NBA Power Rankings: The Biggest Ball Hogs of the 2012 Playoffs
You never want to be called a ball hog, but these players are just going to have to deal with it thanks to their lackluster showings in the 2012 NBA Playoffs.
Calling a player a ball hog is really nothing more than a tacit accusation, blaming them in part for a team's lack of success. Well, I won't be tacit about it.
The more a player ball hogs, the more he hinders his team's offensive success.
In order to rank the players, I turned to a metric I developed in a previous article called the Ball Hog Factor. If you didn't catch the last installation of the ball hog rankings, or you're just aching for a reminder, click here for a full explanation of the metric.
Over the next 29 slides, you'll find every player that has played 20 or more minutes per game and appeared in at least three contests.
What Does It Mean to Be a Ball Hog?
1 of 29Some people call Kobe Bryant a ball hog. Those people are wrong during this article.
By the traditional definition of the term, they may be correct, but I'd like to propose a re-definition of ball hog.
Let's look at a few popular definitions.
From Wikipedia (note the awesome clarification that ball hogging isn't actually against the rules!):
"A ball hog is a derisive term in basketball for a player that handles the ball exclusively to the point of impairing the team. "Ball hogging" is generally considered unacceptable playing behavior at all levels of basketball competition. It is not a violation of the rules of basketball. The term is highly subjective, and any individual player might be considered a ball hog by some observers but not by others.
Ball hogging usually involves excessive shooting of difficult shots, especially when other players are in advantageous positions. Ball hogs attempt to monopolize their play of the ball, frequently dribbling excessively and infrequently passing the ball to a teammate. Ball hogging tends to manifest itself statistically as an abnormally high percentage of team shot attempts by the ball hog and often low percentages of shot accuracy and assists. They also tend to have a very poor assist-to-turnover ratio, used as the main statistical indicator of how well a player "shares" the ball.
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Usually in basketball. A player who keeps the ball for themselves, never passes to a team mate, always takes the shot themselves or always calls plays for self to shoot. Never rebounds, never picks, never draws the defense away from a play.
I've never been one to fall into the dangerous clutches of groupthink though. Just because it's the majority definition doesn't mean it's the right definition. Hence the need for a re-definition.
Who cares if a player "handles the ball exclusively?" Who cares if they excessively shoot difficult shots? Who cares if they pass infrequently? Who cares if they call plays for themselves to shoot and never rebound?
Well, everyone does. Duh.
However, if they do all those things and still perform at a higher offensive level than the rest of their team, then no one should care. If the production is there, how it is achieved simply shouldn't matter.
In my mind, a ball hog is someone who uses up possessions while failing to produce at the same level as the rest of their team. It doesn't matter if they shoot the ball once per game or take 100 ill-advised shots.
A player who almost never shoots the ball can be a ball hog if he performs at a low offensive level. A player who ignores open teammates, dribbles too much, attempts difficult shots, calls plays for himself and shoots too much isn't a ball hog if and only if he produces enough that it's in the team's best interest to let him do his thing.
