Tag Archives: Tim Duncan

The All-Time Spurs Team

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Back again to list my starting five and sixth man for the San Antonio Spurs. Basic rules:

  • Pick any player that played one or more complete seasons for the Spurs from 1978 on
  • Pick players based on their “prime” or top three complete seasons with the Spurs
  • Pick the best player for each position as well as a sixth man.

With that here are your all-time Spurs!

Point Guard – Johnny Moore

  • Wins Produced: 38.7
  • WP48: 0.247
  • Minutes Played: 7535
  • Top Seasons: 1982, 1983 and 1985

Johnny Moore was putting up over ten assists and almost three steals for the first half of the 80s. Sadly by 1986 he had started fading. Still, he is easily the best point guard the Spurs have seen and an easy pick for my team.

Shooting Guard – Manu Ginobili

  • Wins Produced: 43.6
  • WP48: 0.322
  • Minutes Played: 6509
  • Top Seasons: 2007, 2008 and 2010

Manu averages over 20 points on 58% true shooting to go along with over five assists and five rebounds per thirty six minutes. My only complaint is his playing time, which has been far too low for his production. Manu has been under-appreciated his whole career, which is why he was an easy pick ahead of a few other shooting guard greats in the Spurs history.

Small Forward – Dennis Rodman

    • Wins Produced: 46.7
    • WP48: 0.492
    • Minutes Played: 4557
    • Top Seasons: 1994 and 1995

Dennis Rodman only lasted two seasons in San Antonio. That said they were amazing seasons where Rodman focused on what he did best: rebounding. He did this while keeping his fouls and turnovers low and his shooting percentage high. He was also versatile enough to play both the small and power forward so I’ve bumped him down to add him to my team.

Power Forward – Tim Duncan

  • Wins Produced: 69.8
  • WP48: 0.363
  • Minutes Played: 9236
  • Top Seasons: 2002, 2003 and 2007

No surprises here. His three top seasons earned him two MVPs and two titles. The Spurs have gotten two of the greatest number one picks in the history of the draft. Tim Duncan has kept the Spurs a contender his entire career. We’ll have to see how much longer he can keep it up.

Center – David Robinson

  • Wins Produced: 80.4
  • WP48: 0.423
  • Minutes Played: 9116
  • Top Seasons: 1990, 1991 and 1996

I hope I don’t surprise anyone by saying not only is Robinson the greatest center the Spurs have ever seen, he is also the greatest Spur the Spurs have ever seen. You’ll notice one of Robinson’s accomplishments is that he was great right from his rookie season. What else can I say about a guy that could bring down 30 points, 13 rebounds and over four blocks a night without breaking a sweat?

Sixth Man – George Gervin

  • Wins Produced: 44.3
  • WP48: 0.245
  • Minutes Played: 8679
  • Top Seasons: 1978, 1979 and 1980

There was no way I could leave the Ice Man off the list. One of our pet peeves around here is players rewarded for high points on poor shooting. As such George Gervin is definitely a favorite as he was pulling down close to 30 points a night on great shooting.

Sixth Man – Artis Gilmore

  • Wins Produced: 44.0
  • WP48: 0.278
  • Minutes Played: 7587
  • Top Seasons: 1983, 1984, 1985

On most teams being a center putting up numbers like Gilmore did and you’re the starter without question. On the Spurs Gilmore is demoted to the bench. I couldn’t decide between Gervin and Gilmore and decided to throw them both on the team. Gilmore is another favorite as he put up numbers like Kareem did in the 80s but didn’t get the recognition. Well here you go Gilmore.

Summing Up

These are a lot of fun and I may keep doing them if the lockout persists and there’s fan interest. As we’ve mentioned the lockout has definitely let us talk a lot about tax rules and competitive balance but we do enjoy straight up basketball. If you’ve got any interesting stats stories you’d like us to look into drop us a comment, it’s not like we’ve got basketball to watch instead.

