This year’s Kobe Bryant Award winners: NBA’s biggest ballhogs
by Will Laws on SportsRaid.com
Kobe Bryant’s most loyal fans will remember him as a relentless worker and five-time champion who would stop at nothing to win each and every game he played in. His biggest detractors would call him a ruthless ballhog and argue that his dogged determination to carry the Lakers to victory would often result in ill-advised shots that torpedoed possessions and frustrated teammates.
That term, “ballhog,” carries a negative connotation. It evokes an image of the bully on your playground who won’t pass to anyone on his team. In the NBA, however, ballhogs aren’t always a net negative. All you have to do is look at the final game of Bryant’s career to know that much. The Mamba struck for 23 fourth-quarter points against the Utah Jazz to lead Los Angeles back from a 15-point deficit that was partially created by the chuckfest everyone in the building wanted to see. “Vino” showed he had one last big night in him by scoring 60 points, more than anyone had in the 2015–16 season. And it was in the most “Ko-be!” way possible.
All that said, Bryant was far from the biggest ballhog in the NBA during his final season. PointAfter, a sports visualization site in the Graphiq network, set out to find the closest matches to Bryant’s shoot-first mentality. Though the Mamba still landed in the top 10 of PointAfter’s new Ballhog Index, there are several deserving candidates to emerge as his heir apparent for his unofficial title of the league’s biggest ballhog.
Assist Rate vs. Usage Rate Among NBA Guards | PointAfter
Methodology
PointAfter included all players who appeared in at least 40 games this season, separating them into three groups: guards, wings and bigs. The average usage rate, assist rate and field goal attempts per game were then calculated for each position.
Average guard: 20.9% USG, 21.2% AST, 9.7 FGA
Average wing: 17.8% USG, 10.6% AST, 9.5 FGA
Average big: 18.6% USG, 9.4% AST, 9.7 FGA
Those averages were used in a formula to calculate which players were the biggest outliers compared to their peers with similar roles. Guys who recorded high usage rates, low assist rates and a large amount of shots in 2015–16 received a higher score on PointAfter’s Ballhog Index, which operates on a rough 0–100 scale.
There are several players labeled “ballhogs” in this article who are granted the green light by their coaches whenever they have an inch of space on their defenders. That mentality can lead to results on either side of the spectrum. But no matter what happens, the blame or credit always goes back to the player who took the shot.
Even the most ardent ballhog haters have to grudgingly respect the NBA players like Bryant who shoulder that heavy burden of responsibility.
Note: PointAfter rounded the Ballhog Index to one decimal point. Though it might appear so, there were no ties.
Most Field Goal Attempts in a Game since 1983–84 Season | PointAfter
#28. Isaiah Thomas
Ballhog Index: 60.8
Usage rate: 29.7
Assist rate: 32.7
Shots per game: 16.9
#27. Derrick Rose
Ballhog Index: 60.9
Usage rate: 27.3
Assist rate: 25.5
Shots per game: 15.9
#26. Kemba Walker
Ballhog Index: 61
Usage rate: 26.6
Assist rate: 25.5
Shots per game: 16.6
#25. Rudy Gay
Ballhog Index: 61.2
Usage rate: 22.5
Assist rate: 7.9
Shots per game: 14.4
#24. Kristaps Porzingis
Kristaps Porzingis | PointAfter
Ballhog Index: 61.5
Usage rate: 24.6
Assist rate: 7.9
Shots per game: 12.3
#23. Enes Kanter
Ballhog Index: 61.8
Usage rate: 23.4
Assist rate: 3.1
Shots per game: 8.8
#22. Brandon Knight
Ballhog Index: 62.5
Usage rate: 26.2
Assist rate: 24.5
Shots per game: 17.2
#21. Dirk Nowitzki
Ballhog Index: 63.6
Usage rate: 25.4
Assist rate: 10.1
Shots per game: 14.8
#20. Bradley Beal
Ballhog Index: 63.7
Usage rate: 25.3
Assist rate: 15.6
Shots per game: 14.5
#19. Kyrie Irving
Ballhog Index: 65.5
Usage rate: 29.5
Assist rate: 26.7
Shots per game: 16.6
#18. Kawhi Leonard
Ballhog Index: 65.5
Usage rate: 25.8
Assist rate: 12.9
Shots per game: 15.1
#17. LaMarcus Aldridge
LaMarcus Aldridge | PointAfter
Ballhog Index: 67.6
Usage rate: 25.9
Assist rate: 8.1
Shots per game: 14.1
#16. Paul George
Ballhog Index: 67.7
Usage rate: 30.4
Assist rate: 20.3
Shots per game: 17.9
#15. Dwyane Wade
Ballhog Index: 67.8
Usage rate: 31.7
Assist rate: 27.4
Shots per game: 16
#14. C.J. McCollum
Ballhog Index: 68.6
Usage rate: 27.1
Assist rate: 21.4
Shots per game: 17.9
#13. Brook Lopez
Ballhog Index: 68.6
Usage rate: 27.3
Assist rate: 10.7
Shots per game: 15.9
#12. Damian Lillard
Ballhog Index: 68.8
Usage rate: 31.3
Assist rate: 33.6
Shots per game: 19.7
#11. James Harden
Ballhog Index: 68.9
Usage rate: 32.4
Assist rate: 35.6
Shots per game: 19.6
#10. Ryan Anderson
Ballhog Index: 69.2
Usage rate: 24.7
Assist rate: 6.1
Shots per game: 14.1
#9. Andre Drummond
Ballhog Index: 69.5
Usage rate: 24.1
Assist rate: 4.4
Shots per game: 13.1
#8. Kobe Bryant
Ballhog Index: 69.8
Usage rate: 31.6
Assist rate: 18.9
Shots per game: 16.4
#7. Jahlil Okafor
Ballhog Index: 71.4
Usage rate: 27.2
Assist rate: 8.2
Shots per game: 14.7
#6. Stephen Curry
Ballhog Index: 72.1
Usage rate: 32.5
Assist rate: 33.6
Shots per game: 20.2
#5. DeMar DeRozan
Ballhog Index: 73.8
Usage rate: 29.8
Assist rate: 20.8
Shots per game: 17.7
#4. Andrew Wiggins
Ballhog Index: 75.4
Usage rate: 27.2
Assist rate: 10.3
Shots per game: 16
#3. Klay Thompson
Ballhog Index: 77.1
Usage rate: 26.4
Assist rate: 9.8
Shots per game: 17.4
#2. Anthony Davis
Ballhog Index: 80.8
Usage rate: 29.6
Assist rate: 10
Shots per game: 18.6
#1. DeMarcus Cousins
Ballhog Index: 82.4
Usage rate: 35.4
Assist rate: 16.9
Shots per game: 20.5
