NBA Ball Hog Statistical Ranking: March Update

kevin knox
NBA Ball Hog Statistical Ranking: March Update
Dec 23, 2018; Cleveland, OH, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers guard David Nwaba (12) goes for the block on Chicago Bulls guard Antonio Blakeney (9) during the second half at Quicken Loans Arena. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports

My task was simple enough – I wanted to figure out, statistically, who the biggest ball hog/black hole/teammate from hell/etc. was in the NBA.  With the plethora of stats available today, it shouldn’t be too hard to figure that out, I surmised.  While I was researching what stats I should use – Usage %, Assist % – I stumbled across a now defunct site – Basketball-Statistics – that had already done this back in 2009.  Perfect!

After giving their formula some thought and test drives, it seems to pass muster.  You can check out the formula here, but in summary it takes into account how much a player uses up his team’s possessions (Usage %), how well he shoots (True Shooting %) and how often he sets up his teammates (Assist %).  It also takes into account what position on the court the player plays and adjusts the formula based on the average numbers players playing the same position puts on the board.  So, for a true ball hog, we are looking for a guy with an above average Usage Rate (above 20%) who shoots poorly and doesn’t pass.

So far this season, the rookies have not been shy about chucking, with New York’s Kevin Knox and the Bulls’ Antonio Blakeney leading the way.  At the other end of the spectrum, Nikola Jokic, LeBron James & Giannis Antetokounmpo are as anti-ball hog as you can get.

 

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Here’s our top 20 at this point.

 NBA Ball Hog Statistical Ranking

(updated after Mar 16th games, only players with a qualifying amount of minutes played included)

Rank Last Ball Hog Score
1 2 Kevin Knox Big 89.9
2 1 Antonio Blakeney Wing 89.5
3 5 Hassan Whiteside Big 77.6
4 3 Collin Sexton Point Guard 75.9
5 4 Andre Drummond Big 75.7
6 8 Marvin Bagley Big 73.6
7 6 Kelly Oubre Wing 73.0
8 9 Andrew Wiggins Wing 70.8
9 7 Harrison Barnes Wing 68.1
10 10 Jaylen Brown Wing 67.2
11 11 Mario Hezonja Wing 66.1
12 16 Jaren Jackson Big 60.6
13 14 Terrence Ross Wing 60.2
14 20 Serge Ibaka Big 56.1
15 NR Dennis Schroder Point Guard 55.9
16 15 Jayson Tatum Wing 55.4
17 19 Alex Len Big 55.1
17 12 Klay Thompson Wing 55.1
19 17 Rondae Hollis-Jefferson Wing 53.3
20 13 Eric Gordon Wing 52.3

 

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