OKLAHOMA CITY -- One of the ways you know a player is a superstar is if his team's performance goes to another level when he is on the court.
And the numbers back this up. Look at the leaderboard in "net plus-minus" -- the difference between a team's performance when a player is on the court and when he's off it -- and it reads like a list of NBA royalty. Kevin Durant of Oklahoma City led the league in 2009-10, while Boston's Paul Pierce did so this season.
This stat can be a little "noisy" in single seasons, but using data from multiple seasons makes it even easier to identify the most successful players. Combine the data from the past two seasons and rummage through the list of names for those who were in the top 15 in both seasons, and you'll get four players who represent the cream of the NBA crop -- LeBron James, Dirk Nowitzki, Nick Collison and Dwight Howard.
Wait, wait, whoooooaaa there ... what was that second-to-last name again? Did you say Nick Collison? The guy who averages 4.6 points and 4.5 rebounds? THAT Nick Collison??!?!?!
Believe it.
In the 2010-11 playoffs, the trend has continued. Remember that triple-overtime classic Monday night/Tuesday morning? You can't name a single important play that involved Collison, but look through the box score and you'll see the "+22" next to his name -- the best of any participant in Game 4.
For the postseason, Collison is one of 10 players to play at least 150 minutes and have a net plus-minus of at least +7.0 or better The other nine have played in at least one All-Star Game; Collison has never averaged double figures. (Side note: All numbers here are courtesy of basketballvalue.com.)
Of course, this is nothing new for Collison. In the 2010-11 regular season, the Thunder were 11.05 points per 100 possessions better with him on the court than off it -- the eighth-best net plus-minus in the league and by far the best on the Thunder.
In the 2009-10 regular season it was +9.45, ranking him 11th in the NBA and second only to Durant on the Oklahoma City roster. And in the six-game playoff defeat to the Lakers in 2010, it was a monstrous +29.39 -- the third-best figure in the league.
All of this, incidentally, is news to Collison.
"I don't look at [those stats]," he said, "but I've been told they're pretty good. I've had people ask me a question, saying 'you were plus-whatever' and ask me about it."
It's less surprising, however, to those who run the team.
"It's just one word: He's a winner," Thunder coach Scott Brooks said. "The guy just gives everything he has, every fiber of his body is for the team. He sets great screens, he rebounds, he grabs offensive rebounds, gets tips, takes charges, makes the extra pass."
In particular, Collison's defensive impact has been enormous. Most of the difference in his on-court vs. off-court data has come at the defensive end; this season, for instance, Oklahoma City gave up 5.85 points per 100 possessions fewer with Collison on the court, the ninth-best mark in the NBA. A year earlier his -7.56 mark placed third.
This seems unusual at first; Collison is a good post defender, but he's not a fly-swatting shot-blocker or a dominant rebounder, and he's not as obviously impactful with his athleticism as, say, Memphis' Tony Allen.
Instead, it's all the subtle stuff. Opposing coaches talk in almost reverential terms about Collison's ability to read their plays and react to them; one way or another, he's seemingly always in the way. He's managed this even though Collison cut his NBA teeth playing for the mid-decade Sonics -- some of the worst defensive teams ever assembled.
For this, Collison credits a basketball education that began in childhood.
"I've always had an advantage," said Collison, "because my dad was a high school coach. I was always around basketball, so just some of the principles I learned at a young age -- help defense, knowing to be off your man, [that] the ball is the problem and we're trying to stop the ball. A lot of kids when they playing youth basketball, they're just playing. So I always had a head start with that stuff.
"And then Roy Williams [his coach at Kansas] is really good teaching fundamentals. Defensively, you had defensive stations every day, there's a proper way to guard every part of defense. So that was really good for my development too. So when I got to the league, fundamentally, I had a really good idea of how to guard stuff. It's a lot different, the concepts are different in the NBA, but the fundamentals are kind of the same."
Fundamentals, yes. But Collison's net plus-minus really went into overdrive two years ago when he started drawing offensive fouls. Mountains and mountains of them.
Collison draws so many charges he should change the pronunciation of his name to "Collision." While Boston's Glen Davis gets more attention for this, because the Celtics are a higher profile team and he plays more minutes, Collison is without question the best in the league at this art. On a per-minute basis, he has led the league each of the past two seasons.
And for that, we can probably thank a training camp ankle injury.
"I used to not really be that good at it," said Collison. "I had an ankle injury coming into camp last year and I could not jump. Like, I'm not a skywalker anyway, but I just could not jump at all. When I first started playing I was dragging that leg, so I just felt like I couldn't block shots, so if I'm going to be out there I'm either going to foul him or take a charge. So I just was trying to get myself in position where I could get there to take the charge.
"Now I'm really looking for opportunities to draw charges. If I was there I would try to draw a charge, but now I really look for opportunities when I see a guy driving and I don't think he sees me coming. That's the difference, it's really something I'm trying to do out there. Before I was just trying to get there to help, if I felt like it was the right play I'd take it, if not I'd try for the block."
For the Thunder, it's Collison's basketball smarts that have allowed him to take the art of drawing charges to another level. Thunder insiders say he not only has a great basketball background, but he's a junkie who devours the minutiae in scouting reports on opposing teams.
