, and these were comparable to his fully healthy stint last year. James’s reputation as one of the greatest basketball minds in history was as present as ever, constantly finding gaps and splitting defenses with his drives and slashing ability. This caused defenses to scramble, inadvertently allowing James to punish them with his other strong suit: passing. Nearly 11% of his drives resulted in a pass-out that led to an assist.

    James’s passing is so effective in the modern game because of his transcendent awareness and court-mapping. During my film study on him, he was consistently tracking the movements of his teammates on the perimeter and ready to instigate a high-leverage shot for an open shooter. Paired with his threat as a driver, which forces defenders down the baseline and unclogs the corner areas, James functions exceptionally well as the ball-dominant force surrounded by elite catch-and-shoot teammates. He was also in the 80th percentile or higher in both isolation volume and efficiency, and his ability to create offense for teammates and himself allows James to remain one of the very best offensive centerpieces in the league today.

    Similar to last year, James looked like a big positive on defense, and that was a large factor in why he ended up ranking higher than the NBA’s MVP Nikola Jokic. He was a versatile off-ball defender, using size to block driving and passing lanes while being able to guard a wide variety of players; he was in the 93rd percentile or higher in time spent guarding both “athletic finishers” and “stationary shooters” per BBall-Index matchup data. The largest reason I viewed his defense as slightly worse than last season was his rim protection, which started to regress closer to average. James wasn’t as present in the paint and deterred fewer shots, but he could still derail offensive sets before they culminated in these attempts, and that’s why I view James as a strong two-way player even at age thirty-six.

    Fun Fact: James was in the 96th percentile in the proportion of his half-court possessions in which he cut to the basket.

    2. Giannis Antetokounmpo (MIL)

    At the time of this writing, the Milwaukee Bucks are leading the Phoenix Suns 3-2 in the Finals, and Giannis Antetokounmpo is one win away from being an NBA champion. This is largely due to his perennially underrated capabilities as an offensive and defensive player, and his minor upgrade as a passer gives him the edge over a few players for me, as most of these decisions were made on very slim margins. Antetokounmpo seemed more comfortable with a wider variety of passes. While last season was characterized mostly by kick-outs and basic dump-offs, he’s now more likely to hit more players in more strenuating situations. He’s more effective as a skip passer and he’s hitting cutters a tad more frequently than before. Now that he’s surrounded by better shooters in Milwaukee, his paint and roll gravity are as valuable as they’ve ever been, and major catalysts to unlocking his passing.

    Antetokounmpo isn’t one of the very best on-ball threats in the league, particularly in the half-court when the paint is walled off, but his specialties as a driver and in transition offense are two feathers in his cap that add to a diverse and effective offensive portfolio. He’s an active lob finisher, which pairs well alongside strong passing, and he scored on a whopping 81% of his attempts at the rim in the regular season, and this number only fell to 78% on 10.7 attempts per 75 in the Playoffs. The major criticism of Antetokounmpo’s offense is that a system can’t be structured around him to win in the Playoffs, and there’s validity to this, which is why I fully endorse his transition to a more active off-ball role. He’s an extremely frequent cutter who sets formidable screens for teammates in a wide range of situations, while also being one of the most dominating roll men in the NBA.

    Arguably the main driver of Antetokounmpo’s mega-impact, however, is his game-changing defense. Milwaukee’s defense has been surprisingly effective in the Playoffs relative to their regular-season results, and Antetokounmpo has been the heaviest lifer. The Bucks’ defensive rating is nearly seven points better per 100 with him on the court, and this is largely because he’s an incredible defensive playmaker. He doesn’t function as a point-of-attack defender like some perimeter stars, but his hybrid role that takes him off the ball to stationary shooters or on the ball to versatile big men means he covers more ground than arguably any defensive star in the league. Antetokounmpo is among the hardest defenders to scheme around in a regular or postseason setting, and as a result, he’s super valuable in deep Playoff runs.

    Fun Fact: Despite troubled three-point shooting (30.3%) on very open shots (100th percentile in closeness to nearest defender), Antetokounmpo self-generates a ton of his shots, as he placed in the 97th percentile in the proportion of these shots that were unassisted.

    1. Stephen Curry (GSW)

    The skills that lead me to believe Steph Curry is the greatest offensive player in NBA history were on full display this season. His three-point percentages slumped out of the gate, eventually settling around 42%, but Curry was by far and beyond the best long-range shooter in the league this year. He graded out in the 100th percentile in BBall-Index‘s composite shooting metric that incorporates shot location, type, and difficulty. Curry’s stepback aids him in generating a ton of these pull-up attempts; and his sharp release ensures the range on his shots remains effective in shorter spurts, meaning looks of the same quality in the Playoffs are much more likely to fall victim to the more pressing environment.

    As arguably the greatest scorer ever, Curry demands more defensive attention than, again, probably any player in NBA history. Highlights of teams deploying three or four-man trapping schemes versus Curry were popular this year, and because Curry played with as few offensive threats as he has in nearly a decade, his “situational” gravity was perhaps as massive as ever. However, without the basketball, Curry still creates a ton of shots for teammates. Golden State surrounded him with defensive-oriented teammates who could design a system relying heavily on pin downs and ball screens to find an open shot for Curry. This “off-ball” creation of sorts that results in his constant shooting threat maneuvering around the court amplifies the shooting of his teammates. All of these superb skills result in Curry being the most scalable offensive star to ever play in the NBA, meaning he can boost the star talent around him and potentially improve his own value.

    Curry’s all-time impact manages to hold despite elite defense because he’s not a liability on that end. I graded him out as neutral this year because it’s hard to argue his presence either strengthens or worsens a team’s defense. The major weakness in Curry’s defensive profile is his man defense; opponents can target him on the perimeter and he’s fairly vulnerable to strong-set screens, meaning ball-handlers will usually punish him. Conversely, Curry is kind of a good team defender. He has solid awareness and can clog driving lanes before opponents will leverage them, and this keeps his defensive value from bleeding into the negatives. While it’s hard to imagine Curry truly amplifies any defensive system, there’s also a hard argument to be made that he takes anything off the table.

    Fun Fact: Curry was expectantly in the 99th percentile in the proportion of his half-court possessions on which he scored off a screen.

    Up Next

    Before the series began, I asked community members from Discuss The Game to share their top-10 lists so I could compare our lists following the conclusion of mine. During the next post, I’ll go over the voting results and discuss trends, theories, and why we differ on rankings.


