Who are the top-3 Celtics players in terms of Real Plus/Minus? - How real is it?

Love it - hate it - ignore it, but I for one like the idea of ESPN's Real Plus/Minus (RPM). Traditional Plus/Minus does not take into account a specific player's teammates and their offensive production and defensive contributions - whereas RPM does that. If a player is on the court with a bunch of duds, his traditional Plus/Minus will suffer. Put that same player with superstars, and his traditional PM will soar. Real Plus/Minus allegedly alleviates that defect.


As of January 3, 2018, Kyrie Irving ranked 5th in ESPN's Real Plus/Minus with a 5.98. Marcus Smart came in at the 22nd slot with 3.44, followed by Al Horford at the 50th spot with 1.95. I went all the way to #80 and found no more Celtics players.

The first four spots in front of Kyrie are occupied by James Harden, Anthony Davis, Paul George and Nikola Jokic, in that order. Then I got curious and went back into ESPN's rankings and Marcus Morris and Aron Baynes bunched at #81 and #82, respectively. Daniel Theis was at #84 - Jayson Tatum at #100 - and Gordon Hayward at #117.

We then go into negative numbers with Jaylen Brown ranked at #370 with a minus-1.97. No surprise with Irving's ranking. He is vital to the Celtics cause. Marcus Smart? My readers know I am a fan, and his 22nd ranking supports that idea. Horford at #50? Hard to argue with that.

There you have it! Take it - leave it - argue about it. Let's hear from our readers.

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Photo via Layne Murdock