Kobe Bryant Is the Second-Worst All-Star Starter in NBA Voting History - Behind Himself
But we don't need stats to know he's a star (and neither does Michael Rapaport)
JAN 3 2016 | UPDATED FEB 11
Voting & PER - Worst Starters - Voting & VORP - Biggest Snubs - Final Thoughts
But we don't need stats to know he's a star (and neither does Michael Rapaport)
JAN 3 2016 | UPDATED FEB 11
Voting & PER - Worst Starters - Voting & VORP - Biggest Snubs - Final Thoughts
V. Final Thoughts: Kobe Bryant is a Star
To be sure, stardom and late-career statistics are two very different things. If you're curious, Kobe finished top twenty in PER from 1999-2000 through 2012-2013 – fourteen consecutive seasons. Eleven times he ranked in the top ten; five times he was in the top five. He was top twenty in VORP thirteen times and top ten seven times. He ranks 22nd in career PER (22.98), 16th in career VORP (72.20), was voted to start eighteen All-Star Games, and won five NBA championships.
And besides, to Michael Rapaport’s earlier point, you don’t need stats to know that Kobe Bryant is a (fucking) star.
To be sure, stardom and late-career statistics are two very different things. If you're curious, Kobe finished top twenty in PER from 1999-2000 through 2012-2013 – fourteen consecutive seasons. Eleven times he ranked in the top ten; five times he was in the top five. He was top twenty in VORP thirteen times and top ten seven times. He ranks 22nd in career PER (22.98), 16th in career VORP (72.20), was voted to start eighteen All-Star Games, and won five NBA championships.
And besides, to Michael Rapaport’s earlier point, you don’t need stats to know that Kobe Bryant is a (fucking) star.
|
|
Vote share methodology and implications
“Positional vote shares” are the votes received by a player in a given season as a percent of the top tier votes at his position in that season. The “top tiers” are top five for centers (1975-2012); top ten for guards (1975-2012), forwards (1975-2012), and backcourt players (2013-2016); and top fifteen for frontcourt players (2013-2016).
This methodology normalizes votes across seasons and allows us to compare “how much of the vote” players received from year to year. It unfortunately leaves us blind to how much of the vote players outside of these top tiers might have received. It also subjects us to inconsistency in the size of the top tier for centers (1975-2012), which is why we broke them out for separate review. Frontcourt players’ vote share (2013-2016) is a little muted as it is calculated among the top fifteen vote getters.
From 1980-1985, the NBA only published the top five vote getters among guards and forwards. To translate this into a top ten equivalent, we used the average vote share obtained by players six through ten at each position in each conference in 1975, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1986, 1987, 1988, and 1989. From 1980-1981, the NBA only published the top three vote getters for centers, requiring translation into a top five equivalent. This and a couple of similar instances were addressed in a similar manner.
We would ideally present vote share as a percentage of all votes recorded in a given season, but it appears that the NBA only publishes results for the aforementioned top 5-10-15 recipients. If anyone is aware of – or has access to – the total number of votes by season, kindly let us know!
“Positional vote shares” are the votes received by a player in a given season as a percent of the top tier votes at his position in that season. The “top tiers” are top five for centers (1975-2012); top ten for guards (1975-2012), forwards (1975-2012), and backcourt players (2013-2016); and top fifteen for frontcourt players (2013-2016).
This methodology normalizes votes across seasons and allows us to compare “how much of the vote” players received from year to year. It unfortunately leaves us blind to how much of the vote players outside of these top tiers might have received. It also subjects us to inconsistency in the size of the top tier for centers (1975-2012), which is why we broke them out for separate review. Frontcourt players’ vote share (2013-2016) is a little muted as it is calculated among the top fifteen vote getters.
From 1980-1985, the NBA only published the top five vote getters among guards and forwards. To translate this into a top ten equivalent, we used the average vote share obtained by players six through ten at each position in each conference in 1975, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1986, 1987, 1988, and 1989. From 1980-1981, the NBA only published the top three vote getters for centers, requiring translation into a top five equivalent. This and a couple of similar instances were addressed in a similar manner.
We would ideally present vote share as a percentage of all votes recorded in a given season, but it appears that the NBA only publishes results for the aforementioned top 5-10-15 recipients. If anyone is aware of – or has access to – the total number of votes by season, kindly let us know!
Notes
Players displayed as starters are those players who were voted to start the game by the fans, regardless of which player ultimately started (e.g., due to injury replacement).
Statistics are full-season except for the current NBA season, which is through February 10, 2016. Votes are, of course, cast during the first half of the season, without the knowledge or foresight of where a player's full-season stats will end up.
There was no All-Star Game in 1999. Magic Johnson was voted to start the 1992 NBA All-Star Game but did not play a regular season game that season. High PERs by way of only a few games – such as David Robinson’s 1997 – are omitted.
For more on advanced basketball statistics, check out this glossary (with examples, pros and cons) and/or this detailed explanation of BPM and VORP.
Players displayed as starters are those players who were voted to start the game by the fans, regardless of which player ultimately started (e.g., due to injury replacement).
Statistics are full-season except for the current NBA season, which is through February 10, 2016. Votes are, of course, cast during the first half of the season, without the knowledge or foresight of where a player's full-season stats will end up.
There was no All-Star Game in 1999. Magic Johnson was voted to start the 1992 NBA All-Star Game but did not play a regular season game that season. High PERs by way of only a few games – such as David Robinson’s 1997 – are omitted.
For more on advanced basketball statistics, check out this glossary (with examples, pros and cons) and/or this detailed explanation of BPM and VORP.
The data source for this article is basketball-reference.com. Data was compiled and analyzed by ELDORADO. All charts and graphics herein were created by ELDORADO.
ELDORADO | Berkeley, CA | New York, NY
eldo.co | @eldo_co
ELDORADO | Berkeley, CA | New York, NY
eldo.co | @eldo_co
