Real Player Ratings: How the Best 330 NBA Players Ranked in 2007-08

We start by taking the top 390 players, out of about 450 players who played in the NBA in 2007-08, ranked according to gross or simple player rating, which is as follows:

ADD THE FOLLOWING
Points
Rebounds
1.4 X Assists
Steals
1.4 X Blocks
Field Goals Made
0.5 X # of 3-Pointers Made
0.25 X # of Free Throws Made

SUBTRACT THE FOLLOWING
0.7 X Turnovers
0.8 X # of Missed Field Goals
0.8 X # of Missed Free Throws

Real Player Rating, the holy grail of player ratings, is then gross or simple player rating divided by minutes per game. This gives you the actual production per minute of each player, so you can now directly compare players with very different playing times. By discovering players who have high ratings, but low minutes, you can spot players who were underrated by their coaches. Among younger players, you can spot the promising ones and the ones who need more time to develop into full NBA players, time that in some cases may not be available, meaning that the player will end up playing in Europe or something.

Then we eliminate any player who did not play in at least 16 games.

Then we eliminate any player who did not play at least 7 minutes per game in the games he played in.

Finally, we lop off the players with the lowest real player ratings from the bottom (36 players in this case) and take the top 330 NBA players to form the official Real Player Ratings list. The average team in the NBA will have 11 players from this list.

If a player does not appear on the list, then one or more of the following is true:

1. The player was not among the top 390 out of 450 players for gross or simple real player rating.
2. His real player rating is very low, less than .536.
3. He played in fewer than 16 games.
4. His minutes per game were less than 7. In many cases, this would be a player who played mostly or only in garbage time.
5. The player is one of the best made you miss type of defenders in the NBA, but has very little offensive game. Since scores that a defender prevents is an unknown quantity, it is not accounted for by the Real Player Rating, and so it is possible for a player not to make the top 330 list despite being a valuable asset, albeit mostly on defense only. Bruce Bowen, the San Antonio small forward, is the most obvious example. His real player rating is only .370, yet he played over 30 minutes a game due to all the scores of the Spurs’ opponents he stops.

ADJUSTMENTS FOR MADE THEM MISS DEFENDING
Since shots that a defender stops from going in the basket, with no actual block, can not be known and are not kept track of, the Real Player Rating is not exactly perfect. But if you are very knowledgeable about the skills and efforts of players with respect to preventing scores, you can make your own adjustments based on your knowledge.

In order to improve my coverage of the Denver Nuggets, I introduced in 2008 “adjustments for defending” to the Nuggets real player ratings. Although neither I nor anyone knows anywhere near exactly how many scores were prevented by the various Nuggets, since I was very familiar with the players and what they can and do accomplish on the court, I was able to rank the Nuggets with respect to made you miss defending.

I decided that I would then assign an adjustment for made them miss defending to the real player ratings of each Nugget, in equal increments. Furthermore, I decided that the top half of the list of Nuggets according to made them miss defending would get positive adjustments, while the bottom half would get negative adjustments.

The next step was to estimate how much the adjustments should be. After giving it my best thought, I decided that a +.130 adjustment would be the best estimate I can come up with for what the best made them miss defender the Nuggets have should get. So Kenyon Martins’s Real Player rating is .777, but his Real Player Rating adjusted for made them miss defending is .907.

The equal increment adjustments were symmetric as to zero, so the best made them miss defender, as just discussed, received a +.130 adjustment, while the worst made them miss defender received a -.130 adjustment. Notice that this means that the best made them miss defender is a full .260 better than the worst made them miss defender, than the basic Real Player Ratings indicate. Since the Real Player Ratings of the entire list of 330 players range from .536 to 1.268, a range of .732, the .260 range for made them miss defending is, it seems clear to me, an adequate but not excessive correction of the fact that no one actually knows how many shots various players prevented from going in.

So what you do, if you think you know about how good a player is in made them miss defending compared with other players, is to adjust that player’s Real Player Rating up or down, by as much as .130 up if the player is among the very best made them miss defenders among the 330 players rated, and by as much as .130 down if the player is among the very worst.

Specifically, you estimate how the player would rank among the 330 players who are in the Real Player Ratings rankings, and then adjust that player’s rating according to the following guideline:.