  • Top 10 NBA Players of 2021 (#4-6)

    Top 10 NBA Players of 2021 (#4-6)

    During my last post, I introduced a series in which I would rank the NBA’s ten best players of the 2021 season, starting with rankings seven through ten. Continuing the rankings now features the next clump of players, or the ones I believe account for the fourth through sixth spots. As a recap, here’s the criteria I laid out during the last post:

    Criteria

    Consistent with my previous rankings, players are assessed based on how they impact success at the team level. Thanks to the revolutionary work from various basketball researchers, we have a great idea of not only which skills are most valuable, but also how much of an impact one player can have on a team’s success. I won’t belabor the topic, as I’ve engaged in many different conversations on it before, but this approach is antithetical to other, more common methods, which value skills next to one another based on the ranker’s personal belief system (a heuristic that isn’t guaranteed to be correct). To capture as much truth as possible, the value of different skills is viewed through my closest attempt to an objective lens.

    The next major part of the list concerns not the player, but the team around him. The endgame for every NBA team (as far as on-court performance is involved) is a championship. However, if we evaluated players based only on how he affects his own team’s title odds, a chunk of the league’s most talented players would lose their due representation. Paired with the fact that teammate synergies and coaching can actually cloud the strengths and weaknesses of a player’s value, the “title odds on a random team” criterion was adopted. (Note: The “economic” side of basketball isn’t included in these evaluations, e.g. contracts, salaries, enticement for free agents.)

    Perhaps the largest theme of this ranking, however, is how to react to single-season performances. Similar to the aforementioned factor of team construction around a player, the opponents a player’s team faces also play similar roles in augmenting, for example, box scores. Rudy Gobert received hearty criticisms for his ostensibly poor defensive performance against the Clippers in the second round, but more astute viewers noted the collapse of Utah’s perimeter defensive plan that led to an emphasized stress on Gobert to concede more long jumpers. The Clippers were a textbook “bad matchup” for a player of Gobert’s style, and while there are deeper conversations about drop coverage in the Playoffs, a lot of Gobert’s heavy scrutiny can be identified as an overreaction to results heavily influenced by situation.

    Because league-wide offensive efficacy has been shattering glass ceilings in the past two seasons, paired with the perceived psychological effects of zero fans in the stadium, larger-sample three-point shooting percentages are losing descriptive power. This is an example of where this list accounts for “good” and “bad” luck, and as the ultimate goal is to capture a player’s tangible skill and value, these rankings can be considered both retrodictive and predictive; meaning, there are instances in which the past sheds light on the present, and that reference points still hold value in these types of contexts. So while lucky or streaky box scores can be “appreciated,” that’s not the purpose of this list.

    Lastly, but certainly not least, this list ranks players at their fullest health, meaning players who suffered injuries won’t be penalized.

    The List

    10. James Harden (BKN)

    9. Joel Embiid (PHI)

    8. Luka Doncic (DAL)

    7. Kevin Durant (BKN)

    6. Kawhi Leonard (LAC)

    Similar to his predecessor on this list, Kawhi Leonard is one of the most proficient isolation scorers in the NBA. During the regular season, he was in the 96th percentile in isolations per possession on roughly one point per shot, which made for extremely efficient offense in the half-court despite rapidly increasing league-wide offensive ratings. However, Leonard’s case as the league’s best isolationist would come from his scoring’s resiliency in the Playoffs. Because he’s a prolific three-level scorer, he can’t be contained by most trapping schemes, and this leads to dazzling productivity as a scorer. During the Playoffs, he averaged an outstanding 30 points per 75 on True Shooting +10% better than the league.

    Leonard provides offensive floor-raising, but he continues to add to his scalability. Three-point shooting percentages are wonky this season, but Leonard was in the 95th percentile in catch-and-shoot efficiency at 47%. Paired with his growing frequency off the ball, as 16% of his half-court possessions featured a scoring opportunity off screens, and there are indicators that Leonard would fit well alongside other great offensive teammates. Although his offensive playstyle has changed drastically since his trade to Toronto, now calling for frequent pick-and-roll and evolving into a true offensive quarterback, there are remnants of the skills that once made Leonard one of the more scalable players in the league.

    The other big driver of Leonard’s value is his playmaking. I’ve never been too high on Leonard as a passer. For a primary ball-handler, his reads were fairly basic, and he never exhibited the passing aggression that most on-ball creators do. But in 2021, I saw some minor leaps forward. Leonard is starting to act more out of the pick-and-roll, and while most of these are corner reads that many other players could make, he’s leveraging the Clippers’ spacing more than he would have in previous seasons. However, that also sets forth the question of how diverse his passing locations would be outside of Los Angeles, perhaps alongside teammates who don’t stretch the floor like Nic Batum and Luke Kennard.

    To my eye, and some changes in his statistical profile, Leonard is losing ground as a defender. Los Angeles will still stick him onto some of the opponents’ better players; he spent the highest proportion of his defensive possessions against the “shot creator” archetype. But he was also generally less involved on defense this year, to my film study on him alongside some statistical signals; he spent the second-most defensive possessions against stationary shooters. Leonard clogged passing lanes less often and was beaten off the dribble more often, but his face-up and rearview games are enough for me still view him as a big positive on defense.

    Fun Fact: There was an almost even split between the percentage of Kawhi’s isolation possessions on the perimeter (55%) and the post (45%).

    5. Anthony Davis (LAL)

    The consensus on Davis is that he regressed in 2021 due to injuries that bled into his on-court play; and while there may be some rightful gripes with his unhealthy performances, there were more than enough signals that indicate a healthy Anthony Davis is still one of the very best players in the league. During the past three seasons, he’s slowly upgraded his passing arsenal; and during his incredible regular-season stretch in 2019, he was a serviceable primary facilitator on a weaker offense in New Orleans. While he’s taken the more suitable backseat role alongside offensive juggernaut LeBron James, this is also where Davis adds a ton of his value.

    He spent roughly half of his 2021 playing time without James on the floor, and in these 561 minutes, he generated 12.4 points from assists per 100 possessions as opposed to 10.2 per 100 with James on the floor. While there isn’t nearly enough evidence that suggests Davis could shoulder the load of a primary playmaker on a good offense, his secondary passing increases his scalability. He’s certainly active and attentive as a passer, often receiving the ball inside the arc and hunting for cutters fi facing the basket, and his back-to-the-basket game alleviates some of his mechanics on kicking out to one of Los Angeles’s shooters. However, the range of his assists is limited, as the “Passing Versatility” stat referenced in the last post placed Davis in the 31st percentile during the regular season.

