NOTES Every year a final Real Player Ratings Report is produced for all 30 NBA teams. Most of them are posted in late June and in early July. They are posted in alphabetic order by team starting with the Atlanta Hawks and ending with the Washington Wizards. But starting in 2010, we are making sure the Reports for the teams in the Conference Finals (and the Championship) are posted before these series begin. The final ratings for those final four teams can then be used in team grids that are very important parts of any playoff series preview.
Another important note is that the User Guide for Real Player Ratings has been revised and updated, mostly because the Hidden Defending Rating methodology was in May 2010 substantially improved to correct for small but non-negligible biases that were unexpectedly showing up. There are links to the revised User Guide at the bottom of this Report.
DENVER NUGGETS FINAL REAL PLAYER RATINGS 2009-10 Season
Congratulations and respect are due to CHAUNCEY BILLUPS who led the Nuggets in quality basketball in 2009-10.
Congratulations and respect are due to NENE who contributed more than any other player to the Nuggets in 2009-10.
KEY PLAYERS (above the NBA average) MAJOR HISTORIC SUPER STARS
None
HISTORIC SUPER STARS
None
SUPER STARS
None
STARS--WELL ABOVE NORMAL STARTERS
Chauncey Billups
Carmelo Anthony
Nene
Chris Andersen
VERY GOOD PLAYERS--SOLID STARTERS
Ty Lawson
MAJOR ROLE PLAYERS--GOOD ENOUGH TO START
J.R. Smith
Kenyon Martin
TOTAL NUMBER OF ABOVE AVERAGE PLAYERS: 7
BEST BY SIDE OF COURT BEST OFFENSIVE PLAYER
Chauncey Billups
BEST DEFENSIVE PLAYER
Chris Andersen
DENVER NUGGETS FINAL REAL PLAYER RATINGS 2009-10 Regular Season
--Shows the real quality of players
--Includes all tracked actions and hidden defending
--All players who have played at least 300 minutes are included here and in all other ratings to follow
Chauncey Billups PG 0.883
Carmelo Anthony SF 0.874
Nene Hilario C 0.852
Chris Andersen PF 0.849
Ty Lawson PG 0.768
J.R. Smith SG 0.738
Kenyon Martin PF 0.709
Anthony Carter PG 0.686
Johan Petro C 0.635
Arron Afflalo SG 0.573
Joey Graham SF 0.473
Malik Allen PF 0.282
SCALE FOR REGULAR SEASON REAL PLAYER RATINGS Perfect for all Practical Purposes / Major Historic Super Star 1.100 and more
Historic Super Star 1.000 1.099
Super Star 0.900 0.999
A Star Player / A Well Above Normal Starter 0.820 0.899
Very Good Player / A Solid Starter 0.760 0.819
Major Role Player / Good Enough to Start 0.700 0.759
Good Role Player / Often a Good 6th Man 0.640 0.699
Satisfactory Role Player 0.580 0.639
Marginal Role Player 0.520 0.579
Poor Player 0.460 0.519
Very Poor Player 0.400 0.459
Extremely Poor Player .399 and less
AVERAGE RATINGS BY POSITION Not all positions are created equal. These are estimates for ratings by position among all NBA players who play 300 minutes or more. There are very few small forwards and shooting guards who don't fit at other positions who are superstars. Most superstars are players who can play point guard, power forward, or center.
Point Guard .780
Shooting Guard .610
Small Forward .650
Power Forward .730
Center .730
All Positions / All Players (NBA Overall Average) .700
PLAYOFF GRADE PLAYERS Playoff Grade Players have ratings of .560 and higher. Players with ratings below .560 should not play in the playoffs unless the team is forced to play them so that they have two players at a position and/or so that the team has at least eight players playing in the playoffs and/or because the coach is absolutely certain the low rating player will play better in the playoffs than he did in the regular season.