Top 12: +.130
13-24: +.120
25-36: +.110
37-48: +.100
49-60: +.090
61-72: +.080
73-84: +.070
85-96: +.060
97-108: +.050
109-120: +.040
121-132: +.030
133-144: +.020
145-156: +.010
157-174: 0
175-186: -.010
187-198: -.020
199-210: -.030
211-222: -.040
223-234: -.050
235-246: -.060
247-258: -.070
259-270: -.080
271-282: -.090
283-294: -.100
295-306: -.110
307-318: -.120
319-330: -.130

As another Nuggets example, and maybe I got carried away slightly with the hysteria regarding Carmelo Anthony’s defending, but I estimated Anthony would be ranked in the 259-270 range among the 330 players if all these players were ranked according to made them miss defending. So Anthony’s Real Player Rating, which is 1.091, becomes 1.011, when it is adjusted for made them miss defending.

Remember that you can adjust only players you know very well as to their defending; it is most likely beyond anyone's capabilities to even approximately rank all 330 players, so there can be no full "Real Player Ratings Adjusted for Made Them Miss Defending". No one that I have found has attempted to do this anywhere on the internet! However, as I did with the Nuggets, I believe that you can calculate the adjusted ratings for a team, if you know the players on that team very well.

SCALE FOR REAL PLAYER RATINGS
All Time Historic Superstar Player 1.175 to Up
Superstar Player 1.050 to 1.174
Star Player 0.925 to 1.049
Outstanding Player 0.825 to 0.924
Major Role Player 0.750 to 0.824
Role Player 0.675 to 0.749
Minor Role Player 0.600 to 0.674
Reserve Only Player 0.525 to 0.599
Marginal or Struggling Player 0.450 to 0.524
Bust Players (or Defense Only!) Lower to 0.449

2007-08 NBA REAL PLAYER RATINGS
Counting every regular season on the court production except for made them miss defending, as discussed.