    Anthony Davis is one of the best defensive players in the league, which paired with his abilities off the ball, makes him one of the league’s most valuable players to a contending team. It’s well known that Davis makes a compelling case as the greatest lob finisher in NBA history, and this pairs extremely well alongside the drivers that would quarterback those elite offenses (one of the reasons Davis and James function so well together). More than half of his drives were assisted in 2021, suggesting that while he’s not a classic self-generating offensive star, his ability to capitalize on his better teammates’ passing is incredibly valuable. Davis was in the 96th percentile in field-goal percentage at the rim in the regular season. Coupled with his diverse screening action, which includes flex screens, pick-and-roll action, pin downs, and ball screens for shooters, as well as his frequent cutting (98th percentile), Davis is one of the most scalable offensive stars in the league.

    Last season, Davis was the best defensive player in the Playoffs due to his unmatched combination of versatility and rim protection that punished all types of offensive constructions. This season, he didn’t lose much of a step outside of fatigue and health issues. During the regular season, Davis was less eager to close out (although he was still in the 84th percentile in three-point contests per possession) and seemed to attempt to conserve some energy, but all of his previous defensive skills stood out. His vertical contests are among some of the greatest ever, he’s an extremely cerebral and patient isolation defender, and his rim protection was characteristically great. Davis’s nail defense stood out to me in 2021, where he would frequently get a foot into lanes to absorb passes, and as a result, he was in the 84th percentile in the sum of bad pass turnovers and deflections per possession and the 92nd percentile in steals per possession.

    Fun Fact: Davis was dead-last in the league in drawing fouls on three-point shot attempts in the regular season.

    4. Nikola Jokic (DEN)

    Don’t get me wrong; Nikola Jokic was, and still would be, my pick as the NBA’s MVP. Perhaps the greatest offensive big man from a center occurred in 2021, rivaled only by the likes of the legendary Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Shaquille O’Neal. Jokic was the most dynamic and versatile passer of any player in the league. He constantly found high-value shots with his passes in the paint and behind the stripe, leveraging Denver’s cutting threats to unclog various areas on the court. If his half-court game seemed effective, his transition passing extended to transcendence. Jokic could throw fastballs from the opposite block after one-handing an offensive rebound; but unlike most other similar passers, he was never overzealous with his velocity, having mastered his passing’s north-south movement.

    There also appeared to be a permanent improvement to Jokic’s shot. During the regular season, he was actually more efficient on above-the-break shots than catch-and-shoot attempts relative to the league. The 38% three-point shooting he displayed in last year’s Playoffs carried over at 39%, and I think his shot mechanics have improved. As he undertook less of a catapulting motion, the variability of his motions and the trajectory of his attempts decreased. This was the ceiling-shattering upgrade to Jokic’s offensive package, forcing defenses to react more attentively to his mid-range game while Jokic could continue to punish the opposition with his own shot to greater reward outside the paint. Although he didn’t fit the mold of a traditional isolation scorer who would function out of triple-threat, the middle of the floor served as the stomping ground for Jokic’s insane volume (97th percentile) and efficiency (88th percentile) on isolation possessions.

    Jokic makes a truly compelling case as the league’s best offensive player, but I was more concerned with his defense than in previous seasons. A lot of his strengths carried over from previous seasons: great hands, anticipation, and solid awareness. But his off-ball repertoire doesn’t offset his troubled face-up defense for me. Jokic’s lack of athleticism makes it easy for slower guards to beat him off the dribble; and for a near seven-footer, he provides virtually no rim protection. The concern with this is that, contrary to disengaged guards like James Harden, defenses can’t scheme around these types of weaknesses in the Playoffs. While it’s unlikely that Jokic is anything worse than a slight negative on defense, the deficiencies that come with his playstyle suggest there may be a cap on this end of the floor.

    Fun Fact: Jokic was in the 99th percentile in points scored from pops per possession in the regular season.

    Up Next

    My next post will continue this series with profiles for the first, second, and third-best players on my top-10 list. I’ll discuss the “high” and “low bands” for which I could reasonably see players swapped in later editions; the final rankings can be thought of as the point estimates. Comment down below any disagreements, surprises, or thoughts on these players!


  • Top 10 NBA Players of 2021 (#7-10)

    Top 10 NBA Players of 2021 (#7-10)

    Every year, I embark on the self-destructive journey of ranking the NBA’s very best players. Anyone who regularly consumes basketball content will likely have seen others attempt to answer the same question, perhaps to varying degrees of success and failure. But, in truth, the success or failure of a player ranking lies more in the process than in the results. A major criticism of a lot of lists is how one’s personal biases and incomplete heuristics are blended into the selection process. Namely, a ranker may feel their list is correct, but not necessarily why the list is correct. To avoid human error and misconception, the following strict criteria acted as the guideline to creating this year’s list:

    Criteria

    Consistent with my previous rankings, players are assessed based on how they impact success at the team level. Thanks to the revolutionary work from various basketball researchers, we have a great idea of not only which skills are most valuable, but also how much of an impact one player can have on a team’s success. I won’t belabor the topic, as I’ve engaged in many different conversations on it before, but this approach is antithetical to other, more common methods, which value skills next to one another based on the ranker’s personal belief system (a heuristic that isn’t guaranteed to be correct). To capture as much truth as possible, the value of different skills is viewed through my closest attempt to an objective lens.

    The next major part of the list concerns not the player, but the team around him. The endgame for every NBA team (as far as on-court performance is involved) is a championship. However, if we evaluated players based only on how he affects his own team’s title odds, a chunk of the league’s most talented players would lose their due representation. Paired with the fact that teammate synergies and coaching can actually cloud the strengths and weaknesses of a player’s value, the “title odds on a random team” criterion was adopted. (Note: The “economic” side of basketball isn’t included in these evaluations, e.g. contracts, salaries, enticement for free agents.)

