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PI Finds: Decade-by-Decade NBA Win Shares Leaders

Posted by Neil Paine on January 5, 2011

Inspired by yesterday's quiz about the 1990s All-NBA Teams, here are the Win Shares leaders for each decade (made possible by the handy BBR Player Season Finder):

The Fifties (1952-59):

Rk Player From To Tm G MP PER TS% eFG% OWS DWS WS WS/48
1 Dolph Schayes 1952 1959 SYR 566 20784 23.7 0.494 0.382 57.8 37.4 95.2 0.220
2 Neil Johnston 1952 1959 PHW 516 18298 24.7 0.534 0.444 73.9 18.1 92.0 0.241
3 Ed Macauley 1952 1959 TOT 506 18071 20.4 0.523 0.436 60.6 13.4 73.9 0.196
4 Paul Arizin 1952 1959 PHW 419 16559 21.3 0.511 0.424 56.8 13.0 69.8 0.202
5 Bill Sharman 1952 1959 BOS 548 18339 18.3 0.499 0.424 52.0 15.6 67.6 0.177
6 Vern Mikkelsen 1952 1959 MNL 567 18443 18.6 0.483 0.403 39.0 26.3 65.3 0.170
7 Larry Foust 1952 1959 TOT 552 17565 21.0 0.493 0.409 43.5 20.0 63.6 0.174
8 Bob Pettit 1955 1959 TOT 357 13345 26.9 0.499 0.421 42.4 19.5 61.9 0.223
9 Bob Cousy 1952 1959 BOS 546 20986 20.6 0.452 0.372 34.8 25.7 60.5 0.138
10 Harry Gallatin 1952 1958 TOT 496 15813 21.5 0.508 0.403 42.4 17.7 60.1 0.182
11 George Yardley 1954 1959 TOT 399 13365 20.9 0.495 0.416 36.1 13.4 49.5 0.178
12 Clyde Lovellette 1954 1959 TOT 423 12814 22.1 0.482 0.436 29.4 17.2 46.6 0.174
13 George Mikan 1952 1956 MNL 243 8350 26.9 0.467 0.389 21.0 22.2 43.2 0.249
14 Carl Braun 1953 1959 NYK 500 16263 16.0 0.473 0.396 30.3 11.4 41.7 0.123
15 Bobby Wanzer 1952 1957 ROC 373 12128 17.1 0.487 0.391 27.1 12.4 39.5 0.156
16 Slater Martin 1952 1959 TOT 546 20133 11.7 0.440 0.365 16.2 21.4 37.6 0.090
17 Kenny Sears 1956 1959 NYK 285 9768 19.0 0.542 0.448 31.5 6.1 37.6 0.185
18 Dick McGuire 1952 1959 TOT 538 15704 15.4 0.458 0.393 20.6 16.4 37.1 0.113
19 Jack Coleman 1952 1958 TOT 498 16479 15.7 0.454 0.420 16.2 20.7 36.8 0.107
20 Chuck Share 1952 1959 TOT 487 10796 17.7 0.493 0.403 21.1 15.1 36.2 0.161
21 Ray Felix 1954 1959 TOT 432 11317 19.4 0.491 0.417 26.4 8.3 34.7 0.147
22 Paul Seymour 1952 1959 SYR 483 14660 13.8 0.437 0.356 12.9 18.7 31.6 0.104
23 Arnie Risen 1952 1958 TOT 449 12690 16.6 0.451 0.374 14.0 17.5 31.5 0.119
24 George King 1952 1958 TOT 411 13408 14.1 0.441 0.382 12.9 18.5 31.4 0.113
25 Jack Twyman 1956 1959 TOT 288 9415 18.4 0.488 0.432 22.3 8.9 31.2 0.159

All-Decade WS team: G Bill Sharman (67.6) - G Bob Cousy (60.5) - F Dolph Schayes (95.2) - F Paul Arizin (69.8) - C Neil Johnston (92.0)

The Sixties (1960-69):