1 Amare Stoudemire, Pho C 1.268
2 LeBron James, Cle SF 1.255
3 Chris Paul, NO PG 1.186
4 Kobe Bryant, LAL SG 1.149
5 Kevin Garnett, Bos PF 1.134
6 Dirk Nowitzki, Dal PF 1.108
7 Tim Duncan, SA C 1.106
8 Carlos Boozer, Uta PF 1.103
9 Carmelo Anthony, Den SF 1.091
10 Steve Nash, Pho PG 1.079
11 Andrew Bynum, LAL C 1.063
12 Yao Ming, Hou C 1.059
13 Manu Ginobili, SA SG 1.055
14 Dwight Howard, Orl C 1.053
15 Al Jefferson, Min C 1.045
16 Chris Bosh, Tor PF 1.036
17 Dwyane Wade, Mia SG 1.024
18 Deron Williams, Uta PG 1.016
19 Pau Gasol, LAL PF 0.994
20 Baron Davis, GS PG 0.990
21 T.J. Ford, Ind PG 0.987
22 Allen Iverson, Den SG 0.978
23 Chauncey Billups, Det PG 0.963
24 Josh Smith, Atl PF 0.946
25 Zach Randolph, NY PF 0.942
26 David West, NO PF 0.939
27 J.R. Smith, Den SG 0.938
28 Tracy McGrady, Hou SG 0.924
29 Leon Powe, Bos PF 0.924
30 Vince Carter, NJ SG 0.923
31 Andris Biedrins, GS C 0.923
32 Chris Kaman, LAC C 0.922
33 Tony Parker, SA PG 0.919
34 Paul Pierce, Bos SF 0.919
35 Caron Butler, Was SF 0.917
36 Shaquille O'Neal, Pho C 0.916
37 Marcus Camby, Den C 0.914
38 Jose Calderon, Tor PG 0.914
39 Shawn Marion, Mia PF 0.910
40 Kevin Martin, Sac SG 0.909
41 Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Cle C 0.908
42 Antawn Jamison, Was PF 0.905
43 Carl Landry, Hou PF 0.905
44 Nick Fazekas, LAC PF 0.903
45 Hedo Turkoglu, Orl SF 0.900
46 Corey Maggette, GS SF 0.899
47 Ike Diogu, Por PF 0.893
48 Monta Ellis, GS SG 0.884
49 Jason Richardson, Cha SG 0.883
50 Jason Kidd, Dal PG 0.879
51 Ron Artest, Sac SF 0.879
52 Brandon Roy, Por SG 0.870
53 Mike Dunleavy, Ind SG 0.869
54 Danny Granger, Ind SF 0.869
55 Jermaine O'Neal, Tor C 0.868
56 Josh Howard, Dal SF 0.865
57 Michael Redd, Mil SG 0.864
58 Andrew Bogut, Mil C 0.860
59 LaMarcus Aldridge, Por PF 0.860
60 Andre Miller, Phi PG 0.858
61 Andre Iguodala, Phi SF 0.854
62 Rudy Gay, Mem SF 0.854
63 Brad Miller, Sac C 0.851
64 Joe Johnson, Atl SG 0.850
65 Emeka Okafor, Cha PF 0.849
66 Mo Williams, Mil PG 0.847
67 Lamar Odom, LAL PF 0.847
68 Troy Murphy, Ind PF 0.847
69 Devin Harris, NJ PG 0.839
70 Gerald Wallace, Cha SF 0.836
71 Ben Gordon, Chi SG 0.836
72 Richard Hamilton, Det SG 0.833
73 Chris Wilcox, Okc PF 0.833
74 Al Harrington, GS PF 0.833
75 Kevin Durant, Sea SF 0.832
76 Amir Johnson, Det PF 0.831
77 Luol Deng, Chi SF 0.828
78 Mike Miller, Min SG 0.825
79 Rasheed Wallace, Det PF 0.823
80 Richard Jefferson, Mil SF 0.823
81 Sam Cassell, Bos PG 0.823
82 Ramon Sessions, Mil PG 0.822
83 Brandan Wright, GS PF 0.818
84 Paul Millsap, Uta PF 0.812
85 Craig Smith, Min PF 0.811
86 Leandro Barbosa, Pho SG 0.810
87 Aaron Gray, Chi C 0.810
88 Charlie Villanueva, Mil PF 0.809
89 Nazr Mohammed, Cha C 0.806
90 David Lee, NY PF 0.804
91 Jameer Nelson, Orl PG 0.803
92 Mike Harris, Hou F 0.798
93 Andres Nocioni, Chi SF 0.793
94 Nick Collison, Okc PF 0.793
95 Rashad McCants, Min SG 0.793
96 Mehmet Okur, Uta C 0.792
97 Andrei Kirilenko, Uta SF 0.792
98 Earl Watson, Okc PG 0.791
99 Joe Smith, Cle PF 0.790
100 Andray Blatche, Was C 0.790
101 Luis Scola, Hou PF 0.789
102 Tyrus Thomas, Chi PF 0.788
103 Ronny Turiaf, LAL C 0.786
104 Jordan Farmar, LAL PG 0.786
105 Brendan Haywood, Was C 0.784
106 Jason Terry, Dal PG 0.784
107 Grant Hill, Pho SF 0.783
108 Stephen Jackson, GS SF 0.783
109 Kris Humphries, Tor C 0.782
110 Tyson Chandler, NO C 0.782
111 Jamaal Tinsley, Ind PG 0.781
112 Mike Bibby, Atl PG 0.780
113 Stromile Swift, NJ C 0.780