    Perhaps the largest theme of this ranking, however, is how to react to single-season performances. Similar to the aforementioned factor of team construction around a player, the opponents a player’s team faces also play similar roles in augmenting, for example, box scores. Rudy Gobert received hearty criticisms for his ostensibly poor defensive performance against the Clippers in the second round, but more astute viewers noted the collapse of Utah’s perimeter defensive plan that led to an emphasized stress on Gobert to concede more long jumpers. The Clippers were a textbook “bad matchup” for a player of Gobert’s style, and while there are deeper conversations about drop coverage in the Playoffs, a lot of Gobert’s heavy scrutiny can be identified as an overreaction to results heavily influenced by situation.

    Because league-wide offensive efficacy has been shattering glass ceilings in the past two seasons, paired with the perceived psychological effects of zero fans in the stadium, larger-sample three-point shooting percentages are losing descriptive power. This is an example of where this list accounts for “good” and “bad” luck, and as the ultimate goal is to capture a player’s tangible skill and value, these rankings can be considered both retrodictive and predictive; meaning, there are instances in which the past sheds light on the present, and that reference points still hold value in these types of contexts. So while lucky or streaky box scores can be “appreciated,” that’s not the purpose of this list.

    Lastly, but certainly not least, this list ranks players at their fullest health, meaning players who suffered injuries won’t be penalized.

    Honorable Mentions

    There was a number of other players I considered as top-10 candidates for this list, although I’d slightly struggle to see one of the following players bumped from the final cut. Namely, my reasonable floor for these top-10 players will still hold more impact than my reasonable ceilings for the remainder of the top-15. The best of the rest for me were, in alphabetical order, and are not limited to: Jimmy Butler, Paul George, Rudy Gobert, and Damian Lillard.

    The List

    10. James Harden (BKN)

    Despite having been traded to arguably the league’s best offensive team partway through the season, Harden once again carved out another ball-dominant role highlighted by his operation in spread pick-and-roll. Although he wasn’t the statistical outlier he was in previous seasons, Harden possessed the ball for 8.6 seconds per possession in his stints with both Houston and Brooklyn, which was good for third in the entire league during the regular season. And, thanks to the wondrous spacing capabilities from teammates like Kevin Durant and Joe Harris, Harden had even more room to work with. This led to one of Harden’s best-scoring postseasons in recent history in which he scored 22 points per 75 possessions on +11.5% relative True Shooting.

    The most glaring statistical trend in Harden’s profile this season has been his volume scoring, which, two years removed from posting the highest regular-season scoring rate in league history, settled at a more pedestrian 25 points per 75 in the regular season. While comparable numbers in his first few games in Houston can be attributed to off-court issues leading up to opening night, Harden’s volume scoring still seems elite. During 301 minutes with Kevin Durant on the floor, Harden averaged an uncharacteristic 17.6 points per 75 as opposed to 26.9 points per 75 in 1,017 minutes spent without Durant. Evidently, there was some clash between the two as on-ball scorers during their shared time, but these minutes also combined to produce an offensive rating of 125 during the regular season.

    A lingering question with Harden had always been whether he could adopt a more movement-heavy role alongside more ball-dominant teammates, as his off-ball efficacy has drawn strong comparison to cacti in the past. This season served as an indicator, and although Harden played a similarly ball-dominant role relative to his other star teammates, there was a slight uptick in general activity off the ball. However, his movement never took off as some of his stronger believers had hoped for, as he ranked in the 8th percentile among players in his percentage of offensive possessions that involved scoring off screening action and cutting to the basket.

    Defensively, there wasn’t a whole lot of change for Harden. To my viewing, his perennial lack of true engagement held, and that led to very little value as a help defender. While Harden does have strengths on that end, he seemed to lack the anticipatory recognition that would make him a clear positive. His “gambling” style also carried over from previous seasons; as, despite his aforementioned lack of good awareness, he was in the 66th percentile of “Passing Lane Defense” (bad pass steals + deflections per 75) and deflections per 75 possessions. Harden’s stout frame still allowed him to function well as an interior defender. He was actually in the 65th percentile in block rate and the 90th percentile in block rate on contests.

    Fun Fact: According to BBall-Index matchup data, Harden spent the largest proportion of his defensive possessions (14.6%) against the “stretch big” archetype.

    9. Joel Embiid (PHI)

    It was painfully difficult to slide Harden to the back end of the list this season, but that’s in part due to the unique, outlier-ish effectiveness of Joel Embiid. Last season, there was evidence that suggested big men who primarily play drop coverage in the Playoffs are more likely to be met by bad matchups; and more specifically, excellent shooting teams who can punish space inside the arc with their midrange shot. However, Embiid seems to be a bit of an exception here. I noted that he contested very few threes and was reluctant to close out during his film study, and this is corroborated by the stat sheet, as he only contested two of these shots every 75 possessions he was on the floor.

    I view Embiid as special because, despite this style that baits great shooters, he still seems to be an elite defender in the Playoffs. Embiid doesn’t stand up to the interior heavyweights like Rudy Gobert, but Philadelphia’s defense was a modest two points better per 100 with him on the floor. Paired with his clear improvements on offense, and Embiid is starting to look more and more like a legitimate MVP candidate. Granted, he’s still not a great or even good passer, but there are some positive signals. Looking at the diversity of the locations of his assists along with the play types on which they were accrued, Embiid almost looks like an above-average passer in spurts. To my eye, his vision is also continuing to improve, and his increased clarity of the corners gives him a strong outlet when met with trapping schemes to leverage Philly’s excellent shooting teammates.

    Meanwhile, there’s also a lot of positives about his movement off the ball. He would constantly hunt for offensive rebounding positions, mimicking what made ’50s stars like Bob Pettit great by resetting possessions for his team. Embiid spends a lot of his off-ball possessions as a roll man as well, placing in the 94th percentile in the proportion of his team’s likewise possessions in which he was the roller. And, relative to league-average efficiency, Embiid’s per-75 impact as a roller was also in the 94th percentile among players this season. He’s also making strides as a cutter, with about 27% of his half-court possessions characterized by a cut, but his efficiency on these plays was particularly worse.

    Fun Fact: Embiid was at the top of the league this season with 14.5 isolations per 75 possessions, 25% of which were on the perimeter and 75% in the post.

    8. Luka Doncic (DAL)

    The Slovenian superstar is quickly ascending to MVP levels as the quarterback of one of the NBA’s most promising offensive teams. While the Mavericks couldn’t replicate last season’s offensive heights in an increasingly competitive offensive landscape, Doncic got even better. It’s possible he’s currently shouldering the largest offensive load of any player in the history of the sport! During the regular season, his time of possession of 8.9 seconds led the entire league, and that number skyrocketed to 12.1 seconds in the postseason. (Trae Young was second in the Playoffs at 9.6 seconds.) As one of the league’s defining heliocentric stars, almost all of Dallas’s offense runs through Doncic.

