Ranking the Top 75ish NBA Players: article index and all the details

Introducing the BEAST metric

Eric Apricot says: This is an original series that analyzes and ranks the Top 75ish NBA players of all time, written by a friend of DubNationHQ.com. Some of you will be angered, some will think you can do better, but hopefully everyone can find something to enjoy in this journey appreciating the great historical achievements by past and present players.

Index for The Complete Series So Far

• The Method and Madness of Ranking NBA Players

• All-time NBA Players #82 - #71. Jrue, Jimmy, Russ, Jayson and Luka make the list

• All-time NBA Players #69 - #61. Kyrie and AD headline this group

• All-time NBA Players #60 - #50. Who was the better AI, Andre Iguodala or Allen Iverson?

• All-time NBA Players #49 - #38. MVPs vs rings: Tony Parker and Steve Nash vie to top this tier

The detailed formula for BEAST (Basketball Excellence As Statistically Tested)

Honors

Championships and finals awards

• Championships modern NBA 1983/84 onwards (30 points star = top 3 player over 25mpg unless clear 3rd banana (20 points); 10 points major contributor = over 25 mpg/ clear major contributor; 5 points role player = over 20 mpg/ 15mpg + award, or clear role player)

• Repeat champion modern NBA +15/ 5 not top 3 (or 3rd banana)

• Threepeat champion modern NBA +30/ +10 not top 3 (or 3rd banana)

• Consecutive Finals modern NBA (5 point for 3, 10 points for 4, 15 points for 5+; 20mpg playoffs in each season min/ 3/5/10 for not top 3)

• Expansion era ring - 1966/67-1982/83 (NBA) (25 points top 3 player over 25mpg; 5 points over 25mpg; 0 points below)

• Early era NBA ring - up to 1965/66 (15 points top 3 player over 25mpg; 3 points over 20mpg; 0 points below)

• Consecutive Finals expansion era (3 points for 3, 5 points for 4)

• NBL ring (5 points top 3 player)

• ABA ring 20 points for top 3 player

• Pre modern era NBA repeat +5

• Pre-modern era NBA threepeat +10

• Finals runners-up Modern NBA (5 points top 3 player over 25mpg; 3 points over 20mpg playoffs in relevant playoff season)

• Finals runners-up expansion NBA (5 points top 3 player over 25mpg; 3 points over 20mpg)

• Finals runner up early NBA/ ABA (3 points over 25mpg)

• Finals MVP modern NBA (20 points)

• Conference Finals MVP (5 points)

• Finals MVPs emerging era NBA (15 points) 

• ABA playoffs MVP (15 points)

Regular season awards/ honours

• MVP modern NBA (25 points 1st; 5 points 2nd; 3 points 3rd; 1 point over 100 voting points) (10 points under 60% wins - 50 game pace/ under 50 games played/ extreme voter error)

• MVP pre-modern era (20 points; 3 points 2nd; 2 points 3rd) (10 points under 60% wins - 50 game pace/ under 50 games played/ extreme voter error)

• ABA MVP (20 points)

• NBL MVP (5 points)

• pre modern era NBA/ ABA Consecutive MVPs +10/ three consecutive MVPs +20

• modern era Consecutive MVPs +15/ three consecutive MVPs +30

• DPOY (5 points) + 25 if also MVP

• Scoring Champion (NBA/ABA) (5 points)/ NBL (2 points)

• Other season leader (NBA/ ABA) (assists, rebounds, blocks, steals, threes) (2 points)

• All NBA team selection 3 point 1st team/ 2 point 2nd/ 3rd team; ABA/ NBL 1 point

• All defense team selection 2 points/ ABA 1 point

• All star selection (NBA only) (1 point) 

• NBA Cup (1 point for top 3 player)

• Minor NBA award - Rookie of the Year/ 6th Man of the Year/ Most improved/ Clutch PoY (1 point)

Major honors, other leagues

• Euroleague Title (3 points)

• Euroleague 3peat (3 points)

• Euroleague MVP/ Finals MVP (2 points)

• Euroleague Finals top scorer (1 point)

• ACB/ Yugoslav title/ MVP (2 points)

• Titles/ MVPs in other major professional leagues/ ACB Finals MVP (1 point)

• NCAA title/ Consensus college player of the year (2 point)

• NIT title/ MVP (1 point)

• College player of the year (50%+ of available awards)/ final four mvp/ scoring champ (1 point)

• Threepeat NCAA award/ top scorer/ repeat consensus (2 points)

  • Olympics - 3 for US gold (like All NBA team selection); 

  • international players 25 points gold (beating US = international championship, emerging era), silver/ bronze 1 point; 

  • +10 for non-US Olympic MVP/ +5 for US Olympics MVP; 