No. 102 Through No. 91
2 of 29102. Joakim Noah, Chicago Bulls: 8.28 Ball Hog Factor
101. J.J. Redick, Orlando Magic: 4.95
100. Ryan Anderson, Orlando Magic: 4.67
99. Ty Lawson, Denver Nuggets: 3.84
98. Al Jefferson, Utah Jazz: 3.47
97. Marc Gasol, Memphis Grizzlies: 3.45
96. Kevin Garnett, Boston Celtics: 3.24
95. Taj Gibson, Chicago Bulls: 3.22
94. Amar'e Stoudmire, New York Knicks: 3.01
93. Andrew Bynum, Los Angeles Lakers: 2.99
92. LeBron James, Miami Heat: 2.85
91. Carmelo Anthony, New York Knicks: 2.79
No. 90 Through No. 81
3 of 2990. Jameer Nelson, Orlando Magic: 2.74 Ball Hog Factor
89. Mike Bibby, New York Knicks: 2.59
88. Jeff Teague, Atlanta Hawks: 2.57
87. Dirk Nowitzki, Dallas Mavericks: 2.55
86. George Hill, Indiana Pacers: 2.52
85. Kirk Hinrich, Atlanta Hawks: 2.49
84. Mike Conley, Memphis Grizzlies: 2.18
83. Derrick Favors, Utah Jazz: 2.03
82. Roy Hibbert, Indiana Pacers: 1.99
81. Jrue Holliday, Philadelphia 76ers: 1.87
No. 80 Through No. 71
4 of 2980. Thaddeus Young, Philadelphia 76ers: 1.87 Ball Hog Factor
79. Chris Bosh, Miami Heat: 1.83
78. Kawhi Leonard, San Antonio Spurs: 1.80
77. Jason Richardson, Orlando Magic: 1.74
76. Rip Hamilton, Chicago Bulls: 1.72
75. James Harden, Oklahoma City Thunder: 1.68
74. Ray Allen, Boston Celtics: 1.59
73. Marvin Williams, Atlanta Hawks: 1.58
72. Serge Ibaka, Oklahoma City Thunder: 1.56
71. Pau Gasol, Los Angeles Lakers: 1.51
No. 70 Through No. 61
5 of 2970. Delonte West, Dallas Mavericks: 1.48 Ball Hog Factor
69. Boris Diaw, San Antonio Spurs: 1.27
68. Rajon Rondo, Boston Celtics: 1.16
67. Al Horford, Atlanta Hawks: 1.14
66. Jason Terry, Dallas Mavericks: 1.12
65. Stephen Jackson, San Antonio Spurs: 1.11
64. Chris Paul, Los Angeles Clippers: 0.97
63. David West, Indiana Pacers: 0.92
62. Hedo Turkoglu, Orlando Magic: 0.70
61. Joel Anthony, Miami Heat: 0.61
No. 60 Through No. 51
6 of 2960. Kobe Bryant, Los Angeles Lakers: 0.50 Ball Hog Factor
59. JaVale McGee, Denver Nuggets: 0.48
58. Blake Griffin, Los Angeles Clippers: 0.45
57. Glen Davis, Orlando Magic: 0.33
56. Steve Blake, Los Angeles Lakers: 0.30
55. Spencer Hawes, Philadelphia 76ers: 0.28
54. Tim Duncan, San Antonio Spurs: 0.27
53. Andre Iguodala, Philadelphia 76ers: 0.26
52. Shane Battier, Miami Heat: 0.23
51. Luol Deng, Chicago Bulls: 0.23
No. 50 Through No. 41
7 of 2950. Derek Fisher, Oklahoma City Thunder: 0.20 Ball Hog Factor
49. Russell Westbook, Oklahoma City Thunder: 0.16
48. Kevin Durant, Oklahoma City Thunder: 0.15
47. Paul Pierce, Boston Celtics: -0.03
46. Landry Fields, New York Knicks: -0.05
45. Zach Randolph, Memphis Grizzlies: -0.15
44. Dwyane Wade, Miami Heat: -0.19
43. Brandon Bass, Boston Celtics: -0.19
42. Kenneth Faried, Denver Nuggets: -0.20
41. Mike Miller, Miami Heat: -0.20
No. 40 Through No. 31
8 of 2940. Andre Miller, Denver Nuggets: -0.23 Ball Hog Factor
39. DeAndre Jordan, Los Angeles Clippers: -0.24
38. Tony Parker, San Antonio Spurs: -0.24
37. Gordon Hayward, Utah Jazz: -0.29
36. Jason Kidd, Dallas Mavericks: -0.34
35. Baron Davis, New York Knicks: -0.43
34. Joe Johnson, Atlanta Hawks: -0.46
33. Reggie Evans, Los Angeles Clippers: -0.48
32. Elton Brand, Philadelphia 76ers: -0.54
31. Metta World Peace, Los Angeles Lakers: -0.56
No. 30 Through No. 21
9 of 2930. Mario Chalmers, Miami Heat: -0.75 Ball Hog Factor
29. Josh Smith, Atlanta Hawks: -0.77
28. Shawn Marion, Dallas Mavericks: -0.88
27. Arron Afflalo, Denver Nuggets: -0.88
26. Paul George, Indiana Pacers: -0.88
25. Lou Williams, Philadelphia 76ers: -0.89
24. Devin Harris, Utah Jazz: -0.93
23. Rudy Gay, Memphis Grizzlies: -0.94
22. Randy Foye, Los Angeles Clippers: -1.00
21. Danilo Gallinari, Denver Nuggets: -1.15
20. Kendrick Perkins, Oklahoma City Thunder: -1.21 Ball Hog Factor
10 of 29Individual Offensive Rating: 99
Team Offensive Rating: 111.5
Usage Rate: 9.7
I absolutely love the fact that Kendrick Perkins is leading off the top 20 because he gives me the perfect opportunity to reinforce my definition of a ball hog once more.
