ESPN finally released their Real Plus-Minus statistics for the 2018-19 NBA season on Monday, and Chicago Bulls fans are probably going to wish they didn’t.
But before wading through the muck, let’s define what RPM is really quick:
Drawing on advanced statistical modeling techniques (and the analytical wizardry of RPM developer Jeremias Engelmann, formerly of the Phoenix Suns), the metric isolates the unique plus-minus impact of each NBA player by adjusting for the effects of each teammate and opposing player.
The RPM model sifts through more than 230,000 possessions each NBA season to tease apart the “real” plus-minus effects attributable to each player, employing techniques similar to those used by scientific researchers when they need to model the effects of numerous variables at the same time.