Rk Player From To Tm G MP PER TS% eFG% OWS DWS WS WS/48
1 Wilt Chamberlain 1960 1969 TOT 787 36713 28.1 0.539 0.530 125.2 73.1 198.3 0.259
2 Oscar Robertson 1961 1969 CIN 683 30223 25.3 0.571 0.487 123.1 19.8 142.8 0.227
3 Bill Russell 1960 1969 BOS 776 33412 18.3 0.471 0.439 19.9 113.1 133.1 0.191
4 Jerry West 1961 1969 LAL 612 24220 22.6 0.548 0.469 85.9 21.7 107.5 0.213
5 Bailey Howell 1960 1969 TOT 787 26960 19.6 0.549 0.484 79.9 26.8 106.7 0.190
6 Walt Bellamy 1962 1969 TOT 648 25561 21.5 0.559 0.518 79.9 16.2 96.1 0.180
7 Elgin Baylor 1960 1969 TOT 711 28499 22.9 0.492 0.430 52.0 34.1 86.0 0.145
8 Sam Jones 1960 1969 BOS 744 22225 18.8 0.505 0.458 45.0 40.0 84.9 0.183
9 Hal Greer 1960 1969 TOT 774 28821 16.5 0.510 0.455 54.7 28.6 83.3 0.139
10 Bob Pettit 1960 1965 STL 435 17345 24.2 0.520 0.447 49.4 24.8 74.1 0.205
11 Rudy LaRusso 1960 1969 TOT 736 24487 15.4 0.504 0.431 35.8 25.6 61.4 0.120
12 Jerry Lucas 1964 1969 CIN 461 19906 19.3 0.545 0.497 42.3 15.2 57.5 0.139
13 Lenny Wilkens 1961 1969 TOT 637 23015 15.5 0.502 0.424 33.5 23.0 56.6 0.118
14 Zelmo Beaty 1963 1969 TOT 501 17135 17.4 0.530 0.471 35.9 20.0 55.9 0.157
15 Richie Guerin 1960 1969 TOT 634 20664 17.7 0.502 0.425 40.5 15.2 55.6 0.129
16 Bob Boozer 1961 1969 TOT 712 21225 16.5 0.517 0.460 38.8 15.8 54.6 0.123
17 Dick Barnett 1960 1969 TOT 672 20494 15.8 0.514 0.458 41.6 12.4 54.1 0.127
18 Cliff Hagan 1960 1966 STL 536 15868 19.0 0.508 0.454 36.2 15.8 52.0 0.157
19 Tom Sanders 1961 1969 BOS 701 18373 12.3 0.484 0.431 14.3 37.0 51.3 0.134
20 Chet Walker 1963 1969 TOT 558 17624 15.8 0.521 0.457 31.6 18.7 50.3 0.137
21 John Havlicek 1963 1969 BOS 551 17828 17.1 0.469 0.419 11.1 35.0 46.1 0.124
22 Jack Twyman 1960 1966 CIN 535 16732 17.4 0.510 0.459 37.3 6.5 43.8 0.126
23 Willis Reed 1965 1969 NYK 397 14390 18.7 0.523 0.474 28.6 13.1 41.7 0.139
24 Larry Costello 1960 1968 TOT 473 13128 14.9 0.531 0.451 28.1 13.3 41.4 0.151
25 Terry Dischinger 1963 1969 TOT 370 11200 18.1 0.559 0.500 33.5 6.9 40.4 0.173

All-Decade WS team: G Oscar Robertson (142.8) - G Jerry West (107.5) - F Bailey Howell (106.7) - F Elgin Baylor (86.0) - C Wilt Chamberlain (198.3)

The Seventies (1970-79):