-Dre

All-Time NBA Teams So Far:

Did Tim Duncan and LeBron James cause NBA lockouts?

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There are lots of explanations for the lockout: parity, small markets being able to compete, and owners losing money are at the forefront of what we’ve heard. But when I was looking over NBA history, an interesting thing stood out:

  • In 2010, LeBron James was coveted by multiple teams; getting LeBron meant being a contender. Instead of going to an expected destination, LeBron made a surprise move and ended up in Miami. He immediately turned the team into a contender. The next season the owners locked the players out.
  • In 1997, Tim Duncan was coveted by multiple teams as a number 1 pick; getting Duncan meant being a contender. Instead of ending up at an expected destination, Duncan suprisingly ended up in San Antonio. He immediately turned the team into a contender. The next season the owners locked the players out.

In fact the same story goes back even further!

  • In 1982 Moses Malone demanded a trade from Houston (this was before free agency). Getting Malone meant being a contender. Instead of staying with his old team, Malone ended up in Philadelphia. He immediately turned them into a favorite. The next season the owners enacted the first salary cap on the players.

In the history of the NBA, when an MVP has made a surprising or unexpected move near negotiations, the owners have been very punitive toward the players. In the case of Tim Duncan, this even happened when it wasn’t the fault of the player! Every owner wants a title, and that requires an MVP candidate. When one enters the market, they feel entitled to the player, and when they don’t get them, they can get very upset. And when the owners get upset, the fallout can be excessive.

During the lockout we’ve heard a lot of theories. The problem with things like parity and the owners losing money is that they don’t hold up to scrutiny. Owners feeling entitled has been going been going on for decades, as has owners being upset at missing out on top players. So when we ask what caused the lockout, the answer may be simpler than we think — maybe the owners are just angry that they didn’t get LeBron. And you won’t like them when they’re angry. . .

-Dre

The Winningest Tandems

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Dre Alvarez (@nerdnumbers) is a Co-Editor for the Wages of Wins Network and is also in charge of handling the stats data. He’s a long time fan of Colorado Sports, depending on the weather. He’s an even bigger fan of the stats, data and all things nerdy.

It Takes Two to Tango

Looking at teams with two great players is always fun. Today I thought I’d go through all of the possible combination of positions to find the best set of players to ever play.

Before we get started, let me explain my methodology.  I begin with tandems where both players produced more than 10 wins in the same season.  In other words, a tandem only counted if both players hit the 10 Wins Produced mark. I then looked for tandems with multiple years on the same team.

Given this criteria, here are the top tandems.  Enjoy!

Top Backcourt (PG and SG)

En Garde!

Terry Porter and Clyde Drexler from 1987-1992 on the Portland Trail Blazers

  • Terry Porter (PG) – 17037 Minutes Played, 0.247 WP48, 87.7 Wins Produced
  • Clyde Drexler (SG) – 17524 Minutes Played, 0.320 WP48, 116.7 Wins Produced
  • Total – 34561 Minutes Played, 0.284 WP48, 204.4 Wins Produced

In six seasons these two anchored a great Portland team. They helped the Blazers to four 50 win seasons and two finals. This tandem is overshadowed by the Jordan-Pippen duo of the same period. Still, they are the greatest backcourt of the last 30 years.

Top Pass and Shoot (PG and SF)

There was this other guy too.

Dr. J and Mo Cheeks from 1980-1983 on the Philadelphia 76ers

  • Maurice Cheeks (PG) – 10001 Minutes Played, 0.257 WP48, 53.5 Wins Produced
  • Julius Erving (SF) – 10896 Minutes Played 0.291 WP48, 66.1 Wins Produced
  • Total – 20897 Minutes Played, 0.275 WP48, 119.6 Wins Produced
Dr.J had been a great player for a decade. In 1980 he got Mo Cheeks to back him up and the 76ers managed to make it to two finals. In 1982 Moses Malone came aboard and this team won it all. Sadly Dr. J’s age kept this tandem from staying on top. However, they helped the 76ers to 244 wins, 3 finals appearances and a title in four years. Not too shabby!

