Stats And Such

Count the Basket did a phenomenal job of compiling last years statistics and different statistical methods for ranking players. You might be familiar with John Hollinger's PER stat from ESPN.com. Just imagine about 10 other statistics that place different levels of importance for different statistical categories such as points, rebounds, assists etc. After the compilation, Eli compared their ranks across all statistical categories and came up with a Top 10 player list for the 2007-2008 NBA season based on every major statistical scoring method.

1. Kevin Garnett
2. Lebron James
3. Manu Ginobili
4. Dwight Howard
5. Kobe Bryant
6. Dirk Nowitzki
7. Tim Duncan
8. Pau Gasol
9. Steve Nash
10. Chris Bosh

I am kind of disappointed that Eli did not release the entire list (only Top and Bottom 10 were shown). Curious to see which players were considered "Middle of the Pack" in the NBA.

Glad that points are not the be all, end all statistic and other important characteristics of a true basketball player were considered.

Tim Duncan is exactly where I think he should be. Sick of all the analysts who rate him head and shoulders the best player in the NBA because his team wins titles. He does have some help at #3. And I am guessing Tony Parker is somewhere in the Top 25 as well.

I have a slight problem with Kevin Garnett being considered the best of the best and with Chris Bosh showing up at all on the Top 10. I know they both stuff the stat sheets with points, blocks and rebounds, but recall that they never seem to have that "clutch" factor in the 4th quarter. Even in the Finals, Garnett was often a ghost in the final 5 minutes of games. I know it is hard to qualitatively (or am I thinking quantitatively) put a number with "clutch" but I think there should be some sort of point deduction for that.

On a final and unrelated note, Team USA starts exhibition play tonight against Canada without the services of Lebron James who is resting an ankle. While resting, he managed to throw at the "Guarantee Card" in one of his interviews regarding the Gold Medal. The entire team was asked about his prediction and they all fired back with the generic, "If my teammate says it, I believe it. We are a team." Except Carmelo, who said that no game in the tournament is a guarantee. Way to go Melo, fight that machine!