Rk Player From To Tm G MP PER TS% eFG% OWS DWS WS WS/48
1 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar 1970 1979 TOT 773 31771 26.9 0.583 0.551 115.8 60.2 176.0 0.266
2 Walt Frazier 1970 1979 TOT 668 26401 19.2 0.543 0.490 59.2 38.2 97.4 0.177
3 Elvin Hayes 1970 1979 TOT 815 33863 18.6 0.491 0.451 29.3 62.9 92.2 0.131
4 Bob Lanier 1971 1979 DET 644 23248 23.0 0.551 0.506 59.3 28.0 87.3 0.180
5 John Havlicek 1970 1978 BOS 719 28643 17.8 0.509 0.454 46.5 39.1 85.7 0.144
6 Wes Unseld 1970 1979 TOT 757 27857 16.0 0.539 0.512 35.7 49.7 85.4 0.147
7 Dave Cowens 1971 1979 BOS 660 26392 17.4 0.497 0.461 27.7 50.5 78.3 0.142
8 Bob Dandridge 1970 1979 TOT 760 27326 17.0 0.528 0.487 47.2 30.9 78.1 0.137
9 Bob McAdoo 1973 1979 TOT 525 20825 22.4 0.557 0.509 50.6 25.0 75.5 0.174
10 Calvin Murphy 1971 1979 TOT 722 23290 18.6 0.541 0.486 55.5 13.2 68.7 0.142
11 Chet Walker 1970 1975 CHI 474 15809 19.6 0.559 0.483 46.8 20.2 67.0 0.204
12 Rick Barry 1973 1979 TOT 564 20844 20.0 0.504 0.451 39.7 25.5 65.2 0.150
13 Rudy Tomjanovich 1971 1979 TOT 654 22616 17.3 0.542 0.505 47.6 17.0 64.7 0.137
14 Paul Silas 1970 1979 TOT 809 25490 14.1 0.497 0.435 24.5 39.6 64.0 0.121
15 Lou Hudson 1970 1979 TOT 683 23513 17.6 0.536 0.492 50.9 12.9 63.8 0.130
16 Gail Goodrich 1970 1979 TOT 729 25446 17.1 0.519 0.462 44.9 16.5 61.4 0.116
17 Earl Monroe 1970 1979 TOT 713 22916 16.8 0.521 0.469 38.9 19.3 58.2 0.122
18 Tiny Archibald 1971 1979 TOT 536 20459 20.2 0.540 0.465 49.5 8.6 58.1 0.136
19 Dick Van Arsdale 1970 1977 PHO 605 20854 15.0 0.555 0.476 45.8 12.1 57.9 0.133
20 Clifford Ray 1972 1979 TOT 637 17419 15.1 0.552 0.528 20.6 34.5 55.1 0.152
21 Jerry West 1970 1974 LAL 320 12351 23.6 0.554 0.484 38.8 16.3 55.0 0.214
22 Spencer Haywood 1971 1979 TOT 570 21195 18.7 0.517 0.465 35.9 18.4 54.3 0.123
23 Dave Bing 1970 1978 TOT 665 23759 17.6 0.510 0.445 35.8 17.0 52.8 0.107
24 Jo Jo White 1970 1979 TOT 746 27653 14.4 0.479 0.443 20.3 32.1 52.4 0.091
25 Dick Snyder 1970 1979 TOT 753 21270 14.5 0.540 0.497 39.9 12.2 52.1 0.118

All-Decade WS team: G Walt Frazier (97.4) - G Calvin Murphy (68.7) - F Elvin Hayes (92.2) - F John Havlicek (85.7) - C Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (176.0)

The Eighties (1980-89):

Rk Player From To Tm G MP PER ORtg USG% DRtg OWS DWS WS WS/48
1 Larry Bird 1980 1989 BOS 717 27560 24.1 116 26.7 101 75.4 48.8 124.2 0.216
2 Magic Johnson 1980 1989 LAL 716 26417 23.8 120 21.9 104 84.1 36.2 120.3 0.219
3 Moses Malone 1980 1989 TOT 778 29039 23.3 115 27.0 104 76.3 39.4 115.7 0.191
4 Adrian Dantley 1980 1989 TOT 684 25201 22.5 120 27.0 110 87.3 16.1 103.4 0.197
5 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar 1980 1989 LAL 787 25675 21.7 116 24.2 104 63.1 34.3 97.4 0.182
6 Robert Parish 1980 1989 TOT 786 25841 20.2 113 22.2 102 49.1 42.0 91.0 0.169
7 Jack Sikma 1980 1989 TOT 795 27557 18.2 111 21.1 102 43.7 46.0 89.8 0.156
8 Sidney Moncrief 1980 1989 MIL 695 22054 19.1 120 21.0 105 60.3 28.2 88.5 0.193
9 Kevin McHale 1981 1989 BOS 694 22275 20.2 120 22.0 105 59.2 28.1 87.3 0.188
10 Maurice Cheeks 1980 1989 PHI 771 26174 17.4 117 16.0 105 50.9 31.9 82.8 0.152
11 Alex English 1980 1989 TOT 811 29208 20.9 113 27.6 111 66.6 16.2 82.8 0.136
12 Julius Erving 1980 1987 PHI 602 20506 22.4 112 26.9 102 45.6 32.1 77.7 0.182
13 Bill Laimbeer 1981 1989 TOT 734 24198 16.8 116 17.3 104 42.7 33.9 76.6 0.152
14 Michael Jordan 1985 1989 CHI 345 13442 29.6 120 33.8 104 53.0 20.4 73.4 0.262
15 Artis Gilmore 1980 1988 TOT 663 20476 19.1 119 18.4 106 47.8 23.2 71.1 0.167
16 Larry Nance 1982 1989 TOT 587 19163 19.8 116 20.8 104 39.4 28.1 67.6 0.169
17 Kiki Vandeweghe 1981 1989 TOT 605 20088 19.3 120 24.2 113 59.0 6.1 65.1 0.156
18 Dominique Wilkins 1983 1989 ATL 559 20644 21.4 110 30.6 107 40.4 23.1 63.5 0.148
19 Charles Barkley 1985 1989 PHI 389 14297 24.4 120 23.6 105 43.9 19.3 63.1 0.212
20 Buck Williams 1982 1989 NJN 635 23100 16.7 110 18.7 104 30.2 32.6 62.8 0.130
21 Cedric Maxwell 1980 1988 TOT 683 19587 15.7 118 16.9 106 41.9 20.7 62.7 0.154
22 Dennis Johnson 1980 1989 TOT 783 27325 14.5 107 20.4 106 30.0 31.9 61.9 0.109
23 Isiah Thomas 1982 1989 DET 635 23276 19.1 108 25.1 106 34.4 26.5 60.9 0.126
24 Bill Cartwright 1980 1989 TOT 615 19124 17.1 114 20.6 106 37.8 21.1 58.9 0.148
25 Marques Johnson 1980 1987 TOT 524 18051 19.4 112 24.0 106 36.1 20.8 56.9 0.151

