Now, we all know that statistics by themselves aren't the complete measure of any player. But they can give us some useful information which can be a piece of the puzzle. So, I'm going to list the top 9 picks according to nbadraft.net and compare them by a stat called pps. Gallinari's listed as the tenth pick. I couldn't figure out the Italian on the stat sheet well enough to get the numbers I needed to calculate this stat for him. However, he does have a two point shooting % of more than 50%, a three point shooting % of 40% and he does get to the line and shoots free throws well, which would help him in the pps stat.

PPS stands for points per shot. It takes the total points for the season and divides that by the field goal attempts. So it measures, on an average, how many points a player scores for each shot he takes. By doing it this way, you're including his three point shooting efficiency and how many three's he takes, his two point shooting efficiency, how many trips he takes to the line and how well he shoots free throws all in one stat.

One of the weaknesses of this stat is that it doesn't allow for the fact that some players take the tough shots for the team, while some inside players are content to shoot put backs and dunks. It's not perfect, but it does sum up some things and shed some light - particularly on players in a similar positions with similar roles.

Here's the way it comes out for some of the top prospects in this draft.

1. Rose - 1.37
2. Beasley - 1.50
3. Lopez - 1.33
4. Bayless - 1.57
5. Randolph - 1.23
6. Mayo - 1.28
7. Love - 1.68
8. Gordon - 1.57
9. Arthur - 1.29
10. Gallinari - not available.

Yeah, but of course inside players (e.g. Love) are going to hopefully average more.
But, it's still another interesting stat to compare.

You can't pull up the Italian kids shots and points scored for the year?
Fair to include him as the league he is in is higher than college here (says the experts).

Interesting to see Bayless and Gordon up there too. In particular Gordon, who many soured on after
his injury.

EMS

Draftexpress has also calculated "points per play." The NCAA leader there was a sleeper prospect I had posted about here a while ago- Shan Foster.

http://www.draftexpress.com/stats.php?q=eff&year=2007/08&league=NCAA&per=pergame&qual=prospects&sort2=DESC&pos=&stage=&min=20&sort=8