What does "3 and D" mean? "3 and D", refers to a player's ability to play adequate defense, while posing a legitimate 3-Point-Threat. Such player's are often referred to as the cogs of a championship team, the guys who do the little things that help win games. I set out to determine how many NBA players could be considered "3 and D" guys, and of course, who the best of them were.
The first step was to tabulate 3-Point-Prowess. This was done in a similar way to my Net Points piece, although I didn't account for assists, as I'm unsure of their effect on 3-Pointers. The general formula for "Net 3's" is below.
Net 3's = (3's Made x 3)-(3's Made x 1.08)-(3's Missed x .708)
1.08 is the average amount of points scored on a 3-Point Attempt during the 2013 season. .708 accounts for the 27% chance of an Offensive Rebound after a missed 3.
Next, I had to tabulate defense. After contemplating a blend of XRAPM, ASPM, and DRTG, I just decided to used D-XRAPM. Its arguably the best publicly available metric for evaluating defense, and allows me to be lazy.
To qualify as a "3 and D" player, your standardized Net 3's and Defense (D-XRAPM) score,both had to be above 0. Otherwise 1-dimensional players like Curry and Sanders end up at the top of the list. To qualify for the Top-30 list below, you had to record at least 15 minutes per game, and 41 games played.
The first step was to tabulate 3-Point-Prowess. This was done in a similar way to my Net Points piece, although I didn't account for assists, as I'm unsure of their effect on 3-Pointers. The general formula for "Net 3's" is below.
Net 3's = (3's Made x 3)-(3's Made x 1.08)-(3's Missed x .708)
1.08 is the average amount of points scored on a 3-Point Attempt during the 2013 season. .708 accounts for the 27% chance of an Offensive Rebound after a missed 3.
Next, I had to tabulate defense. After contemplating a blend of XRAPM, ASPM, and DRTG, I just decided to used D-XRAPM. Its arguably the best publicly available metric for evaluating defense, and allows me to be lazy.
To qualify as a "3 and D" player, your standardized Net 3's and Defense (D-XRAPM) score,both had to be above 0. Otherwise 1-dimensional players like Curry and Sanders end up at the top of the list. To qualify for the Top-30 list below, you had to record at least 15 minutes per game, and 41 games played.
- Despite weighting Net-3's and Defense equally, and removing one-dimensional players, it looks like 3-Point Prowess still over-influenced the "3 and D" score, relative to Defensive-aptitude.
- Only 42 players during the 2013 season qualified as legitimate "3 and D" players, after filtering using the above minute/game restrictions.
- The most balanced "3 and D" players (+1 or greater in both Defense and Net 3's) were Paul George, Sefalosha, Durant, and Pierce.
That's all folks. The results jive pretty well with what we'd expect, though the amount of "star" players present is somewhat surprising (could be due to my minute restriction).
*All stats are minute and pace adjusted, special thanks to NBA.com/Stats and StatsfortheNBA.
- Only 42 players during the 2013 season qualified as legitimate "3 and D" players, after filtering using the above minute/game restrictions.
- The most balanced "3 and D" players (+1 or greater in both Defense and Net 3's) were Paul George, Sefalosha, Durant, and Pierce.
That's all folks. The results jive pretty well with what we'd expect, though the amount of "star" players present is somewhat surprising (could be due to my minute restriction).
*All stats are minute and pace adjusted, special thanks to NBA.com/Stats and StatsfortheNBA.