Top Pick and Roll (PG and PF)

Pick and Roll!

John Stockton and Karl Malone from 1988-2001 on the Utah Jazz

  • John Stockton (PG) – 37640 Minutes Played, 0.330 WP48, 259 Wins Produced
  • Karl Malone (PF) – 42171 Minutes Played, 0.289WP48, 254 Wins Produced
  • Total – 79811 Minutes Played, 0.309WP48, 513 Wins Produced

This pair was great for fourteen consecutive seasons! In that time they managed twelve 50 win seasons and two finals appearances. Stockton and Malone are the epitome of a top tandem and they have the numbers and results to back it up.

Top “Small” and Tall (PG and C)

Who's turn is it to be MVP again?

Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in 1980,1981,1982 and 1985 on the Los Angeles Lakers

  • Magic Johnson (PG) – 9938 Minutes Played, 0.430 WP48, 89.1 Wins Produced
  • Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (C) – 11426 Minutes Played, 0.265 WP48, 63 Wins Produced
  • Total – 21364 Minutes Played, 0.342 WP48, 152.1 Wins Produced

Thirty years later and this duo remains the best point guard and center combo I can find. Magic hit the ground running and Kareem still had some life. Every season these two were both healthy the Lakers won 55+ games and also won the NBA Championship. Sadly — because of Kareem’s age (he played college ball in the 1960s) — their window was short, but it was certainly sweet.

Top Wings (SG and SF)

How would you feel if you became a synonym for side-kick?

Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen from 1990-1993 and 1996-1997 on the Chicago Bulls

  • Michael Jordan (SG) – 18596 Minutes Played, 0.382 WP48, 147.9 Wins Produced
  • Scottie Pippen (SF) – 18369 Minutes Played, 0.259 WP48, 98.9 Wins Produced
  • Total – 36965 Minutes Played, 0.321WP48, 246.9 Wins Produced
Once Pippen hit his prime, this duo tore through the league. In their six great seasons together the Bulls never failed to get less than 55 wins.  And they also collected five titles [and a 6th title in 1997-98]. Sadly, Jordan took a break in the middle (and by 1998 Pippen had faded). It’s pretty easy to call this one of the greatest tandem of all time.

Top Shooting Power (SG and PF)

Pace yourselves.

Reggie Miller and Dale Davis from 1993-1995 and 1997-1998 on the Indiana Pacers 

  • Reggie Miller (SG) – 14016 Minutes Played, 0.190 WP48, 55.5 Wins Produced
  • Dale Davis (PF) – 11665 Minutes Played, 0.221WP48, 53.6 Wins Produced
  • Total – 25681 Minutes Played, 0.204WP48, 109.2 Wins Produced
These two are the weakest tandem on the list. They are also the only one to fail to make a finals while both players were playing at their peak (they did make it in 2000 when Reggie Miller had faded). Reggie Miller was good but possibly over-appreciated and Davis was great and possibly under-appreciated. However, I think the Pacers would be happy to get them both back at this point.

Top Shaq and Kobe (SG and C)

Bickering like an old married couple.

Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant from 1999-2004 on the Los Angeles Lakers 

  • Kobe Bryant (SG) – 16114 Minutes Played, 0.216 WP48, 72.6 Wins Produced
  • Shaquille O’Neal (C) – 15213 Minutes Played, 0.339 WP48, 107.5 Wins Produced
  • Total – 31327 Minutes Played, 0.276 WP48, 180.1 Wins Produced
That’s right, this duo was good enough and popular enough to name the category. From 1999 to 2004 they managed to lead the Lakers to a threepeat and four finals. There were ups and downs and they split up a few seasons too soon. Still, they rightfully earn their spot.