    His passing and shot creation are his strongest attributes, and they go hand-in-hand while Doncic will continue to unlock historical offensive heights. Similar to Harden, Doncic runs a lot of spread pick-and-roll with high-set screens, and all the space this creates allows him to inflict a lot of damage on Dallas’s opponents. When the Mavericks send a roller to the paint, Doncic leverages his incredible anticipation to place a pass at the apex of his teammate’s jump. Perhaps Doncic drives to the basket. His scoring threat and unique finishing capabilities are enough to collapse some defenses, and this leads to his excellent passing. Doncic loves to hit the corners for high-value shots, and 43% of his drives ended with pass-outs while 11.2% of his drives led to assists.

    PBPStats

    Doncic may have the most effective on-ball offensive package in the league right now. The limiting factor for me is his activity off the ball. To my viewing, he never quite exhibited the ability to create offense without the ball and mostly resorted to catch-and-shoot and post-up movements. However, Doncic is not a great catch-and-shoot scorer (43rd percentile) but he is effective in the post, able to score efficiently and draw fouls at league-leading rates. Doncic’s lack of a true off-ball repertoire is one of the reasons I don’t rank him as highly as others may, and these types of skills are especially important in being able to provide value to contending teams. It’s clear that Doncic is more of a floor raiser than a ceiling raiser, but can he provide the same mega-value alongside another perimeter star who demands the ball?

    The other big reason I drop Doncic down a few spots is that he concedes impact on the defensive end. He’s certainly a relatively skilled defender. Although he doesn’t face these types of players often (8% of his defensive possessions), Doncic is an abled man defender against athletic finishers and shifty guards who pressure the rim. He shuffles his feet quite well and provides a big body in the post versus smaller guards like Steph Curry or Damian Lillard. There are also signals that he could potentially grow into a cerebral off-ball defender. Doncic is an engaged defender when his man doesn’t have the rock, making clear attempts to cover open ground to prevent a high-value shot. He also uses his uncanny physical strengths to navigate screens fairly well, going over the screen while minimizing contact with the opponent.

    Fun Fact: During the seven-game series against the Clippers in the first round, the Mavericks’ offense was 30 points per 100 more efficient with Doncic on the floor than off.

    7. Kevin Durant (BKN)

    Earlier in the season, I assumed James Harden’s larger offensive load would result in him being the driver of Brooklyn’s elite offense. But now, I’m starting to think that it’s actually been Kevin Durant. During 1,017 minutes with Harden on the floor and Durant off the floor, the Nets put up a spritely 120 points per 100 possessions. But during 855 minutes with Durant on and Harden off, that number improved to an even-greater 125 points per 100. If we include the Playoffs in that sample size, the gap narrows, but it creates enough uncertainty that I wonder whether Durant’s mixture of on and off-ball play is more valuable to the Nets than Harden’s heavy isolation frequency and ball-pounding.

    Despite a devastating Achilles tear in the 2019 Finals, Durant has lost very little offensive ground to his younger self. He remained one of the league’s very best scorers, averaging 30 points per 75 on True Shooting +10% ahead of the league. His isolation game also held strong, averaging 5.6 isolations per 75 on 1.2 points per shot. But I’m also wondering if his playmaking has taken a tiny leap forward. A large part of it may be the expansive space Durant has to work, but he seemed generally willing to throw touchdown passes every once in a while. He passes well out of traps, not just by using his height, but by splitting two defenders with his bounce passes. Paired with a great passing gig with Brooklyn’s cutters, Durant was a versatile passer this season. He placed in the 93rd percentile in the “Passing Versatility” statistic that looks at the variability of his assist locations.

    Durant was slightly more fragile this season with his vertical leaping, but intelligent play and great lateral movement lead me to believe he adds positive value on that end. And at the end of the day, this positive defense is what separates him from other offensive stars like Doncic and Harden. Durant covered most of his rotations, exhibiting the same ability to track his matchup and the movement of the ball similar to lots of other smart team defenders in history. He was also an effective interior defender. Durant didn’t deter these attempts like the league’s defining paint protectors, but he was in the 98th percentile in block rate on shot contests and the 85th percentile in his opponent’s field-goal percentage at the rim over expectation.

    Fun Fact: Durant was in the 36th percentile in one-year adjusted offensive rebounding rate but the 94th percentile in adjusted defensive rebounding rate.

    Up Next

    My next post will continue this series with profiles for the fourth, fifth, and sixth-best players on my top-10 list. I’ll discuss the “high” and “low bands” for which I could reasonably see players swapped in later editions; the final rankings can be thought of as the point estimates. Comment down below any disagreements, surprises, or thoughts on these players!


  • Wilt Chamberlain and the Dunning-Kruger Curve of Statistical Analysis

    Wilt Chamberlain and the Dunning-Kruger Curve of Statistical Analysis

    Proposed by social psychologists David Dunning and Justin Kruger in 1999, the Dunning-Kruger effect explains a form of cognitive bias by describing the stages of a person’s progression in a field. The premise is that someone will often overestimate their abilities as they dip their toe into the field because they lack the introspection to assess the quality of their knowledge. As they become more exposed to the field, they begin to recognize that they lack key information to identify “high” knowledge. What follows is a continuously gradual period of growth in which the person attains both increasingly more knowledge in the field and the self-evaluation skills they once lacked. The “curve” that documents this journey is pictured below.

    As is with many other fields, the Dunning-Kruger effect is present in learning about basketball statistics. Having undergone a similar journey myself, there’s no other player in NBA history that exemplifies the Dunning-Kruger effect than Wilt Chamberlain. His individual statistics are treated as unprecedented, reigning high and above any other player ever. Perhaps there’s some validity there, but the larger theme here is how these stats should be interpreted. Using Wilt the Stilt as the guideline, here is the Dunning-Kruger curve of basketball statistics.

    The Peak of “Mount Stupid”

    As labeled on the above graphic, “Mount Stupid” acts as a representation of the first stage of the Dunning-Kruger effect. The person believes they are equipped with enough knowledge to proclaim expertise despite an introductory level of proficiency in the field. This is the stage in which, clearly, statistical analysis is the most limited, strictly adherent to the box score. Additionally, there is the false belief that all notable statistical information is captured in the box score. Active basketball watchers know there’s a whole lot more going on outside of what’s recorded in the box score; hence, the peak of “Mount Stupid.”

