The NBA’s Biggest Ball Hog Statistical Rankings – Update 1

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, if you pass the ball to the Suns’ T.J. Warren, don’t expect to get it back (unless you crash the offensive glass).  At the other end of the spectrum, LeBron James is as anti-ball hog as you can get – he is posting a -149.2 rating.

Here’s our top 20 at this point.

 NBA Ball Hog Statistical Ranking

(updated after Dec 26th games, only players with a minimum of 490 minutes played included)