Perkins is barely ever used in the Oklahoma City Thunder's offense, as you can see by his sub-10 usage rate. So. by the traditional definition, he can't possibly be a ball hog.
However, allow your minds to be opened. Broaden your horizons. Accept a new, better definition.
Who cares how much a player holds onto the ball, how many extra dribbles he takes, how many seemingly ill-advised shots he throws up, so long as he's producing?
A true ball hog is nothing more than someone who uses too many possessions while producing at a level that's less than the average production his team puts up.
No matter how little a player is used, if he's producing poorly relative to his team, he's hogging the ball.
Get used to this definition or else the next two players are going to frustrate you.
19. Omer Asik, Chicago Bulls: -1.26
11 of 29Individual Offensive Rating: 84
Team Offensive Rating: 95.8
Usage Rate: 10.7
Even though the Chicago Bulls struggled as a whole once Derrick Rose went down with a torn ACL, Omer Asik still managed to drastically under-perform compared to the rest of his team.
Earning a spot in the top 20 is quite difficult when your usage rate is barely in double-digits, yet the backup center still managed to do so.
Asik had a turnover percentage of 27.1 and shot under 40 percent from the free-throw line during the Bulls' first-round exit from the postseason.
18. Tyson Chandler, New York Knicks: -1.49
12 of 29Individual Offensive Rating: 84
Team Offensive Rating: 95.3
Usage Rate: 13.2
Tyson Chandler had an individual offensive rating that was identical to Omer Asik's one slide earlier, and the New York Knicks were a slightly worse offensive team than the Chicago Bulls, thanks to the defensive prowess of the Miami Heat and the lack of any scoring options other than Carmelo Anthony.
So, why is Chandler ranked higher here?
Well, he was more heavily used in the New York offense than Asik was in Tom Thibodeau's. The slight difference in offensive efficiency was just barely trumped by the involvement.
17. Danny Green, San Antonio Spurs: -1.59
13 of 29Individual Offensive Rating: 103
Team Offensive Rating: 111.9
Usage Rate: 17.9
Danny Green has actually played fairly well during the San Antonio Spurs' ongoing playoff run. The third-year small forward has shot 46.2 percent from the field and is averaging 9.8 points per game in limited action.
The problem is that the Spurs offense has been an unstoppable juggernaut, posting the highest team offensive rating of all 16 playoff teams going into Thursday night's action.
Green has done a decent enough job, but he hasn't been able to keep up with Tony Parker and Tim Duncan.
16. Ramon Sessions, Los Angeles Lakers: -1.71
14 of 29Individual Offensive Rating: 95
Team Offensive Rating: 104.5
Usage Rate: 18.0
Missing wide-open dunks certainly doesn't help Ramon Sessions' struggling offense.
The point guard who was acquired from the Cleveland Cavaliers during the middle of the season has allowed the bright lights of the postseason to get to him. Sessions is making the first playoff run of his career and probably has quite a few butterflies in his stomach.
Sessions has made only 36.7 percent of his shots from the field, 19.0 percent of his three-pointers and just 69.6 percent of his shots from the charity stripe.
15. Danny Granger, Indiana Pacers: -1.93
15 of 29Individual Offensive Rating: 95
Team Offensive Rating: 102.6
Usage Rate: 25.4
Danny Granger may be the No. 1 option on the Indiana Pacers when they're playing offense, but he certainly hasn't looked like a superstar during the 2012 NBA Playoffs.
