Last January, I debuted a very simple, but insightful calculation to judge how efficient each NBA team has been with their spending. All I have done is take each team's active payroll and divide it by their expected wins.

I know, a second grade education is all that's needed to perform the math.

When I say "active" payroll, I mean what each team has paid to put their active roster out on the floor. For example, that means I haven't counted guys like Stephon Marbury and Cuttino Mobley (Knicks), Jamaal Tinsley (Pacers) and Darius Miles (Blazers) against the teams that are paying them to either do nothing, or play elsewhere.

Not surprisingly, the best teams in the league this season dominate the top of the list, but the rank of some clubs will surprise you.

In parentheses, I have listed each team's rank in terms of winning percentage.

The Elite Eight

1. Portland - $1.08M (8)

2. Orlando - $1.09M (4)

3. San Antonio - $1.18M (5)

4. Boston - $1.21M (1)

5. Denver - $.1.23M (6)

6. L.A. Lakers - $1.24M (2)

7. New Orleans - $1.28M (7)

8. Cleveland - $1.37M (3)

As you can see, there really weren't any surprises in the top eight. The teams with the eight lowest cost per win averages also have the league's eight best winning percentages. The Blazers have been the most economically efficient club in terms of active payroll this season, but if you take the salaries of Steve Francis and Darius Miles into account, their cost per win jumps to $1.52M, which would move them down to 12th on this list.

The Cavaliers, Celtics, and Lakers have three of the league's four-highest 'active' payrolls (the Mavericks have the highest), but their strong win-loss records have justified their spending. Needless to say, I'll touch on Dallas and their economic philosophies later on.

At the end of last season, the top-eight looked like this: Philadelphia, Golden State, Detroit, New Orleans, Houston, Utah, Orlando, and Boston. There has been a fair amount of turnover through the first half of the 2008-09 season.

The Middle Fourteen

9. Houston - $1.39M (9)

10. Atlanta - $1.45M (11)

11. Utah - $1.48M (15)

12. Miami - $1.52M (13)

13. Detroit - $1.61M (14)

14. Philadelphia - $1.64M (16)

15. Phoenix - $1.66M (12)

16. New Jersey - $1.74M (19)

17. Milwaukee - $1.77M (17)

18. New York - $1.81M (18)

19. Charlotte - $1.84M (21)

20. Indiana - $1.88M (22)

21. Dallas - $1.91M (10)

22. Memphis - $1.92M (26)

The difference between the top and bottom team in this section is just $530,000. That might seem like a lot of money to the general public, especially in today's economy, but in NBA terms it isn't all that much. At the end of last season, the difference between the No. 22 and No. 9 ranked teams on this list was $620,000. Depending on how much you believe in this list, that might indicate a little more parity in 2008-09.

The middle fourteen are a little more jumbled than the top eight, with the Mavericks sticking out like a sore thumb. They enjoy, if that's the word you want to use, the biggest discrepancy between their rank in terms of winning percentage and cost per win. The reason is their moderately disappointing winning percentage (.587) and the fact that Jason Kidd and Dirk Nowitzki make more than the active roster of the Grizzles.

New York, as always, is also an interesting case. If you add the salary of both Cuttino Mobley and Stephon Marbury, the Knicks' cost per win jumps up to $2.64M, which would place them 27th.

The Bottom Eight

23. Chicago - $1.96M (20)

24. Minnesota - $2.05M (24)

25. Toronto - $2.14M (23)

26. Golden State - $2.35M (25)

27. Oklahoma City - $3.16M (27)

28. L.A. Clippers - $3.43M (29)

29. Sacramento - $3.47M (28)

30. Washington - $4.03M (30)

The bottom rung of the list is the most uniform. The last four teams fall right in line with what you'd expect based on their record, and each of their active payrolls matches their actual one.

I was a bit surprised by Chicago's ranking, even though I'm well aware of their slightly disappointing 21-27 mark. They do, however, have the league's seventh-highest active payroll.

Prior to the season, I doubt anyone would have pegged the Raptors and Wizards to rank so low on such a list. The addition of Jermaine O'Neal's maximum contract and their struggles on the court has effectively doomed the financial efficiency of the Raptors.

Washington has been without Gilbert Arenas for the entire season, but I still counted his contract against their active payroll. I consider injured players to be on a team's active payroll (as strange as that sounds), because it would simply be too arduous to calculate how much a player counts against a payroll when taking into account games missed.

If I were to remove Arenas from Washington's active payroll, I'd have to somehow subtract the cost of guys like Carlos Boozer and Mike Dunleavy, who have missed significant time.

For the sake of comprehensive analysis, the cost per win of the Wizards drops to roughly $3.25M (still 28th) without Agent Zero's contract.

You might want to look at the entire cost per win piece from the end of last season: The Cost of Wins


Andrew Perna is Deputy Editor of RealGM.com and co-host of RealGM's Radio Show. Please feel free to contact him with comments or questions via e-mail: Andrew.Perna@RealGM.com