    For these reasons, some may see Wilt Chamberlain as the greatest NBA player of all time due to his unmatched combination of volume scoring, rebounding, and assisting prowess. Chamberlain’s career average of 30.1 points per game has only ever been challenged by Michael Jordan, and his rebounding average of 22.9 rebounds per game is the highest mark in league history. This type of statistical dominance was held in his peak seasons, one of which is commonly seen as the 1962 season in which he averaged 50.4 points per game. The Stilt holds the top-four seasons in points per game in league history, and the next-closest player ever since was Michael Jordan’s 37.1 points per game in 1987.

    Chamberlain’s aforementioned assisting dominance trickled in as his scoring went down and he undertook more of a facilitating role in Philadelphia. Even today, his 8.6 assists per game in 1968 leads all centers in NBA history. This level of raw statistical dominance is incredibly captivating, characterizing the Stilt as arguably the most well-rounded and commanding player in league history. But, again, as some of us know, the implications of Chamberlain’s historical statistical profile run far deeper than how they are taken at face value. Additionally, these crude box score statistics miss out on a lot of the advanced techniques developed over the years, which we’ll dive into later.

    Key Takeaways of Stage 1:

    • Wilt Chamberlain averaged a lot of points, rebounds, assists, etc., and his unprecedented per-game statistics mean he’s the most statistically dominant player in NBA history.
    • Box score stats are taken purely at face value, e.g. a 23 points per game scorer with a field-goal percentage of 50% is a better scorer than a 21 points per game scorer with a field-goal percentage of 47% because of these numbers.
    • The entire lack of consideration for how different statistics, box score or not, have an effect on the team levels. This “Stage 1” mindset also glosses over the much-needed contextualization methods of today.

    The Valley of Despair

    After a while, it becomes much clearer that the box score is a mere fraction of what should make up the totality of a player’s “statistical” impact. Recognizing the box score fails to track such crucial information is a trademark quality of the “Valley of Despair,” which occurs when the person becomes aware of how little they know. For example, the assist is the universal proxy for playmaking talent, recorded each time a player’s pass leads directly to a teammate’s made shot attempt. Disregarding the philosophical disparities between stat-trackers, the assist is entirely dependent on the teammate making the shot; meaning a player’s assists figures can either be inflated or deflated based on the quality of the players around him. Namely, comparing assists between players will never be an apples-to-apples comparison. [1]

    While Stage 2 is similarly characterized as one when the person still lacks a significant amount of knowledge, the questioning of the Stage 1 methods acts as the catalyst to unlocking a broader understanding of statistics. Because this usually accompanies an increased awareness of how teammates and coaching influence a player’s statistics (e.g. the assists example), questions will naturally arise that ask whether a more stuffed stat line is truly better than another. The previous case of two scorers exemplifies this well. If “Player A” averages 23 points per game on (let’s use a more sophisticated measure of efficiency) 57% True Shooting, is he automatically a “better” scorer than Player B and his 21 points per game on 54% True Shooting?

    Wilt Chamberlain’s revered 1962 season is a campaign that should similarly evoke these questions. We know he averaged an absurd 50.4 points per game, but could those points have come at the expense of something else? The Stilt averaged a mere 2.4 assists per game, which heavily suggests he was heavily slanted towards scoring as opposed to creating for teammates. Questioning the value of Chamberlain’s “black hole” signature style connects the player to the phenomenon.

    Key Takeaways of Stage 2:

    • The questioning of whether box score stats should be taken as absolute measures; the increased awareness that stats like points, rebounds, and assists are accrued in different environments, setting forth the concepts of inflated and deflated statistical profiles.
    • Although the exact countermeasures to the box score’s inherent flaws aren’t to the person’s knowledge yet, they recognize the need to search for them, meaning they’ve reached the point at which they understand they lack proficient knowledge.

    The Slope of Enlightenment

    Referring to the Dunning-Kruger effect graphic above, the Valley of Despair is immediately followed by the continuous increase of knowledge in the field. As the previous recognition of one’s own inexperience sets in, they begin to search for alternative methods to the ones they had once misused. This creates a continuous period of growth in which new information is constantly made to be readily available for the person to absorb. Pertaining to the subject of Wilt Chamberlain, there are multiple of the aforementioned “contextualization methods” that shed light on the value of his juggernaut scoring and whether or not it made him the greatest individual (or “statistical”) player of all time.

    Perhaps the most common of these tools is the pace-adjusted statistic, which was introduced to a more even playing field to compare players across eras. For example, using Basketball-Reference‘s pace estimates, Wilt Chamberlain’s Warriors of 1962 accumulated 131.1 offensive possessions per 48 minutes. Because Wilt Chamberlain played every minute of every game, including overtime, he had roughly 132 chances to rack up stats every game during this season. For reference, the fastest-paced team of the 2021 regular season (the Washington Wizards) averaged 104 possessions per 48 minutes. This huge disparity in opportunities is used to add context to Chamberlain’s scoring averages in the following fashion:

    Because we like to express statistics in a modernized fashion, box score stats are often represented as “per 75” measures, calculating the number of stats a player accrues every 75 possessions he’s on the floor. [2] Using Chamberlain’s 1962 scoring total with the previous pace estimate, we know the Stilt scored a total of 4,029 points in roughly 10,597 possessions. This means his “per-75” scoring average is a more realistic 28.5 points rather than 50.4 points. For reference, the closest player to Chamberlain’s scoring rate in 2021 was Zach LaVine (28.3 points per 75) of the Chicago Bulls, who ranked tenth among all qualified players.

    Key Takeaways of Stage 3:

    • The countermeasures for the concerns expressed in Stage 2 are put into action, with the person continuously gaining knowledge on enhanced statistical practices and implementing them to discover new information on players and teams.
    • The use of more sophisticated measures to quantify player actions, e.g. points per 75 instead of points per game (in addition to even savvier inflation-adjusted measures), True Shooting percentage (or relative True Shooting) instead of field-goal percentage.