Top Forwards (SF and PF)

Big Stiffs

Larry Bird and Kevin McHale from 1985-1988 and 1990 for the Boston Celtics 

  • Larry Bird (SF) – 15188 Minutes Played, 0.401WP48, 126.9 Wins Produced
  • Kevin McHale (PF) – 13222 Minutes Played, 0.239WP48, 65.9 Wins Produced
  • Total – 28410 Minutes Played, 0.326WP48, 192.8 Wins Produced
These two made up part of the greatest front court ever assembled. Bird and Parish were the big producers, but McHale definitely helped. Injuries limited him late in his career but his time at the top with Bird was well spent. The Celtics hit 50 wins every season with Bird and McHale playing hot and the Celtic also went to three finals (including one victory).

Top Mixed Bigs (SF and C)

Two out of three aint bad.

Larry Bird and Robert Parish from 1981-1987 and 1990-1991 for the Boston Celtics 

  • Larry Bird (SF) – 26672 Minutes Played, 0.372WP48, 206.5 Wins Produced
  • Robert Parish (C) – 23407 Minutes Played, 0.253WP48, 123.5 Wins Produced
  • Total – 50079 Minutes Played, 0.316WP48, 330.1 Wins Produced
The Celtics of the 80s were lucky enough to have a trio of great players. But  before there was the big three it was just Larry Bird and Robert Parish. These two helped the Celtics to 50 wins every season Larry Bird was healthy. They also tacked on three titles for good measure.

Top Two Towers (PF and C)

I intended to keep it at one tandem a category. I ended up making an exception here and we get a tie!

No, you're a power forward!

Tim Duncan and David Robinson from 1998-2002 for the San Antonio Spurs  

  • Tim Duncan (PF/C) – 14535 Minutes Played, 0.297WP48, 90 Wins Produced
  • David Robinson (PF/C) – 11243 Minutes Played, 0.298WP48, 69.9 Wins Produced
  • Total – 25778 Minutes Played, 0.298WP48, 159.9 Wins Produced

David Robinson waited a long time for his title. As soon as Tim Duncan joined the Spurs these two were a top tandem. Sadly David Robinson was already near the end and faded in 2003. These two managed to start San Antonio’s streak of 50 win seasons (it stands at 12 or 14 if you adjust 1999 season for 82 games). Tack on two titles and these two are the best Front-Court ever assembled.

We're better than Robinson and Duncan!

Charles Oakley and Patrick Ewing from 1989-1991,1993-1994 and 1997 for the New York Knicks

  • Charles Oakley (PF) – 15574 Minutes Played, 0.226 WP48, 73.2 Wins Produced
  • Patrick Ewing (C) – 18027 Minutes Played, 0.245 WP48, 91.9 Wins Produced
  • Total – 33601 Minutes Played, 0.236 WP48, 165.1 Wins Produced
These two just barely manage to put up a fight against Duncan and Robinson by having six seasons of greatness together (as opposed to five). They had four 50 win seasons and a trip to the finals. Oakley managed to contribute even as he faded by getting Marcus Camby to the Knicks via trade.

Summing Up

Hope you enjoyed the list. . With the exception of Oakley and Ewing vs. Robinson and Duncan the winner was usually clear cut. Still, I’d love to hear any names I may have missed.

-Dre

Get a great player and win! The NHL vs. the NBA

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Dre Alvarez (@nerdnumbers) is a Co-Editor for the Wages of Wins Network and is also in charge of handling the stats data. He’s a long time fan of Colorado Sports, depending on the weather. He’s an even bigger fan of the stats, data and all things nerdy.

Lessons in being a GM

Today I’ll be giving a lesson in how to be a GM in not one, but two sports. The NBA and NHL both have their ideas about how to improve a team. I’ll address the notion that an NBA team needs a superstar to contend and the theory that an NHL team needs a top goalie.