114 Rashard Lewis, Orl PF 0.779
115 Louis Williams, Phi PG 0.778
116 Kenyon Martin, Den PF 0.777
117 Steve Novak, Hou PF 0.776
118 Rasho Nesterovic, Ind C 0.775
119 Hakim Warrick, Mem PF 0.774
120 Travis Outlaw, Por SF 0.771
121 Nate Robinson, NY PG 0.770
122 Alonzo Mourning, Mia C 0.769
123 Jeff Foster, Ind C 0.767
124 Channing Frye, Por PF 0.767
125 Rajon Rondo, Bos PG 0.763
126 Linas Kleiza, Den SF 0.762
127 Jamal Crawford, NY SG 0.759
128 Ray Allen, Bos SG 0.758
129 Brandon Bass, Dal PF 0.756
130 Al Horford, Atl C 0.754
131 Sasha Vujacic, LAL SG 0.753
132 Francisco Garcia, Sac SF 0.751
133 Samuel Dalembert, Phi C 0.750
134 Shawne Williams, Ind SF 0.750
135 Matt Barnes, GS PF 0.746
136 Ronnie Brewer, Uta SG 0.745
137 Ronald Murray, Ind PG 0.745
138 Kurt Thomas, SA C 0.743
139 Drew Gooden, Chi PF 0.740
140 Bonzi Wells, NO SF 0.735
141 Matt Harpring, Uta SF 0.735
142 Kirk Hinrich, Chi PG 0.735
143 Ryan Gomes, Min SF 0.734
144 Eddy Curry, NY C 0.734
145 Joakim Noah, Chi C 0.734
146 Trevor Ariza, LAL SF 0.732
147 Austin Croshere, GS PF 0.731
148 Jason Maxiell, Det PF 0.730
149 C.J. Miles, Uta SG 0.730
150 Sean Williams, NJ C 0.726
151 Josh Childress, Atl SF 0.726
152 Aaron Brooks, Hou PG 0.725
153 Thaddeus Young, Phi SF 0.724
154 Nene Hilario, Den PF 0.723
155 Brent Barry, SA SG 0.721
156 Wally Szczerbiak, Cle SF 0.720
157 Raymond Felton, Cha PG 0.719
158 Erick Dampier, Dal C 0.713
159 Rodney Stuckey, Det SG 0.711
160 Spencer Hawes, Sac C 0.710
161 Beno Udrih, Sac PG 0.709
162 Tayshaun Prince, Det SF 0.708
163 Jamario Moon, Tor SF 0.705
164 Anthony Carter, Den PG 0.704
165 Josh Boone, NJ PF 0.704
166 Marcus Banks, Mia PG 0.703
167 Kyle Lowry, Mem PG 0.702
168 Rafer Alston, Hou PG 0.701
169 John Salmons, Sac SG 0.700
170 Andre Brown, Mem PF 0.698
171 Tim Thomas, LAC PF 0.698
172 Al Thornton, LAC SF 0.697
173 Marvin Williams, Atl SF 0.697
174 Julian Wright, NO SF 0.696
175 Peja Stojakovic, NO SF 0.694
176 Carlos Delfino, Tor SG 0.694
177 Antonio McDyess, Det C 0.693
178 Randy Foye, Min PG 0.693
179 Derek Fisher, LAL PG 0.693
180 Kelenna Azubuike, GS SG 0.692
181 Boris Diaw, Pho PF 0.691
182 Kendrick Perkins, Bos C 0.690
183 Juan Dixon, Det SG 0.690
184 Ronnie Price, Uta PG 0.688
185 Keyon Dooling, Orl PG 0.686
186 Bostjan Nachbar, NJ SF 0.685
187 Eddie House, Bos PG 0.684
188 Matt Bonner, SA PF 0.683
189 Bobby Jackson, Hou SG 0.682
190 Brian Skinner, Pho C 0.680
191 Mickael Pietrus, Orl SF 0.680
192 Jannero Pargo, NO PG 0.679
193 Marcus Williams, NJ PG 0.679
194 J.J. Redick, Orl SG 0.679
195 Dorell Wright, Mia SF 0.677
196 Willie Green, Phi SG 0.677
197 Jose Juan Barea, Dal PG 0.676
198 Carlos Arroyo, Orl PG 0.676
199 Anthony Parker, Tor SG 0.676
200 Jerry Stackhouse, Dal SG 0.675
201 Vladimir Radmanovic, LAL PF 0.675
202 Travis Diener, Ind PG 0.673
203 Delonte West, Cle SG 0.673
204 Luther Head, Hou SG 0.672
205 Kyle Korver, Uta SF 0.671
206 Luke Walton, LAL SF 0.671
207 Mike Conley, Mem PG 0.670
208 Luke Ridnour, Okc PG 0.670
209 Jarvis Hayes, Det SF 0.669
210 Dan Dickau, LAC PG 0.667
211 Stephon Marbury, NY PG 0.667
212 Nick Young, Was SG 0.662
213 Roger Mason, Was PG 0.662
214 Darko Milicic, Mem C 0.660
215 Marquis Daniels, Ind SG 0.660
216 Johan Petro, Okc C 0.659
217 Kirk Snyder, Min SG 0.659
218 Jarrett Jack, Ind SG 0.658
219 Walter Herrmann, Det SF 0.655
220 Dahntay Jones, Sac SG 0.655
221 Joey Graham, Tor SF 0.655
