Real Plus-Minus (RPM) is an advanced basketball statistic that estimates a player’s on-court impact on team performance by measuring the net point differential per 100 possessions, taking into account both offensive and defensive contributions. It’s designed to be an improvement over traditional plus-minus stats by factoring in teammates, opponents, and other game context.
This video explains the concept of plus/minus in basketball and how it can be used to evaluate player combinations:
Here’s a more detailed breakdown:
- What it measures: RPM estimates how many more or fewer points a team scores or allows with a particular player on the court compared to a league-average player.
Offensive RPM:
Measures how much better or worse a player’s team performs offensively with them on the floor.
Defensive RPM:
Measures how much better or worse a player’s team performs defensively with them on the floor.
Total RPM:
Is the sum of offensive and defensive RPM, representing the player’s overall impact on the team’s point differential.
Contextual factors:
Unlike basic plus-minus, RPM considers teammates, opponents, and game score, among other factors, to provide a more nuanced assessment of a player’s contribution.
This video discusses different advanced statistics and their role in basketball, including RAPM:
Essentially, RPM aims to isolate a player’s individual impact on a team’s performance, providing insights that might not be apparent from traditional box score statistics or simple plus-minus.