Utah’s Delon Wright is on pace to join Duke’s Sheldon Williams (2005-2006) and Davidson’s Stephen Curry (2008-2009) as only the third player to finish in the Top 5 in two seasons at www.valueaddbasketball.com. Illinois’s Rayvonte Rice (pictured) is one of only 10 players to even make the top 60 this year and last, only to break his left hand.
Of course, players before 2003 could not make the database (search any of the 43,264 players by clicking here). Illinois went into Nebraska Sunday without Rice, which made them drop from a 1-point favorite to an 8-point underdog based on losing his 9.02 Value Add. Sure enought, the Illini dropped the contest by 10. However, the team did rally to defeat Maryland in their first game without him.
It is simply very hard to stay near the top with 4,000 college players trying to improve each year to pass you. Wright’s feat of just missing being Number 1 when Shabazz Napier passed him during the Final Four last year gives him a chance to be the greatest Value Add player ever. Even Curry and Williams ranked at 5th place one of their two seasons.
Of course, there were better single-season players such as Anthony Davis, who we projected as the greatest NBA prospect in the history of the database in our packets to NBA teams prior to his draft–but as for the players who have given their fans the most to cheer about–Wright could be the greatest of the tempo-free era. Here are the greatest 10 players over the past two seasons–as the only players in the top 60 both last year and this season.
| Current/2014 | Player, Jersey | Pos | Team | 2014 | 2015 | Ave |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 /2 | 55 Wright, Delon | PG | Utah | 11.16 | 12.10 | 11.63 |
| 4 /14 | 44 Kaminsky, Frank | C | Wisconsin | 8.45 | 9.93 | 9.19 |
| 2 /58 | 15 Cauley-Stein, Willie | C | Kentucky | 11.45 | 6.26 | 8.86 |
| 25 /16 | 2 Weber, Briante | PG | VCU | 8.06 | 7.91 | 7.99 |
| 10 /41 | 24 Rice, Rayvonte | SF | Illinois | 6.74 | 9.02 | 7.88 |
| 36 /15 | 23 Van Vleet, Fred | PG | Wichita St. | 8.09 | 7.62 | 7.86 |
| 17 /42 | 15 Williams, Alan | C | UC Santa Barbara | 6.73 | 8.37 | 7.55 |
| 31 /38 | 24 Sykes, Keifer | PG | Green Bay | 6.92 | 7.71 | 7.32 |
| 38 /46 | 4 Smith-Rivera, D’Vauntes | PG | Georgetown | 6.55 | 7.53 | 7.04 |
| 44 /47 | 22 Nance, Larry | PF | Wyoming | 6.54 | 7.27 | 6.91 |
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.