After noticing that Darko is leading the Magic in the +/- stat this year, I started to wonder how much this stat means. I have looked at the +/- leader on all NBA teams through the 15-16 game mark in the season. I have only included players who have played for at least 40% of the time.

My questions are, what do these guys have in common, and is a fluke that Darko finds him self in this grouping?

Atl- Josh Childress
Bos- Kendrick Perkins
Cha- Sean May
Chi- Ben Gordon
Cle- Damon Jones
Dal- Devin Harris
Den- Melo Anthony
Det- Chauncey Billups
GSt- Andris Biedrins
Hou- Shane Battier
Ind- Jermaine O'Neal
LAC- Corry Maggette
LAL- Lamar Odom
Mem- Dahntay Jones
Mia- Dwyane Wade
Mil- Michael Redd
Min- Keving Garnett
NJ- Jason Kidd
NO- Peja Stoyakavic
NY- Steve Francis
Orl- Darko Milicic
Phi- Dalembert
Pho- Steve Nash
Por- Travis Outlaw
Sac- Ron Artest
SA- Tim Duncan
Sea- Rashard Lewis
Tor- Anthony Parker (Bosh is a close 2nd)
Uta- Matt Harpring
Wash- Gilbert Arenas (by a huge margin!)


Now, I haven't had a chance to watch many of these teams. But a couple surprises that jump out at me (besides Darko) are Matt Harpring, Anthony Parker, Steve Francis, Damon Jones, Sean May, and Kendrick Perkins. All the rest seem like they are either the best player on their team, or else pretty close to it. Can anyone attest to the effectiveness of those surprises? i.e. things they provide that don't show up in the stats. Ben was always a big +/- guy with us even though his stats weren't eye-popping.

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"I’ll just say this: We’re not talking to teams about their second- or third-best players." Joe Dumars talking about his plan to get other teams' 4th best players.

Darko isn't leading the Magic in +/-. Those numbers fluctuate nightly.

TheeTFD, I think Taysh meant leading them for the season. It can vary each night but for the season, I think.

Yes, Steve Franchise surprised me.

Tay, I do wonder how the number of minutes player per game affects the +/-. Like with Dwight playing more minutes than DMC, maybe that lowers the effects on the team.

I just don't know.

I've always struggled to understand what the +/- was telling me. Sometimes I think I understand but then I see Damon Jones or Sam Dalembert at the head of the list and realize I'm clueless.

+/- is is a 48 min. stat. averaged.

The + component tells you how the team does when this player is actually on the floor. The - component tells you how they do when that player is on the bench. If you combine them, it is supposed to show your impact. This season, the Magic have outscored their opponents by 64 points while Darko has actually been running around out there doing whatever it is he does.

A big part of the - number though, depends on how good the rest of your team is compared to the opponents. Since the Magic have a good bench and tend to outscore the opponent's bench, then a player like Dwight Howard will not show a big - component, and this will make his +/- not look as impressive. The Piston's starting five last year all showed huge - components because our bench got killed on a regular basis.

If you had a large sample size and the +/- between players on the team are not highly correlated, then you can really be sure that the player with the highest +/- is the most valuable. Since most of the cream has risen to the top on the other teams, it seems to be suggesting that the sample size of 15 games is big enough.

There is a +/- gross and a +/- per game, timeframe, whatever. Darko is also leading in the gross category.

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"I’ll just say this: We’re not talking to teams about their second- or third-best players." Joe Dumars talking about his plan to get other teams' 4th best players.

But then KG, Arenas, Duncan, Chauncey, Redd, Kidd, etc. all seem to not be affected by playing a lot of minutes.

Damon Jones was one our top plus minus guys the year we had him. Why? An outside shooter who spreads the defense. A very smart player who knows how the offense runs. Not the best defender against guard penetration by any means, but a good all around defender none the less.

Sam Dalembert, the best defender on Philly. Not that bad on O either. Not much of a surprise at all.

One big factor on plus minus is who you are out on the floor with. For Orlando, Howard does not play most of the time with the teams best players. Instead, he plays mostly with the starting unit for Orlando which is comprised of players with deficits in one area or another, mostly defense. In contrast, Darko plays mostly with Arroyo, a more solid defensive point guard vs. Nelson, and a better playmaker, and surprisingly, even a steadier outside shot. Plus he plays a lot with Ariza in the game, an excellent defender. In contrast, Howard is saddled with a poor defender in Turk who also has had his shot go missing the whole season so far.

not surprised you're high on damon jones and dalembert lol, plus you just mentioned arroyo and defense in the same sentence!!

One of my problems is that folks sometimes like to treat the +/- as kind of a unifed field theory of basketball lore. Sort of all you need to know about a player. And as has been posted it probably has more to do with who the player is on the floor with on both sides.

Anyway, if you had a choice to take any one player from either the Cavs or Sixers, my guess is that Jones and Dalembert wouldn't come up too high on any lists.