In two recent posts I’ve focused on Kevin Garnett, and each time I brought up his incredible versatility. That reminded me of a metric John Hollinger introduced in the early 2000s which he coined the Versatility Index (VI). The VI is simply the geometric mean of three statistics: points per game (PPG), rebounds per game (RPG), and assists per game (APG):
VI = (PPG * RPG * APG)^(1/3)
The rest of this post will mostly be a data dump looking at some different iterations of this measure, with some occasional commentary sprinkled in.
Let’s start with last season’s leaders (minimum 70% of team’s games played):
14.2 — Nikola Jokic
13.1 — Luka Doncic
12.8 — Giannis Antetokounmpo
12.0 — Domantas Sabonis
11.2 — Joel Embiid
Nikola Jokic is the clear leader in this category, which should not come as a surprise given he averaged 24.5 PPG, 11.8 RPG, and 9.8 APG. Jokic led the NBA with 29 triple-doubles last season, more than doubling the total of the next-closest player (Domantas Sabonis, 14).
There are all kinds of ways we can tweak this. For example, we could switch from per-game averages to per-36-minute rates (minimum 40% of all possible minutes played):
15.2 — Nikola Jokic
14.3 — Giannis Antetokounmpo
13.0 — Luka Doncic
12.4 — Domantas Sabonis
12.1 — Ja Morant
We could also add steals per game (SPG) and blocks per game (BPG) to the original formula:
VI = (PPG * RPG * APG * SPG * BPG)^(1/5)
Giving us the following leaders for 2022-23:
4.76 — Nikola Jokic
4.73 — Joel Embiid
4.33 — Luka Doncic
4.25 — Giannis Antetokounmpo
4.20 — Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
Or, using per-36-minute rates:
5.09 — Nikola Jokic
4.92 — Joel Embiid
4.77 — Giannis Antetokounmpo
4.76 — Anthony Davis
4.36 — Jakob Poeltl
Jakob Poeltl — whoa! Poeltl had a really good season, averaging 12.5 PPG, 9.1 RPG, 0.9 SPG, and 1.5 BPG despite averaging just 26.5 MPG. A little further down the per-36-minutes list you’ll find other sub-30-MPG players who excelled by this measure, including Alperen Sengun (eighth), Jaren Jackson Jr. (ninth), and Nic Claxton (10th). Using the per-game version, no player in the top 15 averaged less than 32 MPG.
Notice that no matter how you slice it, Jokic comes out on top, which makes sense given that he nearly averaged a triple-double and ranked 22nd in the NBA in steals per game.
Now let’s look at some all-time lists. We’ll start with the original version of the formula (i.e., using PPG, RPG, and APG). First, here are the single-season leaders:
17.0 — Wilt Chamberlain, 1967-68
16.6 — Chamberlain, 1966-67
16.3 — Oscar Robertson, 1961-62
16.3 — Chamberlain, 1965-66
16.1 — Chamberlain, 1963-64
Unsurprisingly, the list is dominated by Wilt Chamberlain. In 1967-68, Chamberlain led the league in rebounds and assists and finished third in points. Chamberlain is the only player in NBA history to rank in the top three in points, rebounds, and assists in a season; he also did so in 1966-67 (number two on the list above).
Here are the top seasons since the ABA-NBA merger:
15.2 — Russell Westbrook, 2016-17
14.4 — Westbrook, 2020-21
14.3 — Nikola Jokic, 2021-22
14.2 — Jokic, 2022-23
14.0 — Westbrook, 2018-19
Again, no surprises, as triple-double machines Russell Westbrook and Jokic own the top five spots. Another regular triple-double threat, James Harden, ranks sixth with a VI of 13.8 in 2016-17.
Next, here are the career leaders (minimum 400 games played):
14.5 — Wilt Chamberlain
12.2 — Oscar Robertson
11.7 — Elgin Baylor
11.7 — Magic Johnson
11.6 — Larry Bird
11.4 — LeBron James
11.3 — Bill Russell
11.2 — Nikola Jokic
11.1 — Russell Westbrook
10.9 — Bob Pettit
Magic Johnson and Larry Bird, forever entwined. By the way, did you know Bill Russell was an adept passer along with being a ferocious rebounder? He ranks third in NBA history among centers in both assists (4,100) and assists per game (4.3).
Now let’s add steals and blocks into the mix. The NBA did not begin tracking these statistics until 1973-74, so I decided to exclude players who debuted prior to that season:
5.03 — Hakeem Olajuwon
4.72 — David Robinson
4.68 — Larry Bird
4.54 — Michael Jordan
4.49 — Anthony Davis
4.47 — Chris Webber
4.45 — LeBron James
4.36 — Julius Erving
4.29 — Giannis Antetokounmpo
4.19 — Charles Barkley
Hakeem Olajuwon is the only player to record at least 200 steals and 200 blocks in a season, and he’s also the only player to record at least 2,000 steals and 2,000 blocks for his career. Olajuwon had four seasons in which he produced at least 150 steals and 150 blocks, as many as all other players combined (one apiece for Elvin Hayes, Bobby Jones, David Robinson, and Andrei Kirilenko).
Julius Erving does not get enough credit for his versatility. Despite not entering the NBA until his sixth professional season, Erving recorded at least 100 steals and 100 blocks eight times, tied with Garnett for the second-most such seasons behind Olajuwon (12).
Okay, two more lists and then I’ll wrap this up. All of the measures above are akin to rates rather than totals. To create a career score for each player, I’ll take their VI and multiply it by their games played. The version with PPG, RPG, and APG yields this top 10:
16,257 — LeBron James
15,590 — Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
15,159 — Wilt Chamberlain
14,262 — Karl Malone
12,768 — Kevin Garnett
12,726 — Oscar Robertson
12,274 — Jason Kidd
12,129 — Russell Westbrook
11,910 — Tim Duncan
11,435 — Kobe Bryant
Finally, there’s Garnett, the player who inspired this exercise. Garnett is one of only four players in NBA history to rank in the top 60 in total points (19th), rebounds (ninth), and assists (55th). The others in this group are Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Larry Bird, and LeBron James.
There’s actually a good mix of players by position in the list above, with four guards, four forwards (if you consider Tim Duncan a forward), and two centers.
Last but not least, here are the top 10 career scores if we throw in steals and blocks (again, limited to players who debuted in the 1973-74 season or later):
6,319 — LeBron James
6,229 — Hakeem Olajuwon
6,016 — Kevin Garnett
5,862 — Karl Malone
5,542 — Tim Duncan
4,865 — Michael Jordan
4,698 — Shaquille O’Neal
4,675 — Jason Kidd
4,654 — David Robinson
4,642 — Robert Parish
There’s Garnett again, who also ranks in the top 60 all-time in steals (18th) and blocks (18th). He’s the only player to rank in the top 60 in all five categories.
This version is more big-man heavy, with four centers, four forwards (three of them power forwards), and just two guards. Blocks are obviously the big factor here. Among players who debuted in the 1973-74 season or later, 150 have averaged at least one block per game in 400 career games, but none of them are guards. A similar bias does not exist for big men and steals, as 44 of the 305 qualifying players who have averaged at least one steal per game were primarily power forwards or centers.
This is very cool! Thanks, Justin!
This is great as it is. But it might be fun to throw TS% or TS Add in their, too, somehow. Also, whenever I see Wilt and Oscar top ranked in a stat, I think that the stat likely needs to be adjusted for era, especially for rebounds, and also for MP/G. (I saw that you adjusted for MP for Jokic, etc.)