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[Straight Outta CPT]

There are currently 597 players in the Yahoo! Fantasy Basketball database.

I was thinking of how pathetic Brandon Knight was as a fantasy player and wondered the following: "how many instances are there in which one player is strictly superior to a second?"  That is, if you had only player A and your opponent only had player B and you accumulated averages from each player, you would sweep your opponent 9-0 in all the standard categories (points, rebounds, assists, steals, blocks, treys, turnovers, FG%, and FT%).

This is harder than you think because you have to take turnovers (which are typically inversely correlated with usage) as well as the other eight categories, and moreover, I'm not allowing ties.

It turns out that there are 486 instances, but almost half of them (195) involve Darko Milicic, who brick his only FGA, turned the ball over twice, and grabbed a single rebound as his only positive contribution.  Here's a comprehensive "bitch list" (i.e. players that appeared as "player B" in the wrong side of the comparison), with the number of times they were found on that list:

	195 Darko Milicic
	 25 Josh Selby
	 23 Nolan Smith
	 17 Kevin Murphy
	 15 Victor Claver
	 15 Tyshawn Taylor
	 12 Terrel Harris
	 12 Kendall Marshall
	 11 Ben Hansbrough
	 10 Jon Leuer
	  9 Will Barton
	  9 Doron Lamb
	  7 Eddy Curry
	  7 Corey Maggette
	  6 Perry Jones
	  5 Louis Amundson
	  4 Stephen Jackson
	  4 Sam Young
	  4 Luc Richard Mbah a Moute
	  4 Kris Joseph
	  4 Jared Jeffries
	  4 Hedo Turkoglu
	  4 Hakim Warrick
	  4 Earl Barron
	  4 Aaron Gray
	  3 Thomas Robinson
	  3 Ricky Rubio
	  3 Mickael Pietrus
	  3 Jeremy Pargo
	  3 Anthony Tolliver
	  2 Quincy Pondexter
	  2 Mike Scott
	  2 Mike James
	  2 Michael Beasley
	  2 Maalik Wayns
	  2 Kevin Seraphin
	  2 Josh Harrellson
	  2 Jason Collins
	  2 J.J. Barea
	  2 Drew Gooden
	  2 Dominique Jones
	  2 Dahntay Jones
	  2 Brandon Knight
	  2 Austin Rivers
	  1 Xavier Henry
	  1 Vladimir Radmanovic
	  1 Tyler Zeller
	  1 Ty Lawson
	  1 Trevor Booker
	  1 Sasha Pavlovic
	  1 Robert Sacre
	  1 Nene Hilario
	  1 Mario Chalmers
	  1 Marcus Camby
	  1 Kim English
	  1 Kendrick Perkins
	  1 Josh Howard
	  1 Joel Freeland
	  1 Jerryd Bayless
	  1 Jeremy Tyler
	  1 Jeff Green
	  1 Jamaal Tinsley
	  1 Ish Smith
	  1 Harrison Barnes
	  1 Gerald Green
	  1 Eric Maynor
	  1 Eric Gordon
	  1 Devin Ebanks
	  1 Damien Wilkins
	  1 Daequan Cook
	  1 Caron Butler
	  1 Anthony Randolph
	  1 Alec Burks

Most of them involve scrub players, but here are a few interesting ones involving (maybe) rosterable players:
- Lebron James is strictly superior to Ty Lawson
- Chris Paul is strictly superior to both J.J Barea and Ricky Rubio
- Stephen Curry is strictly superior to Brandon Knight
- Nicolas Batum is strictly superior to Brandon Knight
- Al Jefferson is strictly superior to Tyler Zeller, Kendrick Perkins, Kevin Seraphin, James Johnson, and Thomas Robinson
- Marc Gasol is strictly superior to Kevin Seraphin
- Andrei Kirilenko is strictly superior to Nene Hilario
- Ryan Anderson is strictly superior to Hakim Warrick (and three other unrosterables)
- Jason Kidd is strictly superior to Mario Chalmers, Stephen Jackson, Jerryd Bayless, and about 5 others (ncluding Austin Rivers and Hedo Turkoglu)
- Kyle Lowry is strictly superior to Jamaal Tinsley
- Brook Lopez is strictly superior to Kevin Seraphin
- O.J. Mayo is strictly superior to Eric Gordon
- Kemba Walker is strictly superior to Ricky Rubio

How about on the other side of the list (i.e. being on the good side of the comparison)?

Surprisingly, DeMarre Carroll leads the list, but there are quite a few other unsurprising names on top of the list.

