Based on a ratings system developed by Jeff Sagarin and Wayne Winston, the NBA equivalent of Bill James and Rob Neyer, Hedo Turkoglu was the highest rated player last season.
Factored in are stuff such as chasing loose balls, taking charges and playing off-ball defense, intangibles overlooked by most traditional stats.
Sagarin is known as the father of USA Today's computer college-football ratings. Winston is an Indiana University professor and a past Jeopardy! champ. They were math whizzes years ago at MIT and combined their love of computers, statistics and sports.
Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks, and star of the telvision show 'The Benefactor,' was a student in Winston's math class at Indiana. When they ran into each other at a Mavs' game four years ago, Cuban asked Winston how his team could be improved.
Winston had an epiphany while lounging at his Dallas hotel pool, and the "Winval" rankings system was born. It is modeled after hockey's plus-minus system, in which players are evaluated on how their team performs when they are on the ice.
It's not surprising that Turkoglu admired the all-around game of the recently retired Scottie Pippen, "because he can do so many things and hurt you in many ways. He did more things for his team than just score."
Finishing behind Turkoglu on this list were Vince Carter, Kevin Garnett, Brad Miller and Manu Ginobili.