All-Decade WS team: G Magic Johnson (120.3) - G Sidney Moncrief (88.5) - F Larry Bird (124.2) - F Adrian Dantley (103.4) - C Moses Malone (115.7)

The Nineties (1990-99):

Rk Player From To Tm G MP PER ORtg USG% DRtg OWS DWS WS WS/48
1 Karl Malone 1990 1999 UTA 785 30005 26.0 117 30.4 102 95.9 51.0 146.9 0.235
2 David Robinson 1990 1999 SAS 685 25364 27.7 117 27.9 96 78.5 59.3 137.8 0.261
3 Michael Jordan 1990 1998 CHI 585 22445 28.7 121 33.3 102 92.8 38.3 131.1 0.280
4 John Stockton 1990 1999 UTA 766 26798 22.6 122 19.6 105 85.7 34.9 120.6 0.216
5 Charles Barkley 1990 1999 TOT 664 24413 24.9 119 25.6 104 78.1 34.0 112.2 0.221
6 Reggie Miller 1990 1999 IND 776 27710 19.8 123 23.5 110 91.7 19.2 110.8 0.192
7 Hakeem Olajuwon 1990 1999 HOU 689 26260 24.5 108 28.5 97 42.1 58.2 100.3 0.183
8 Scottie Pippen 1990 1999 TOT 731 27805 20.4 111 23.9 101 49.4 48.6 98.0 0.169
9 Patrick Ewing 1990 1999 NYK 702 26132 22.4 107 29.8 97 34.2 58.5 92.6 0.170
10 Detlef Schrempf 1990 1999 TOT 737 25421 18.3 119 20.7 107 65.6 25.5 91.1 0.172
11 Jeff Hornacek 1990 1999 TOT 760 25540 18.5 119 20.6 108 63.3 25.2 88.5 0.166
12 Horace Grant 1990 1999 TOT 716 25506 17.5 119 16.2 104 52.1 36.0 88.1 0.166
13 Clyde Drexler 1990 1998 TOT 608 21760 21.2 115 25.6 104 53.0 29.9 82.9 0.183
14 Hersey Hawkins 1990 1999 TOT 784 27154 16.9 116 19.8 107 53.9 27.8 81.7 0.144
15 Shawn Kemp 1990 1999 TOT 747 22853 20.6 109 25.2 100 37.7 43.0 80.7 0.169
16 Gary Payton 1991 1999 SEA 704 24765 18.9 112 22.3 105 48.9 31.3 80.3 0.156
17 Kevin Johnson 1990 1998 PHO 568 19852 21.3 119 23.3 109 59.3 16.8 76.1 0.184
18 Shaquille O'Neal 1993 1999 TOT 455 16985 27.4 114 30.7 102 48.1 27.4 75.5 0.213
19 Tim Hardaway 1990 1999 TOT 660 24613 19.3 112 24.5 109 50.8 21.5 72.3 0.141
20 Dennis Rodman 1990 1999 TOT 658 22940 14.2 115 10.1 100 26.7 44.7 71.5 0.150
21 Glen Rice 1990 1999 TOT 745 27843 16.9 113 24.0 110 52.8 18.0 70.8 0.122
22 Otis Thorpe 1990 1999 TOT 754 25642 15.9 112 19.0 105 38.7 32.1 70.8 0.133
23 Dikembe Mutombo 1992 1999 TOT 603 22130 17.9 110 16.3 100 27.6 41.7 69.3 0.150
24 Rod Strickland 1990 1999 TOT 690 24074 18.8 110 22.2 105 39.5 29.0 68.5 0.137
25 Terry Porter 1990 1999 TOT 732 20748 17.6 116 20.1 107 45.7 22.1 67.8 0.157

