Celtics have 4 players in ESPN’s Real Plus/Minus top-50

With four (and almost five) players in ESPN’s top-50 RPM scores, the Boston Celtics are playing exactly how they ought to.

The Boston Celtics have four players in the most recent edition of ESPN’s Real Plus/Minus (RPM) rankings, behind only the league-leading Milwaukee Bucks and East rival Philadelphia 76ers, both with five such players.

Boston nearly had five such players as well, All-NBA point guard Kemba Walker just missing the cut at No. 56 with an RPM of 2.31.

With Walkers pending time this season as a fringe MVP candidate, the low RPM rating is surprising, especially given he nearly single-handedly carried Boston in a loss against the Indiana Pacers Tuesday night.

Third-year swingman Jayson Tatum was the Celtics highest-rated player with an RPM of 5.90, behind only LeBron James, James Harden, Giannis Antetokounmpo, and Kawhi Leonard.

Shooting guard Jaylen Brown came in 27th overall with an RPM of 3.21 likely based in large part in his growth as a balhandler and distributor this season.

All-Star Gordon Hayward came in 36th, with an RPM of 2.89 in the midst of his best play since injury derailed the first two seasons of his Celtics career.

Center Daniel Theis, with his understated but consistent play, was quietly 40th overall with an RPM of 2.65, placing Boston on par with the Denver Nuggets, who also have four players in the metric’s top-50.

RPM assesses, according to ESPN, a “[p]layer’s estimated on-court impact on team performance, measured in net point differential per 100 offensive and defensive possessions,” taking “into account teammates, opponents and additional factors”.

Though far from an ideal metric, RPM provides a quick-and-dirty metric for both individual and team assessments when used as a ranking, which, technically, it is not.

While not the entire picture, it helps us understand why a team expected to be in rebuilding mode for a season or longer can be among the league’s four best records.

At the same time, it tends to underplay the value of some players with intangible effects on the game — such as Walker’s low rating, and Marcus Smart’s omission — while also having little to say about issues of fit and roster construction.

With Boston poised to face one of the only two teams with more top-50 RPM players on its roster (but a worse record) tonight in the 76ers, it will be interesting to see whether the possibility of one of Philly’s top RPM players — former Celtic Al Horford — sitting out the contest evens the score.