DENVER NUGGETS REAL PLAYER PRODUCTION 2009-10 Regular Season
--Shows how much (of basketball value) a player really produced
--Includes all tracked actions and hidden defending
Nene Hilario C 2347.75
Carmelo Anthony SF 2300.83
Chauncey Billups PG 2198.36
J.R. Smith SG 1532.17
Chris Andersen PF 1436.69
Kenyon Martin PF 1407.70
Arron Afflalo SG 1277.11
Ty Lawson PG 1010.42
Anthony Carter PG 589.43
Joey Graham SF 358.68
Johan Petro C 276.69
Malik Allen PF 128.47
OFFENSIVE AND DEFENSIVE SUB RATINGS
DENVER NUGGETS OFFENSIVE SUB RATINGS 2009-10 Regular Season
--Shows the quality of players' offense
--Includes all non-trivial offensive actions
Chauncey Billups PG 0.651
Carmelo Anthony SF 0.595
Ty Lawson PG 0.563
Nene Hilario C 0.459
J.R. Smith SG 0.430
Anthony Carter PG 0.427
Arron Afflalo SG 0.351
Kenyon Martin PF 0.302
Chris Andersen PF 0.274
Joey Graham SF 0.268
Johan Petro C 0.268
Malik Allen PF 0.205
THE AVERAGE OFFENSIVE SUB RATING for all NBA players who play 300 minutes or more is .385
DENVER NUGGETS DEFENSIVE SUB RATINGS
2009-10 Regular Season
--Shows the quality of players' defending
--Includes both tracked and hidden defending
Chris Andersen PF 0.575
Kenyon Martin PF 0.407
Nene Hilario C 0.393
Johan Petro C 0.366
J.R. Smith SG 0.308
Carmelo Anthony SF 0.278
Anthony Carter PG 0.260
Chauncey Billups PG 0.232
Arron Afflalo SG 0.222
Ty Lawson PG 0.205
Joey Graham SF 0.204
Malik Allen PF 0.076
THE AVERAGE DEFENSIVE SUB RATING for all NBA players who play 300 minutes or more is .315
The breakdown between hidden and unhidden defending is available on request.
THE ALL IMPORTANT, AWARD WINNING REAL PLAYER RATINGS USER GUIDE For complete details regarding how the Real Player Ratings are designed, how and why they work, and how exactly you can use them, see the User Guide. The User Guide for Real Player Ratings is a necessary reference for anyone who wants to truly understand the value of, the validity of, and the ways you can use the Real Player Rating performance measures.
Also, you should become a regular visitor to Quest for the Ring if you want to get the full advantage of reading and using Real Player Ratings Series performance measures. The more you visit and check out ratings, the more quickly and easily you will be able to evaluate what you are seeing.
DENVER NUGGETS 2008-09
MOST VALUABLE PLAYERS
Congratulations and respect are due to CARMELO ANTHONY, who led the Nuggets in quality basketball this season.
Congratulations and respect are due to CHAUNCEY BILLUPS, who contributed more than any other player to the Nuggets this season.
HISTORIC SUPER STARS
None
SUPERSTARS
CARMELO ANTHONY
STARS
Nene
Chauncey Billups
Chris Andersen
J.R. Smith
Renaldo Balkman
OUTSTANDING PLAYERS: SOLID STARTERS
Kenyon Martin
BEST BY SIDE OF COURT
BEST OFFENSIVE PLAYER
Chauncey Billups
BEST DEFENSIVE PLAYER
Chris Andersen
DENVER NUGGETS
FINAL REAL PLAYER RATINGS 2008-09 Regular Season
Quality of Players: Includes all tracked actions and hidden defending
Carmelo Anthony DEN 0.901
Nene Hilario DEN 0.880
Chauncey Billups DEN 0.870
Chris Andersen DEN 0.835
J.R. Smith DEN 0.824
Renaldo Balkman DEN 0.815
Kenyon Martin DEN 0.754
Anthony Carter DEN 0.669
Linas Kleiza DEN 0.610
Dahntay Jones DEN 0.445
SCALE FOR REGULAR SEASON REAL PLAYER RATINGS Perfect for all Practical Purposes / Major Historic Super Star 1.100 and more
Historic Super Star 1.000 1.099
Super Star 0.900 0.999
A Star Player / A Well Above Normal Starter 0.800 0.899
Outstanding Player: A Solid Starter 0.750 0.799
Major Role Player / Good Enough to Start 0.700 0.749
Good Role Player / Often a Good 6th Man 0.640 0.699
Satisfactory Role Player 0.580 0.639
Marginal Role Player 0.520 0.579
Poor Player 0.460 0.519
Very Poor Player 0.400 0.459
Extremely Poor Player and less 0.399
NOTE REGARDING LOW REGULAR SEASON RATINGS
Players rated below about .550 sometimes get playing time based largely on factors outside of RPR, but valued by coaches and other players, such as:
--Great energy, effort, and hustle
--Toughness, such as diving after loose balls and taking charges
--Leadership and/or knowledge, especially in the case of veterans
--Perceived potential for future improvement in terms of real basketball production, especially in the case of young players
--See User Guide for more
REAL PLAYER PRODUCTION Real Player Production (RPP) is the factored sum of all the good things minus the sum of all the bad things a player has done since the season began. Starting in June 2009, RPP is upgraded to include an estimate for the value of each player's hidden defending. See the User Guide for complete details about this. RPP adjusted for hidden defending is called Total Real Player Production (TRPP). Generally, only TRPP will appear in reports.