    The Plateau of Sustainability

    While the word “plateau” suggests a lesser growth in knowledge after Stage 3 (this is not the case), the fourth stage is more the product of the previous three having laid the groundwork for further analysis. The person is now able to independently function as proficient in the field and continue to research these phenomena and add onto insightful reasonings. This is when even more of the advanced work happens, and there’s a whole lot of thought-provoking stuff on Chamberlain that counterbalances the extremities of his raw box scores.

    (? Backpicks)

    As it turns out, the previous questioning of whether Chamberlain’s scoring offset other important offensive actions was valid. The above chart plots the relationship between Chamberlain’s per-game scoring averages by season and his teams’ offensive ratings (points scored per 100 possessions). Clearly, there exists a massively negative correlation between these two variables. How do we interpret this? Well, there’s the unavoidable confounder of team changes and teammate development, so some of this relationship should be taken with a grain of salt. But this career-long trend is a damning piece of evidence that tells us something.

    Because Chamberlain was not an elite shot creator (Box Creation, and estimate of shot creation, said Wilt created roughly 2 to 3 shots for teammates every 100 possessions throughout his career), his tendency to take a ton of shots held back some of his higher-level teammates, bolstering his individual scoring statistics at the cost of the team’s overall efficiency. The disparity between his individual statistics and his team-level impact holds true in impact estimates like WOWYR (With Or Without You, Regressed). As perhaps the most robust measure of historical impact we have, WOWYR divvies credit for a healthy lineup’s success among the heart of its lineup.

    Chamberlain’s prime seasons estimated his impact as worth +5.2 points per game, which would still make him one of the very best players in the history of the sport. But a player with “poorer” individual statistics, Bill Russell, had a mark of +6.7 points per game. So while Chamberlain is still an all-time great basketball player, one of the ten very best to my estimation, the rawest forms of his stats are not reflective of how “good” of a player he was, and therefore, his statistical efficacy.

    Key Takeaways of Stage 4:

    • The increased understanding the statistical analysis does not decrease the breadth of information to analyze; i.e. rigorously adding context to a player’s statistics.
    • Establishing more connections between a player’s actions and presence and team performance. Because players are employed to help teams win games, this is what we really care about.
    • Leveraging more robust data to ballpark not only how valuable a player is to a team, but how valuable any player can be, e.g. how much closer can a role player, All-Star, or MVP take a team to a championship.

    [1] There’s also the larger, overarching debate of the differences between assist qualities. The “Rondo Assist” was coined to identify assists that were barely the product of the passer, meaning the shooter did all the work.

    [2] We use the “per 75” measure because a typical NBA game nowadays lasts roughly 100 possessions and some superstars will play roughly 36 minutes per game. (36 minutes is 75% of the 48-minute game.)


  • The NBA’s Top 10 Offensive Players of 2021

    The NBA’s Top 10 Offensive Players of 2021

    (? The Ringer)

    Nearing the end of the 2021 Playoffs, with a whole new season of information on the league’s top players, we cycle around to yet another series of rankings. Rather than evaluating a player based on his overall impact, today’s edition starts with ballparking the value a player adds on offense alone. Because the rules and practices of the NBA are currently slanted toward offense, the best offensive players have a significantly greater impact on the scoreboard than the league’s best defensive players. And because offensive skills and tactics continue to develop and grow, ranking these players becomes an even more complex task. So what are we looking for here?

    Criteria

    Unlike some lists, this will not rattle off the league’s top volume scorers. While teams win by scoring more points than the opposition, there is a multitude of other ways a player can influence his team’s scoring than taking the final shot. Keep that in mind if these rankings appear to be less fond of players like the Greek Freak, Bradley Beal, or Joel Embiid. While the conversation of exactly how valuable certain offensive skills are is a much larger one than today’s, there will be some themes that pop out during the list.

    Contrary to popular opinion, volume playmaking will be viewed in a slightly rosier lens, and that’s because a shot created has a greater expected value than a shot taken. Because an offensive possession is all about generating the most efficient shot, these mega-shot creators who can also score themselves will be ranked higher than the more flashy, self-generated scoring type of stars that historically receive a lot of praise. I’ve written on the topic of volume versus efficiency before, and while there’s more to a player’s scoring value than these two measuring sticks, they’re valued as roughly (key word: roughly) equal.

    Because offense is so often reduced to volume scoring, this list may appear to excessively praise great passers and off-ball players, but this is because they both contribute toward high-value offensive possession. Passing exploits the mishaps in a defense while off-ball cutting or offensive rebounding pressure the rim and generate a ton of second-chance opportunities. The overarching point here is that all offensive skills are at play here, and they’ll be weighed appropriately based on evidence of how valuable they are and, even more important to how they affect bad teams, how much they affect good teams.

    Honorable Mentions

    Before diving into the list, let’s go over some honorable mentions, and why the list caps off at ten players. The first two players out, and the ones I saw as making the strongest arguments to slide in at the back end of the top-ten, are Giannis Antetokounmpo and Karl-Anthony Towns. While they may raise the floor for teams are well as a few players on this list, they were lacking in major offensive categories that made the final cut just a bit easier. Players that were also in contention for the top-fifteen include but are not limited to: Devin Booker, Bradley Beal, Joel Embiid, Paul George, Donovan Mitchell, and Zion Williamson.

    The last main sticking point for this list is that it is extremely fluid. Meaning, players who are close to one another are, for the most part, interchangeable to a reasonable degree. This list is also meant to act as more of a starting point than an ending one. A “part one” of sorts that can be added onto alongside a new influx of information and the benefit of hindsight. So, without further ado, I present my estimation of basketball’s ten-best offensive players today.

    The List

    10. Trae Young

    During the past two seasons, Trae Young has evolved into one of the league’s premier shot creators, posting some of the highest estimates on record. He led the league with an estimated 18.5 shots created for teammates in the regular season, which held at a steady 16.4 through 15 Playoff games. Young’s passing was the catalyst to unlocking the value from his shot-creating. An astounding 85% of his assists in the regular season led to layups or three-pointers. While he doesn’t have the catch-and-shot or off-ball proficiency to optimize his fit alongside other perimeter talents, Young’s floor-raising style has proven him to be one of the NBA’s most dangerous offensive weapons.

    9. Kyrie Irving

    Despite the off-court drama, Kyrie Irving continues to string together some of the more underrated offensive campaigns in recent history, and there are a ton of positive indicators for him: He was +4.6 in offensive Estimated Plus/Minus, +4.1 in offensive LEBRON, and +3 in offensive Real Plus/Minus. Unlike his predecessor on this list, Irving is a great catch-and-shoot scorer, converting on 43% of these attempts in the regular season. Paired with elite finishing that takes advantage of the spacing created by the star talent around him, Irving can maintain a lot of the impact he’d use to strengthen the heights of poorer teams on championship-level offenses. That was the differentiator between him and a floor-raising stud like Trae Young.

