Nylon Calculus: Is Isaiah Thomas the best inch-for-inch player in the NBA?

Basketball is the one major sport in the world that really rewards height. Whether it’s a jump ball or creating space on a fadeaway, points and possessions are won and lost by being tall (and jumping).

With that in mind, I thought it would be fun to look at who might be basketball’s best inch for inch player. Even though height is an overwhelming force in the NBA, like gravity in reverse, there are a number of amazing players who get it done despite not fitting the stereotypical size. Their nonconformities end up being reasons for fandom, like the amazing Isaiah Thomas.

In fact, it’s enough of a factor that a number of NBA players are known for putting a height filter on their NBA bio profiles (I see you, 6-foot-11 Tim Duncan and 6-foot J.J. Barea).

We’ll start by seeing which stats tend to correlate with height. For height, I’m using inches (because cheeseburgers, dammit) and there are also a few traditional stats and advanced stats we’ll compare it to. All stats are from stats.nba.com.

The red spots indicate strong correlation while the blue spots don’t. As expected, rebounding stats and rates correlate well with height, while assist stats do not. You can also see that usage and true shooting percentage vary as well.

We’ll go through most of those stats there and look at the top ten for each once you control for height. So for example, LeBron James averaged 26.4 points per game in the regular season and is 80 inches tall so his points per inch is .33.

Starting with points per inch, Russell Westbrook just edges out the 5-foot-9 Isaiah Thomas.

Westbrook’s 9.3 percent edge in PPG against Isaiah Thomas becomes razor thin (.6 percent) when accounting for height. Westbrook basically rampaged the traditional stats, even when you didn’t control for his 6-foot-3 frame. With rebounds, he is the only perimeter player to show up in the top 10 rebounds per inch, just ahead of “6-foot-11” Anthony Davis:

With assists per inch, since assists have such a strong negative correlation to height, the rank order doesn’t even change:

Let’s switch gears and look at some advanced stats, starting with true shooting percentage. This is relevant because true shooting percentage does positively correlate with height.

One of the things I like about those graphs is how easy is it to find Isaiah Thomas (just like on the TV screen). If you follow the general trend, the expected true shooting percentage for a player of his stature is probably nearly 20 percentage points lower, around 45 percent, which is pretty incredible. Thomas’ incredible numers makes him easy to find in the top ten true shooting percentage per inch table:

So, Thomas is really good at scoring for his size. When it comes to usage, the shorter players tend to have higher usage so usage per inch is sort of doubling down on shorter players:

Westbrook’s epic 40.8 percent usage keeps him out of Thomas’ range, even when accounting for size. However, the hidden story might be Boogie’s abnormally high usage for a player over 6-foot-7, which puts him in ball-handler territory.

Lastly, let’s look at net rating.

It’s Warriors all day save for an appearance from Chris Paul and a couple of Spurs. This stat probably explains Steph Curry’s every person appeal more than anything. His excellence at his size is special. McGee also looks less like a playoff surprise when you consider his net rating, too.

Next: Nylon Calculus -- Identifying NBA talent and why tall men can't dribble

In conclusion, the truths we thought were out there, become a little more truthier when you account for height. If it were possible, Westbrook’s triple double season looks just a little more impressive. The amazing Isaiah Thomas looks even more amazing when you look at how his volume (No. 2 overall) and efficiency (No. 1 overall) given his size. Last but not least, Steph Curry, the reigning MVP who has largely been forgotten, probably remains the most effective player inch-for-inch.