The ball has been in Granger's hands early and often, but he's shooting only 38 percent from the field. His struggles haven't dissuaded him from launching up shot after shot, though.
Granger may be averaging 17.9 points per game, but he may be doing more harm than good at certain points.
14. Mo Williams, Los Angeles Clippers: -1.98
16 of 29Individual Offensive Rating: 93
Team Offensive Rating: 101.3
Usage Rate: 23.8
The bad shooting continues to follow us as the countdown to No. 1 advances.
Mo Williams has made only 37.5 percent of his shots from the field, but that hasn't kept the backup guard from throwing up nine shots per game. Perhaps he should attempt to get his teammates involved more and try to average more than 1.4 assists per game.
13. Tony Allen, Memphis Grizzlies: -1.99
17 of 29Individual Offensive Rating: 91
Team Offensive Rating: 102.7
Usage Rate: 17.0
The world views Tony Allen as a defensive specialist, but that hasn't stopped him from thinking that he can still be a solid offensive player.
Marc Gasol was tragically underused during the Memphis Grizzlies' first-round exit at the hands of the Los Angeles Clippers, and part of the blame may rest with the grizzly-bearded shooting guard.
Allen shot over six times per game and knocked down only 40 percent of those attempts.
12. Al Harrington, Denver Nuggets: -2.07
18 of 29Individual Offensive Rating: 98
Team Offensive Rating: 107.1
Usage Rate: 22.8
Al Harrington may have a versatile offensive game, but it's lagged well behind the production of the Denver Nuggets as a whole. Ty Lawson did a magnificent job of keeping an uptempo pace and throwing up a lot of points, even if the Nuggets did bow out to the Los Angeles Lakers in a tough seven-game series.
The power forward made only 10 of his 35 shots from downtown and connected on 32 percent of his overall field goal attempts.
Maybe if he'd passed the ball more we'd still have the pleasure of watching the fastest point guard in the league.
11. Paul Millsap, Utah Jazz: -2.16
19 of 29Individual Offensive Rating: 84
Team Offensive Rating: 93.9
Usage Rate: 21.8
The whole Utah Jazz offense struggled against the San Antonio Spurs, but Paul Millsap took that to the next level.
Millsap, one of the more underrated big men in the NBA, didn't exactly seize his opportunity to make his name more well-known in the first-round series loss.
After making more than half of his shots in four-straight postseasons, Millsap hit only 37 percent of his shots this year. He also finished with a 2-to-9 assist-to-turnover ratio in the series.
Ouch.
10. C.J. Watson, Chicago Bulls: -2.20
20 of 29Individual Offensive Rating: 85
Team Offensive Rating: 95.8
Usage Rate: 20.4
It's an impossible job to step in for Derrick Rose during the playoffs. No matter how well you perform, it's just not going to be quite as good.
That said, C.J. Watson didn't exactly look great while replacing the 2011 NBA MVP.
The backup point guard passed the ball well while minimizing turnovers, but scoring is a major part of the game as well.
Unfortunately, scoring was anything but a big part of Watson's game. He made just 24.1 percent of his shots from the field during the only series he played in.
9. Leandro Barbosa, Indiana Pacers: -2.21
21 of 29Individual Offensive Rating: 90
Team Offensive Rating: 102.6
Usage Rate: 17.5
The Indiana Pacers are very much an offense-by-committee sort of team (with the exception of Danny Granger), but Leandro Barbosa sometimes forgets that and tries to take over a little bit too much.
Sub-one assist-to-turnover ratios are never good for guards, especially when paired with struggles from the field and Shaq-like percentages at the line.
8. Evan Turner, Philadelphia 76ers: -2.68
22 of 29Individual Offensive Rating: 85
Team Offensive Rating: 97.6
Usage Rate: 21.3
Personally, I'm just glad to see Evan Turner heavily involved in the Philadelphia 76ers' offense. I had very high hopes for him when he was drafted out of Ohio State, but he has yet to justify those hopes in his still-young career.
