Who is the NBA’s all-time best inside (the 4 or the 5) player? Who’s the NBA’s all-time best outside (the 1, the 2, or the 3) player? We are not talking about the NBA MVP category, which is a whole different statistical category. Instead we want to determine statistically the best inside player and the best outside player. Actually, in a very rudimentary way, I’m trying to quantify a qualitative category. Nonetheless, according to the link dictionary.com, the term best is defined as “of the highest quality, excellence, or standing: the best work; the best students.” Let’s see what the stats say about these two categories – the best inside player and the best outside player.
METHODOLOGY
- Twenty NBA All-Stars/Superstars were included in the sample.
- The ten NBA MVP award winners since 2000, which consists of Allen Iverson (2001), Tim Duncan (2002-2003), Kevin Garnett (2004), Steve Nash (2005-2006), Dirk Nowitzki (2007), Kobe Bryant (2008), LeBron James (2009, 2010, 2012, and -2013), Derrick Rose (2011), Kevin Durant (2014), and Stephen Curry (2015).
- The top ten statistically rated players from the NBA’s 50 Greatest List, as determined by my analysis (see http://hoopsbusiness.com/?p=166). These ten players, in alphabetical order by last name, consist of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Elgin Baylor, Larry Bird, Wilt Chamberlain, Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, Bob Pettit, Oscar Robertson, Bill Russell, and Jerry West.
- These twenty NBA players were ranked from 1 (the best) through 20 (the lowest) in a comparison based on their career performance in each of the following four individual statistical categories, with each category worth 25% of the final rank. Thus, the lowest score is the best score.
- Points per Game (PPG).
- Rebounds per Game (RPG).
- Assists per Game (APG).
- Minutes per Game (MPG).
- If two or more players were tied with the same data, they were each given the best rank possible. Thus, in PPG, MJ and Wilt both earned a “1” (the best score) because they had identical 30.1 averages, the highest PPG average.
- It is important to put the information on this list into context. Remember the quote popularized by in the US by humorist Mark Twain and widely attributed to British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli: “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.” Contrary to Benjamin Disraeli, statistics do not lie, but, without context, they do not tell the whole truth. Draw your own conclusions from this table, but remember that we are looking at individual statistical categories only, not team statistics and team performance.
RESULTS
| # | Name(First Last) | PositionNumber | PPGRank | RPGRank | APGRank | MPGRank | Average |
| 1 | Wilt Chamberlain | C – 5 | 1 | 1 | 12 | 1 | 3.750 |
| 2 | Oscar Robertson | G – 1 | 9 | 10 | 2 | 3 | 6.000 |
| 3 | Elgin Baylor | F – 3 | 3 | 4 | 13 | 5 | 6.250 |
| 4 | LeBron James | F – 3 | 4 | 12 | 4 | 6 | 6.500 |
| 5 | Jerry West | G – 1 | 6 | 15 | 6 | 7 | 8.500 |
| 6 | Michael Jordan | G – 2 | 1 | 14 | 10 | 10 | 8.750 |
| 7 | Bill Russell | C – 1 | 19 | 2 | 13 | 2 | 9.000 |
| 8 | Larry Bird | F – 3 | 12 | 8 | 8 | 9 | 9.250 |
| 9 | Bob Pettit | F – 4 | 8 | 3 | 19 | 8 | 9.500 |
| 10 | Allen Iverson | G – 1 | 7 | 18 | 9 | 4 | 9.500 |
| 11 | Magic Johnson | G – 1 | 16 | 11 | 1 | 13 | 10.250 |
| 12 | Kareem Abdul-Jabbar | C – 1 | 11 | 5 | 16 | 12 | 11.000 |
| 13 | Kevin Durant | F – 4 | 4 | 13 | 17 | 11 | 11.250 |
| 14 | Kobe Bryant | G – 2 | 10 | 16 | 11 | 14 | 12.750 |
| 15 | Stephen Curry | G – 1 | 14 | 17 | 4 | 17 | 13.000 |
| 16 | Derrick Rose | G – 1 | 15 | 18 | 7 | 15 | 13.750 |
| 17 | Kevin Garnett | F – 4 | 18 | 7 | 15 | 17 | 14.250 |
| 18 | Dirk Nowitzki | F – 4 | 13 | 9 | 20 | 16 | 14.500 |
| 19 | Tim Duncan | F – 4 | 16 | 6 | 18 | 19 | 14.750 |
| 20 | Steve Nash | G – 1 | 20 | 20 | 3 | 20 | 15.750 |
Based on these statistics and the categories chosen (PPG, RPG, APG, and MPG) “The Big Dipper”, Wilt Chamberlain, is far and away the NBA’s best inside player ever, followed by Bill Russell and Bob Petitt.
The statistical choice for the NBA’s best outside player ever, based on the listed criteria, is the “Big O”, Oscar Robertson, followed by Elgin Baylor and LeBron James. How is it that Elgin Baylor never won an MVP with the numbers he put up? Interestingly, he also never won a ring. Hmmmm, could there be some connection between individual performance and team performance. More to follow tomorrow.
About the author – BILL HARVEY, Call Sign “Stats”, is the Editor of Hoops Business. He is a former basketball player, basketball referee, Army officer, and college instructor in technical writing with a public relations and journalism background. He is also the editor of the Net Set blog at http://thenetsetblog.com. BA degree from Xavier University and MA degree in Information Management.