	 17 DeMarre Carroll
	 16 Francisco Garcia
	 13 Thabo Sefolosha
	 11 Steve Novak
	 11 Kyle Korver
	 10 Jimmy Butler
	  9 Mike Miller
	  8 Willie Green
	  8 Troy Murphy
	  8 Jason Kidd
	  7 Shane Battier
	  7 Richard Jefferson
	  7 Ersan Ilyasova
	  6 Terrence Jones
	  6 Leandro Barbosa
	  6 Jeffery Taylor
	  5 Ryan Anderson
	  5 Ronnie Brewer
	  5 Rasheed Wallace
	  5 Matt Bonner
	  5 Matt Barnes
	  5 Malcolm Lee
	  5 Dorell Wright
	  5 Anthony Morrow
	  5 Al Jefferson
	  4 Wayne Ellington
	  4 Travis Outlaw
	  4 Roger Mason
	  4 P.J. Tucker
	  4 Jared Sullinger
	  4 Jae Crowder
	  4 Earl Clark
	  4 DeShawn Stevenson
	  4 Dahntay Jones
	  4 C.J. Watson
	  4 Boris Diaw
	  4 Amir Johnson
	  3 Vince Carter
	  3 Royal Ivey
	  3 Reggie Williams
	  3 Orlando Johnson
	  3 Mirza Teletovic
	  3 Marquis Daniels
	  3 Josh McRoberts
	  3 Jonas Jerebko
	  3 John Salmons
	  3 Jason Richardson
	  3 Darius Miller
	  3 Danny Green
	  3 Danilo Gallinari
	  3 Charlie Villanueva
	  3 Austin Daye
	  3 Antawn Jamison
	  3 Andre Drummond
	  3 Alec Burks
	  2 Xavier Henry
	  2 Tobias Harris
	  2 Terrence Ross
	  2 Samuel Dalembert
	  2 Ronnie Price
	  2 Rodrigue Beaubois
	  2 Reggie Jackson
	  2 Quincy Pondexter
	  2 Patrick Patterson
	  2 Omri Casspi
	  2 Nick Young
	  2 Nate Robinson
	  2 Metta World Peace
	  2 Maurice Harkless
	  2 Markieff Morris
	  2 Luke Babbitt
	  2 Lamar Odom
	  2 Kawhi Leonard
	  2 Jordan Hamilton
	  2 Jodie Meeks
	  2 JaVale McGee
	  2 Jared Dudley
	  2 Ivan Johnson
	  2 George Hill
	  2 Garrett Temple
	  2 Dirk Nowitzki
	  2 DeQuan Jones
	  2 DeAndre Liggins
	  2 Daniel Gibson
	  2 Daequan Cook
	  2 Corey Maggette
	  2 Chris Paul
	  2 Brian Roberts
	  2 Beno Udrih
	  1 Wilson Chandler
	  1 Will Bynum
	  1 Will Barton
	  1 Wesley Matthews
	  1 Victor Claver
	  1 Trevor Ariza
	  1 Toney Douglas
	  1 Tayshaun Prince
	  1 Stephen Jackson
	  1 Stephen Curry
	  1 Spencer Hawes
	  1 Shawn Marion
	  1 Shannon Brown
	  1 Serge Ibaka
	  1 Sebastian Telfair
	  1 Sam Young
	  1 Rodney Stuckey
	  1 Richard Hamilton
	  1 Ray Allen
	  1 Rashard Lewis
	  1 Randy Foye
	  1 Ramon Sessions
	  1 Paul Millsap
	  1 Pau Gasol
	  1 Patrick Mills
	  1 Patrick Beverley
	  1 Pablo Prigioni
	  1 O.J. Mayo
	  1 Norris Cole
	  1 Nicolas Batum
	  1 Nando De Colo
	  1 Mike Dunleavy
	  1 Mickael Pietrus
	  1 Michael Kidd-Gilchrist
	  1 Michael Beasley
	  1 Marvin Williams
	  1 Martell Webster
	  1 MarShon Brooks
	  1 Marreese Speights
	  1 Mario Chalmers
	  1 Marcus Thornton
	  1 Marcus Morris
	  1 Marco Belinelli
	  1 Luke Walton
	  1 Luke Ridnour
	  1 Luis Scola
	  1 Luc Richard Mbah a Moute
	  1 Lou Williams
	  1 Linas Kleiza
	  1 LeBron James
	  1 Lance Stephenson
	  1 Kyle Singler
	  1 Kyle Lowry
	  1 Klay Thompson
	  1 Kirk Hinrich
	  1 Kim English
	  1 Kevin Martin
	  1 Kemba Walker
	  1 Josh Howard
	  1 Josh Childress
	  1 Jose Calderon
	  1 John Jenkins
	  1 Joe Johnson
	  1 Jerryd Bayless
	  1 Jeremy Pargo
	  1 Jeff Green
	  1 Jason Terry
	  1 James Johnson
	  1 Jamal Crawford
	  1 J.R. Smith
	  1 J.J. Redick
	  1 Isaiah Thomas
	  1 Hedo Turkoglu
	  1 Harrison Barnes
	  1 Gordon Hayward
	  1 Gerald Wallace
	  1 Gerald Henderson
	  1 Gerald Green
	  1 Gary Neal
	  1 E'Twaun Moore
	  1 Eric Bledsoe
	  1 Earl Watson
	  1 Drew Gooden
	  1 Draymond Green
	  1 Dominique Jones
	  1 Dion Waiters
	  1 Devin Harris
	  1 Devin Ebanks
	  1 Derrick Williams
	  1 DeMar DeRozan
	  1 David West
	  1 Darren Collison
	  1 Darrell Arthur
	  1 Darius Morris
	  1 Damien Wilkins
	  1 D.J. Augustin
	  1 Courtney Lee
	  1 Corey Brewer
	  1 Chris Singleton
	  1 Chris Duhon
	  1 Chris Copeland
	  1 Chris Bosh
	  1 Chandler Parsons
	  1 Cartier Martin
	  1 Caron Butler
	  1 Carlos Delfino
	  1 C.J. Miles
	  1 Byron Mullens
	  1 Bradley Beal
	  1 Ben Gordon
	  1 Avery Bradley
	  1 Austin Rivers
	  1 Anthony Tolliver
	  1 Andrei Kirilenko
	  1 Andrea Bargnani
	  1 Andray Blatche
	  1 Alonzo Gee
	  1 Al-Farouq Aminu
	  1 Alan Anderson
	  1 Aaron Brooks
	  1 A.J. Price

