Great thread idea!
I went through the numbers that Brick put up and tried to cobble together an actual ranking (spoiler alert: Cuz takes 5th).
Brick used the following stats: DRB/100, Blocks/100, Steals/100, Charges Drawn, OPP FG% at Rim, and DRPM.
I’ll start with the stats that should be tossed:
1- DRPM: this is some ESPN proprietary statistic. As its own ranking, I think it should be taken for what it’s worth, but someone else’s formula shouldn’t really play in an objective ranking of players.
2- Blocks/100: this is rather simple. A block automatically should be factored into FG% at the rim. As such, this stat will be disregarded (which may be unfair to certain players who might get blocks at the high post, but that should not, in my view, be part of the “best defensive centers” ranking.)
3- Charges. This is about sample size. Cuz is #1 at 25 charges over the season, while the #2 spot is a tie between Noah and Gasol with 6. Simple put, when we’re talking per 100 and bulk stats, these numbers are just too low (and probably unreliable) to make a real difference in ranking the players.
That leaves us with: DRB/100, Steals/100, and OPPFG at the rim.
Steals SHOULD be factored in- fortunately, the per 100 makes an easy correlation to FG%. I.e., 2 steals in 100 = 2 extra possessions denied; for Boogie, you have .474 at the rim plus 2.3 steal/100, so if you want to benefit those steals, you adjust the DFG at the rim by +2.3 possessions: .474/1.023 = .463 adjusted %.
I ran these numbers through for the list, and the ranking is mostly the same, except around the 6-12 in %, which shakes out as follows:
6. Duncan .455 (.462/1.014, previously 7th)
7. Val .458 (.468/1.008, previously 6th)
8. Cousins .463 (.474/1.023, previously 9th)
9. Lopez .468 (.471/1.006, previously 8th)
10. Whiteside .472 (.479/1.014, previously 11th)
11. Adams .474 (.479/1.011, previously 10th)
I re-ranked the players based on adjusted % at the rim (factoring in steals), and then averaged the ranking against their rank in DRB (assuming that both rebounding and at the rim % are equally important, which I think is a fair place to *start* a comparison), resulting in the following rankings (average rank in parentheses):
1. Gobert (4)
2. Bogut (5)
3 (tie). Cousins, Whiteside, D. Howard (5.5)
6. D. Jordan (7.5)
7 (tie). Drummond, Duncan (8)
10. Val (9)
11. Noel (11- ranked heavily on %, weak in DRB)
12. Asik (11- ranked heavily on DRB, weak in %)
13. Gortat (13)
14. Adams (13.5)
15. Lopez (14.5)
16. Gasol (15)
17. Noah (16)
18. Horford (17)
19. Dieng (19.5)
Based on these raw numbers, there is a clear top 10 (Gobert through Valanciunas) of guys who are both great defensive rebounders and have good combined FG + steal numbers. Past that, you get guys like Noel and Asik, who are good in one segment but bad in another, and then from Gortat down - some decent players, but no one that jumps out in any segment statistically.
The last piece of the puzzle is personal fouls. Cousins has lead the league in PF/G in 4 out of 5 years now, and is number one this year. This is pretty hard to mix in with everything else (on account of the game vs. per 100 difference, as well as parsing between out of bounds fouls, and-ones, and 2 shot fouls), but I think it’s safe to say that the PF/G should be included, somehow.
Now, since we are dealing strictly with averages, it is useful to break out our “top 5” stats, on the basis of adjusted % (steals + at rim) versus DRB, MPG, and PF/48:
Gobert: .391 / 12.6 DRB / 26.0 MPG / 4.0 PF48
Bogut: .404 / 12.5 DRB / 23.6 MPG / 5.6 PF48
Whiteside: .472 / 15.6 DRB / 23.0 MPG / 5.4 PF48
Howard: .450 / 12.8 DRB / 30.4 MPG / 5.4 PF48
Cousins: .463 / 13.9 DRB / 34.1MPG / 5.7 PF48
Jordan: .478 / 14.7 DRB / 34.4 MPG / 4.2 PF48
Drummond: .477 / 13.6 DRB / 30.5 MPG / 5.5 PF48
Duncan: .455 / 12.2 DRB / 28.9 MPG / 3.6 PF48
Valanciunas: .458 / 11.7 DRB / 26.5 MPG / 4.9 PF48
The point of looking at the across-the-board numbers is to be able to see who relies on rebounding versus %, rebounding traditionally having a weaker correlation with actual defensive numbers. Cousin’s has great % numbers, but Bogut, Gobert, and Howard are solidly ahead of him. However, this should be weighed back by the higher minutes played by Cousins – it’s sort of unfair to compare DMC to a player who plays 10 minutes fewer per night (Bogut, Whiteside, and, to some extent, Gobert).
In my eyes, Whiteside is the anomaly / cast-off of the top 5. (limited minutes and gaudy rebound numbers masking weaker efficiency). Bogut and Gobert also play limited minutes, but I think their efficiency numbers make them solid 1-2 players. Similarly, Duncan at .455 and Val at .458 are good enough numbers that they should be elevated, despite lower rebounding averages. I think Howard gets a slight nudge on Cousins (based on percentages) which results in me ranking the top 10 as follows:
1. Gobert (no. 1 with a bullet)
2. Bogut
3. Howard
4. Duncan (fewer fouls and better efficiency in only 6 minutes fewer than Cuz)
5. Cousins
6. Valanciunas (a great % adjusted can’t make up for weak rebounding)
7. Whiteside (despite his insane rebounding numbers, pedestrian percentages keep him down)
8. Jordan
9. Drummond
However, I think it should be underlined that in that top 10, Tim Duncan is the only other "all-around" player, the others being (to my knowledge) defensive and rebound specialists only. So for a Center known for his prolific offense, finishing right smack in the top 5 on defense (along with a bunch of specialists) is a damn fine ranking.