In the Offseason Blueprints that I’ve been putting together for each team, I’ve been using a statistic, efficiency per minute (or EPM), to compare players’ performances over the past season. Here is the efficiency statistic, as created by the NBA:

EFF = ((Points + Rebounds + Assists + Steals + Blocks) – ((Field Goals Att. – Field Goals Made) + (Free Throws Att. – Free Throws Made) + Turnovers))

It basically takes all of the positive statistics (points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks) and subtracts the negative ones (missed field goals, missed free throws and turnovers), finally yielding a player’s efficiency number for a particular game.

I have gone one step further and divided a player’s efficiency for the season by the total number of minutes he played, making it easier to compare a player that gets 40 minutes a game with one that plays 20.

This season, 348 players averaged greater than 10 minutes/game AND played 20 games or more. These are the only players that are used to calculate the league average (.441).

Here are the Top 10 players by position in EPM:

Point Guard
Steve Nash 0.682
Allen Iverson 0.607
Chris Paul 0.590
Chauncey Billups 0.585
Jason Kidd 0.576
Gilbert Arenas 0.572
Tony Parker 0.534
Sam Cassell 0.514
Baron Davis 0.509
Mike James 0.509

Shooting Guard
Dwyane Wade 0.698
Kobe Bryant 0.680
Paul Pierce 0.626
Vince Carter 0.571
Emanuel Ginobili 0.555
Ray Allen 0.546
Corey Maggette 0.526
Michael Redd 0.520
Bonzi Wells 0.507
Jason Richardson 0.502

Small Forward
Shawn Marion 0.715
Lebron James 0.691
Gerald Wallace 0.584
Carmelo Anthony 0.575
Chuck Hayes 0.573
Andrei Kirilenko 0.568
Boris Diaw 0.565
Tracy McGrady 0.557
Richard Jefferson 0.535
Lamar Odom 0.533

Power Forward
Kevin Garnett 0.778
Elton Brand 0.727
Dirk Nowitzki 0.718
Tim Duncan 0.661
Carlos Boozer 0.644
Chris Bosh 0.628
Jermaine O’Neal 0.607
Pau Gasol 0.603
Dwight Howard 0.578
Mehmet Okur 0.562

Center
Yao Ming 0.731
Marcus Camby 0.689
Shaquille O’Neal 0.678
Zydrunas Ilgauskas 0.620
Alonzo Mourning 0.590
Brad Miller 0.552
Dan Gadzuric 0.549
Jake Tsakalidis 0.538
Channing Frye 0.531
Samuel Dalembert 0.526