Believe it or not, there are some solid advanced metrics to measure the effectiveness of basketball players. In fact, some of the stats are similar to those used by sabremetrics devotees with baseball, only with basketball the folks who tout the movement aren’t as militant.
Look, the math is still way too difficult and there is no formula to measure the way a basketball player can cut off the baseline from an opponent, but hey, basketball stat heads don’t act like Glenn Beck in front of the chalkboard the way baseball stat heads do often.
Nevertheless, with the NBA trade deadline slipping past quietly in Philadelphia, it’s worth noting that the 76ers (not the Warriors) have pulled off some of the best midseason trades in NBA history. According to the good folks at Basketball-Reference, the Sixers were the benefactors of receiving the best player in a midseason trade in NBA history.
They worked out the math and everything.
That player, of course, was Wilt Chamberlain, who was traded from the San Francisco Warriors to the Sixers for Connie Dierking, Paul Neumann, Lee Shaffer and cash (try putting that one in the trade machine). Wilt was averaging 38.9 points and 23.5 rebounds in the first 38 games of the 1964-65 season for the Warriors, which came to a 19.1 three-year weighted win share.
No, there were no bonus points for the fact that it was Wilt Chamberlain.
Here’s the formula I don’t understand used to determine the worth of the player:
Yeah, I don’t get it either. Nevertheless, the Sixers also got Dikembe Mutombo on a snowy, February day in 2001, which rates as the 14th best player received for a 9.2 three-year weighted win share. Sure, the Sixers lost Theo Ratliff in that deal, but with Dikembe the team got to the Finals for the first time since 1983.
There was also the Mike Gminski trade for Roy Hinson and Tim McCormick in 1988 at No. 60 (6.4) and the Andre Miller (6.1) for Allen Iverson (7.8) deal that was listed at No. 76 for the Sixers and may have worked out better for Philly than Denver.
Interestingly, the Sixers have not sent away too many statistically great players during the season. They just wait to get the No. 1 pick in the 1986 draft and give away Hall of Famers for that. Nevertheless, early in the 1971-72 season, the Sixers sent Archie Clark (10.8) at No. 5 to the Baltimore Bullets for Fred Carter and Kevin Loughery. It’s doubtful one could point to the Clarke trade as the impetus to the 9-72 season in 1972-73 since Clark played just one game the season before. However, Clark could have helped the ’72-73 Sixers to double-digit wins.
So, with the blockbusters that went down in the Atlantic Division this week, it’s worth mentioning that the Knicks appear have been the big winners not because they got Carmelo Anthony from Denver, but because they got Chauncey Billups. New New Jersey point guard Deron Williams isn’t too far behind, but it’s worth noting that Billups just might be the best player traded twice during a season...
Take that, Adrian Dantley!