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Oct. 18 -- Wouldn’t it all be so simple for fantasy players if there was one magical number assigned to each player that predicted exactly how much he would help your team? Many fantasy sites attempt to do this through various rankings and player raters, or by combining the opinions of several fantasy ‘experts’ into one cohesive list. There are other indicators of overall performance as well, with perhaps the two most-notable being NBA’s efficiency rating and plus/minus rankings, both based on actual in-game statistics. While these measurements cannot and should not be applied directly to fantasy, there are certain bits of information we can glean from them to aid us in this ever-important time of the year: draft season. Today I’ll take a look at the top-50 in these two popular measurements to see what kind of knowledge I can garner to help you with last-minute draft strategies.

Efficiency Rating

The NBA efficiency rating is interesting because it boils effectiveness down to a formula (PTS + REB + AST + STL + BLK) - (FGA - FGM) + ((FTA - FTM) + TO) / G. This formula is helpful for fantasy because it takes into account a variety of categories and accounts for poor shooting and turnovers. However, there is a lack of emphasis upon those stats, as well as an overall negation of three-pointers made. Although steals and blocks are factored in, this formula makes one steal, block, point and rebound equal to each other.

Since the league leader in points usually tops out around 30 per game, while the league leader in steals and blocks does so at about three a night, it’s clear that this efficiency rating is difficult to apply directly to an eight- or nine-category, roto-scoring type league in which each category is equally imkportant. But what can we learn? Let’s take a look at the top-50 players in efficiency for the 2004-2005 season:

1. Kevin Garnett – 31.96 26. Corey Maggette – 19.86
2. LeBron James – 28.24 27. Marcus Camby – 19.45
3. Dirk Nowitzki – 28.13 28. Ray Allen – 19.45
4. Amare Stoudemire – 26.76 29. Chris Bosh – 19.41
5. Shawn Marion – 25.59 30. Zydrunas Ilgauskas – 19.19
6. Tim Duncan – 25.30 31. Jason Richardson – 19.15
7. Allen Iverson – 24.87 32. Ben Wallace – 19.14
8. Shaquille O’Neal – 24.44 33. Drew Gooden – 18.89
9. Kobe Bryant– 24.32 34. Grant Hill – 18.81
10. Tracy McGrady – 23.72 35. Emeka Okafor – 18.32
11. Brad Miller – 23.71 36. Kurt Thomas – 18.28
12. Elton Brand – 23.53 37. Troy Murphy – 18.09
13. Dwyane Wade – 23.17 38. Antawn Jamison – 17.93
14. Paul Pierce -- 22.10 39. Rashard Lewis – 17.90
15. Steve Nash – 22.08 40. Dwight Howard – 17.88
16. Gilbert Arenas – 22.01 41. Chauncey Billups – 17.66
17. Stephon Marbury – 21.91 42. Antoine Walker – 17.65
18. Larry Hughes – 21.85 43. Kenyon Martin – 17.50
19. Vince Carter – 21.62 44. Peja Stojakovic – 17.48
20. Chris Webber – 21.28 45. Manu Ginobili – 17.26
21. Jason Kidd – 20.97 46. Andre Miller – 17.22
22. Steve Francis – 20.63 47. Michael Redd – 17.19
23. Yao Ming – 20.60 48. Bobby Simmons – 17.09
24. Lamar Odom – 20.52 49. Joe Johnson -- 16.93
25. Mike Bibby – 19.98 50. Udonis Haslem – 16.91

In the Top 10 we have the usual suspects, although KG’s monstrous three-and-a-half point lead over LeBron indicates that LeBron should only be drafted first if you’re confident he’ll improve significantly upon last season’s campaign. Personally, I think he will improve and most likely end up at the top of this list for next season, although I wouldn’t be shocked to see KG put up a repeat performance as the ‘most efficient’ player.

Something I always keep an eye out for when perusing a list that is ordered like this is significant drop-offs, or large groupings. LeBron is followed closely by Dirk Nowitzki, but then there is a two-point dropoff after the big German. This two-point drop off is larger than any in the Top 50 other than KG over LeBron. The No. 3 pick in fantasy drafts is the first that is a hotly-disputed one, as one could make a case for Dirk, Marion, Kobe, Duncan, AI or even AK-47. Center eligibility or not, Dirk is currently living up to his efficiency rating from last season, going third overall in this season’s average draft, according to mockdraftcentral.com.

I personally would draft Nowitzki fourth overall behind Marion, especially in turnover leagues. Marion’s absurd contributions in the categories of steals, blocks and threes -- all of which are undervalued in the efficiency rating -- as well as his newly increased role with Amare Stoudemire’s absence make him too good to pass up. Overall, my biggest gripe with efficiency rating is it punishes the studs that fill the less-favored stats, such as Andre Kirilenko, Shane Battier, and Andre Igoudala. So now we’ll take a look at plus/minus.

