Game by Game plus/minus Won-Lost records
Plus/Minus stats are certainly becoming more in vogue among NBA insiders, but one drawback is that they don't represent consistency very well. A player could be +25 one night, and then follow up with -5, -7, -3 scores in the next three games and still show a healthy +10 overall net. Another way to look at how the team fares with the player on court is by assigning a "Win" to any game where the team was on the positive side of the +/- ledger with the player, and a "Loss" for any game with a negative +/- score.
We have revised these numbers to reflect out new policy of "continuation" accounting of on court events. Using this metric, here's the Regular Season leaders in plus/minus W-L percentage:
[Minimum: 40 decisions]
| Rank |
Player |
Team |
+/- |
W |
L |
W% |
| 1 |
Cassell |
MIN |
+538 |
62 |
16 |
79.5% |
| 2 |
Duncan |
SAS |
+548 |
51 |
14 |
78.5% |
| 3 |
Garnett |
MIN |
+617 |
62 |
19 |
76.5% |
| 4 |
Artest |
IND |
+483 |
54 |
17 |
76.1% |
| 5 |
O'Neal |
LAL |
+436 |
50 |
16 |
75.8% |
| 6 |
Miller |
SAC |
+497 |
50 |
16 |
75.8% |
| 7 |
Billups |
DET |
+408 |
55 |
19 |
74.3% |
| 8 |
Sprewell |
MIN |
+408 |
58 |
21 |
73.4% |
| 9 |
Tinsley |
IND |
+333 |
37 |
14 |
72.5% |
| 10 |
Foster |
IND |
+448 |
58 |
23 |
71.6% |
| 11 |
O'Neal |
IND |
+442 |
55 |
22 |
71.4% |
| 12 |
Finley |
DAL |
+267 |
50 |
20 |
71.4% |
| 13 |
Parker |
SAS |
+398 |
50 |
20 |
71.4% |
| 14 |
Stojakovic |
SAC |
+421 |
56 |
23 |
70.9% |
| 15 |
Wallace |
DET |
+431 |
56 |
24 |
70.0% |
| 16 |
Bryant |
LAL |
+312 |
44 |
19 |
69.8% |
| 17 |
Hamilton |
DET |
+391 |
52 |
23 |
69.3% |
| 18 |
Turkoglu |
SAS |
+470 |
55 |
25 |
68.8% |
| 19 |
Ginobili |
SAS |
+410 |
50 |
23 |
68.5% |
| 20 |
Miller |
IND |
+503 |
54 |
25 |
68.4% |
| 21 |
Hassell |
MIN |
+295 |
53 |
26 |
67.1% |
| 22 |
Nene |
DEN |
+283 |
49 |
25 |
66.2% |
| 23 |
Nowitzki |
DAL |
+409 |
50 |
26 |
65.8% |
| 24 |
Olowokandi |
MIN |
+164 |
28 |
15 |
65.1% |
| 25 |
Bibby |
SAC |
+331 |
51 |
28 |
64.6% |
| 26 |
Payton |
LAL |
+331 |
52 |
29 |
64.2% |
| 27 |
Malone |
LAL |
+222 |
26 |
15 |
63.4% |
| 28 |
Nesterovic |
SAS |
+279 |
50 |
29 |
63.3% |
| 29 |
Okur |
DET |
+255 |
43 |
25 |
63.2% |
| 30 |
Christie |
SAC |
+369 |
49 |
29 |
62.8% |
Garnett took the overall title for most significant on court versus off court influence, but it's his teammate Sam Cassell who takes home the prize in the game by game plus minus "Won-Lost" arena.
There was tough competition down the stretch as Tim Duncan in particular closed strong, but at the stratospheric levels of the top guys, Cassell was the best.
There's no doubt that these players are some of the NBA's best, and should be commended for their night in, night out effort.
Of course these WL records are biased in favor of players on very good teams, and so we will produce in the ensuing weeks an "adjusted" version that takes into account the overall team record. The top WL player on a team with an overall losing record? That would be Brian Cardinal who posted a magnificent 42-30 (58%) mark for the Warriors who finished at 37-45.
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