To determine the most important player on every NBA team, we asked one simple question: How much better is a team when a given player is on the court?
To answer that question, we used 82games.com, an amazing NBA stats database which tracks on court/off court stats for every single NBA player.
Basically, these stats go beyond the eye test and tell you exactly how much better a team is when a given player is on the court. For instance, the Bulls are an unreal 22.9 points per 100 possessions better when Joakim Noah is on the court. They'd be toast without him.
We looked through the 82games database and found the one player on each team who has the biggest on court/off court net points per 100 possessions. In short: we found the guy who made the team better by the widest margin when he is on the court.
*To be eligible, players had to play at least 40% of their available minutes.
Atlanta Hawks: Jeff Teague (+14.4 points per 100 possessions)
Salary: $2.4 million (9th on team)
Stats: 13.8 ppg, 7.3 apg, 2.7 rpg, 47.9% shooting
Source: 82games
Boston Celtics: Kevin Garnett (+14.5 points per 100 possessions)
Salary: $12.5 million (2nd on team)
Stats: 15.9 ppg, 7.4 rpg, 1.6 rpg, 51.5% shooting
Source: 82games
Brooklyn Nets: Joe Johnson (+7.4 points per 100 possessions)
Salary: $19.7 million (1st on team)
Stats: 15.8 ppg, 3.7 apg, 2.9 rpg, 40.2% shooting
Source: 82games
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