Detroit Pistons Page

NBA Players – The Most Bang for Your Buck?

(2002-2003 season)

By Chris Hanes (Detroit Pistons Board Moderator)

February 18, 2004

            The following is a quick description of how the results from the 2002-2003 “Bang for your Buck” process came out.  The same formulas and procedures were followed that were used in the 2003-2004 article. 

            Below are the top 10 salaries and top 10 efficiency ratings for 2002-2003:

     Again, using the same process as the 2003-2004 article, the salary, efficiency and difference ratings were all determined as follows:

     Perhaps it is no surprise that 3 of the top 4 “best buys” of 2002-03 signed large contracts this off-season.  Elton Brand got a raise of $6,064,344 dollars this year, while Andre Miller and Shawn Marion got raises of $3,939,291 and $7,802,375 respectively.  Conversely, many of the “worst buys” are playing for significantly less this year.  Juwan Howard plays $15,235,000 less than last year.  Many of the “worst buys” were retired players still under contract like Eric Montross and Jamie Feick, while others were just simply overpaid.  Still others were injured last year, and will hopefully be worth their pay this year.

     There are of course differences between the best and worst ratios from year to year.  Several factors could lead to this.  The efficiency could simply have less extremes from year to year, or the number of players used and injuries can skew the average efficiency.  Free agency also plays a big part in the salary ratings, since some years yield more max contracts than others.  The important thing is the comparison from player to player or year to year, not the numbers themselves. 

     It will be interesting to see who is worth their pay this year, and what players get raises and pay cuts because of it.  Only time will tell who are the best and worst buys at the end of 2003-04.

Efficiency ratings are computed from NBA.com’s stats and efficiency formula. 

Current salary figures are from Hoopshype.com