Way Too Early Top 10 Stats (Day 20)

For people who don't know what PER or oRtg are
The basis of oRtg is number of points a player produces * 100 divided by number of possessions a player uses. A made two point shot is not necessarily worth the full 2 points, as some credit has to be given to whoever assisted the basket, and whoever may have kept the possession alive with an offensive rebound. It's really complicated, but that should give you a basic idea. It's a measure of offensive efficiency, and in this league the average is 112 points per 100 possessions used (a 112 oRtg).

PER attempts to add up a bunch of box score stats, weight them accordingly, and spit out a single number representing how much that player produced per minute on the court. The league average is always 15.

It's obviously early in the season and sample sizes are small, so take most of this with a grain of salt, but I think it's fun.

Point Guards

-This is a point guard's league. If you ask most GMs, they probably think their PG is an All Star caliber player, but with so many great PGs out there, they're probably wrong.
-Bradley Barker, to me, is clearly the best offensive player in the league. He's efficient as anyone while putting up big volume numbers. He's the real deal.
-Cousy's been really, really, really good.
-KC Jones (not shown) is one of the worst starters in the league at PG thus far. Despite that, he's been above average in efficiency, and has a PER over 15 (the league average). Again, just a testament to how good the PG spot is in this league.
-Rickey Francis hasn't been as efficient as I thought. He's still significantly above average, but his efficiency is hindered a bit by his inability to draw fouls.

Shooting Guards

-Everyone was afraid to draft a 31 year old rookie Bobby Cook last year, but they missed out on a legitimate superstar. He's shooting over 50%, scoring 23 points in 28 minutes, the guy is just a flat out stud offensively. Defensively...eh.
-McCracken hasn't been close to as good as he was last year.
-Harrison's efficiency is still a little sub par (as it was last year). I still find this surprising, a guy who shoots like him rarely posts a below average oRtg.
-Marcus Jay has been ridiculous in limited minutes. Small sample size warning aside, he probably should see a few more minutes for OKC.
-Thompson has vaulted from being a fantastically average and mediocre player last year, to one of the better SGs in the league.

Small Forwards

-Ramsey has clearly been the best SF thus far, he's simply dominant scoring the ball and doing so at an efficient rate.
-Cliff Hagan being on this list as a rookie is as impressive as it gets. He's getting the chance to dominate the ball in Milwuakee, but he's been efficient doing so.
-Wayne Worthington shows up on this list for the second straight year, and for the second straight year I'm surprised to see his name.
-Perry Jones should ensure that I keep my job for another season. Despite being 34, he's still really, really good.
-When you look at Gilchrist's ratings, being the 10th most productive SF in the league just looks like a massive disappointment.

Power Forwards

-Power forwards this year seem stronger on the whole than they were last year.
-I avoided Randy Sinclair a few years ago because I was convinced his production would never match his ratings. I was wrong.
-He may not have that "A" inside rating anymore, but Robinson is as effective putting the ball in the basket as he's ever been.
-Flint, again, has been subpar efficiency wise offensively. He's still putting up huge volume though.
-Watts continues his reign as one of the most undervalued players in the league.

Centers

-Unlike last year, Dickerson and Alf are no longer the clear upper tier of centers.
-The difference between the average center and the average point guard is remarkable and ridiculous. Vale is subpar in efficiency and his volume is pretty average, and yet he's one of the 10 most productive centers in the league. There are point guards who don't see the light of day that would be more productive if they got court time.
-A lot of people have questioned Raskauskas' value, but in my book he's one of the 40 most valuable players in the league easily.
-I thought Ivan Harris would rank higher here, he's right outside the top 10, but even that surprised me.
-I'd write more about the centers, but they all suck so bad that I'm not motivated to keep talking about them.