NBA Tool Analysis: Advanced Player Stats
Hello Grinders!
Let’s get into more NBA tool analysis.
There are two stats that I think are very important to look at when building your NBA lineups. Using the NBA Advanced Player Stats tool, we are going to take a look at usage rates (USG%) and fantasy points per touch (FP/Tch).
I’ll take a look at some of the top guards, forwards and centers in the league based on their usage rates. I’ll then analyze how those players rank in terms of fantasy points per touch to see how well they are utilizing their usage rate.
First up are guards:
Kobe Bryant is posting an incredible 37.83% usage rate. That’s nearly five points higher than any other player in the league.
Derrick Rose surprised me with a 31.74% usage rate, but I would still want to see him post more consistent minutes before rostering him.
Seeing Steph Curry (30.57%) and James Harden (30.38%) near the top of this list wasn’t a shock, as they are the main playmakers on their respective teams.
Gerald Green was the name that really jumped of the page to me though. For a non-starter that isn’t a point guard, a 30.30% usage rate is extremely high. The Suns are clearly focused on utilizing Green’s athleticism on their second unit.
Let’s now take a look and see where some of those players mentioned above land on the fantasy point per touch list.
Mr. Kobe Bryant is near the top of this list as well with 0.65 FP/Tch. This just hammers home the fact that Kobe is an elite fantasy option at this point in the season. His body may not hold up for the entire season, but feel free to put in your lineups with confidence, especially on some sites where his price is still depressed in relation to his production.
Wow! Gerald Green again with a .60 FP/Tch. I have watched a few Suns games this season and have rostered Green several times, but I’ll certainly be making a more concerted effort to get him into some of my lineups.
I would also like to point out the top dog on this list in Klay Thompson. I don’t roster him often, because before this season he was really just a scorer. He has clearly evolved his game and become a well-rounded player, so I’ll need to consider him for my rosters more often.
Next up are forwards:
The top of this list is really no surprise. Blake, Carmelo and LeBron are all elite talents that have the ball in their hands a lot.
Seeing Chris Bosh rank fourth on the list was a bit of an eye opener. His 28.40% usage rate is higher than any of his All-NBA seasons in Toronto. The Heat are leaning on him heavily as Wade battles his various health issues. Bosh is now the top option in Miami, and I’ll be looking to target him more often.
Another second unit player in Marreese Speights cracks the top USG% list at 27.53. If you’ve watched any Warriors games, you know that Speights has never met a shot that he didn’t like. Combine that with the high pace of the Warriors offense and Speights is a legit tournament play, when he has a chance at 20+ minutes that is.
You’ll notice that for the forward position I am sorting by FPPG instead of FP/Tch. I did this for two reasons. The first is to point out how ridiculous Anthony Davis and his 0.94 FP/Tch is. That’s more than double Blake Griffin at 0.43. The second reason is that the FP/Tch list is being skewed by a fair amount of non-starters that don’t really apply, thus pushing some of the players on the USG% chart way down.
Another player not shown on this list from the previous chart is Marreese Speights. His FP/Tch rating comes in at 0.58, which is higher than Carmelo, LeBron and Blake. Now, I’m not saying roster Speights over those three, but if you have one forward spot left to fill and Speights is in the range of players that fit, then most certainly get him in there.
We finish off with a look at centers:
I live about an hour south of Glens Falls, NY, which is Jimmer Fredette’s hometown for anyone that didn’t know. So, in following Jimmer’s career, I have watched a lot of Kings games and have seen the growth of DeMarcus Cousins as much as anyone. How he wasn’t put on the All-Star team last year still baffles me. He is the most physically dominant and skilled big man since Shaq. If he wasn’t such a knucklehead, his career path might be similar to Shaq’s, but I won’t hold my breath on that one. That was my long-winded way of saying DeMarcus is a fantasy stud and I try to roster him as much as possible. His 32.99% usage rate trails only Kobe Bryant.
Al Jefferson is the only other center above 30% and makes for a solid play. My only concern with Jefferson is that his rebound rate is way down, as Lance Stephenson has been taking some of Jefferson’s rebound supply.
Well, that’s a pretty ugly FP/Tch chart. Bismack Biyombo is not an option for DFS NBA. Do not roster him. Andre Drummond, on the other hand, is an elite fantasy option at 0.81 FP/Tch. If he could only stay out of trouble, he would be able to consistently challenge Cousins as the king of DFS NBA centers.
Nikola Pekovic is also going to be on my radar now, as he is only slightly behind Drummond at 0.77 FP/Tch. In the right matchups, he could be a very profitable player when healthy.
Circling back to Cousins, his FP/Tch comes in at 0.68, which is still an elite number despite being way behind Drummond and Pekovic. Cousin’s insane usage rate makes up for that difference by a long shot.
So, those are a few of the many ways for you to use the Advanced Player Stats Tool to build winning lineups. Hopefully this information helps you going forward with your NBA roster construction.
Have a great weekend and check back next week as I highlight another free RG research tool. As always, feel free to leave a comment or reach out to me on twitter, @Socky21.