NBA Players: Average, All-Star, and Superstar Definitions

Now that the NBA offseason is here, with the players and owners negotiating and a lockout looming, draft picks and trades will be more important than ever. Teams have to think really hard about what kind of player they might be giving away or getting. Guys like Rashard Lewis, Michael Redd, Andrei Kirilenko, Gilbert Arenas are major reasons why the NBA season might not start until next year. Owners, particularly in small markets, were paying top dollar for hyped up players; when these guys didn't deliver, their teams suffer not only in games but in revenue, even threatening to make that team disappear or move into a better market.

So let's help out all these team owners, presidents and VPs, and general managers.

According to the widely recognized and used PER ratings, The average PER for a NBA player is around 15, such as Dorell Wright. Who is Dorell Wright? He plays small forward for the Warriors and chucks up a lot of threes. All-star caliber players seem to start at around at PER of 20, and superstars are around 25.

Here are the teams:

• Average:  Luke Ridnour, Jason Richardson, Dorell Wright, Carl Landry and DeAndre Jordan.
• Barely All-Stars: Tony Parker, Monta Ellis, Paul Pierce, David West, and Al Jefferson
• Superstars: Chris Paul, Kobe, Lebron, Dirk, and Dwight Howard

Now the first thing that should jump at you is Jason Richardson in that average lineup. Considered almost a borderline all-star earlier in his career, now he's about an average player as he's gotten older. But he's paid like an all-star, over 14m a year. Some team got burned (hello Orlando Magic).* He's not the only one; Tracy McGrady and Vince Carter are even slightly worse. How the mighty have fallen. On the other hand, guys like Luke Ridnour and Carl Landry are veterans who've been borderline starters and reliable sixth men. You know what you're getting with those two, which is why they're paid $4m and $3m, respectively. Actually, the average salary is just under $6m, so they've been good investments. DeAndre Jordan is the tricky one; young player who shows potential, in his 3rd year, he's met the average production at his position. But will he get better? This summer will show how many teams believe in his potential, as he's a restricted free agent. In my opinion? Pretty good shotblocker, mediocre rebounder, doesn't have real talent offensively. Sounds like an average center.

For the borderline all-star team, Pierce looks like a great candidate for the Imminent Fade award. His age seems to have caught up with him. Everybody else looks about right; however, this caliber of player tends to have the wildest swings in salary. David West makes 8m a year, while slightly less productive Carlos Boozer made over 14m. This is dangerous ground. These are the kinds of players that sucker teams into making costly mistakes. On the plus side, guys like Lamar Odom (PER 19.5, 8m), Paul Milsap (PER 19.8, 6m) are great deals. They are producing almost like all stars, but getting paid closer to average salaries.

Superstars present few surprises. These guys get paid, and they produce. Obviously there are guys like Derrick Rose, Russell Westbrook, and Kevin Love who are playing like superstars but still on rookie contracts.

DISCLAIMER: these numbers have to be qualified with a crucial fact: these numbers don't account for defense. For example, Cavs point guard Ramon Sessions was producing at an almost all-star level for the minutes he was playing, a PER of 19.7. Unfortunately, he was also giving up the same numbers defensively (18.8). On the other hand, Billups produced at the same rate (19.7), but was playing much better defense (14.5).

And of course, the POST-SEASON:

Chris Paul had the highest PER of the playoffs at 29. He had an unreal series against the Lakers, which isn't surprising because the Lakers have the worst point guard production in the NBA. Injured or not, Kobe himself had merely an all-star level of 21 PER during the playoffs, which was clearly a drop from 24. Pau Gasol was even worse at 17, a far drop for the borderline superstar (23). The Mavs were really solid. Dirk played like a superstar (25), Terry played like an all-star off the bench (20), and Barea played above average (17). Kidd (16), Chandler (15), and Marion (15) still produced, despite focusing on defense. For Miami? Aside from the big three, Chalmers was under 13, James Jones under 12, and everybody else in single digits. The Heat's supporting cast played absolutely terrible.


*By the way how funny are the Orlando Magic? First they had to suffer Grant Hill's never-ending ankle injuries and eat his contract. Then T-Mac's back failed him, after he called himself the best player in the league (and many people agreed with him). Then the Magic got Vince Carter who looked washed up, and now Jason Richardson. Also, they signed Rashard Lewis for superstar money, when he turned out to be not even an all-star caliber player. The Magic seems like the destination for former stars who want to disappoint Dwight Howard. The only guy missing from this who's-who's list of the next-Jordans is Kobe. There's still time, though.