I recently updated my UARPM100 numbers to reflect the end of regular season statistics. You can see the final numbers here. After all the games were played, Kevin Durant was the UARPM100 MVP in my version of Wins Above Replacement (WAR). Durantula provided roughly 21.8 wins over what we’d expect from a replacement level player taking over his minutes, while LeBron James came in as a close second providing 21.5 WAR. LeBron was a bit more productive per possession, by UARPM100, than Durant (+7.6 to +7.1), but Durant played more minutes, which ultimately made the difference.
Interestingly, Chris Paul was tops in per possession productivity clocking in at +8.1 points per 100 possessions better than average. CP3 missed a number of games with injury, which knocked him out of MVP consideration. Paul was still able to contribute 16.8 WAR despite only playing 61 games, which is pretty amazing.
The top 10 in WAR via UARPM100 were:
1. Kevin Durant, 21.8 WAR
2. LeBron, 21.5 WAR
3. Kevin Love, 19.4 WAR
4. Stephen Curry, 18.9 WAR
5. Blake Griffin, 18.2 WAR
6. Chris Paul, 16.8 WAR
7. Joakim Noah, 16.1 WAR
8. DeAndre Jordan, 16.0 WAR
9. James Harden, 15.7 WAR
10. Carmelo Anthony, 15.1 WAR
(Way to waste a really great season from Carmelo, Knicks.)
Also notable: Goran Dragic, who recently received the NBA’s Most Improved Player award, finished 20th overall in WAR. In 2012–13, Dragic put up a +1.3 UARPM100, while this season he put up a +3.8, along with the aforementioned 20th place finish in WAR. A pretty big leap, and one of the more difficult things a player can do- go from being the pretty good player he’s been his whole career- to jumping into the top echelon.
NBA Couchside 