Feb. 3: NERD Rankings (Player)

LeBron and KLove top the player efficiency ratings to date, while BKnight brings up the rear.

numberFire is a sports analytics platform that uses algorithmic modeling to better understand sports—and they’ve developed the numberFire Efficiency Rating Derivative (NERD) to better evaluate every player in the NBA using offensive and defensive efficiency numbers. The nerdier, the better, according to these guys. A player’s NERD rating represents how many games above or below .500 an average team would be if they added him to its roster (based on an 82-game season). For example, LeBron James posted an 18.3 rating in the 2010-11 season, which means that if he played on a team with four league-average players, you would expect that team to finish 18 games over .500 (50-32). An average player has a NERD rating of 0, and to qualify, a player must play at least five minutes per game, based on the team’s total games. Visit numberFire to check out a detailed explanation of the NERD stat for player efficiency and see the full list of NERD rankings.

numberFire says:

The biggest improver this week is Michael Beasley. In four games since returning from injury, Beasley has scored 17.5 per game and tacked on five rebounds. While still not an efficient player by any means, Beasley had a great game against Houston in which he scored 34 points on 14 shots and was a perfect 12 for 12 from the line. That game alone is the primary contributor for a player who increased his NERD rating by 12.4 points over the last seven days.

Hedo Turkoglu is this week’s Biggest Loser, and we’re not talking about weight loss. Hedo is just 9 for his last 40 from the field, and has scored under 12 points in six of his last seven games. Thanks to his solid three-point shooting and career-best 27.5% assist rate, he is still an average contributor, but he will need to improve his shooting if the Magic want to turn their season around.

After a hot start to the season, rookie Brandon Knight now has the lowest NERD score in the league at -16. Knight has 70 turnovers on the year and is shooting a mundane 40.6% from the field. His 0.9 points per possession is well below average and it doesn’t help that the Pistons are the second-worst team defensively in the league, allowing over 110 points per 100 possessions on the year.

The NERD power rankings are powered by numberFire, a sports analytics platform that uses algorithmic modeling to better understand sports. Follow Nik Bonaddio at @numberfire, and Keith Goldner at @drivebyfootball. Check out numberFire on Facebook.