Follow-up to MIP notes:

The largest amount of my advanced NBA stats reading comes from the Wages of Wins network. The quick version is that they use a metric that correlates highly with wins. It quickly explains why an efficient 15 points contributes more to a win than the guy who got 35 off high volume shooting.

Sensibly, the stat that measures production with a high correlation to winning games is known as Wins Produced (WP). Additionally, all the basic stats (points, rebounds, assists etc) are listed on a per 48 minute basis. That way you aren't docking Kenneth Faried for playing rookie minutes. George Karl already holds him back enough as is.

In order to see who had the biggest improvement in WP, I listed everyone in the NBA this year, along with their primary stats (excluding rookies and anyone else that didn't play last year) and then looked up their WP from last year. A quick sort by the difference yields the following list, which includes all the names previously mentioned.

Name	Team	Pos	GP	Mins	Pts/48	Reb/48	Ast/48	WP/48 2011-12	WP	WP/48 2010-11	WP/48 Increase
Bradley, Avery	BOS	PG	62	1314	16.9	4.1	3	0.076	2.1	-0.242	0.318
Pekovic, Nikola	MIN	PF	46	1238	24.5	13.1	1.2	0.237	6.1	-0.080	0.317
Mullens, Byron	CHA	C	62	1394	20	10.7	1.9	-0.077	-2.2	-0.251	0.174
Beaubois, Rodrigue	DAL	PG	52	1117	19.7	6.3	6.3	0.08	1.9	-0.086	0.166
Jerebko, Jonas	DET	F	63	1449	18.2	10.1	1.4	0.15	4.5	0.000	0.150
Hibbert, Roy	IND	C	64	1913	20.8	14.3	2.7	0.165	6.6	0.021	0.144
Cunningham, Dante	MEM	PF	62	1082	14.3	10.6	1.6	0.183	4.1	0.043	0.140
Ilyasova, Ersan	MIL	PF	59	1619	22.6	15.2	2	0.244	8.2	0.105	0.139
Dragic, Goran	HOU	PG	65	1717	21.4	4.6	9.4	0.152	5.4	0.017	0.135
Thompson, Jason	SAC	PF	62	1582	16.5	13	2.3	0.161	5.3	0.034	0.127
Robinson, Nate	OKC	PG	51	1192	23	4	9.3	0.077	1.9	-0.034	0.111
Harden, James	OKC	SG	62	1946	25.8	6.2	5.6	0.264	10.7	0.154	0.110
Rush, Brandon	GSW	SG	64	1700	17.5	7	2.5	0.21	7.4	0.105	0.105
Beasley, Michael	MIN	SF	46	1064	23.8	9.3	2	-0.002	-0.1	-0.100	0.098
Vasquez, Greivis	NOR	SG	64	1638	16.7	4.8	10.1	0.117	4	0.021	0.096
Kleiza, Linas	TOR	SF	48	1028	21.4	8.9	2.1	0.036	0.8	-0.050	0.086
Bargnani, Andrea	TOR	C	31	1032	28	8	2.8	-0.043	-0.9	-0.126	0.083
Seraphin, Kevin	WAS	PF	54	1101	18	11.5	1.4	0.109	2.5	0.028	0.081
Jack, Jarrett	NOR	PG	45	1530	22	5.5	8.9	0.105	3.3	0.024	0.081
Evans, Tyreke	SAC	SG	61	2093	22.9	6.4	6.4	0.082	3.6	0.003	0.079
Hayward, Gordon	UTH	SF	64	1966	18.8	5.6	4.9	0.149	6.1	0.074	0.075
Ellington, Wayne	MIN	SG	50	951	15.1	4.9	1.6	0.045	0.9	-0.030	0.075
James, LeBron	MIA	SF	62	2326	34.7	10.2	8	0.357	17.3	0.283	0.074

A quick bit of detail for comparability: a WP/48 of .100 is an average player, .200 is a star and .300 is Lebron, Chris Paul or Tyson Chandler (Yes Tchan is that good - check out the Dallas Mavs before and after).

It is rare that a player makes the jump to elite status as James Harden has this year. Although it is surely not easy to do, I do not like the idea of awarding a player who went from a liability to the team to something of a non-factor to nearly average (Avery Bradley, Byron Mullen, Roddy). Nikola Pekovic has one of the biggest year-over-year improvements ever, but misses on games played. Jerebko, Hibbert and Cunningham are all making the move towards star player production, but Ersan Ilyasova has a similar amount of improvment, but sits at a much higher level. 

One last note. Look at the improvement LBJ made from last year. He is the 23rd most improved player in the league, and he was already top 5 in terms of Wins Produced! Anyone who hasn't noticed this is blind or in denial about the level of talent he possesses.

Can we just fast forward to a Heat-Thunder finals already? It would be a Wins Produced overload with the best shooting guards (Wade and Harden) and the best forwards (Lebron and Durant) in the league for likely 6-7 games. Make this happen!