"Watching film on Nick, sometimes it's almost like he's putting on a clinic," said Brooks. "He helps, he's at the right spot, his timing is impeccable, he understands the other team's offense so he puts himself in position to take charges."
"Over time, he's really studied our system," said Thunder general manager Sam Presti -- a bit of an authority on this topic, having once drawn six charges in a game in his playing days at Division III Emerson. "He's developed a really good sense of anticipation in combination with a desire to learn and understand other teams' personnel. So I think it's a combination of everything that's brought together by this interest in trying to improve himself from the information available.
Between the charges, the defense and his not insignificant offensive role -- despite a low scoring average, he almost never takes a bad shot, shooting 56 percent or better each of the past three seasons -- Collison manages to play some of the league's most impactful minutes. He may not make anybody's list of NBA superstars, but in terms of contributing to winning, few players have been more successful over the past two seasons.
Playing for a small-market team and offering contributions that only the most hard-core basketball zealots could appreciate, Collison's anonymity is likely to remain. (Alas, this didn't stop his Oklahoma City teammates from razzing Collison, a big-brother figure in their young locker room, about his newfound big-time status during our interview.)
Don't let the scant point totals fool you, though; his contributions are enormous. If the Thunder get out of the second round you're likely to hear the names Durant and Westbrook as the reasons, and certainly they're important. But take a look at that plus-minus stat in the box score, and you'll see that often the heaviest fingerprints are the quiet ones of Nick Collison.
The No-Stats All-Stars
Collison is the best of the bunch, but here's a roster full of players who have contributed strong plus-minus numbers despite minimal stats:
Battier
Shane Battier, Memphis
Two years ago, Michael Lewis dubbed Battier the "No-Stats All-Star" in an article for the New York Times. Though his plus-minus numbers haven't been quite as extraordinary the past two seasons, Battier is grandfathered into the club. Over the years his subtle skills have made him far more valuable than sheer production stats suggest.
Collins
Jason Collins, Atlanta
I wrote at length about his monumental impact on the Orlando series despite minimal stats, but he did the same thing in the regular season. Despite almost no rebounding and shot-blocking from Collins, Atlanta gave up 11.35 fewer points per 100 minutes with Collins on the court thanks to his superior position defense.
Deng
Luol Deng, Chicago
Over the past two years, Deng's plus-minus numbers are some of the best in basketball -- especially the "adjusted plus-minus" stat that factors in the plus-minus of the other players on the court with him. Only nine players outrank Deng in adjusted plus-minus over that span, thanks to his strong two-way game and ability to play multiple roles.
Hayes
Chuck Hayes, Houston
The shocking stat here is the Rockets were better on offense with the Chuckwagon playing than when he sat, and that's the second straight season that's been true. He'll get layups and won't take a bad shot, but the biggest benefit of Hayes' presence that he covers so many ills on defense that the Rockets can afford to play him with more offensive-minded players.
Watson
Earl Watson, Utah
Another hardy perennial on the plus-minus leaderboard, Watson can baffle with his offensive decision-making at times, but he is an underrated defender who can guard either backcourt spot. Nobody remembers this anymore because the wheels came off for the Jazz halfway through the season, but Watson's defense was the catalyst behind Utah's suffocating second-unit play in the first half of the season.
Miller
Andre Miller, Portland
He can't shoot and he's not the most mobile of defenders, but Portland's improved play with him on the court is unmistakable. He's been in the top 20 in net plus-minus in both his seasons with the Blazers, with this season's +9.90 ranking 10th.
Varejao
Anderson Varejao, Cleveland
The most underrated reason for Cleveland's awful season was the loss of Varejao to an early-season injury. His net plus-minus of 12.78 was fifth in the NBA in 2009-10, nearly matching that of teammate LeBron James, and he had solid numbers in his limited 2010-11 minutes before the injury.
Garnett
Kevin Garnett, Boston
OK, you probably wouldn't use Game 4 as an example to support this case. But bigger picture, Garnett was second in the NBA in on-court/off-court differential this season; Boston played 16.31 points per 100 minutes better with him on the court. You can partly thank a weak Celtics bench for that stat, but a year earlier, Garnett's numbers were nearly as strong (+8.31).
Dooling
Keyon Dooling, Milwaukee
Our quest for a no-stats shooting guard didn't bear much fruit; it turns out that being monstrously talented is actually a huge advantage at this position. Who knew?
Dooling, who split his time between the two guard spots, is the best we could do, with the Bucks playing 6.87 points per 100 possessions better with him on the court. Dooling doesn't wow with his offensive repertoire but he's a very good defender at either guard spot; his numbers a year earlier in New Jersey were even better (+8.58).
Nene
Nene, Denver
One of the game's most underrated players at both ends, Nene is strong statistically too. But he's never played in an All-Star Game, which is amazing considering his spectacular adjusted plus-minus numbers from the past two years. Among non-All-Stars, only Collison has been better.
Asik
Omer Asik, Chicago
Oh, you thought you were getting out of here without an Asik reference after last night's performance? Guess again. Chicago's rookie center led the NBA in net plus-minus at the defensive end (+9.85) and showed why in the fourth quarter of Game 5 against Atlanta, playing smothering defense on Al Horford as the Bulls rallied to take control of the series.