All-Decade WS team: G Michael Jordan (131.1) - G John Stockton (120.6) - F Karl Malone (146.9) - F Charles Barkley (112.2) - C David Robinson (137.8)

The Aughts (2000-09):

Rk Player From To Tm G MP PER ORtg USG% DRtg OWS DWS WS WS/48
1 Dirk Nowitzki 2000 2009 DAL 792 29735 24.2 118 26.9 103 98.5 38.6 137.1 0.221
2 Kevin Garnett 2000 2009 TOT 769 29345 25.5 112 26.7 98 75.5 56.2 131.8 0.216
3 Tim Duncan 2000 2009 SAS 767 27972 25.5 110 28.5 95 64.5 65.4 129.9 0.223
4 Kobe Bryant 2000 2009 LAL 748 29476 24.6 113 32.1 105 90.5 32.7 123.2 0.201
5 Shaquille O'Neal 2000 2009 TOT 662 22941 26.5 113 29.2 101 65.2 35.2 100.4 0.210
6 Paul Pierce 2000 2009 BOS 765 28893 21.1 109 28.7 103 60.4 39.0 99.4 0.165
7 Shawn Marion 2000 2009 TOT 745 28020 20.4 112 21.3 100 52.5 46.8 99.3 0.170
8 Ray Allen 2000 2009 TOT 728 27561 20.7 116 25.8 109 80.2 15.8 96.0 0.167
9 Chauncey Billups 2000 2009 TOT 712 23170 19.7 119 22.0 105 71.0 24.3 95.3 0.197
10 Steve Nash 2000 2009 TOT 753 25395 21.0 120 21.6 110 84.3 10.9 95.2 0.180
11 Tracy McGrady 2000 2009 TOT 671 25177 23.5 108 31.5 103 56.2 31.7 88.0 0.168
12 Jason Kidd 2000 2009 TOT 760 28311 19.1 106 20.7 100 38.6 47.9 86.5 0.147
13 Vince Carter 2000 2009 TOT 727 27511 21.5 109 30.0 106 59.4 26.9 86.3 0.151
14 LeBron James 2004 2009 CLE 472 19142 26.2 113 31.6 103 56.6 28.2 84.8 0.213
15 Elton Brand 2000 2009 TOT 643 24421 22.4 111 24.7 104 54.2 28.6 82.8 0.163
16 Rasheed Wallace 2000 2009 TOT 756 26177 17.8 108 21.9 100 37.2 42.4 79.6 0.146
17 Ben Wallace 2000 2009 TOT 756 25340 16.0 106 11.4 94 18.5 60.6 79.2 0.150
18 Rashard Lewis 2000 2009 TOT 757 26710 18.0 113 21.9 107 56.6 22.0 78.6 0.141
19 Allen Iverson 2000 2009 TOT 682 28534 21.4 105 32.9 105 46.7 31.3 78.0 0.131
20 Peja Stojakovic 2000 2009 TOT 661 23377 17.7 115 21.9 106 54.5 22.0 76.5 0.157
21 Jason Terry 2000 2009 TOT 800 27158 17.9 111 22.5 108 54.7 19.5 74.2 0.131
22 Andre Miller 2000 2009 TOT 815 28462 18.0 110 21.1 107 51.3 21.9 73.2 0.123
23 Pau Gasol 2002 2009 TOT 584 20821 21.8 113 24.1 105 48.8 23.5 72.4 0.167
24 Antawn Jamison 2000 2009 TOT 751 28296 18.8 110 24.7 109 54.8 14.9 69.7 0.118
25 Brad Miller 2000 2009 TOT 673 20957 18.0 115 18.4 105 44.1 23.1 67.2 0.154

All-Decade WS team: G Kobe Bryant (123.2) - G Ray Allen (96.0) - F Dirk Nowitzki (137.1) - F Kevin Garnett (131.8) - C Shaquille O'Neal (100.4)

