I just want to make it clear that OP is not an OKC fan. He's an annoying Durant stan who does not share the same opinions and thoughts of most Thunder fans.
Not single handedly (Westbrook is pretty damn good), Durant is that teams best player ofcourse, but not because of +/-... that is the most horrible stat ever, its completely based on randomness... no? Here are your top +/- guys this season: http://www.nba.com/statistics/plusmi...lit=22&t eam=
I wonder if you would be talking up that +/- list if 'Bron wasn't completely out of the top 50.
+/- is based on how good your team is doing scoring wise compared to the other team while you are in there or on the bench... Its a very random distribution based on a bit of luck and bad luck, when you are on the floor (and your team is doing good/bad) and when you are not on the floor (and your team is doing bad/good)...
You can come in and not score a single basket the entire quarter while your team is making a run and your +/- will look awesome...
You can come in and score 20 points in that quarter while the other team is responding (the score ratio is not changing) and/or they still are running away with the lead, your +/- will then look horrible...
So no, i wouldnt be "talking up that +/- list if Bron wasnt completely out of the top 50 or if he was #1"... its a completely useless stat and doesnt prove anything...
Sorry bud. Plus minus scores matter. You're right that they can be skewed and some of it can be luck...
But it's a pretty good show of who is on the court when your team makes its biggest runs.
Nah, +/- doesnt matter individually for the reasons i explained above, but as a team/group/combination/lineup it indeed is more of a useful stat...
As an individual you can basically be the worst player in the league and just be on the floor at the right moment & time and end up leading the league or your team in +/-...
As a lineup on the floor +/- is less skewed... afterall your best lineup on the floor will always have the best +/-...
+/- is based on how good your team is doing scoring wise compared to the other team while you are in there or on the bench... Its a very random distribution based on a bit of luck and bad luck, when you are on the floor (and your team is doing good/bad) and when you are not on the floor (and your team is doing bad/good)...
You can come in and not score a single basket the entire quarter while your team is making a run and your +/- will look awesome...
You can come in and score 20 points in that quarter while the other team is responding (the score ratio is not changing) and/or they still are running away with the lead, your +/- will then look horrible...
So no, i wouldnt be "talking up that +/- list if Bron wasnt completely out of the top 50 or if he was #1"... its a completely useless stat and doesnt prove anything...
Nice try though...
Seems to me, like you're saying, that it doesn't matter who's on the court at all.
Plus minus is skewed heavily by rotational bias. RAPM is more much indicative of a player's on court impact, though I wouldn't put to much faith in either this early in the season.
For comparison,
Thunder RAPM Data
Code:
Player Off Def Total
Durant 3.75 1.18 4.93
Westbrook 3.44 -0.70 2.74
Martin 2.94 -2.33 0.61
Ibaka -0.73 3.18 2.45
Durant is single handedly carrying OKC
If you take a good look, its more like vice versa... :)