    8. Damian Lillard

    Lillard is one of the most special on-ball talents in the league right now. As the clear-cut primary ball-handler for Portland, he runs a lot of high pick-and-roll that unlock: 1) his elite floor spacing and shooting gravity that pulls defenses far beyond the three-point line, and 2) open driving lanes that allow Lillard to pressure the rim. Because he pairs two extremely effective methods of scoring with the byproduct of high-level shot creation, Damian Lillard is very close to players multiple spots ahead of him on this list. His offensive impact metrics may have been even higher than his represented level, such as his +6.7 in the offensive component of EPM and +8.3 O-RAPTOR. Despite an elite Playoff series on paper: 32 points per 75 possessions on +8% True Shooting, there are still some lingering questions that ask how defenses can effectively scheme around Lillard in the Playoffs; so if forced to choose, he’s a notch under…

    7. Kawhi Leonard

    I’m splitting hairs between Leonard and Lillard, but the main sticking point with Leonard is that his scoring is more resilient in the postseason. His 48% shooting from the midrange in the regular season (57% in the Playoffs) gives him the classic three-level scoring reprtoire that Lillard (38% in the regular season and 15% in the Playoffs) doesn’t quite have. As the lead ball-handler with the Clippers, Leonard’s playmaking has shined as bright as ever. He doesn’t have the high-leverage assist power of the game’s very best, but his respectable passing keeps defenses at bay for him to punish drop coverages and unlock his incredible scoring repertoire.

    6. Kevin Durant

    We’ve had the benefit of viewing Kevin Durant through the lenses of various different roster constructions. The only problem: stints have been spaced far apart from one another. There are continuous questionings of whether he could handle the load as a primary ball-handler against elite defenses in the Playoffs, but he provides a ton of value as a secondary star as well. Durant’s all-time-level shooting and isolation scoring allow his scoring to fit well on most types of teams. And because he adds smaller amounts of value through passing and gravity as a roller, Durant still remains an All-NBA player due to offense alone. My confidence level is smaller with Durant, mostly because I wish there were more of him for us to see, but my “most likely” spot for him ends up being sixth.

    5. Luka Doncic

    A second consecutive player who’s very hard to rank, Luka Doncic. There’s a good argument that Doncic is currently shouldering the largest offensive load in NBA history, and he’s handling it extremely well. His creation estimates were second only to Trae Young in the regular season, and he placed first in the quick scoring proficiency model I whipped up some time ago. Because he creates so much offense through his individual actions, Doncic might be the best floor raiser in the league today. But because he can much up possessions by holding the ball later in the shot clock, and due to a lesser-developed off-ball game, my only concern is how well he could maintain that value if he were playing alongside another ball-dominant guard. This is the lowest I could see Doncic based on how incredible he’s been. (If it isn’t already obvious, these rankings are really hard.)

    4. LeBron James

    Once again, another player with lingering question marks. Last season, James made a great argument as the best healthy offensive player in the league with how well his motor was repaired for the Playoffs, allowing him to punish teams at the rim. His passing still continues to peak, but we saw his regular-season Passer Rating dip from historical heights to 8.3, suggesting he’s lost a bite of his passing value from a statistical perspective. There are also concerns of health and aging, so it’s difficult to fully assess healthy LeBron’s offensive prowess. But because I think he still fits on a good amount of teams, I’ll slot him in at fourth, but this is a bit of an optimistic outlook. Lower rankings are perfectly justified.

    3. James Harden

    Harden isn’t a traditionally scalable player, but he’s shown time and time again that he can provide oodles of impact on good teams. The only question with this is how much of his teammates’ roles are being sacrificed to incorporate Harden and his perennially league-leading times of possession. However, it has become clear his high-level shot creation will remain effective alongside other perimeter stars. Harden’s scoring took minor tolls from both a volume and efficiency standpoint, but he still averaged a steady 25 points per 75 on +4% relative True Shooting. I’ve gone back and forth between him and mate Durant for the past few months, but I went with Harden because Durant’s raw performances are far more likely to be the results of his being the beneficiary of optimal roster construction.

    2. Nikola Jokic

    The razor-sharp battle for the top spot is ever-so-slightly lost by Jokic in my eyes. (I’ll explain more later.) He carried over his all-time passing capabilities from the 2019 and 2020 seasons, but managed to perfect the craft even more. Jokic’s half-court passing and creation reached career highs, enhancing the Nuggets’ offense through the layups-and-threes shot selection, panning out countless assists to the paint and the corners. The full-court was his tapestry, and Jokic painted it with his passes as he hit leaking teammates as if it were target practice. When he wasn’t fighting for open position in the middle of the floor or screening for teammates, which added to his off-ball value, Jokic’s increased scoring kick took his offense toward historical levels. With a cleaner form and positive signals that accompany his shooting spikes, Jokic’s three-level scoring and league-leading passing create a combination that led to one of the greatest offensive seasons in history and a deserving MVP.

    1. Stephen Curry

    Narrowly edging out the MVP for the top spot on this list is Steph Curry, who manages to rack up more and more MVP-caliber seasons in Golden State. The argument that 2021 was his peak season is valid in that this very well might have been the best season of Curry’s career in a vacuum. While he loses some three-point dominance as the outside shot continues to evolve, Curry’s insane gravity unclogs the middle of the floor unlike any player ever. The classic images of teams sending traps on the perimeter early into the shot clock are great representations of the difficulties surrounding defenses scheming around Curry. Statistics like Box Creation underrate players who aren’t outliers as floor spacers on paper (Shaquille O’Neal), and while Curry doesn’t pass out of traps exceptionally well, his floor-spacing might be the most effective catalyst for a championship-level offense.

    Content Update

    To end the list, I’ll give a quick update on the content drought as of late. It’s been 40 days since my last NBA article, so while there hasn’t been the same writing frequency as of late. there are more types of content in the works. I’ll likely have some video content rolling out in the near future related to some cognitive phenomena in evaluating players and individual breakdowns of current and historical player seasons. Until then, I hope today’s article was a solid exchange of information on the league’s top offensive players.