The Teens (2010-11):

Rk Player From To Tm G MP PER ORtg USG% DRtg OWS DWS WS WS/48
1 LeBron James 2010 2011 TOT 113 4351 29.5 119 32.8 101 17.7 7.7 25.4 0.280
2 Kevin Durant 2010 2011 OKC 114 4484 25.4 116 31.9 105 14.2 6.1 20.3 0.218
3 Dwyane Wade 2010 2011 MIA 112 4053 27.4 113 34.0 102 12.3 7.0 19.3 0.228
4 Dwight Howard 2010 2011 ORL 114 3982 24.1 111 25.2 95 7.8 10.1 17.9 0.215
5 Pau Gasol 2010 2011 LAL 100 3726 23.1 121 21.4 102 11.2 6.0 17.2 0.222
6 Dirk Nowitzki 2010 2011 DAL 110 4065 23.4 116 28.7 105 11.6 5.6 17.1 0.202
7 Al Horford 2010 2011 ATL 118 4104 20.3 121 18.6 104 10.6 5.9 16.4 0.192
8 Deron Williams 2010 2011 UTA 111 4127 21.6 117 24.8 108 12.2 3.8 16.1 0.187
9 Chris Bosh 2010 2011 TOT 107 3837 23.4 117 26.9 107 10.9 4.0 15.0 0.187
10 Nene Hilario 2010 2011 DEN 111 3672 19.4 126 16.8 105 10.3 4.6 14.9 0.195
11 Chris Paul 2010 2011 NOH 80 2934 25.0 123 21.9 104 10.5 4.1 14.6 0.239
12 Manu Ginobili 2010 2011 SAS 109 3225 22.6 118 25.7 104 9.8 4.7 14.5 0.216
13 Amare Stoudemire 2010 2011 TOT 116 4117 23.0 114 28.6 108 10.8 3.7 14.5 0.169
14 Tim Duncan 2010 2011 SAS 112 3422 23.8 114 25.2 100 8.1 6.3 14.4 0.202
15 Kobe Bryant 2010 2011 LAL 108 3984 22.5 109 33.2 105 8.4 5.3 13.7 0.165
16 Steve Nash 2010 2011 PHO 111 3636 22.3 121 23.1 114 13.0 0.6 13.6 0.179
17 Paul Pierce 2010 2011 BOS 104 3586 18.7 115 23.7 103 8.0 5.5 13.5 0.180
18 Zach Randolph 2010 2011 MEM 112 4180 21.2 114 24.5 108 9.4 4.1 13.5 0.155
19 Gerald Wallace 2010 2011 CHA 102 4132 17.4 110 20.7 101 5.8 7.4 13.1 0.152
20 LaMarcus Aldridge 2010 2011 POR 113 4270 18.7 112 23.5 106 8.0 4.8 12.8 0.144
21 Josh Smith 2010 2011 ATL 118 4140 20.6 107 22.7 100 5.2 7.6 12.8 0.149
22 Lamar Odom 2010 2011 LAL 117 3813 17.1 112 17.5 102 5.9 6.5 12.4 0.156
23 Rajon Rondo 2010 2011 BOS 103 3802 19.1 110 19.6 102 6.1 6.3 12.4 0.156
24 Chauncey Billups 2010 2011 DEN 101 3415 19.5 119 23.6 110 10.0 2.2 12.3 0.172
25 Ray Allen 2010 2011 BOS 113 4026 15.7 115 20.3 106 7.5 4.6 12.2 0.145

All-Decade WS team: G Dwyane Wade (19.3) - G Deron Williams (16.1) - F LeBron James (25.4) - F Kevin Durant (20.3) - C Dwight Howard (17.9)

No related posts.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 5th, 2011 at 12:35 pm and is filed under All-Decade Teams, History, Play Index, Site Features, Win Shares. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

25 Responses to “PI Finds: Decade-by-Decade NBA Win Shares Leaders”

  1. Bill Reynolds Says:
    January 5th, 2011 at 12:46 pm

    MJ had the highest WS/48 for two decades -- the 80s and the 90s. His figure for the 90s (.280) is the highest for any player/decade ever, and his figure for the 80s (.262) is the third highest, just behind Kareem's .266 for the 70s.

    What a player!