  • 3 points all tournament team/ 3 for 2nd team/ top scorer

  • 5 points major Olympics record

  • 3 points major statistical record pro era 

• FIBA World Cup 2 points for international gold; 1 for US gold; 1 for MVP/ all tournament team/ top scorer

• Other major international tournament (Eurobasket/ Americup) international non-US gold/MVP (1 point)

Individual Stats

Totals (emphasizes longevity)

• Career leaders major category counting stats (NBA/ ABA regular season AND playoffs combined):

  • Top 50 points breakdown

  • 1 - 30

  • Top 5 25

  • Top 10 20

  • Top 20 15

  • Top 30 10

  • Top 40 5

  • Top 50 3

  • Top 30 Rebounds, assists, steals, blocks, threes 

  • 1- 25

  • Top 5- 20

  • Top 10 15

  • Top 15 10

  • Top 20 5

  • Top 30 3

• NBA finals counting stats major category leader career:

  • Top 30 (20 top; 15 top 5; 10 top 10; 5 top 20; 3 top 30)

• Multiple categories totals*

  • 75 for 6

  • 50 for 5

  • 25 for 4 if 50% are defense, or you have one defense and one offense stat top 10

  • 10 for 3 if 2+ are top 5

• Multiple categories totals in Finals*

  • 50 for all 6

  • 25 for 5

  • 10 for 4 (5 for half)

• *+10 if more than half the categories are top 5

Per game (balances against peak)

• Career per game leaders (top 30)

  • Regular season 10 top; 5 top 5; 3 top 10; 2 top 20; 1 top 30 

  • Playoffs 15 top; 10 top 5; 5 top 10; 3 top 20; 2 top 30 (25 game min)

  • Finals 15 top; 10 top 5; 5 top 10; 3 top 20; 2 top 30 (10 game min) 

  • (*for 3s per game all stars/ likely all stars/ international stars only; min 250 attempts for reg season/ 50 for playoffs; top 25 for finals) 

Efficiency 

• TS% top 50 (10 fga/ pg minimum)

  • Regular season 20 for top/ 15 top 5/ 10 top 10/ 5 top 20/ 3 top 30/ 1 for top 50

  • Playoffs (50 game min) 25 for top/ 20 top 5/ 15 top 10/ 10 top 20/ 5 top 30/ 3 top 50

  • Finals top 30 (10 game min) 25 for top/ 20 top 5/ 15 top 10/ 10 top 20/ 5 top 30

Win shares

(not perfect but an individual contribution to team success, NBA finals stats not available)

• Regular season 20 for top/ 15 top 5/ 10 top 10/ 5 top 20/ 3 top 30/ 2 for top 50/1 for top 75

• Playoffs 40 for top/ 30 top 5/ 25 top 10/ 20 top 20/ 15 top 30/ 10 top 50/ 5 for top 75

Career RAPM

Including playoffs (counts impact on court beyond box score; Jerry Engelmann’s age-adjusted, coach-adjust​​ed 1997- 2024 data). 

• 1- 25/ Top 5- 20/ Top 10 15/ Top 15 10/ Top 20 5/ Top 30 3

Individual records

Bonus points

• Bonus for mega-scoring club

  • Over 70 - 3 points per game

  • Multiple over 60 - 2 points 

  • Over 60 - 1 point

  • Over 60 in playoffs - 5 points per game

  • Over 50 playoffs - 3 points per game; 1 point if first round (bonus +2 if in Game 7 or Finals)

• Bonus for 50-40-90 club

  • 5 points  

  • 10 points for 20ppg+

  • +5 for 25ppg+

  • +10 for 30ppg+

  • +5 for 45% on 3s

  • +3 for consecutive seasons/ +5 for three consecutive seasons

  • +3 for near miss

• Bonus for triple double club

  • 10; 5; 3 points for top 3 playoff triple doubles

  • 5; 3; 2 for top 3 most triple doubles in a single playoffs

  • 3 points for averaging triple double in a regular season (+2 if 30 points/ 11 pts/ rbds; 1 point if -45% fg%)

  • 3 points for over 100 career regular season triple doubles

• Bonus points available for special achievement (ie unbreakable record, major achievement/ record individual or team; need to be critical player for all or most to get full points):

  • 10;5;3 for major playoff record 1st/2nd/3rd or unbreakable individual regular season record

  • 5;3;2 for notable regular season record 1st/2nd/3rd or minor playoff record

  • 3 for minor record

• Top single finals series stats:

  • top ten ppg 15;10;8;6;4;3 for top ten

  • Top 3 rpg, apg, spg, bpg 10;5;3

  • Most 3s in a finals series 10;5;3