When we look at offensive and defensive efficiency, we saw the following marks: And after 57 games, the team was in playoff contention with a record of 31-26. This season, Gay was averaging 19.8 points per game. After all, how could the Grizzlies replace all the shots Gay “created” if he left town? Since “creating” shots is difficult, Memphis obviously had to pay Gay more than $80 million. And given these scoring numbers, if Gay left Memphis this past summer the Grizzlies would obviously be in trouble. Scoring – as has been documented in published studies – dominates player evaluation in the NBA.
These numbers are how many points Gay averaged per game from 2007-08 to 2009-10. Given how decisions are made in the NBA, here are the numbers the Grizzlies probably considered: Of course, the Memphis Grizzlies were not looking at Wins Produced numbers in making this decision. Despite these numbers, Gay was signed to a contract for about $82 million. 0.045 WP48 Īverage WP48 is 0.100, so these numbers say that Gay was below average.
After the 2009-10 season, Rudy Gay had posted the following career numbers (in four NBA seasons):