Plus/Minus

Another indicator of player effectiveness is their plus/minus rating. This is the net points per 48 minutes for the team when a player is on the court versus net points per 48 minutes for the team when the player is on the bench. Here’s the Top 50 in plus/minus rating:

1. Tim Duncan – +16.6 26. Rasheed Wallace – +8.7
2. Jason Kidd – +16.0 27. Brian Cook – +8.7
3. Manu Ginobili– +15.5 28. Paul Pierce – +8.1
4. Dirk Nowitzki – +15.3 29. Chris Andersen – +8.1
5. Steve Nash – +15.0 30. Othella Harrington – +7.9
6. Elton Brand – +14.7 31. Antawn Jamison – +7.5
7. Shawn Marion – +14.5 32. Chauncey Billups – +7.4
8. Tayshaun Prince – +12.8 33. Joe Johnson – +7.3
9. Stephon Marbury – +12.0 34. Ben Wallace – +7.1
10. Richard Hamilton – +11.9 35. Dwight Howard – +6.9
11. Brendan Haywood – +11.5 36. Shaquille O’Neal – +6.8
12. Andrei Kirilenko – +11.3 37. Bobby Simmons – +6.7
13. Rashard Lewis – +11.2 38. Nenad Krstic – +6.6
14. Jason Collins – +11.1 39. Tony Allen – +6.5
15. Shane Battier – +11.1 40. Fred Hoiberg – +6.4
16. Jon Barry – +11.0 41. Dikembe Mutombo – +6.4
17. Vince Carter – +10.9 42. Eddie Jones – +6.3
18. Amare Stoudemire – +10.7 43. Luol Deng – +6.2
19. Gilbert Arenas – +9.9 44. Casey Jacobsen – +6.1
20. Vladimir Radmanovic – +9.7 45. Steve Francis – +5.9
21. Andre Miller – +9.6 46. Rasho Nesterovic – +5.9
22. LeBron James – +9.4 47. Mike Miller – +5.8
23. Jeff Foster – +9.3 48. Stephen Jackson – +5.8
24. Jason Terry – +9.2 49. Erick Dampier – +5.8
25. Ray Allen – +9.0 50. Quentin Richardson – +5.7

Since this measurement doesn’t deal with any individual statistics, it’s difficult to apply it directly to fantasy sports. But it does tell us how valuable a player is to his team, so it should be able to provide information about key position battles or players with role changes. The first name that pops out is Brendan Haywood, and although there are many lesser-known names on this list, Haywood ranking twelfth overall tells us something about how much he helps the Wizards. He’s set to start at center this year, and if his plus/minus is any indication, he should have no problem holding off competitors like Etan Thomas and Calvin Booth.

Jason Collins is a frontcourt player with an excellent plus/minus. However, Collins averaged 32 minutes per game with the Nets last year, and has more competition at his position this season with Cliff Robinson, Mark Jackson and Scott Padgett around, so I don’t expect him to improve statistically. Vladimir Radmanovic is always one injury away from fantasy stardom, and it looks as if the Sonics need to rethink inserting him into the starting rotation. With Antonio Daniels gone, he’s set to be one of the top sixth men in the league and should drain tons of threes for Seattle this season.

Anderson is a player to keep an eye on.
Gregory Shamus/NBAE/Getty Images

Chris Andersen is also a name I like a lot this year. He averaged 11 points, 8.5 rebounds and 3.75 blocks last April, plays in a weak Hornets frontcourt and should see a significant jump in minutes and statistics this season. With the center eligibility to boot, Andersen is one of my favorite late-round grabs, and you should be able to grab him as he goes undrafted in many leagues.

Tony Allen is a name I’m surprised to see, but since he’s locked in an important point guard battle with Delonte West and Dan Dickau in Boston, his superb plus/minus is a good sign. Krstic, Dwight Howard and Luol Deng are other young players who have significant importance for their team at young ages, and should continue to see their roles increase as the teams identify their value.

Well, there you have it. Neither of these gauges is designed for fantasy sports, but we can learn important information about the players from each. My belief is that a complete fantasy team is assembled with an overall vision in mind, so the player drafted should be the best for your team, not necessarily the best overall basketball player.

The most important number-crunching is done once the season begins. Until then, and all season long, I’ll continue my search for more obscure stats in hopes of helping you achieve the fulfilling task of winning your league, humiliating your friends and spouting off meaningless statistics that prove your impressive intelligence and comprehensive superiority.

Joshua Whitling is a fantasy expert for NBA.com. His column, “Inside the Obscure Stats” runs every Tuesday as part of the NBA.com Premium Scouting Report. Sign up now and get in depth analysis, scouting, stats, advice and rankings straight from the experts closest to the game!