The Real Big Three Rankings: Final Standings
(Rankings based on top three Win Share earners per team. Number in brackets is team's ranking in previous update)
The King: How good a season did LeBron James, who led the League in Win Shares (15.6), have? He produced more wins by himself than the top trios on the bottom eight teams in our rankings did. And every player in the top 20 in Win Shares this year produced more on their own than the King's previous team's, Clevelands, top trio did.
A Child Shall Lead: Five rookies were among the top three Win Share earners on their team: Blake Griffin (led the Clippers), Landry Fields, Greg Monroe (led the Pistons), Ed Davis and Trevor Booker. No real surprise with Griffin, Monroe or Davis - all were lottery picks, but Washington (via a trade with Minnesota) and New York looks to have gotten real value late in the draft with the acquisitions of Booker and Fields.
Surprise, Surprise: There are quite a few names on the above chart that no one would have predicted at the starting of the season. The ones that stood out the most to us (other than rookies) would have to be Ryan Anderson, Wesley Matthews, Chuck Hayes, Arron Afflalo, DeAndre Jordan, Luke Ridnour, Anthony Tolliver, Jared Dudley, Marcin Gortat and Josh McRoberts, who all made the list due to a combination of their own stellar play and underachieving teammates.
M.I.A All-Stars: Of the 25 players selected to play in this year's All-Star Game, three of them didn't make the final Big Three Rankings: Rajon Rondo, Carmelo Anthony and Yao Ming. Yao didn't play this year, so he's excluded, and Rondo has three All-Star teammates ahead of him in Boston's rankings, so no real shame there. Carmelo is the real underachiever, as even earlier in the season while he was still with Denver he wasn't one of their top three producers, and for the year his 7.9 Win Shares only ranks him 31st in the NBA (who is in 30th place, you ask? Melo's teammate, Amar'e Stoudemire).
