Category Archives: Dre

The NBA’s Top Earners

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Do not play poker with these two.

The NBA owners’ books are sadly closed to us. A great thing about the players is that their salary numbers are easily accesible. In fact, we have continuous salary data back to 1991 thanks to Patricia Bender and Basketball-Reference. I thought it would be fun to look over some of the top earners in the NBA adjusted for inflation since the 1991 season.  This list only includes players who entered the league on or after the 1990-91 season.

Player Total Salary*  Exp Rookie Year  Per Year
Shaquille O’Neal $354,136,836 19 1993 $18,638,781
Kevin Garnett** $315,370,217 16 1996 $19,710,639
Kobe Bryant** $220,661,776 15 1997 $14,710,785
Tim Duncan** $206,844,796 14 1998 $14,774,628
Jason Kidd** $203,305,233 17 1995 $11,959,131
Chris Webber $198,108,767 15 1994 $13,207,251
Ray Allen** $192,468,929 15 1997 $12,831,262
Tracy McGrady** $183,090,958 14 1998 $13,077,926
Allen Iverson $180,229,709 14 1997 $12,873,551
Rasheed Wallace $179,526,599 15 1996 $11,968,440
Jermaine O’Neal** $178,564,193 15 1997 $11,904,280
Juwan Howard** $172,779,067 17 1995 $10,163,475
Dirk Nowitzki** $155,751,068 13 1999 $11,980,851
Stephon Marbury $153,966,706 13 1997 $11,843,593
Anfernee Hardaway $152,739,135 14 1994 $10,909,938
Paul Pierce** $151,584,132 13 1999 $11,660,318
Dikembe Mutombo $150,861,243 18 1992 $8,381,180
Vince Carter** $148,780,265 13 1999 $11,444,636
Grant Hill** $147,629,190 16 1995 $9,226,824
Alonzo Mourning $145,326,228 15 1993 $9,688,415
Elton Brand** $139,545,457 12 2000 $11,628,788
Antawn Jamison** $139,404,543 13 1999 $10,723,426
Gary Payton $138,324,105 17 1991 $8,136,712
Baron Davis** $130,190,281 12 2000 $10,849,190
Rashard Lewis** $128,652,870 13 1999 $9,896,375
Note 1: All salaries adjusted for inflation and in 2011 value
Note 2: ** denotes active player

Shaq is likely to remain the most highly paid NBA player of all time unless the salary rules change. It’s a bit sad to see Kobe so high on the list, but luckily it’s unlikely he’ll overtake Garnett or Shaq — even with the insane amount of money he’s still due.

This list should illustrate several things though. First of all, some of the greatest players have been severely underpaid. Shaq, Garnett, Kobe, Duncan, and Kidd have all been key members of teams that have been to multiple finals. Despite their big paydays, it’s doubtful they’ve been paid what they were worth to their respective franchises.

Secondly, GMs have massively overpaid some players (Allen Iverson, Rashard Lewis, Jermaine O’Neal and Juwan Howard). This has a lot to do with the rule changes that were made in 1999 that severely limited rookie contracts and enforced player caps based on seniority. As an older player, Rashard Lewis gets more per year than Derrick Rose, LeBron James, and Dwight Howard (the recipients of the last 3 MVPs and Defensive Player of the Year Awards). However, we should note that the people that paid the ultimate cost were not the owners, they were the players who did not make this list.

-Dre and Devin

Was Pat Riley the Worst Coach?

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Coaches — what are they good for? In terms of improving players the data shows that one coach is pretty much the same as the next. The most important thing a coach does is to decide who suits up and who sits on the bench. With that in mind, I found some players that had the distinction of playing for the worst coaches. When a coach has a terrific talent and decides that, instead of playing them, they would rather play someone else, they’ve failed in their duty. I looked for players that had great seasons but were limited in minutes thanks to iffy coaching. My full criteria was:

  • Played 24.0 minutes per game or fewer
  • Had a WP48 of over 0.200
  • Played more than 41 games (half the season)
  • Fulfilled the above criteria for more than one season

I came up with a fun list. Here are the players and their career stats for seasons they were underplayed:

Table 1: Underplayed Players stats for Underplayed Seasons

Player Teams G MPG WP48 WP
Kurt Rambis L.A. Lakers 351 18.8 0.227 31.2
Jeff Foster Indiana 284 20.4 0.245 29.6
Chris Andersen New Orleans – Denver 259 20.5 0.255 28.2
Michael Smith Sacramento – Vancouver – Washington 240 21.4 0.261 28.0
Nate McMillan Seattle 205 21.2 0.262 23.7
Ed Pinckney Boston 227 20.3 0.227 21.8
Fred Hoiberg Indiana – Chicago – Minnesota 265 16.7 0.232 21.4
Joel Przybilla Portland 159 23.7 0.269 21.1
Arvydas Sabonis Portland 151 19.5 0.342 21.0
John Stockton Utah 164 23.1 0.266 21.0
Dikembe Mutombo Houston 219 15.8 0.290 20.9
Jerome Williams Detroit-Toronto 186 19.6 0.258 19.6
Larry Smith Golden State – Houston 161 23.7 0.239 19.0
Jon Barry Sacramento 185 18.9 0.250 18.2
Reggie Evans Seattle – Denver 145 20.8 0.289 18.1
Alton Lister Milwaukee – Seattle 163 22.2 0.219 16.5
Will Perdue Chicago – San Antonio 157 19.6 0.234 15.0
Scot Pollard Sacramento 156 20.6 0.222 14.9
Jayson Williams New Jersey 155 18.3 0.248 14.7
Cedric Ceballos Dallas-Phoenix 121 21.5 0.270 14.6
Chuck Hayes Houston 157 20.9 0.213 14.6
Paul Pressey Milwaukee 160 20.4 0.215 14.6
Lester Conner Golden State – Milwaukee 156 18.2 0.239 14.1
Adam Keefe Utah 157 19.0 0.219 13.6
Brent Barry San Antonio 149 19.4 0.218 13.1
Tracy McGrady Toronto 113 20.2 0.256 12.2
Ed Nealy Kansas City – San Antonio 142 18.5 0.221 12.1
James Donaldson Seattle 150 17.9 0.203 11.4
Renaldo Balkman New York – Denver 121 15.2 0.284 10.9
Glen Gondrezick Denver 132 15.9 0.247 10.8
Adrian Griffin Chicago – Dallas 121 15.8 0.211 8.4.

Some of these players — for example: John Stockton, Tracy McGrady, and Chuck Hayes – got out of their reduced roles and went on to get starter’s minutes. Others – like Dikembe Mutombo and Arvydas Sabonis – were older players who were not able to keep playing major minutes. With that said, many of the players on this list played at a very high level and were restricted in their playing time. Some fans may be willing to side with the coaches and claim that there were good reasons to keep these players on the bench. I’ll stay on the more cynical side and say it’s entirely possible that coaches don’t always know what they’re doing. And that just might mean that we should crown Pat Riley a bad coach given the way he handled Kurt Rambis’ playing time.

-Dre

New York Fans Are the Most Worthless Fans?

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The most worthless fan in the NBA?

At least that’s the thought process behind a hard cap. When the hard cap idea is thrown around it is often backed up with the idea of fairness. Every team deserves an equal chance to win! Here’s an important follow up to that: why? When we’re told every team deserves a chance to win it is supposed to be for the benefit of the fans. In that regard not every team is equal. New York has a population of nineteen million people, and even counting New Jersey as a New York team, that means that’s almost ten million fans a team. Compare that with Utah that has only 2.7 million people. Why is it that the 2.7 million Utah residents should get a team with the same bankroll as a team in New York that could be representing 10-20 million people? Doing this in essence states that the fans in Utah are worth more than the fans in New York.

In fact if the NBA was interested in the benefit of the fans it would move teams to more populated areas. New York only has one team despite being the third most populated state. California and Texas could support even more teams! While doing this might be unfair to some states, who cares? A state isn’t a living breathing entity like a fan. If the NBA were concerned with pleasing more fans it would not move teams out of higher populated areas to less populated areas, which is what happened when they moved the Hornets from Charlotte to New Orleans and the Sonics from Seattle to Oklahoma city.

The truth is that NBA owners are greedy. They put teams in cities that will pay for stadiums, and they get them to do it with lies about how the stadium will help the local economy. They are in favor of things like the hard cap because they restrict worker wages. The owners are not concerned with fairness, at least not for the players or for the fans. It is a convenient line to use.

Be aware when the NBA claims it wants all teams to be equal it is saying that fans in larger markets are less valuable. And that means New York fans are the most worthless.

-Dre

State population data courtesy of Wikipedia

Wages of Wins Podcast: Fantasy 3 on 3

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Imagine this in a draft.

Click here to listen to this week’s Wages of Wins Podcast!
Wages of Wins Podcast – 3 on 3 Fantasy Draft Winners and Losers

On the Miami Heat Podcast Heat Freak’s Alfredo Arteaga(@UptownReport) had a fantastic idea. What if during the lockout some of the leagues top players got together and ran an ultimate 3 on 3 tournament? With that several members of the Wages of Wins Network got together and held a fantasy draft for such a torunament. Unless the top talent in the NBA suddenly decides to fufill our wishes though all we can do is speculate on who would win. To decide our winners though we decided to have two ‘impartial judges’ that didn’t participate pick grade each team and one player that did participate in the draft to talk about it:

Here’s a brief reminder of our other contestants:

So in order here are the teams and contestants and how we graded them. Each judge had one A, two Bs and three Cs to hand out.

