I ran stats on nearly 200 players, not finishing many because
it was obvious they weren’t going to be anywhere near the top 100. This
included players such as Damian Lillard, Chris Bosh and Marcus Camby. I fully
expected Vlade Divac to be in that group, but as I kept calculating, it became
apparent that Vlade looks better upon second glance.
Vlade only made one all-star team. He never scored more than
16 points per game in a season. His career high for rebounds per game was 10.8.
He made just one NBA Finals, losing to Michael Jordan and the Bulls in his
second year in the league. Those are the negatives.
The positives are that Vlade was the modern pivot player. He
could score when necessary and rebound, but also pass and shoot the occasional
three-point shot. On defense, he was an above average shot blocker (1.4 per
game) and had his share of steals (1.0 per game). This added up to a pretty
good PER rating over the years, which is calculated on a per-minute basis. His
career high PER was 20.5 in 1994-1995 and he had five years above 18.0. Elvin
Hayes had nine years above 18 but none above 20.
Vlade never had a season of above 10.0 win shares, but he
had eight seasons above 7.0. He was a positive +/- player every year until his
last and topped 4.0 three times. Hayes was never above 3.4. In the playoffs,
Divac typically upped his efficiency. He had three playoff runs with PERs above
21.
Divac played with the Lakers at the end of Showtime, spent a couple of seasons in Charlotte and then some years on the best Sacramento Kings team in that franchise’s history. His teams won wherever he went, running up a 62.7 winning percentage in the regular season.
Divac played with the Lakers at the end of Showtime, spent a couple of seasons in Charlotte and then some years on the best Sacramento Kings team in that franchise’s history. His teams won wherever he went, running up a 62.7 winning percentage in the regular season.
Divac never received even a single MVP vote and his peak
season, 2001-2002, added up to just 252.21. It is the lowest peak score for any
player who made my Top 100. On the other hand, he’s just the second player out
of the 17 named to have above 200 points in at least 10 seasons (Dennis Rodman
was the other). It’s Divac’s long record of top tier play that earned him his
spot in my rankings.
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Vlade
Divac bio info
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Career
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1989-2005
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Games
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1,134
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Points
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11.8
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Rebounds
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8.2
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Assists
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3.1
|
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FG Pct.
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49.5%
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All-Star Games
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1
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MVPs
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0
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NBA Titles
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0
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Playoff seasons
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14
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Playoff games
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121
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Points
|
12.1
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Rebounds
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7.5
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Assists
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2.4
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FG Pct.
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48.0%
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Hall of Fame
|
|
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Top 100
rankings
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||
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Points
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Top 100 ranking
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1-year
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252.21
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Not in top 100
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5-year
|
1,220.17
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Not in top 100
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10-year
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2,302.89
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70th
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Career
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3,120.44
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47th
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Vlade
Divac at his peak
|
|||
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2001-2002
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Divac
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Top 5
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Points
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PER
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17.0
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25.98
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Win Shares
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7.3
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14.17
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|
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Box +/-
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3.3
|
6.75
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VORP
|
3.3
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6.63
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Total Advanced Stats
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30.9
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53.52
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57.53
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Playoff PER
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16.8
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26.96
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Win Shares
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1.7
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2.64
|
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Box +/-
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3.2
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7.39
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VORP
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0.7
|
1.48
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Total Advanced Stats
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22.4
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38.47
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58.23
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Reg. Season Win %
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73.75
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73.75
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Playoff Win %
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62.50
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62.50
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MVP Voting (75 points)
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0
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0
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Finals MVP (25 points)
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0
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0
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Total Score
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252.21
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Divac’s 10 greatest seasons
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|
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2001-2002
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252.21
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1990-1991
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249.04
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2002-2003
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243.75
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1989-1990
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243.67
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1994-1995
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231.49
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1997-1998
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223.46
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1992-1993
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222.87
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1998-1999
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215.90
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2003-2004
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211.00
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2000-2001
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209.48
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Career
winning percentage
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|||
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W
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L
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Pct.
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Regular Season
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711
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423
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62.70%
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Playoffs
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60
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61
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49.59%
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