The NBA: March 2014 Position Battle – The Top 5 Shooting Guards Right Now

In this Position Battle post, we will focus on the top five shooting guards at this point in the season. We will take into account just the players’ stats for the latest five games of their respective teams. This will, hopefully, give us a more current picture of each player’s production.

There’s no surprise at the top, but there are a couple of names here that might make your jaw drop. Yes, that includes Brooklyn’s own overpaid sniper finally breaking into the top five and one of the biggest reasons the Suns SHOULD BE in the Playoffs.

Note: All of the following stats are based on each player’s stats as computed by HoopsStats.com. They were taken on March 12, 2014 (Manila time).

Ladies and gents, here are the best SGs in the league right now.
(composite image by Enzo Flojo/Hoop Nut) 

The NBA: February 2013 Position Battle – The Top 5 Shooting Guards Right Now

It really is time to fear the beard. James Harden is the best shooting guard in the Association, maybe in the whole world, right now. No Kobe fans, I’m not hating on Mamba. I’m just laying out all the facts and straight up saying that Harden’s production trumps Kobe’s and Harden’s Rockets are in the West’s Top 8 while Kobe’s Lakers have been blowing hot and cold. Facts. Knowing how Kobe is, however, I’m sure he won’t take this sitting down. It’s Beard versus Mamba down the stretch.

Note: All of the following stats are based on the last five games of each player as computed by HoopsStats.com.

5. Monta Ellis (MIL) - 19.4ppg, 5.4rpg, 7.2apg, 2.4spg, 19.2 EFF

The Bucks have lost three in a row, including back-to-back against the Nets, but it’s not for the lack of production from Ellis. Monta is showing everyone he can be a top-tier guard despite the presence of Brandon Jennings, whose skills mirror Monta’s in a very real way. If Ellis and Jennings can find a way to be this generation’s version of the Pistons’ Isiah Thomas and Joe Dumars, then the Bucks can surprise.

Monta Ellis has kicked his game into high gear
this past month.
(image by Jim Prisching/AP)

4. Joe Johnson (BRK) - 19.3ppg, 4.3rpg, 6.0apg, .421 3pt%, 19.7 EFF

It sucks that he’s injured right now, but the Nets can take comfort in the fact that when (if) JJ returns, then he shouldn’t take too much time to get back on the upswing. His most recent numbers pre-injury, as you can see, were very promising. He’s scoring high again and helping out D-Will in distributing the basketball. It’s also nice to see a jump in his 3-point shooting.

3. Dwyane Wade (MIA) - 21.4ppg, 5.4rpg, 4.6apg, 2.2spg, 1.0bpg, .535 FG%, 22.0 EFF

D-Wade is too good to be subpar for an entire season. His rediscovering of his old form is a BIG reason the Heat have been so dominant in February – Miami has won 11 straight after dropping their Feb. 1 assignment to Indiana. Wade is rebounding better, defending better, and shooting better. It’s time to be scared of the Miami Machine again.

The NBA: Grossly Overpaid NBAers

It’s that time of the year again when Thirteenth Month Bonuses and, at least in some companies, Christmas Bonuses are given out and added to employees’ regular paychecks. Of course, these are meant to make workers more liquid as spending tends to spike in the holidays.

Here in the Philippines, that phenomenon is magnified by the myriad of Christmas gatherings (e.g. company parties, department Secret Santas, family parties, parties with friends, etc.), and the number of people to whom one has to give presents (e.g. co-workers, friends, family, that Secret Santa person, and, of course, one’s godchildren). Bonuses tend to be hefty, but they also tend to just, quite literally, slip through one’s fingers. All it takes are a few hours of ghastly spending to burn those extra pesos.

All those ideas made me think of the best-paid NBA players in the current season, and whether these guys have actually been giving their respective teams the proverbial bang for the buck.

Kobe Bryant is the most expensive player
in the NBA. Is he worth it?
(image by Gerald Herbert/AP)

Let’s look at the top 20 NBA players in terms of their salaries this season (based on HoopsHype.com) and then measure this against their current NBA Efficiency rating (based on HoopStats.com).

Player	2012-2013 Salary	NBA Efficiency Rating	Bang per 1 Million Bucks [Efficiency/(Salary/1,000,000)]
Kobe Bryant	$27,849,000	25.2	0.91
Brandon Roy	$21,459,805	7.0	0.33
Dirk Nowitzki	$20,907,128	Hasn’t played yet	---
Gilbert Arenas	$20,807,922	Playing in China	---
Amar’e Stoudemire	$19,948,799	Hasn’t played yet	---
Joe Johnson	$19,752,645	11.8	0.60
Carmelo Anthony	$19,450,000	21.5	1.11
Dwight Howard	$19,261,200	21.8	1.13
Pau Gasol	$19,000,000	17.2	0.91
Elton Brand	$18,160,354	11.3	0.62
Chris Paul	$17,779,457	23.1	1.30
Kevin Durant	$17,548,838	30.4	1.73
LeBron James	$17,545,000	29.6	1.69
Chris Bosh	$17,545,000	22.8	1.30
Deron Williams	$17,177,795	17.9	1.04
Dwyane Wade	$17,024,000	19.1	1.12
Paul Pierce	$16,790,345	17.6	1.05
Zach Randolph	$16,500,000	23.1	1.40
Andrew Bynum	$16,473,002	Hasn’t played yet	---
Rudy Gay	$16,460,532	16.2	0.98

From this set of data, I can draw several things:

1)   It looks like the Minnesota Timberwolves’ risk of resurrecting Brandon Roy’s career is a long way from paying off. Roy is far from the three-time All-Star he once was, and he’s about a month away from coming back to the roster – if at all.

2)   I’m going to say something we’ve all known for quite some time now – Joe Johnson is one overpaid baller. He’s good, don’t get me wrong, but he’s not exactly 20 million dollars worth of good. Not this year, and not the past two years, when he registered just 16.0 EFF in each campaign. His shooting is a pretty good complement to the Nets’ prospective inside-outside game, but the question I’m asking is maybe the Nets can get someone just as good (or even better) on the cheap.

3)   The third-best, or third-most-cost-efficient, player on this list behind KD and LBJ is NOT Melo, CP3, Dwight, or Bosh. It’s Zach Randolph. Z-Bo is putting up about 18 points, 13 rebounds, and shooting nearly 50% from the floor. And he’s cheaper than Melo by about 3 mill. Heck, he’s cheaper than Gilber effin’ Arenas by more than 4 mill. In Tagalog parlance, that’s what we call sulit (great bang for the buck).

Zach Randolph is one of the most cost-efficient
players in the Association.
(image by Danny Johnston/AP)

4)   Another reason the Heat are so good, and will continue to be good, is that their best players aren’t exactly breaking the bank. At least not as badly as some of the other guys on this list. They can keep their Big Three and still have some change left to spare for some Steve Kerr or Ron Harper-type role players like maybe DJ Augustin, Randy Foye, DeJuan Blair, or even Jermaine O’Neal – all of which are 2013 free agents.

5)   So, aside from Roy, Johnson, and (my God!) Arenas, who else are the grossly overpaid NBAers here? How about the Mavs’ Elton Brand? Like JJ, he’s not awful, but, like JJ, he’s not exactly the best 18 mill player around.

Tomorrow we’ll take a look at the next 20 guys on the salaries list. There are bound to be some impressive and gross surprises there, too.