Fabricio Oberto: Underrated - Antoine Walker: Overrated

Fabricio Oberto: Underrated - Antoine Walker: Overrated

I just read an interesting blog post on one of the greatest basketball stats-junkie sites on the net, Basketball-Reference.com.

They exhaustively calculate stats of NBA players in a decade of NBA seasons from 1999 to 2009. What they do is basically calculating the difference between the “perceived value” of an NBA player in the eyes of the public (including the media) and the “(almost) real value” of the same player considering their offensive and defensive prowess in their team’s wins.

If you see today’s conventional “valuing” method for players, the three main stats are points, rebounds and assists (the NBA.com also focus on this in determining a player’s effectiveness rating, including some supporting stats, like blocks and steals) – The method is called PAR.

What PAR don’t measure is the intangible, beyond stats, ability of the players, such as ex-Spurs Bruce Bowen’s excellent outside defending ability, that is not always translated into the number of steals.

The Top 40 list is made from comparing the old and lame PAR method with the Basketball-reference.com method, called win shares, calculates a player’s contribution in creating points on offense and defending points on defense – It’s not perfect but better.

In layman’s term, the list is all about those NBA players who were performing better than what people might think, and vice versa.

40 most underrated seasons/players in 1999-2009 NBA seasons

Here are the players (a player could appear in the list more than once) that basketball enthusiasts should respect more than a mere point-rebound-assist counts.

Rank Year Name Team Pos
1 2008 Fabricio Oberto SAS F
2 2007 Brent Barry SAS G
3 2007 Dikembe Mutombo HOU C
4 2004 Jeff Foster IND F
5 2007 Chuck Hayes HOU F
6 2003 Shawn Bradley DAL C
7 2009 Matt Bonner SAS F
8 2008 James Posey BOS F
9 2000 Scot Pollard SAC C
10 2007 Shane Battier HOU F
11 2005 Fred Hoiberg MIN G
12 2004 Reggie Miller IND G
13 2000 Robert Horry LAL F
14 2002 Scot Pollard SAC C
15 2008 Chuck Hayes HOU F
16 2004 Fred Hoiberg MIN G
17 2009 Erick Dampier DAL C
18 2002 Jon Barry DET G
19 2009 Anderson Varejao CLE F
20 2009 Joel Przybilla POR C
21 2008 Shane Battier HOU F
22 2007 Anderson Varejao CLE F
23 2005 Brent Barry SAS G
24 2007 Eduardo Najera DEN F
25 2009 Eddie House BOS G
26 2008 Kendrick Perkins BOS F
27 2008 Jason Maxiell DET F
28 2009 Chris Andersen DEN F
29 2000 Ben Wallace ORL C
30 2009 Trevor Ariza LAL F
31 2003 Jon Barry DET G
32 2002 Robert Horry LAL F
33 2008 Ronnie Brewer UTA G
34 2000 Bo Outlaw ORL F
35 2008 Bruce Bowen SAS F
36 2006 Bruce Bowen SAS F
37 2009 Derek Fisher LAL G
38 2008 Eduardo Najera DEN F
39 2004 Brian Cardinal GSW F
40 2009 Joakim Noah CHI C

Poor Oberto! His lean and non-formidable appearance fools everybody (including me!)

40 most overrated seasons/players in 1999-2009 NBA seasons

On the other side of the road, here are the most overrated seasons/players that people pay attention more than the ballers deserve (sorry, bro!)

Rank Year Name Tm Pos
1 2005 Antoine Walker TOT F
2 2009 Baron Davis LAC G
3 2000 Maurice Taylor LAC F
4 2000 Isaiah Rider ATL G
5 2009 Stephen Jackson GSW F
6 2005 Al Harrington ATL F
7 2004 Allen Iverson PHI G
8 2002 Jason Williams MEM G
9 2006 Zach Randolph POR F
10 2009 Russell Westbrook OKC G
11 2008 Zach Randolph NYK F
12 2003 Antoine Walker BOS F
13 2009 Al Thornton LAC F
14 2001 Ron Mercer CHI F
15 2004 Gilbert Arenas WAS G
16 2008 Kevin Durant SEA G
17 2000 Juwan Howard WAS F
18 2000 Jason Williams SAC G
19 2004 Jalen Rose TOT G
20 2002 Michael Jordan WAS G
21 2000 Ron Mercer TOT F
22 2005 Chris Webber TOT F
23 2000 Lamar Odom LAC F
24 2003 Glenn Robinson ATL F
25 2000 Larry Hughes TOT G
26 2008 Chris Kaman LAC C
27 2009 Allen Iverson TOT G
28 2003 Ricky Davis CLE G
29 2009 Spencer Hawes SAC C
30 2008 Ricky Davis MIA G
31 2002 Latrell Sprewell NYK G
32 2004 Quentin Richardson LAC G
33 2009 Rudy Gay MEM F
34 2007 Raymond Felton CHA G
35 2001 Michael Dickerson VAN G
36 2000 Jim Jackson ATL G
37 2009 Jamal Crawford TOT G
38 2007 Desmond Mason NOK F
39 2007 Mo Williams MIL G
40 2003 Darius Miles CLE F

I don’t like Antoine Walker, and this list proves I’m right – LOL