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Authored by Andrew Perna - 25th April, 2008 - 8:50 am
It’s hard to believe that it was more than three months ago when I wrote the inaugural ‘Cost of Wins’ piece. At that point in time the New Orleans Hornets , Detroit Pistons , Boston Celtics , and Golden State Warriors were paying the least per win (using their projected win total over the entire 82-game season) in the entire NBA.
With the regular season over, we have a definite number of wins for each team and can much better analyze what each franchise spent for a win during the 2007-08 season.
Sixteen of the league’s thirty teams were lucky enough to get at least an additional four games out of their roster while the other fourteen began planning their pending offseason salary dumps and big-name acquisitions last Wednesday.
The figures in the end of the 2007-08 regular season edition of the ‘Cost of Wins’ have changed drastically in some cases for a variety of reasons. In addition to the defined win totals for each team, almost all of the league’s teams experienced a shift in salary during the second half of the season.
Whether the adjustment came through trades, free agent signings, or roster cuts – you’d be hard-pressed to find a team whose salary didn’t either rise or drop during the fall's three months of the season.
As highlighted a fiscal quarter ago, I decided to use each team’s ‘active’ salary total rather than their ‘total’ cap number. In some cases the numbers are incredibly similar, but, for instance, I did not include Steve Francis in the payroll of the Blazers (buyout). I feel using such a number places the emphasis on the team that is marched out onto the floor, who just so happen to be deciding whether or not each team wins or loses.
A brief explanation of this simple calculation:
I took each team’s ‘active’ salary and divided it rather easily by their 2007-08 regular season win total. Keeping with the same example, Portland paid their active roster $58.2 million this season and won 41 contests. That means the Blazers paid roughly $1.4 million ($58.2M/41 wins) for each victory they earned.
While the math is incredibly elementary, the calculation does provide a more accurate analysis than simply looking at a team’s payroll and deciding whether or not they got the most bang for their bucks on the court.
You will notice that teams with a host of talented young players are dishing out minimal amounts of money per win, but that will all change once the rookie contracts of those stars expire.
Without further ado, here is what I found:
(League Rank, Rank In January, Team, Cost Per Win)
The Top Ten
1. (14) Philadelphia 76ers - $1.06M
2. (4) Golden State Warriors - $1.06M
3. (2) Detroit Pistons - $1.07M
4. (1) New Orleans Hornets - $1.08M
5. (15) Houston Rockets - $1.09M
6. (11) Utah Jazz - $1.11M
7. (8) Orlando Magic - $1.11M
8. (3) Boston Celtics - $1.13M
9. (6) San Antonio Spurs - $1.19M
10. (7) L.A. Lakers – $1.27M
Note: Ties were broken by extending decimal places.
Philadelphia and Houston shot up the list thanks to great play during the second half. The Rockets notched that historic 22-game win streak while the 76ers went 24-12 from late January to the end of the season.
Golden State is the only team in the top ten not to qualify for the playoffs, which isn’t surprising when you consider their young roster (Monta Ellis and Andris Biedrins) and the simple fact that they are probably the best team in NBA history not the make the postseason.
Boston ended up spending a little more per victory than they were projected to back in January, but that has more to do with the addition of Sam Cassell than anything else.
The Middle Ten
11. (10) Phoenix Suns - $1.30M
12. (5) Portland Trail Blazers - $1.41M
13. (13) Toronto Raptors - $1.51M
14. (12) Atlanta Hawks - $1.51M
15. (23) Sacramento Kings - $1.53M
16. (16) Washington Wizards - $1.57M
17. (9) Dallas Mavericks - $1.58M
18. (17) Charlotte Bobcats - $1.62M
19. (18) Denver Nuggets - $1.64M
20. (19) New Jersey Nets - $1.64M
Portland slid several spots down the list as they looked much better back in January, but they still posted their first non-losing season in quite some time. Conversely, the Kings shot up eight notches due to the trade of Mike Bibby and a relatively successful second half.
Every other team remained nearly uniform over the last three months, except for Dallas. The Mavericks acquired Jason Kidd and actually posted a much lower winning percentage (0.660 to 0.551) after dealing for the point guard.
The Bottom Ten
21. (20) Cleveland Cavaliers - $1.80M
22. (30) Minnesota Timberwolves - $1.81M
23. (21) Indiana Pacers - $1.84M
24. (24) Chicago Bulls - $1.85M
25. (26) Memphis Grizzlies - $2.21M
26. (22) Milwaukee Bucks - $2.37M
27. (25) L.A. Clippers - $2.44M
28. (27) Seattle Supersonics - $2.57M
29. (28) New York Knicks - $3.72M
30. (29) Miami Heat - $.4.80M
Not surprisingly, just one team listed in the bottom ten is still playing basketball. The Cavaliers increase in ‘cost per win’ was because of a slight boost in salary (the trade that brought in Ben Wallace) more than anything else. Cleveland’s winning percentage actually increased over the second half of the season, but their cost still rose slightly.
Miami posted the league’s worst record, which will tend to land you at the bottom of this list. While their total salary is high (more than $72M), they stand behind six other teams in that category. Winning just fifteen contests over an eighty-two game season is what got the Heat in such a precarious economic position.
It’s worth noting that Miami would have posted a lower ‘cost per win’ average than the Knicks (23 wins) if they had won just five more games during the regular season.
Andrew Perna is a Senior Writer for RealGM.com and would love to hear what you think about the simple statistic he calls ‘Cost Per Win’. Feel free to e-mail him at Andrew.Perna@RealGM.com |
