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Player Trios -- which players play well together?

We've been compiling stats for years now looking at how teams have performed with specific players on the court: individual player plus/minus and on court versus off court, five man units, and yes, even player pairs.

Inevitably people ask about the remaining combinations -- player Trios (also known as Triads or the more problematic "threesomes") and even the Quads/Quartets.

Given the notion in some quarters that an NBA offense can be a three man game in some circumstances, the player trios seem to be an interesting area of study. The one difficulty is that the permutations become so large that it's easy to find 500+ different trios on a team which makes for a tough display issue (we already get enough flak about the player pair tables being hard to read...)

So for this initial look we'll just size up the leading trio and worst trio per team in net +/- and our NBA friends can request the full data if they want to see it. Please note that these numbers are in raw form and have not been adjusted for the other players in the five-man unit, nor for the opposing 5-man unit on the floor at the same time.

Player Trio team leaders in 2007-08 (as of 01/31, top trio per team in net plus/minus)
Team
Player1
Player2
Player3
Min
+/-
Off/g
Def/g
Net48
Comments
ATL
 A.Johnson  J.Johnson  Horford 666  +67  95  90  +5   Horford and JJ a view of the future
BOS
 R.Allen  Pierce  Garnett 1069  +325  101  87  +15   Yup, the Big Three rule
CHA
 Felton  Carroll  Richardson 359  +45  103  97  +6   The "shooters"
CHI
 Duhon  Deng  Thomas 86  +54  110  79  +30   Bulls should give this trio more time
CLE
 Gibson  James  Ilgauskas 615  +118  104  95  +9   LeBron plus PG plus C
DAL
 Harris  Jo.Howard  Nowitzki 777  +239  108  93  +15   Why trade Devin??
DEN
 Iverson  Najera  Camby 453  +148  111  95  +16   Najera a key Denver player
DET
 Billups  Prince  Wallace 988  +238  100  88  +12   Powerhouse Pistons
GSW
 Ellis  Jackson  Biedrins 735  +188  112  99  +12   Young guys producing
HOU
 Alston  Battier  Yao 1041  +125  98  92  +6   No T-Mac? Huh...
IND
 Rush  Dunleavy  Murphy 153  +66  119  98  +21   The "discards"
LAC
 Maggette  Thomas  Kaman 615  +65  97  92  +5   E.B. come back soon!
LAL
 Bryant  Odom  Bynum 677  +204  112  98  +14   Your Three Stars
MEM
 Miller  Warrick  Gasol 145  +52  114  97  +17   Hakim barely playing, go figure
MIA
 Quinn  Davis  O'Neal 128  +29  97  87  +11   Sad days in Miami
MIL
 Bell  Redd  Mason 47  +42  130  87  +43   Nice numbers, but only 43 Minutes
MIN
 McCants  Gomes  Richard 59  +46  106  69  +38   No Jefferson, garbage time?
NJN
 Carter  Jefferson  Magloire 91  +43  105  82  +23   No Kidd
NOH
 Paul  Stojakovic  Chandler 988  +240  105  93  +12   A true talent trio
NYK
 Robinson  Crawford  Lee 486  +42  101  97  +4   The scrappy do's
ORL
 Nelson  Lewis  Howard 933  +136  106  99  +7   Another core trio
PHI
 Green  Korver  Dalembert 118  +57  106  83  +23   Um, Korver no longer with the team
PHO
 Nash  Marion  Stoudemire 989  +282  117  104  +14   Could have guessed
POR
 Roy  Jones  Outlaw 340  +79  106  95  +11   Jones a suprise
SAC
 Udrih  Martin  Miller 350  +80  108  97  +11   Assume Artest will be in by end
SAS
 Parker  Ginobili  Duncan 481  +135  106  93  +13   Carrying on...
SEA
 Szczerbiak  Wilcox  Thomas 109  +57  115  90  +25   Durant-Green hurting on a +/- basis
TOR
 Calderon  Parker  Bosh 802  +111  100  94  +7   Raptors discovered genius
UTA
 Williams  Kirilenko  Boozer 1080  +153  111  104  +7   AK-47 not forgotten this season
WAS
 Stevenson  Butler  Jamison 1063  +150  102  95  +7   Amazing job sans Gilbert

Let's look next at the twenty five leading trios in total plus/minus so far:

League wide top trios (net plus/minus)
Team
Player1
Player2
Player3
Min
+/-
Off/g
Def/g
Net48
BOS
 R.Allen  Pierce  Garnett 1069  +325  101  87  +15 
BOS
 Rondo  Pierce  Garnett 946  +287  99  85  +15 
PHO
 Nash  Marion  Stoudemire 989  +282  117  104  +14 
PHO
 Nash  Bell  Marion 883  +277  116  101  +15 
PHO
 Nash  Bell  Stoudemire 761  +273  117  100  +17 
BOS
 Pierce  Garnett  Perkins 857  +269  99  84  +15 
BOS
 Rondo  R.Allen  Pierce 917  +267  100  86  +14 
BOS
 Rondo  Pierce  Perkins 780  +256  100  84  +16 
BOS
 Rondo  R.Allen  Garnett 880  +252  99  85  +14 
BOS
 Rondo  Garnett  Perkins 744  +244  99  83  +16 
PHO
 Nash  Hill  Marion 774  +242  119  104  +15 
BOS
 R.Allen  Garnett  Perkins 794  +240  99  84  +15 
NOH
 Paul  Stojakovic  Chandler 988  +240  105  93  +12 
DAL
 Harris  Jo.Howard  Nowitzki 777  +239  108  93  +15 
DET
 Billups  Prince  Wallace 988  +238  100  88  +12 
PHO
 Bell  Marion  Stoudemire 700  +237  116  100  +16 
BOS
 R.Allen  Pierce  Perkins 818  +225  99  86  +13 
NOH
 Paul  West  Chandler 1172  +220  101  92  +9 
DET
 Billups  Prince  McDyess 959  +218  98  87  +11 
DET
 Billups  Hamilton  McDyess 927  +214  99  88  +11 
NOH
 Stojakovic  West  Chandler 940  +212  103  92  +11 
BOS
 Rondo  R.Allen  Perkins 691  +210  99  85  +15 
NOH
 Paul  Stojakovic  West 1050  +210  104  94  +10 
NOH
 Peterson  West  Chandler 827  +205  103  91  +12 
LAL
 Bryant  Odom  Bynum 677  +204  112  98  +14 

So of the top twenty-five trios, Boston has ten of the best, and the Suns have five..

Since we've seen the best from each team, we might as well delve into the unsavory business of looking at the least successful in overall plus/minus:

Worst Player Trio by team (net plus/minus)
Team
Player1
Player2
Player3
Min
+/-
Off/g
Def/g
Net48
Comments
ATL
 Childress  M.Williams  Horford 302  -53  92  100  -8   Somewhat surprising
BOS
 Pierce  Posey  Perkins 83  -47  80  107  -27   Three P's
CHA
 McInnis  Richardson  Okafor 598  -124  92  102  -10   McInnis not part of future plans
CHI
 Hinrich  Gordon  Wallace 672  -101  92  99  -7   Red Alert!
CLE
 D.Brown  Pavlovic  Ilgauskas 136  -61  80  102  -22   Scrubs
DAL
 Stackhouse  Bass  Diop 132  -49  90  107  -18   Bass+Diop = no Dirk
DEN
 Carter  Iverson  Camby 734  -49  105  108  -3   Not good since these guys start
DET
 Murray  Hayes  Maxiell 147  -38  91  103  -12   all Bench guys
GSW
 Ellis  Azubuike  Biedrins 318  -54  102  110  -8   Monta+Andris part of best trio
HOU
 James  McGrady  Yao 127  -51  95  114  -19   James experiment didn't last long
IND
 Granger  Murphy  O'Neal 388  -85  97  107  -11   Not the optimal frontline
LAC
 Knight  Mobley  Kaman 458  -80  88  96  -8   Help!
LAL
 Farmar  Walton  Odom 119  -56  83  105  -23   These guys do play with Kobe
MEM
 Miller  Gay  Milicic 625  -151  94  106  -12   So much for Darko
MIA
 Wade  Davis  Haslem 791  -182  96  107  -11   Ugly
MIL
 Redd  Yi  Bogut 885  -125  94  101  -7   Maybe not the core to build on
MIN
 Telfair  Gomes  Jefferson 744  -179  93  105  -12   Definitely not the core to build on...
NJN
 Kidd  Jefferson  S.Williams 609  -106  96  104  -8   You heard? Jason wants out
NOH
 Pargo  Jackson  Butler 197  -40  76  86  -10   All bench
NYK
 Crawford  Richardson  Curry 708  -197  91  104  -13   Thomas starting lineup
ORL
 Arroyo  Dooling  Foyle 93  -30  79  95  -16   All bench
PHI
 Miller  Iguodala  Evans 984  -108  89  95  -5   Reggie not the answer
PHO
 Hill  Diaw  Skinner 200  -41  93  103  -10   Amare+Marion matter
POR
 Roy  Webster  Aldridge 852  -87  90  95  -5   Starters...hmmm
SAC
 Douby  Garcia  Thomas 95  -64  80  112  -32   All bench
SAS
 Vaughn  Finley  Oberto 116  -39  86  103  -16   All bench
SEA
 Watson  Durant  Collison 508  -189  94  112  -18   Maybe not the trio for the future
TOR
 Calderon  Delfino  Humphries 224  -37  92  100  -8   Missing Bosh?
UTA
 Brewer  Harpring  Boozer 156  -33  92  102  -10   A little surprising
WAS
 Mason  McGuire  Blatche 102  -77  76  112  -36   All bench

So there's some food for thought. Teams with three starter trios in this "hall of shame" might want to consider mixing things up, no?


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