2008 Dream Player Efficiency Ratings

At last, I've finally managed to enter the results of every season played by every player in my WNBA Player Biofile database. This includes a calculation of John Hollinger's Player Efficiency Rating (PER) for every player. My ratings are different than the ones on Basketball-Reference. There are some irregularities at the B-R.com site - I won't name all the examples but I cast a sort of jaundiced eye at my results. (GIGO)

Here are the final PER ratings for the Atlanta Dream in 2008. They have been split into three groups:

Erika de Souza: 21.84
Betty Lennox: 18.72
Katie Mattera: 16.25
Stacey Lovelace: 15.28
Ivory Latta: 15.03

Alison Bales: 13.66
Iziane Castro Marques: 11.32
Camille Little: 10.40
Kristin Haynie: 10.00
Kasha Terry: 9.64
Ann Strother: 9.54
Tamera Young: 9.31

Jennifer Lacy: 8.31
Kristen Mann: 7.35
Chioma Nnamaka: 3.08

Players in italics departed the Dream in mid-season.

The first group is the group of players with better than average PER ratings. PER is equalized so that 15.00 is the automatic average rating for whole league in any season.

Erika's rating makes her a "Borderline All-Star", and if you saw her play for Ros Casares this year, you'd definitely agree. All you can do is sigh and wish she'd been healthy in 2008 and hitting the boards for the DReam.

Betty Lennox might be the Dream's leading scorer, but PER has her as a "Solid Second Option". Katie Mattera, Stacy Lovelace, and Ivory Latta are given some praise, at least - they're "Pretty Good Players".

The second group are players that are worse than average players, but are better than the bottom of the bench. According to Hollinger, Alison Bales is "In the Rotation". Whereas Iziane Castro Marques and Camille Little, in a just world, would be "Scrounging for Minutes". Kasha Terry, Ann Strother, and Tamera Young should visit a realtor, because they are "Definitely Renting" according to Hollinger's PER rating.

The third group are players that are playing below replacement level in Hollinger's eyes. Replacement level is 9.00, which is supposedly the thin line between being the worst of WNBA players and being an emergency replacement - maybe someone who got washed out of a pre-draft camp that you can call and not have to pay too much money.

According to Hollinger, Jennifer Lacy and Kristen Mann are on "The Next Train to Yakima". Unfortunately, the WNBA doesn't have a Continental Basketball Association franchise. What would be the WNBA equivalent? "Next Plane to Albania? Next Plane to Malta?"

Chioma Nnamaka's 3.08 PER isn't even dignified with a cute name by Hollinger.

Oh well. Maybe next year the Dream will please the APBRmetric gods.