  2. Jeff J. Says:
    January 5th, 2011 at 1:06 pm

    Kareem is fifth in the 80s . . .
    . . . AND leads the 70s :-O

  3. Rob Says:
    January 5th, 2011 at 2:18 pm

    It'd be interesting to see what the 50's crew would have done if they played more games. Mikkelsen, the 50's games played leader, appeared in 220 fewer games than 60's leaders, Howell & Chamberlain. Does that explain why their WS/48 is so low? I have trouble understanding the league in its early years.

    Very cool post!

  4. AYC Says:
    January 5th, 2011 at 2:41 pm

    Great post, Neil. I'd love to see something similar based solely on defensive performance, using DWS. You'd have to segregate players by position to get a useful ranking, tho....

  5. Sean Says:
    January 5th, 2011 at 3:12 pm

    Amazed that Dirk can be #1 for a decade when he's never made an All-Defensive Team. There's something basically wrong with that.

  6. Mike G Says:
    January 5th, 2011 at 5:32 pm

    What, no ABA?

  7. Pageup Says:
    January 5th, 2011 at 6:21 pm

    Bailey Howell's the shocker for me. I didn't know he was that good. Also, notice Worthy isn't in the 80s?

  8. Sean Says:
    January 5th, 2011 at 7:02 pm

    Yeah, Worthy is overrated from a historical perspective imo, namely when he was placed on the NBA's 50 Greatest Players, he benefited greatly from the system he was in.

  9. Neil Paine Says:
    January 5th, 2011 at 7:29 pm

    Re: #6 - It's always tough to determine how much weight ABA numbers should have relative to the NBA. Was 1 ABA WS equivalent to 1 NBA WS?

  10. P Middy Says:
    January 5th, 2011 at 10:09 pm

    I'm taking that all 90s team in a game versus any other decade squad . . . and I'm DEFINITELY taking them in a bar fight.

  11. AYC Says:
    January 6th, 2011 at 12:28 am

    Not so fast, Middy. The 80's squad has MJ, Hakeem and Charles, too. Plus Magic, Bird, Kareem, Moses, Doc and Zeke. That's a much better team on the perimeter. The 90's team has better bigs, with Shaq, Mailman and DRob, but Kareem was still a dominant player in the early 80's, and Moses was a beast. Also, who's the 90's backup small forward? Detlef? Rodman? Glen Rice?

  12. Jason J Says:
    January 6th, 2011 at 12:52 am

    Duncan should have let us call him a Center. Then he'd beat out Shaq for the aughts.

    The '90s backup small forward is Drexler. Stockton, Jordan, Pippen, Malone, Robinson backed up by Payton, Reggie, Clyde, Chuck, and Hakeem. Shaq and KJ 11th and 12th men. Maybe not as good as the '80s, but solid.

  13. Mike G Says:
    January 6th, 2011 at 10:29 am

    You can estimate equivalent ABA Winshares rates by first selecting non-rookies from the 1967-68 ABA:
    http://www.basketball-reference.com/play-index/tiny.cgi?id=bmcmF

    This gives you 24 players in that inaugural season who had some previous NBA time.
    By my figuring, these 24 had averaged 442 minutes and 0.24 WS in their most recent NBA season -- .026 WS/48.
    In the '68 ABA, they jumped to 1695 minutes and 4.19 WS -- .119 WS/48 .

    So, if we just subtract .093 from their 1968 ABA WS/48, we get their last known NBA WS/48. As a group, that is.

    We don't really know how many minutes they'd have gotten in the rapidly-expanding NBA of 1968 and later. Freddie Lewis may have started for the Sonics as well as Walt Hazzard did.

    It should be straightforward to get subsequent years' equivalencies based on guys jumping leagues. Of course, the sample sizes are smaller, until 1976 when you had the whole league jumping.

    If we assume a straight-line progression from .093 to, say, .002 (difference in WS/48) in 1976, we get a conversion table something like:

    year -WS/48
    1968 - .093
    1969 - .081
    1970 - .070
    1971 - .059
    1972 - .047
    1973 - .036
    1974 - .025
    1975 - .013
    1976 - .002

  14. Jesse Says:
    January 6th, 2011 at 2:26 pm

    113 Defensive Win Shares for Bill Russell is just absolutely amazing, there's no doubt he is the best Defensive Player of All-Time.

    On another note, Paul Pierce could have been even higher in these ratings had The Celtics moved away from Walker a little bit sooner.

  15. Joe Schaller Says:
    January 6th, 2011 at 3:45 pm

    I'm wondering if you split decades how much the rankings would change. Like 1965-1974, 1975-1984 etc.