[bballshinobi]

That's a very interesting research. It definitely favors high % low volume players it seems, but fun nonetheless!

Edited by bballshinobi, 24 January 2013 - 07:54 PM.

[Straight Outta CPT]

BONUS! Two more fun factoids:

Total Failure

Two players in the league can be classified as "total failures" (i.e., their z-score is below 0 in all 9 categories).  Step forward, Michael Beasley and Darko Milicic!
- Michael Beasley: 9.7 ppg, 3.7 rpg, 1.8 apg, 0.4 spg, 0.6 bpg, 0.7 treys, 1.9 TO/g, 38.2% FG, 73.1% FT
- Darko Milicic: 0 ppg, 1 rpg, 0 apg, 0 spg, 0 bpg, 0 treys, 2 TO/g, 0% FG, 0% FT (technically, 0 FTA though).

Well Rounded!

Unfortunately, no players in the league contribute positively in all 9 categories, but only one player is within 0.5 standard deviations of 0 in all 9.  A round of applause to Andrei Kirilenko!

- Andrei Kirilenko: 13.7 ppg, 6.9 rpg, 3.1 apg, 1.6 spg, 1.2 bpg, 0.6 treys, 2.2 TO/g, 51.8% FG, 76.1% FT.

His weakest categories are turnovers (-0.45) and treys (-0.43).

[krupocin]

Wow thanks for posting this, I love interesting things like this that help you better understand the numbers, it's so easy to get caught up with the PTS/REB/AST stats that are generally more "traditional".  That being said, the last few years I've really made an effort to go after guys like AK (I have him on all my teams), including Iggy, Josh Smith, Cousins (based on last season although he's turning it on), Kidd (moreso in the past), Paul George, Nic Batum, not to mention all the big dogs (Durant, LBJ, etc although they're not as fun since it takes no research or skill to draft them).  Anthony Davis looks like he could become the PF/C to really contribute across the board as well.

Am I missing anyone else who fit's the mold of contributing in 7-9 cats w/o any major hinderances?

[clintonj8]

I try to do the same.  ^^  Ilyasova comes to mind, and Kawhi and Hayward (moreso next couple of years)

[gsw]

Hah, well done.  That was a fun read.

[chicagowhitesox1173]

Very interesting read, I usually look at traditional stats and this may help me in the future as I get more experiance with Fantasy Basketball.

[Straight Outta CPT]

Just a note, this was intended more as a fun exercise than something to keep in mind when building a team.

You'll be competing opponents whose roster consists of guys who put up 14/5/3, not a bunch of Darko Milicics and Michael Beasleys.  By no means am I suggesting you draft Demarre Carroll early!

[soudeska]

All i got out of this is i need to trade for AK47. Hope my Kyrie Irving will do.