The first question we will be attacking shortly in a lengthy article that examines such things as how often a team gets a defensive rebound after a block, and what the effects are on ensuing possessions for the stuffed team -- do they stick to outside jumpers, does their efficiency go down, etc.

The issue of which players shine at shot-swatting is an easier one to tackle, at least until we wrap in the findings of the more serious work on estimating a block's true worth.

Please note the following stats include games played through January 1st, 2004 in the 03-04 regular season, and only include players except where noted with at least 500 minutes played.

1) Total Blocks
Heck, let's start with the obvious, which players have the most blocks period.

Rank Player Team Blocks 1  Wallace DET 103 2  Ratliff ATL 101 3  Kirilenko UTA 90 4  O'Neal IND 85 5  Duncan SAS 78

This is not the best indicator to our minds since playing time is a big variable, as is the pace the team plays at, the overall defense, etc. Still, the usual suspects jump into the top spots, with Big Ben Wallace holding a slim edge over Theo Ratliff at this stage of the season.

2) Blocks per 48 Minutes
One way to make the previous evaluation a little bit fairer is to scale the total blocks to a "per 48 minutes of playing time" metric.

Rank Player Team Blks/48 1  Ratliff ATL 4.9 2  Gadzuric MIL 4.6 3  Booth SEA 4.5 4  Swift MEM 4.3 5  Camby DEN 4.2 6  Dalembert PHI 4.0 7  Wallace DET 4.0 8  Kirilenko UTA 3.8 9  Duncan SAS 3.8 10  O'Neal IND 3.5 *  Anderson DEN 7.2

This measure mixes up the leaderbaord quite significantly, with lesser used players like Gadzuric, Booth, Swift, and Dalembert getting their due. Wallace drops to #7, while Ratliff assumes a healthy lead...or does he! By capping the minutes played at 500 we eliminated the most productive by far raw shot blocker with any kind of playing time, Chris Anderson of the Nuggets. With only one of the top six rated players being able to average 30 minutes a game of playing time, this still seems a slightly suspect gauge.

3) Inside Shot, Block Percentage
Yes there are some players adept at timing the block on the jump shot, but most of the hand on ball action occurs in the paint, in fierce proximity to opposing players intent on getting to the rim. We could go with a stat showing what percentage of the total shots attempted against his team while on the floor he managed to redirect, but that penalizes guys on teams that give up lots of rainbows from outside.

Rank Player Team Inside Blk% 1  Ratliff ATL 14.0% 2  Dalembert PHI 11.8% 3  Gadzuric MIL 11.5% 4  Booth SEA 11.1% 5  Mutombo NYK 10.6% 6  Kirilenko UTA 10.5% 7  Swift MEM 10.1% 8  Wallace DET 9.9% 9t  O'Neal IND 9.8% 9t  Ming HOU 9.8% 9t  Duncan SAS 9.8%

Ratliff again has daylight between himself and the rest of the league. The aforementioned Anderson of the Nuggets is at 15%, but with only about half the shots faced, and less time against the opposition starting players. Dikembe Mutombo makes his first appearance in this article at the #5 ranking, while Kirilenko who spends more time than most of these guys guarding the perimeter, shows he is a force on the inside as well, a good one-two punch for Utah when Ostertag is also on the floor.

4) Deterrent Factor
You would think having an imposing figure in the paint, waiting for the opportunity to knock a less than full force inside shot into tomorrow, would perhaps give the other team's players second thoughts about getting too close to the basket. How often do opposing teams take inside shots with the top "defenders of the paint" on the floor?

Rank Player Team Inside% Ins.Blk% 1  Mutombo NYK 27.6% 10.6% 2  Ming HOU 28.4% 9.8% 3  Divac SAC 28.6% 4.7% 4  Dampier GSW 28.8% 5.5% 5  Blount BOS 28.8% 8.5% 6  Thomas NYK 29.1% 5.9% 7  Cato HOU 29.1% 8.7% 8  O'Neal LAL 29.6% 8.6% 9  Dalembert PHI 29.7% 11.8% 10  Miller SAC 30.2% 5.5%

If we look only at players in the top 50 in inside shot block percentage, the strongest deterrent to a team looking to shoot from close up might be a towering Mutombo staring back! The Kings land two players in the top ten, which may suggest that while not quite of the same class as the very top shot blockers, Divac and Miller together are a pretty good argument in favor of shooting from outside.

5) Blocks per Shooting Foul Committed
Another way of looking at this, is which players control their aggressive defensive tendencies well, and can land "clean" blocks as opposed to hacking the player as much as the ball.

Rank Player Team Blks Fouls Blk/F 1  Garnett MIN 76 33 2.30 2  Kirilenko UTA 90 40 2.25 3  Wallace DET 103 52 1.98 4  Ratliff ATL 101 51 1.98 5  Duncan SAS 78 40 1.95 6  Gasol MEM 50 32 1.56 7  Brand LAC 37 25 1.48 8  O'Neal LAL 66 45 1.47 9  Marion PHO 51 35 1.46 10  Booth SEA 53 37 1.43

This seems to be a nice filter to weed out the pure "leap at any opposing shooter" type defenders who may block some shots but do so at a cost. Of course a counter argument could be made that you want an intimidator who not only knocks some shots aside but also will foul a player foolish enough to come inside hard on those occasions where the block is out of reach. In that case, a guy like Ostertag may be your man, with 57 blocks and 67 shooting fouls!

6) A comprehensive Shot Blocker rating
So we come to the mother of all "rejector" ratings...the overall shot blocker figure. Admittedly this is very much a work in progress with a fair amount of tweaking to come when we better understand the true value of a rejection -- we may end up adding in things like % of a guys blocks that are rebounded by his own team (thereby lowering the value of a shot sent into the seats for show stopping purposes), the overall defense with the player on court versus off court, the quality of the opposing players faced, and so on. For now, let's just call it a wag, and hey the season's not even half over anyway! We'll be ready for the year end awards banquet with a better number.

#	Player	Team	Blocks	Blk/48	Inside Blk%	Blk/Foul	Opponent Inside%	Blk Rtg
1	Ratliff	ATL	101	4.9	14.0%	1.98	32.4%	24.7
2	Kirilenko	UTA	90	3.8	10.5%	2.25	33.3%	19.8
3	Duncan	SAS	78	3.8	9.8%	1.95	32.4%	19.0
4	Mutombo	NYK	53	3.1	10.6%	1.29	27.6%	18.8
5	Wallace	DET	103	4.0	9.9%	1.98	35.6%	18.8
6	Garnett	MIN	76	3.1	8.3%	2.30	30.6%	17.7
7	O'Neal	LAL	66	3.4	8.6%	1.47	29.6%	17.5
8	O'Neal	IND	85	3.5	9.8%	1.33	34.3%	17.5
9	Ming	HOU	60	2.8	9.8%	1.00	28.4%	17.5
10	Cato	HOU	57	3.1	8.7%	1.08	29.1%	16.5

We'll give the early season top honors to Theo Ratliff, but we expect things to tighten up considerably when we incorporate the "new new" factors after our investigation into what a block is really worth.