  16. Jason J Says:
    January 6th, 2011 at 4:50 pm

    Joe - It's interesting to actually look in five year groupings to see how radically different the league can be across a decade statistically. 2000-04 Shaq, Duncan, and Garnett are heads and shoulders above the rest in WS. 2005-09 LeBron and Dirk are out in front by a lot.

    That's why when the decade ended and there was that vote (can't remember if it was ESPN or TNT or where it took place) Kobe was overwhelmingly voted in by fans with LeBron in second while Timmy and Shaq were only remembered by "experts." Their best seasons of the decade might as well have come in the '80s as far as casual fans could recall.

  17. Anon Says:
    January 7th, 2011 at 2:06 pm

    "Amazed that Dirk can be #1 for a decade when he's never made an All-Defensive Team."

    No one is going to confuse Dirk as a lock-down defender but he isn't worthless on defense. He isn't a "all-offense/no-defense" player like Steve Nash is for example.

    All-Defense teams can sometimes have dubious selections by the way.

  18. Ricardo Says:
    January 11th, 2011 at 11:43 pm

    Raising my objection to using the term "Aughts". It should be "Zeroes".

    "Aughts" is a word Monty Burns would use for the first decade of his life.

    Otherwise, excellent post.

  19. Joe Krupnick Says:
    January 12th, 2011 at 1:09 am

    "Aught" should stay in there, simply because it is one of the few pronoun contranym. Viz, its primary meaning, "anything whatever", is the opposite of its secondary meaning, "nothing at all". Some Middle English-speaker must have gotten confused somehow between "nought" and "aught" and assigned them the same meaning (much the same way words like "categorical" and "anti-categorical" are being conflated today).

    p.s. I've always thought Kareem's winshare numbers seemed inflated. He has those huge full-decade numbers and also the highest single season marks (like 25 winshares in 72 and three years in a row above MJ's best season). In fact, taking all into account, wasn't Kareem always somewhat of a liability on defense?

  20. Neil Paine Says:
    January 12th, 2011 at 2:18 am

    Re: #19

    "Wasn't Kareem always somewhat of a liability on defense?"

    I don't think so. Kareem was named All-Defense 11 times (5x 1st-team) at the most important defensive position, and statistically was a good shot-blocker (40th in career Blk%, top five 6x). Granted, he didn't make the list of 100 players who played for the best defenses, and there was that line from Airplane! about him "not working hard enough on defense", but I think there's a lot of evidence that Kareem was a very good defender during his prime years.

  21. Joe Krupnick Says:
    January 12th, 2011 at 4:11 am

    "Tell your old man to drag Walton and Lanier up and down the court for 48 minutes." I'll have to defer to your (and Roger Murdoch's) judgment on this, although I do feel like I have early memories of Kareem in the mid/late '80's often being very late to arrive on defense and then kind of standing awkwardly just outside the painted area like staring into outer space or adjusting his goggles.

    But, Neil, you do have to admit that Kareem's '71-'74 winshare numbers are just on the high side. If I'm not mistaken, the formula doesn't have an "ABA corrector", which according to Mike G's post, might be quite big. Especially when you consider the centers Jabbar WASN'T competing against, like Artis Gilmore and Dan Issel, etc. Fine, just Artis Gilmore.

  22. Jeff J. Says:
    January 12th, 2011 at 6:58 am

    @19 "Viz, its primary meaning, "anything whatever", is the opposite of its secondary meaning, "nothing at all". Some Middle English-speaker must have gotten confused somehow between "nought" and "aught" and assigned them the same meaning (much the same way words like "categorical" and "anti-categorical" are being conflated today)."

    I couldn't decide whether I should slow down to read this . . .
    . . . or slow up.

  23. Joe Krupnick Says:
    January 13th, 2011 at 5:55 am

    Slow down and slow up, Nice. p.s. I meant to say "categorical" and "uncategorical" (not anti). Forgive the other typos, too.

  24. Sean Says:
    January 17th, 2011 at 2:33 pm

    to 17,

    I know, but my point is that the #1 player for a decade should have at least distinguished himself at times on BOTH ends of the court. The statistics do a poor job of analyzing a player's performance and impact if they fail to bear that out. My point is that there is something basically wrong with win shares if we are going to use it to determine who the best players are (who contributes the most to wins).

  25. bob Says:
    April 5th, 2011 at 12:02 am

    wheres melo

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