Top 20% of NBA Players Scored 80% of Total Points
Submitted by CARPE DIEM
In 1906, Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto made the famous observation that 20% of the population owned 80% of the property in Italy, later generalised by Joseph M. Juran and others into the so-called Pareto principle (also termed the 80-20 rule) and generalised further to the concept of a Pareto distribution (see graphs below).
Exhibit A: For the 2007-2008 NBA season, there were a total of 245,811 points scored by 450 players (data here). The top 20% of scorers (led by #1 Kobe Bryant with 2,323 points) had 195,420 points, or 79.50% of the total points, an almost perfect example of a Pareto outcome and Pareto distribution (see chart below).
Bottom Line: Just like income or wealth, points in the NBA are distributed unequally, and it’s a natural outcome (Pareto distribution) that 20% of the players get 80% of the points. Does anybody advocate “point redistribution” to achieve a more “fair” outcome of NBA points?
