What We Can Learn by Using the Stat "Game Score" to Evaluate Players

There is a stat called "Game Score" that is designed to evaluate the overall production and efficiency of a player on a game-by-game basis, using their stats.  https://captaincalculator.com/sports/basketball/game-score-calculator/


While the commentary to the above link indicates that 10 is a good "Game Score", my review of various games (and a review of the top 5 Game Scores posted every day on www.basketball-reference.com is that a starter who has a good (i.e. just above average) game generally has a Game Score of around 15.  In addition, my review of LeBron James' Finals history (posted elsewhere on this blog) indicates that a very good Game Score for a game is 22.5.  If you have a 22.5 Game Score, you are generally a top 5 performer in the NBA on a given night.  If you have a 30+ Game Score, you have had a great night.


You can achieve negative Game Scores (see my last blog entry) and you can achieve Game Scores over 60.  So, there is a wide range.


What does Game Score not capture?  Well, as you might expect, it does not capture any positive or negative play that cannot be statistically captured in a box score.  So, if you are a terrible individual or team defender, your Game Score will overrate you. If you are a great positional defender but don't get a lot of steals or blocks, your Game Score will underrate you. For example, if you look at a list with a lot of minutes played but poor Game Scores you'll get guys like Shane Battier, Raja Bell, Bruce Bowen, Charles Oakley, Joe Dumars, Derek Fisher. Defenders who didn't get a lot of steals or blocks. These are the sort of players likely to be underrated.


The guys who will be overrated?  Guys who are excellent offensive players but sieves defensively (particularly if they get a steal and a block a game).  So, Game Score is not a perfect statistic. 


BUT if you look at the list of guys with the most 15+ Game Scores (post 1982) you are going to see guys who rank very high on most all-time lists and who played a long time:  http://bkref.com/tiny/gsRcw


What Game Score will definitely tell you is the guys who played super hard every night and were productive every night. 


For example, the king of the Game Score is Michael Jordan.  if you look at Game Score greater than 22.5, Jordan has 567, LeBron 551, Karl Malone 524. 


But if you go to Game Score efforts of greater than a 30 Game Score, it gets even more heavily unbalanced in Jordan's favor.


10th Place - Magic 85 games
9th Bird 108
8th Kobe 112
7th David Robinson 114
6th Shaq 124
5th Hakeem 130
4th Karl Malone 139
3rd Barkley 142
2nd LeBron 151


#1?  Michael Jordan -- 257  !!!!!!!!!!!!!!  So, if you took LeBron and Bird combined, they'd have 2 more great regular season games than Jordan.


Similarly, in the playoffs, Game Score over 30 is again owned by Jordan


Duncan 14 games
Kobe 15
Wade 17
Bird 18
Barkley 19
Magic 20
Hakeem 22
Shaq 25
LeBron 32
Jordan 48.     So add LeBron with Kobe and you still have one less great game than Michael.


It should be noted, however, that if you set the bar at 22.5 Game Score, LeBron becomes the playoff king


Dirk 51 games
Karl Malone 51
Bird 57
Duncan 59
Kobe  62
Hakeem 68
Magic 72
Shaq 80
Jordan 105
LeBron 113.


One thing we learn from Game Score reviews, LeBron James has played at a high level for a long, long time.  His consistency as a great player will almost certainly place him #1 on the all-time Game Score >15 and Game Score > 22.5 lists for both regular season and playoff and NBA Finals.


Jordan, on the other hand, simply played at a level so high that no one else, even LeBron, challenged him for either great individual games or for most season games with a great Game Score (30+).


Look, for example, at Jordan's dominance here:  http://bkref.com/tiny/pVqQj  and here:  http://bkref.com/tiny/yqLer


Jordan also had a season where he had 80!!! games with a Game Score of at least 15.  if you watched Jordan and wondered whether he was going to have a bad game..........he wasn't.


So, if you take this list and you ask for the top 60 most consistent seasons of very good play every night, what you see out of those 60 seasons, is that Jordan absolutely dominates the list, but dig a little deeper and you see:


of the top 60 seasons, 11 guys have one super season full of consistently great games (Ewing, Dantley, KG, Curry, Davis, TMac, AI, Love, CP3, Wade, Westbrook).


3 guys have 2 such seasons (Magic, Kobe, Durant)


3 guys have 3 of the top 60 seasons (Barkley, Hakeem, Harden)


3 Guys have 4 such seasons (Shaq, Bird, David Robinson)


1 Guy has 5 (Karl Malone)


James has 8
Jordan has 9.


And what all of these Game Score lists tend to show us is that since 1983-84, Jordan has been the best player, then there is a gap to LeBron, then there is a pretty big gap to anyone else (Barkley, Karl Malone, Shaq, Hakeem).


This "Jordan Gap LeBron Gap" becomes less pronounced when you look at the NBA Finals - http://bkref.com/tiny/5OKrE and http://bkref.com/tiny/eZoj4  Jordan and James become virtually tied and Shaq and Magic burst way up and become in the conversation as well.


When you use Game Score to evaluate a player, it is pretty safe to say that the best players generally put up great Game Scores.  The two guys probably hurt the worst by the stat are Duncan and KG and the two guys probably helped the most by the stat are Nique and Iverson. 


Guys definitely on a run in the past few years?  Durant, Westbrook, Harden, Anthony Davis   .http://bkref.com/tiny/a13hJ  and the old man, LeBron James.