You Need a Star to Contend in the NBA

In the NBA everyone knows to be a contender your team needs a star. This thinking is actually quite accurate. I’ll define a star as a top 25 player in the NBA using the Wins Produced metric. As a GM if you knew all the stats of last season could you find a star? Let’s take a look at the top 25 stars of this season with their last season rank and numbers for perspective.

Team 2011 Rank 2011 WP 2010 Rank 2010 WP
Kevin Love 1 25.3 22 12.1
Dwight Howard 2 24.3 2 22.3
LeBron James 3 22.6 1 27.2
Chris Paul 4 20.8 24 11.5
Dwyane Wade 5 18.1 7 17.8
Pau Gasol 6 17.0 12 15.4
Zach Randolph 7 16.8 17 14.3
Blake Griffin 8 15.5    N/A N/A 
Steve Nash 9 14.5 13 15.4
Kris Humphries 10 14.3 141 3.4
Kevin Garnett 11 14.2 28 10.1
Al Horford 12 14.2 21 12.7
Paul Pierce 13 13.8 52 8
Lamar Odom 14 13.6 14 14.6
Kevin Durant 15 13.5 3 19.7
Landry Fields 16 13.3    N/A N/A 
Rajon Rondo 17 13.2 8 17
Jason Kidd 18 13.1 4 19.6
Tim Duncan 19 13.0 10 16.2
Andre Iguodala 20 12.8 15 14.4
Tyson Chandler 21 12.2 178 2.3
Derrick Rose 22 12.0 78 5.7
Manu Ginobili 23 11.7 20 13.4
Russell Westbrook 24 11.6 43 8.7
Kobe Bryant 25 11.6 32 9.9

Table 1: 2011 Top 25 NBA Players using Wins Produced and their 2010 numbers.

Taking a look at these numbers here’s some strategies I’d offer to NBA GMs to acquire a star.

Strategy 1) Have and Keep a Top 25 Player

Good Players Stay Good

  • Success rate in 2011 for top 25 player: 15/25

Yup, if you have a great player you should keep them. They’ll probably be great next season. Only seven returning players on our list weren’t in the top 25 last season and only LeBron actually left his team for another. Not only do the top players stay at the top, their play seems to stay pretty consistent. Most of the players on this list stayed within 5 Wins Produced of last year’s totals.

Strategy 2) Have a Former Top 25 Player that had some injury problems and hope they get better

Out of Street Clothes and back at the top.

  • Success rate in 2011 for top 25 player: 4/25

NBA players — when they recover from injury — can revert to form, and if you had a formerly great player they can get back there. Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Kobe Bryant and Chris Paul fall in this category. In the last three years each of these players has been a top 25 player in the league. Last year hindered their performance (it still didn’t keep Paul out of the top 25 though!) but this year they returned with a vengeance.

Strategy 4) Have a talented young player mature into a star

Young and improving.

  • Success rate in 2011 for top 25 player: 3/25

Young players improve. If you’ve got a talented player that’s been improving next year they make finally jump into the top level. Derrick Rose, Kevin Love and Russel Westbrook all saw a marked improvement this season and for the most part saw a jump in team performance. (2 out of 3 aint bad)

Strategy 4) Get a top Rookie

Can you imagine it?

  • Success Rate in 2011 for top 25 player: 2/25
The rate of a top rookie showing up is less than one a year (Dave’s looked over this) This year Landry Fields and Blake Griffin managed to play amazing and help keep their teams respectable. Of course there were 60 players in the draft and most years not even one of them is a top player so this strategy is risky at best.

Strategy 5) Get a Top 25 Player

South Beach wins!

  • Success rate in 2011 for top 25 player: 1/25

This is a great strategy but good luck getting teams to give up their stars. Only LeBron James falls in this category. Turns out Miami’s decision to get him worked out well. The 76ers are rumored to be shopping Andre Iguodala. Other GMs should take note.

Strategy 6) Find a former top 25 player that has recovered from injuries.

