With a Finals matchup between the Golden State Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers looming as all but inevitable, there will be lots of forthcoming chatter about MVP past (LeBron James) and MVP present (Stephen Curry). There are lots of good reasons for that, not the least of which is how the wildly differing physiques of the pair reminds us that MVPs can come in many forms.
Yet for this star-studded showdown to happen, the Warriors and Cavaliers have needed key contributions from non-star players. It's always that way. Role players step up this time of the year every season. Because of the nature of the playoffs, where coaches make game-by-game adjustments and then adjustments to their adjustments, role players are the chess pieces that allow these schematic tweaks to happen. So before we get lost in MVP glitter, let's shine a light on the non-stars who have made the biggest contributions to their respective teams during the postseason.
Granted, there is a chicken-and-egg thing going on here. Key performances from role players allow star teammates to do their jobs more efficiently. At the same time, the attention and on-court resources burned in battling those stars open things up for the role players. From a team standpoint, the Cavaliers, Warriors and Hawks have gotten the most cumulative value from their supporting players, defined for our purposes here as those with usage rates below 20 percent.
You can argue that foundation centers with low usage like Andrew Bogut and DeAndre Jordan should be omitted as well, but then we get into the area of the subjective, so we're leaving them in.
WARP is both quantitative and qualitative, so we've included role player Win Percentage here so you can see how teams have done on a per-possessions basis. Either way, three of the four conference finalists have gotten terrific production and efficiency from supporting players. The Rockets are at the other end of the spectrum, which highlights just how much of the load James Harden and Dwight Howard have carried. It's not like role players have carried Curry (first in playoff WARP) and James (third), but the combination of the stars coming up big with down-roster contributions has their clubs poised to square off for the championship.
Top 10 role players by playoff WARP
1. DeAndre Jordan, Los Angeles Clippers (2.35 WARP)
Strictly speaking, Jordan isn't really a role player, as the Clippers rely on him so much for defense and rebounding. He's one of their three foundation players and as he enters free agency, he's about to become what Kurt Vonnegut would call "fabulously well-to-do." Still, he's clearly a role player on offense and produces more value than anyone in the league with such a small role in his team's attack. Jordan's .610 true shooting percentage in the playoffs was down from .638 in the regular season, but was still a remarkable mark of efficiency given his wayward ventures to the foul line.
2. Draymond Green, Golden State Warriors (2.18 WARP)
Green's usage rate (19.1 percent) is nearly the level of a non-role player. If he gets to league average (20 percent) that would almost be a shame, because Green is the closest thing we have right now to a role-playing superstar. He can dominate a game without shooting, and beyond a shot blocker on a hot streak like Jordan or Howard, you just don't see many players of that ilk.
3. DeMarre Carroll, Atlanta Hawks (1.56 WARP)
Carroll's WARP total is second of all the Hawks even though the heavy lifting in Atlanta's playoff offense has been done by Jeff Teague, Al Horford and Paul Millsap. The Hawks were a great 3-point shooting team during the regular-season but in the postseason, all of their deep shooters have faltered with one exception: Carroll, whose 41.8 percent accuracy from beyond the arc during the playoffs is 5.2 percent better than his career average. And as his knee injury during the Cleveland series has demonstrated, Atlanta relies heavily on Carroll's contributions on the defensive end.
4. J.R. Smith, Cleveland Cavaliers (1.34 WARP)
Smith has carried the Cavs at times and what's remarkable out his playoff performance is that he hasn't been the wild-card volume shooter we've come to know so well. Smith's usage rate is just 18 percent and his true shooting percentage is .603 -- the top mark on the Cavs' postseason ledger among rotation players. This is a guy who had a playoff usage rate of 34.8 percent one season when he was in Denver.
5. Iman Shumpert, Cleveland Cavaliers (1.16 WARP)
Shumpert is fourth on the Cavs in WARP despite a usage rate of just 13.4 percent. He's shot the ball well, kept turnovers to a bare minimum and served as a perimeter stopper. Like Smith, Shumpert has flourished in a very different role than the one he played for the Knicks over the first half of the season.
6. Marcin Gortat, Washington Wizards (1.02 WARP)
Like Jordan, as a starting center and defensive anchor, Gortat probably isn't a role player in the classic sense. His offensive role is limited but his efficiency (.642 true shooting percentage) was key for Washington, especially considering his offensive rebound rate (9.9 percent) that helped keep so many stagnant Wizards possessions alive.
7. Paul Pierce, Washington Wizards (1.02 WARP)
In his waning years as a player, Pierce has made the successful transformation from star foundation player to star role player. His usage rate in the playoffs was 17.5 percent, down from a career mark of 26.0. But his .677 true shooting percentage is the second highest of all qualifying players in the playoffs, and he was the guy the Wizards looked to take the big shots down the stretch.
8. Mike Dunleavy Jr., Chicago Bulls (0.98 WARP)
The player ranked above Pierce on the true shooting leaderboard is Dunleavy, who finished at .680. At times, Dunleavy's weak-side shooting was the only thing the inconsistent Bulls offense had going for it. Plus his ability to frustrate opponents with savvy tactics of a questionable nature played a big part in Chicago's first-round win over Milwaukee.
9. Kyle Korver, Atlanta Hawks (0.96 WARP)
Korver's 13.9 percent usage rate showed just how much teams zeroed in on sticking with him in the playoffs, and he didn't shoot the ball as well as he did during an historic regular season. Perhaps the thing that best illustrates his value is before he was injured, Korver was leading the Hawks by playing 37.6 minutes per game.
10. Al-Farouq Aminu, Dallas Mavericks (0.84 WARP)
It was a disappointingly brief playoff run for the Mavericks, but Aminu was terrific stepping into the shoes of the injured Chandler Parsons. Aminu's usage rate of 12.4 percent was miniscule, but he put up a .711 true shooting percentage, albeit with not enough attempts to qualify for the leaderboard. He hit 7 of 11 3s and finished with the best playoff WARP total on the Mavericks. He led Dallas in both steal rate and blocked shot percentage.
Next 10: 11. Otto Porter Washington Wizards (0.82), 12. Andre Iguodala, Golden State Warriors (0.79), 13. Tristan Thompson, Cleveland Cavaliers (0.75), 14. Trevor Ariza, Houston Rockets (0.65), 15. Tony Allen, Memphis Grizzlies (0.65), 16. Andrew Bogut, Golden State Warriors (0.61), 17. Clint Capela, Houston Rockets (0.58), 18. Timofey Mozgov, Cleveland Cavaliers (0.58) 19. Meyers Leonard, Portland Trail Blazers (0.57), 20. Marco Belinelli, San Antonio Spurs (0.57).