A NOVEL APPROACH TO RANKING NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION PLAYERS

The main aim of this paper is to present ranking of 95 National Basketball Association players from 2008 to 2009 to 2015-2016 by using the Slacks-based measure approach. This time period has been chosen because we want players who have played continuously over the entire time period. Constructing a Slacks-based measure model for the ranking of NBA players can aid sports researchers to decide vital factors for the investigation of players, and in addition help managers in the improvement of a particular indicator. This efficiency estimation method is performed in order to indicate that the financial factor is widely recognized and important as one of the significant parameter which shows the ranking of an NBA player that can be utilized by the decision maker or management. However, calculating this sort of model is complex because of plenty of individual player achievements and statistics that entail contemplation. The results of the current paper show that the ranking based on our proposed SBM approach totally differs from that based on the player impact estimate (PIE) measures. It is not surprising because these two rankings are based on different methods. Anyway, we think that both approaches investigate the efficiency of the players from a particular perspective and can complement each other. We believe that both approaches will provide useful information and supports for decision-makers and readers.