<img class=”size-medium wp-image-4360″ title=”

  • Success rate in 2011 for top 25 player: 1/25

Tyson Chandler in 2008 was ranked 17th with 14.1 Wins Produced. In 2009 he got injured and has been bounced around since. This year he returned to form and helped the Mavericks win a finals. A risky move, but it can work.

Strategy 7) Get an above average player that has been played limited minutes and hope they reach the next level

Do Women and Clothes make the NBA player?

  • Success rate in 2011 for top 25 player: 1/25

I wouldn’t rank this as a great strategy but sometimes teams have good players that have been cast as “role players” and are given limited minutes. It’s not the biggest stretch to assume if they play well in limited minutes, they might play well with starter minutes. You might also get extremely lucky and the player will play amazingly.

General Notes

The idea that these players are needed for success in the NBA is very accurate. A case in point is every team that made it to the 2nd round of the playoffs last season had at least one. The hard part is getting one of these players. Only Miami, New Jersey and Dallas were able to grab one in the last offseason and we can see the fates of two of those franchises turned around immediately. The problem is that there are over 500 players in the NBA. and with only a small handful of great players, it’s simply not possible for most teams to hope of getting them. This gets even harder when we notice multiple teams (Boston, Dallas, Los Angeles, Miami, Oklahoma City and San Antonio) grabbing more than one. In short, when your GM tells you they’re going after a star to contend next season you should be happy. Just don’t be optimistic that they’ll actually get one.

You need a top Goalie to Contend in the NHL

Recently we reviewed the great work of Stacey Brook and Dave Berri about NHL goalies. Here are the important lessons from this study.

  • NHL goalies are for the most part the same. The difference between a great goalie and an average goalie is small. And even the best goalies aren’t huge difference makers. The best goalie will earn you around an extra five wins and the worst may cost you around three.
  • Goalies are inconsistent year to year.

If your GM is spending the offseason in the front office doing their best to acquire last year’s top goalie, I wouldn’t be that thrilled. For fun though let’s redo our NBA exercise and ask our GM in 2011 to acquire a top 10 goalie based on the 2010 season using the Wins Above Average (WAA) metric (save% and shots on goal in terms of wins).

Player 2011 Rank 2011 WAA 2010 Rank 2010 WAA
Tim Thomas 1 4.75 19 0.67
Jonas Hiller 2 2.74 10 2.01
Ondrej Pavelec 3 2.36 66 -1.07
Pekka Rinne 4 2.10 38 -0.04
Henrik Lundqvist 5 1.99 6 3.11
Roberto Luongo 6 1.88 21 0.45
Marc-Andre Fleury 7 1.80 73 -1.66
Tomas Vokoun 8 1.71 2 4.26
Carey Price 9 1.59 26 0.21
Cam Ward 10 1.57 15 0.93

Table 2: 2011 top 10 NHL goalies with 2010 numbers.

The ideal strategy

Just pick one, doesn't matter.

I don’t need multiple bullet points and examples to explain the ideal strategy here. It’s actually pretty simple.

  • If you’re an NHL team and you want a top 10 goalie: Have a goalie on your team. Play them. Hope they play like a top 10 goalie.

Yes, that is about the best strategy you can adopt.

One should also note — as Dave and Stacey noted in their paper — that performance of goalies seems to depend on the defense playing in front of the goalie (i.e. goalies depend on their teammates).  So maybe if your goalie isn’t playing well maybe you should take a closer look at your defense.

We repeat ourselves: Goalies are hard to predict.

Only three goalies in the top 10 from last season return to this year’s top 10. Even then it’s not that great. Lundqvist and Voukun both saw massive drops offs in performance. Hiller saw a slight increase. Tim Thomas, this season’s top goalie, was barely better than average last season. What’s more the number of terrible goalies from last season (Pavelec, Rinne and Fluery) that  are top ten matches the number of great goalies that returned top the top ten! In terms of making the right choice it’s next to impossible. Compare this with the NBA where a top player regardless of position is almost a lock.

