While some are content to use conventional stats like points, rebounds, and field goal percentage in assessing player contributions, a better gauge of a player's worth to a specific team might come from looking at the difference in how the team plays with the player on court versus performance with the player off court.

This rating isn't an absolute measure of a player's ability, but it does represent how successful a player is with a given team. In general the player with the best Roland Rating on a team is the difference maker (exclude the guys who play a statistically insignificant number of minutes). When the top guy is on the floor the team performs at a much higher level.

These ratings represent a player's value to a particular team and are not intended to be an accurate gauge of the ability and talent of the player away from the specific team.

Explanation: The on court +/- number repesents the team's net points with the player on the floor per 48 minutes, while the off court number is the team's net with the player off the floor per 48 minutes. The Roland Rating is the difference between the two, with a positive number indicating the team has played better with the player than without.

After trailing Nowitzki almost the entire season, Tim Duncan crept into first place thanks in part to being out with an injury! His value to the Spurs was emphasized in his absence, while Dirk's rating slid back a little, landing him ultimately in fourth place. Duncan also led the league in pure plus/minus with a whopping +694 tally for his time on court. Jason Kidd's high placing is no shock given he was #4 in 2003-04 and #12 in 2002-03. In third place is Duncan's buddy Mr. Ginobili, and Steve Nash rounds out the top five.

We don't usually dwell on the bottom end of player ranking tables, but some players struggling to be positive factors for their respective teams include:

Rank	Player	Team	On Court +/-	Off Court +/-	Roland Rating
234	Doleac	MIA	+2.1	+8.4	-6.3
235	Daniels	DAL	+1.5	+8.1	-6.5
236	Green	PHI	-5.4	+1.1	-6.5
237	Ridnour	SEA	+0.0	+6.6	-6.6
238	Dooling	MIA	+1.9	+8.5	-6.6
239	McDyess	DET	+0.2	+6.8	-6.7
240	Posey	MEM	-2.5	+4.9	-7.4
241	Best	NJN	-6.2	+1.3	-7.5
242	Gill	IND	-5.5	+2.9	-8.4
243	F.Jones	IND	-3.1	+5.8	-9.0
244	Brown	SAS	+1.6	+10.6	-9.0
245	Ross	LAC	-6.2	+3.0	-9.1
246	Hunter	PHO	+0.0	+9.7	-9.6
247	Robinson	GSW	-9.1	+0.5	-9.7
248	Croshere	IND	-4.6	+5.2	-9.8
249	Harris	DAL	-1.4	+8.8	-10.2
250	Nocioni	CHI	-4.4	+6.2	-10.6
251	Buford	NJN	-8.7	+2.1	-10.8
252	Barbosa	PHO	-2.0	+10.6	-12.6
253	Henderson	DAL	-6.5	+11.0	-17.6

Henderson couldn't escape the basement in this stat, but since he's a clear backup to some stars, the more interesting cases are Andres Nocioni and Luke Ridnour. The Bulls use a deep rotation with starters often playing fewer minutes than some backups. Nevertheless, Andres isn't a guy we would recommend for 40 minutes a night on that roster!