Devin Dignam – Steve Nash, Pau Gasol, Lamar Odom and Kevin Garnett

  • Mosi (B) (with some reservations) This team is limited on outside shooting except for Steve Nash. Nash also takes both the role of shooter and passer, which hurts this team.
  • Dre (B) Good ball handler in Nash, great wing in Odom and best available bigs in Gasol and Garnett. It’s a strong team it’s just not the best team. (Devin agreed with this)
  • Devin’s thoughts – Would give himself a B just because he isn’t the best pick for an A.

Ben Gulker – Chris Paul, Blake Griffin, Arron Afflalo and Kobe Bryant

  • Mosi (C) Arron Afflalo is the weak link on this team. Paul and Griffin were exciting but it just didn’t pan out.
  • Dre  (C+) This team was close with Paul and Griffin but Afflalo barely puts this team in the C range. That said it’s my favorite of the Cs.
  • Devin’s thoughts – Ben needed another forward like player with his third pick.

Arturo Galletti – Dwight Howard, Dwyane Wade, Paul Pierce and Jason Kidd

  • Mosi (A) You’ve got to have a great shooter, a big and a passer. Arturo has that in spades.
  • Dre  (A) Top Center in the league and top Shooting Guard in the league and top five wing in the league. Jason Kidd doesn’t even need to suit up.
  • Devin’s Thoughts – Getting Howard pretty much sealed this for Arturo. It’s not very close.

Patrick Minton – Kevin Durant, Dirk Nowitzki, Mike Dunleavy and Landry Fields

  • Mosi (C) This is the worst team in the league. Fields and Dunleavy have no business playing.
  • Dre  (C) This team is the most fascinating to me. I don’t think they’re favorites but they have a great shot to surprise.
  • Devin’s Thoughts – I think this team is weak in areas. If they’re hot they could upset some teams but they’re not good enough to compete.

James Brocato – LeBron James, Ray Allen, Zach Randolph and Andrei Kirilenko

  • Mosi (B) This team has all of  the components. No one is stopping LeBron and it comes down to this team and Arturo’s.
  • Dre – (B) Might take Garnett over Randolph. That said easily the second best team in this league.
  • Devin’s Thoughts – Zach Randolph is the weak link on this team. Also Andrei Kirilenko played well in Eurobasket 2011.

Greg Steele – Kevin Love, Manu Ginobili, Josh Smith and Stephen Curry

  • Mosi – (C) Confused by Josh Smith and Manu Ginobili, especially given Greg’s excellent fantasy skills. This team will have to double team on defense, which is a recipe for disaster.
  • Dre – (C) Kevin Love is great. Ginobili is not as strong in a league without free throws.
  • Devin’s Thoughts – Josh Smith was to try and help Love on defense. That said Love was probably picked too high.

Listen for more banter and even more analysis about how Arturo’s team could potentially be stopped. Sorry for any participants we may have offended. Of course the only thing more fun that making fantasy teams is arguing about which teams are the best.

-Dre

Wages of Wins Podcast: Devin Dignam about Eurobasket 2011 and the Draft

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The Podcast

You can find the show here Wages of Wins Podcast – Devin Dignam International Talk

The Crew

Devin Dignam from NBeh? (Toronto Raptors blog)

Dre Alvarez (@NerdNumbers)

Show Notes

  • More international visitors in large part thanks to Devin’s recent Eurobasket 2011 posts including
  • Devin agrees with my point from the Valley of the Suns Podcast – Advanced Stats in the NBA may be cracked and improving Draft and International scouting is the next big leap.
  • Devin points out a lot of international ball is tournaments, which falls victim to small sample size (which almost altered this article)
  • Devin is happy with the Raptors international pick Jonas Valanciunas
  • The one and done rule has stopped team from taking hot high school prospects with the top 3 picks and Andrea Bargnani may have stopped teams from taking top international picks with the top 3 picks.
  • Devin throws a low blow to a Nuggets fan by bringing up Nikoloz Tskitishvili
  • Dre points out that despite the lack of international picks in the top 3 has slowed but they are still prominent in the lottery.
  • Dre and Devin agree Ricky Rubio will not likely help out the Timberwolves.
  • In spite of our bashing Andrea Bargnani and Ricky Rubio both played well in Eurobasket 2011
  • Dre says you shouldn’t overreact to tournament/playoff performance. In contrast Mosi Platt’s brother thinks Pau Gasol should be traded from the Lakers for a bad series this year.
  • When given the choice between a top NCAA pick or a good looking “mystery box” international pick Devin says he’ll stick with the NCAA player until around pick 20.
  • Interestingly enough San Antonio owns the rights to many players that played well in Eurobasket 2011
  • Did Utah have a dislike of potentially talented international players?
  • Devin points out that in the Fiba U19 and Eurobasket that awards were given using the Yay Points! method.
P.S. I know some of the RSS feed etc. is not being updated. I’m looking at changing how I produce the podcasts. I’m looking at some various other software. If anyone has good recommendations for the best way to produce a podcast on the Mac please let me know.