Ten best teammates

[WigNosy]

On the heels of the "Worst 10 starters in the league" article, I'm sure what's springing to your mind right now is, "Wig, that's great, but what other useful information did you find in Mr. Bellotti's book?"

I'm glad you asked. One of the other pieces of interesting statistical wizardry that fell out of that book was the concept of "Floor Game" - it's basically the "Productivity" of a player when his points are removed from the equation to figure out how productive he is when he's not scoring. A guy with a great "floor game" rating is doing a little bit of everything (usually including some judicious scoring) while a guy with a bad floor game is a "volume scorer" with few other skills - the guy who might be useful for his scoring but isn't much fun to play with because he chucks up bad shots indiscriminately and gives you NOTHING else.

For reference, a Floor Game is a "per minute" rating and over 2/3 of the league falls between 0.1 and 0.3 (higher is better). Only about 3% of the players in the league have a rating over 0.4 and for the purposes of this exercise I excluded players with under 500 minutes played to make sure we had enough of a sample size to have a real feel for what they're doing.

So with that out of the way, here are the ten guys rated as the best teammates in the league - some of them may be great scorers, but they're also setting rebounds, blocking shots, and passing to get you open. Many of the names you'll recognize, some may surprise you. I know I was surprised by some of them.

10. Russell Westbrook (SG, Bulls) - Floor Game 0.435

Not a huge surprise to see one of the most consistent triple-double threats in the league here. Sim Russ is having a bit of a down year by his standards statistically but he gives you rebounding, passing, and steals while maintaining good shot selection. He probably peaked about 5 years ago, but he's still a darn good all-around player.

9. Elfrid Payton (PG, Bucks) - Floor Game 0.459

Doug's been shopping Elfrid hard on his trade block the last couple of seasons, but you can look at how McNary has blossomed to see the value of having Elfrid as a teammate. He is not a great shooter, but unlike most bad shooters, he realizes it and limits the damage he causes the team by not shooting much and instead setting everyone else up. He's among the league leaders in assists and has a marvelous 4.4 Assist-to-Turnover ratio. Not only that, but he gets a couple of steals per game and is a darn good defender. I think Elfrid might be a little overlooked and if he turns down the player option on his contract this season, any team without a solid point guard already entrenched should be thinking about chasing after him in free agency.

8. Boris Hailey (C, Bulls) - Floor Game 0.469

Call him 78's lament after he left the Rockets following his breakout season, Hailey as the Bulls' third big man has been key to their performance this season. A great defender, rebounder, and shot-blocker who is an efficient scorer, Hailey has been woefully underpaid most of his career but I think most of the league is on to him now (color notwithstanding) and he's almost certainly going to get a substantial long-term deal in free agency this season. A guy who's solid and not going to hurt you - plus the ability to pass a little for a big man - makes him a great teammate.

7. Ben Simmons (C, 76ers) - Floor Game 0.474

KenHenBen Simmons made his first all-star team this season and after a couple of seasons benefitting from Scott pouring points into foul training is now starting to show why. He makes the list on a combination of rebounding and super-efficient shot making at high volumes. You know when you give the ball to him the possession won't be wasted. He's already locked up to a supermax deal and we know how much Scott loves him, so expect to be worrying about him luring your free agents away to play with him, not the other way around.

6. DeAndre Jordan (C, Nuggets) - Floor Game 0.481

A three-time DPOY who still loves to grab rebounds, swat shots, and doesn't really care about scoring, Deandre is probably no longer the kind of guy who can completely cover for poor defensive teammates all by his lonesome, but he's still a defensive force and does all the dirty work while letting his teammates get the scoring glory. Who wouldn't want to play with a guy like that? As a player hitting the free agent waters on the wrong side of 30, it's likely the days of him getting long-term maxes are done, but whether he stays in Denver or changes addresses in the offseason, most players would love to have him protecting the rim behind them.

5. Jeffrey Duren (PG, Kings) - Floor Game 0.514

The Kings moved Duren from SG to PG this season and it's not hard to see why... he combines a strong defensive presence, the ability to draw fouls, a great rebounding knack for a backcourt player, and nifty passing skills into a single package. Like Westbrook and Simmons, he is a bit of a scorer, but he's a high-efficiency scorer so teammates aren't usually rolling their eyes because he took a bad shot... they're nodding their heads that he made the right read. We'll see if his leadership is enough to power the Kings deep into the playoffs this year.

4. John Wall (PG, Knicks) - Floor Game 0.540

There might have been questions whether Wall's rating here was due to playing with guys having career years (Jokic and Harris) or whether those guys were having career years due to Wall's rating here. With both Jokic and Harris out for significant stretches of the season and Wall still showing up here, I think it's pretty clear it's a case of the latter. Wall piles up the assists and steals and doesn't turn the ball over much given how often the ball is in his hands. He's a pretty good rebounder for a point guard and in the last few years has gotten away from the tendency to chuck poor shots that defined his early career. Wall has kept the Knicks afloat in the Atlantic Division race and we'll see if he has enough in him to help the Knicks make a substantial playoff run even without Jokic.

3. Ricky Rubio (PG, Pelicans) - Floor Game 0.550

It won't surprise many to see Rubio here, considering he's averaged double-digit assists for the last DECADE and is perpetually among the league leaders in steals, too... and is an outstanding rebounder for a point guard. Basically, he is a star at every category EXCEPT scoring, which pretty much defines Floor Game (though his shot selection dings him a little bit). Rubio is a guy that other players should love to play with because if you're open, he will get you the ball. Even if you're not open, he'll probably throw you open and get you the ball.

2. Charles Blow (PF, 76ers) - Floor Game 0.563

This was the guy I was most surprised to see on this list. He's only playing backup minutes (15.0) in Philly, but he's doing all the little things in those limited minutes - like getting 1.6 blocks and 2.2 assists in that limited amount of playing time (also 3.9 rebounds). I don't know if he would be able to put up those kinds of numbers in extended minutes or against other teams' starting units, but having a bench guy that consistently outplays the bench guys he's matched up against is a huge part of why successful teams (like the Sixers) win. Great job by Scott identifying this diamond in the rough, though sorry if this column makes him more expensive to retain!

1. Anthony Davis (PF, Pistons) - Floor Game 0.819

No surprise here, right? Efficient shooting, among the league leaders in blocks and rebounds, also gets passes and steals and generally terrorizes opposing teams - just like every other measure we have, AD is just a complete monster who should collect his fourth of about 10 consecutive MVPs this year. Of course you want him on your team... you love to see the look of despair in the other team's eyes when he emerges from the locker room and they realize he's on your team and they have to try to stop THAT.

[digiskunk]

Excellent... EXXXXXXXCELLENT!

[ballsohard]

Any areticle w 2 76er mentions is worth 5 points to me!