Being able to predict a top goalie has not been shown to be easy. That isn’t to say a top goalie doesn’t help. Tim Thomas and the Bruins did win a Stanley cup and Thomas’ regular season help amounted to around ten points in the standings (the difference between 3rd place and 8th place in the Eastern Conference). But can the Bruins count on him leading them to greatness again next season? Should other teams pursue him like crazy and hope he throws a press conference saying he’s bringing his talents to their town? No. The best strategy might just be to put the same goalie back in net, even if they played badly last season, and hope they play like a top 10 goalie.

-Dre

North Carolina and UCLA Produced the Most Wins for the NBA

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In my last post I noted that the longer NBA players are in college, the less they offer in the NBA.   Today it is a different question.  Which universities are turning out the most productive NBA players?

The NBA drafted players from 346 different institutions of higher learning from 1978 to 2010. See this spreadsheet for the full list.

Below is a list of the top 10 schools in wins produced. As one can see, NBA players from the University of North Carolina and UCLA produced over 200 more wins than players from any other college since 1978.

1. University of North Carolina: 54 players produced 1285.8 wins

You were expecting someone else?

  • Most productive alum: Michael Jordan with 284.2 wins produced
  • Least productive alum: Joe Wolf with -17.7 wins produced

2. University of California, Los Angeles: 65 players produced 1052.5 wins

Miller time.

3. Duke University: 38 players produced 826.5 wins

If not for the Pistons he coulda been a contender.

  • Most productive alum: Grant Hill with 137.9 wins produced
  • Least productive alum: Bobby Hurley with -5.2 wins produced

4. Michigan State University: 26 players produced 759.5 wins

Magic Johnson was worth about four players.

5. University of Houston: 21 players produced 724.6 wins

Houston's Dream #1 Pick and Robinson's Nightmare.

6. Georgetown University: 25 players produced 721.6 wins

Rejected!

7. University of Arizona: 39 players produced 570 wins

A.I who?

8. Clemson University: 13 players produced 568.8 wins

See Cleveland it's not so bad.

9. University of Nevada-Las Vegas: 29 players produced 561.6 wins

Finally a title and a spot on a top ten list!

10. Wake Forest University: 20 players produced 547.1 wins

Just happy to be here.

Summing Up

Let me close with a few more observations…

The stats required to calculate wins produced only go back to 1978. The first eight seasons for the career of UCLA’s best alum in the NBA, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, were not included in this analysis. That’s why Kareem is not the most productive UCLA alum since 1978. See this spreadsheet for the full list of alumni for each school in the top 10.

Traditional basketball powerhouses, Kentucky and Kansas, placed the third and fourth-highest number of players in the NBA after UCLA and UNC, but only rank 15th and 18th in wins produced (of course, if Wilt Chamberlain from Kansas could be included, Kansas might be ranked a bit higher).

No Kentucky Wildcat produced more than 100 wins in the NBA since 1978. Rajon Rondo is the all-time leader with 65 wins produced.

Paul Pierce is the all-time leader in wins produced for Kansas Jayhawks with 157.9 wins produced but no other alum produced more than 50 wins.

University of Houston is the only school in the top 10 with two alumni that produced more than 200 wins in their careers; Hakeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler (222.9 wins produced). The next closest school is Georgetown with Mutombo and Patrick Ewing (172.2 wins produced).

Clemson powered its way into the top 10 with three power forwards that produced more than 100 wins each: Larry Nance, Horace Grant (142 wins produced) and Dale Davis (120.8 wins produced).

Tim Duncan and Chris Paul combined to produce 368.2 wins (fifth-highest of any duo in the top 10) to land Wake Forest among the top schools.

Now that we know which colleges produced the most wins, the next question is whether the NBA overpaid for the college education of those players. That issue will be addressed in a future post.

-Mosi (check out more from Mosi Platt at the Miami Heat Index)