DENVER NUGGETS
FINAL TOTAL REAL PLAYER PRODUCTION 2008-09 Regular Season
Quantity of Players: Includes all tracked actions and an estimate for hidden defending
Chauncey Billups DEN 2364.79
Nene Hilario DEN 2209.26
Carmelo Anthony DEN 2051.97
J.R. Smith DEN 1849.35
Kenyon Martin DEN 1591.51
Chris Andersen DEN 1219.82
Anthony Carter DEN 1194.00
Linas Kleiza DEN 1111.76
Renaldo Balkman DEN 635.86
Dahntay Jones DEN 633.89
OFFENSIVE AND DEFENSIVE SUB RATINGS
DENVER NUGGETS
OVERALL OFFENSIVE SUB RATINGS 2008-09 Regular Season
Offensive Quality: Includes all non-trivial offensive actions
Chauncey Billups DEN 0.637
Carmelo Anthony DEN 0.587
J.R. Smith DEN 0.527
Nene Hilario DEN 0.478
Renaldo Balkman DEN 0.432
Linas Kleiza DEN 0.394
Anthony Carter DEN 0.385
Chris Andersen DEN 0.358
Kenyon Martin DEN 0.354
Dahntay Jones DEN 0.293
DENVER NUGGETS
OVERALL DEFENSIVE SUB RATINGS 2008-09 Regular Season
Defending Quality: Includes both tracked and hidden defending
Chris Andersen DEN 0.478
Nene Hilario DEN 0.402
Kenyon Martin DEN 0.400
Renaldo Balkman DEN 0.384
Carmelo Anthony DEN 0.315
J.R. Smith DEN 0.297
Anthony Carter DEN 0.283
Chauncey Billups DEN 0.233
Linas Kleiza DEN 0.216
Dahntay Jones DEN 0.152
The breakdown between hidden and unhidden is available on request.
THE USER GUIDE for this and other reports using Real Player Rating IS UPDATED SUBSTANTIALLY as of June 9, 2009.
You must use the User Guide if you want to fully understand the value of the ratings, and also to best determine how you could best use them.
ROUNDBALL MINING BLOG
DENVER STIFFS BLOG
NUGG DOCTOR BLOG
NUGGETS PLAYER STATISTICS INCLUDING ADVANCED STATISTICS
THE DENVER NUGGETS BASIC FRANCHISE INFORMATION, INCLUDING WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS MESS:
Arena: Pepsi Center (19155) Arena Build Date: 1/1/1999 Owner: Stan Kroenke President: Mark Warkentien General Manager: Mark Warkentien Head Coach: George Karl Assistant Coaches: Adrian Dantley, Mike Dunlap, Doug Moe, John Welch, and Tim Grgurich Number of NBA Titles: 0 Number of Playoff Appearances: 19 Forbes 2007 Franchise Value: $321 Million Forbes 2007 Revenue: $104 million Purchase Price: $202 million (2000) Developmental League Team: Colorado 14ers
Owner: E. Stanley Kroenke Vice President of Basketball Operations: Mark Warkentien Vice President of Player Personnel: Rex Chapman Vice President of Team Development: Josh Kroenke Vice President of Media and Player Development: Tomago Collins Executive Vice President, Kroenke Sports: Paul Andrews Sr. Vice President of Finance, Kroenke Sports: Mark Waggoner Vice President/General Counsel: Stephen Stieneker Advisor to the Vice President of Basketball Operations: Greg Knight Advisor to the Nuggets: Bret Bearup
Head Coach: George Karl Assistant Coach: Adrian Dantley Assistant Coach: Tim Grgurich Assistant Coach: John Welch Assistant Coach / Advance Scout: Chad Iske Assistant Coach / Player Development: Jamahl Mosley Player Development Coach: Stacey Augmon Coaching Consultant: Doug Moe
Advance Scout: Jack Murphy Scout: Wayne Chapman Scout: John Carideo Director of Quantitative Analysis: Dean Oliver Head Video Coordinator: Nate Anderson Assistant Video Coordinator: Jesse Mermuys
Athletic Trainer / Travel Coordinator: Jim Gillen Assistant Coach / Strength and Conditioning: Steve Hess Assistant Athletic Trainer / Strength and Conditioning Assistant: Matt Friia Assistant Athletic Trainer / Strength and Conditioning Assistant: Dan Shimensky Equipment Manager: Sparky Gonzales