222 Joel Przybilla, Por C 0.653
223 Chris Quinn, Mia PG 0.652
224 Dikembe Mutombo, Hou C 0.652
225 Fabricio Oberto, SA PF 0.650
226 Thabo Sefolosha, Chi SG 0.649
227 Udonis Haslem, Mia PF 0.649
228 Andrea Bargnani, Tor PF 0.647
229 Shelden Williams, Sac C 0.645
230 Nenad Krstic, NJ PF 0.644
231 Wilson Chandler, NY SF 0.643
232 Larry Hughes, Chi SG 0.643
233 Maurice Evans, Orl SG 0.642
234 Gerald Green, Dal SF 0.642
235 Ricky Davis, Mia SF 0.640
236 Darius Songaila, Was PF 0.639
237 Antoine Walker, Mem PF 0.639
238 Zaza Pachulia, Atl C 0.638
239 Eduardo Najera, Den PF 0.636
240 Jermareo Davidson, Cha PF 0.635
241 Juan Carlos Navarro, Mem SG 0.633
242 Javaris Crittenton, Mem PG 0.632
243 Gordan Giricek, Pho SG 0.628
244 Jared Dudley, Cha SF 0.626
245 Yi Jianlian, NJ PF 0.624
246 Anderson Varejao, Cle C 0.624
247 Jason Williams, Mia PG 0.623
248 DJ Mbenga, LAL C 0.623
249 Tyronn Lue, Dal PG 0.622
250 Derek Anderson, Cha SG 0.621
251 Damien Wilkins, Okc SG 0.621
252 Salim Stoudamire, Atl SG 0.621
253 Awvee Storey, Mil SF 0.620
254 Theo Ratliff, Det C 0.617
255 Josh Powell, LAC PF 0.615
256 James Posey, Bos SF 0.614
257 Jake Voskuhl, Mil C 0.614
258 Mickael Gelabale, Okc SG 0.613
259 Jeff Green, Okc PF 0.612
260 Devin Brown, Cle SF 0.611
261 Marko Jaric, Mem PG 0.610
262 Dan Gadzuric, Mil C 0.610
263 Tony Allen, Bos SG 0.609
264 Desmond Mason, Mil SF 0.609
265 Mark Blount, Mia C 0.607
266 Glen Davis, Bos C 0.606
267 DeSagana Diop, Dal C 0.606
268 Kwame Brown, Mem C 0.606
269 Antonio Daniels, Was PG 0.605
270 Mikki Moore, Sac PF 0.605
271 Brian Cook, Orl PF 0.605
272 David Harrison, Ind C 0.605
273 Steve Blake, Por PG 0.605
274 Kareem Rush, Ind SG 0.604
275 Rodney Carney, Min SG 0.604
276 Chris Mihm, LAL C 0.603
277 Ime Udoka, SA SF 0.602
278 Melvin Ely, NO C 0.600
279 Anthony Johnson, Sac PG 0.599
280 Martell Webster, Por SF 0.599
281 Sebastian Telfair, Min PG 0.599
282 Ruben Patterson, LAC SF 0.599
283 Earl Barron, Mia C 0.598
284 Darius Washington, SA PG 0.598
285 Cuttino Mobley, LAC SG 0.597
286 DeShawn Stevenson, Was SG 0.596
287 Damon Stoudamire, SA PG 0.595
288 Jason Smith, Phi PF 0.593
289 Bobby Jones, Den SG 0.593
290 Brevin Knight, LAC PG 0.593
291 Malik Allen, Dal PF 0.593
292 Charlie Bell, Mil SG 0.588
293 Quincy Douby, Sac PG 0.588
294 Andre Owens, Ind PG 0.587
295 James Jones, Mia PF 0.586
296 Bobby Simmons, NJ SF 0.581
297 Sergio Rodriguez, Por PG 0.580
298 Chris Duhon, NY PG 0.580
299 P.J. Brown, Bos FC 0.578
300 Chuck Hayes, Hou PF 0.578
301 Aaron Williams, LAC C 0.576
302 Oleksiy Pecherov, Was PF 0.576
303 Chucky Atkins, Den PG 0.575
304 Michael Finley, SA SF 0.574
305 Malik Rose, NY PF 0.574
306 Ryan Hollins, Cha C 0.573
307 Daniel Gibson, Cle PG 0.570
308 Raja Bell, Pho SG 0.569
309 Reggie Evans, Phi PF 0.569
310 Renaldo Balkman, NY SF 0.568
311 Donyell Marshall, Okc PF 0.568
312 Adonal Foyle, Orl C 0.568
313 Paul Davis, LAC C 0.567
314 Jason Kapono, Tor SF 0.561
315 C.J. Watson, GS G 0.561
316 Earl Boykins, Cha PG 0.560
317 Matt Carroll, Cha SG 0.558
318 Shannon Brown, Chi SG 0.557
319 Stephane Lasme, Mia F 0.553
320 Fred Jones, NY SG 0.552
321 Dwayne Jones, Cle C 0.548
322 Ben Wallace, Cle C 0.547
323 Mike James, NO PG 0.541
324 Shane Battier, Hou SF 0.540
325 Keith Bogans, Orl SG 0.539
326 Daequan Cook, Mia SG 0.539
327 Jason Hart, Uta PG 0.538
328 Brian Cardinal, Min PF 0.538
329 Morris Peterson, NO SG 0.538
330 Michael Ruffin, Mil C 0.536