This folder contains the data behind the story The LeBron James Decision-Making Machine.
lebron.xslx contains the data used to create the hypothetical depth charts for what every NBA team might look like with LeBron James. Each player carries a rating on offense and on defense, based on our CARMELO projection system. For team projections, a player is also allocated a certain number of minutes per game at each position, guided by CARMELO's playing-time projections. Players with 0 allocated minutes are no longer on the team in question, and are indicated with orange cells. The spreadsheet indicates a team's projected payroll after adding LeBron, compared with the NBA salary cap and luxury-tax thresholds. Players with salaries listed under "$$$ Shed" have left the team, for a reason indicated to the right. (Players departing for special reasons, such as the stretch provision, are color coded when applicable.) A team's projected W-L record is generated from its players' ratings and playing-time projections, and that is used (along with the team's average age and the wins added by its best player) to calculate the team's odds of winning a championship over the next four seasons."