Turner is shooting more than he ever has and the ball is in his hands a lot, but he's not doing a much his possessions.
The versatile young player has struggled with turnovers while shooting only 38 percent from the field.
7. J.R. Smith, New York Knicks: -3.26
23 of 29Individual Offensive Rating: 82
Team Offensive Rating: 95.3
Usage Rate: 24.5
The name of this player pretty much provides all the justification necessary.
6. Avery Bradley, Boston Celtics: -3.30
24 of 29Individual Offensive Rating: 80
Team Offensive Rating: 99.1
Usage Rate: 17.3
Avery Bradley has performed well enough on defense to earn big minutes in front of Ray Allen. In fact, he's already one of the better perimeter defenders in the league and he's still only at the tail end of his second year out of Texas.
However, Bradley has a long, long way to go on the offensive end of the court, where he struggles if he's not cutting to the basket on the weak side.
Bradley has shot only 37.1 percent during his first postseason appearance.
5. Manu Ginobili, San Antonio Spurs: -3.41
25 of 29Individual Offensive Rating: 98
Team Offensive Rating: 111.9
Usage Rate: 24.5
This is another one of those that you can chalk up to the San Antonio Spurs' offense as a whole. Manu Ginobili is this high in the rankings partially because of the postseason dominance of Tony Parker, Tim Duncan and a slew of other members of this team.
With that caveat, though, Ginobili still hasn't actually played that well on offense.
He's shooting 41.3 percent from the field while turning the ball over at a higher rate than he ever has in the postseason. And remember, the Argentinian has been here many times before.
4. Caron Butler, Los Angeles Clippers: -3.96
26 of 29Individual Offensive Rating: 84
Team Offensive Rating: 101.3
Usage Rate: 22.9
Now we're getting to the worst ballhogs of the bunch: the heavily used players who have struggled tremendously to produce on offense.
Caron Butler leads off the final four with the highest remaining offensive rating you'll see.
His broken hand gives him a built in excuse, but Butler should still be passing quite a bit more, something he's struggled with throughout his career.
Tuff Juice has fought through pain and a 37 percent mark from the field during this edition of the playoffs.
3. Carlos Boozer, Chicago Bulls: -4.54
27 of 29Individual Offensive Rating: 79
Team Offensive Rating: 95.8
Usage Rate: 27.0
Carlos Boozer may have stepped up his defensive game and remained healthy during the playoffs—something that not too many members of the Chicago Bulls can claim—but he hasn't been able to find the range on his normally deadly mid-range jumper.
Boozer shot only 42.2 percent from the field and turned the ball over a ridiculous 3.8 times per contest during the Bulls' first-round series with the Philadelphia 76ers.
That's not going to cut it from the man who needed to step up when Derrick Rose went down.
2. O.J. Mayo, Memphis Grizzlies: -5.40
28 of 29Individual Offensive Rating: 82
Team Offensive Rating: 102.7
Usage Rate: 26.1
If the Memphis Grizzlies decide to cut ties with O.J. Mayo, it would be a very understandable decision. This year's postseason could provide great justification.
Mayo plays with tunnel vision a lot of the time and seems to forget that he has teammates who he can pass to. That's the only explanation for a 26.1 usage rate on a team full of offensive options.
The young shooting guard shot only 27.4 percent from the field, but that came nowhere near stopping him from lofting up nearly nine attempts per game.
1. Vince Carter, Dallas Mavericks: -5.84
29 of 29Individual Offensive Rating: 76
Team Offensive Rating: 102.9
Usage Rate: 21.7
Ah, Vince Carter.
He used to be called either "Half Man, Half Amazing," "Air Canada"or "Vinsanity."
Now, might I suggest either "All Man," "Grounded Texas" or "It's Insane How Bad I Shoot The Ball"?
Vince took 10.3 shots per game, but made only 29.3 percent of them. His 75 percent shooting from the free-throw line was well below his career average. He turned the ball over six times while dishing out only one assist over the course of the entire sweep.
Maybe his ridiculously awesome beard is weighing him down.
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