Good Years, Bad Years, Where Are These Players Headed?
Jeffrey Vest/Icon Sportswire
We’re excited about something that our basketball research and development team put together in advance of this week’s NBA Draft, so we thought we’d drift off our usual football coverage for a week to share it.
Chris Lee authored a study in which he created clusters of NBA Draft profiles based on player skills and traits and then ascertained which combinations had the highest ‘hit rates’ for drafted players since 2010.
For example, 37 players fell into the classification of “Weak Offense, strong defense, best physical tools.” Those players had a 30% success rate in the NBA, the second-highest hit rate for a cluster of wing players.
Success in the NBA was defined as a player who, in their first four seasons in the league, posted a Player Efficiency Rating (PER) of at least 15 and/or achieved an award or high enough placement in at least one of those seasons.
Here’s a bulletpoint summary of some of his findings.
Highest hit rate are top two-way wings with high basketball IQ.
In general, the top cluster in each position also had the highest basketball IQ.
Prospects that we are higher on than consensus mock drafts and player rankings: Labaron Philon and Zuby Ejiofor.
Defensive impact tended to be more significant for bigs.
Offensive impact was more important for ball-handlers, particularly advantage creation and passing.
The full article goes in-depth on the different clusters, gets specific on just how well each cluster did, and pinpoints a few players (besides Philon and Ejiofor) to keep an eye on.
The NFL Draft Website has scouting reports for more than 400 of the top players. With that, we’ve got ratings and rankings. It’s basically everything a GM would want to know about the NFL’s top rookies heading into the 2026 season.
Our statistical information package includes Total Points, our proprietary metric that values everything that happens on the field, as well as position-specific performance data in the form of raw totals, averages, and percentile rankings. And we explain our stats in our glossary.
Also From SIS
These two articles had the same theme this week: A pitcher’s defense can play a notable role in a great season. Mark Simon examined what the Brewers and Phillies have done for two of the best pitchers in baseball.
What We’re Reading/Watching
Ben Solak of ESPN wants to know if the Broncos can play faster, whether the Bills defense can change things up, and many other things too.
The full story is paywalled, but if you were ever wondering how Kyler Murray thinks … but with a chess board instead of a football, this piece from Luke Braun is for you.
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More from the SIS Community
On Off the Charts, members of the R&D team, and special guests dig into statistical insights, tactical analysis, and personal opinions, aimed at providing listeners with a comprehensive understanding of the week's key matchups and the intricacies of the sport. On The SIS Baseball Podcast, we interview current players and coaches about defensive excellence and review the latest baseball news.
The Fielding Bible Website
The FieldingBible.com website is a great resource for your defensive stat needs. It features player and team stats, Defensive Runs Saved leaderboards, and more.
