Player Trios:
- Which players play well together?

Inevitably we knew it would come time to look at the remaining combinations -- player Trios (also known as Triads or the more problematic "threesomes") and eventually the Quads/Quartets.

Given the notion in some quarters that an NBA offense can be a three man game in some circumstances, the player trios seem to be an interesting area of study. The one difficulty is that the permutations become so large that it's easy to find 500+ different trios on a team which makes for a tough display issue (we already get enough flak about the player pair tables being hard to read...)

So for this initial look we'll just size up the leading trio and worst trio per team in net +/- and our NBA friends can request the full data if they want to see it. Please note that these numbers are in raw form and have not been adjusted for the other players in the five-man unit, nor for the opposing 5-man unit on the floor at the same time.

Player Trio team leaders in 2005-06
(as of 01/31, top trio per team in net plus/minus)

Team	Player1	Player2	Player3	+/-	Off/g	Def/g	Net48	Comments
ATL	Stoudamire	Williams	Pachulia	+33	109.4	99.9	+9.5	Go with the youth movement!
BOS	West	Davis	Pierce	+54	103.3	101.0	+2.3	No longer an option
CHA	Carroll	Jones	Voskuhl	+37	110.6	71.3	+39.4	Tiny minutes, garbage time?
CHI	Hinrich	Gordon	Deng	+100	101.1	92.0	+9.1	Listen up Skiles!
CLE	James	Marshall	Ilgauskas	+140	110.6	94.2	+16.4	The real 3-man core of the Cavs
DAL	Terry	Nowitzki	Diop	+127	105.1	88.1	+17.0	Diop an excellent pickup clearly
DEN	Watson	Miller	Najera	+101	112.6	93.9	+18.7	Put three "team players" together...
DET	Billups	Hamilton	B.Wallace	+360	101.2	86.6	+14.6	Any trio with the starters works
GSW	Davis	Fisher	Richardson	+156	107.5	92.6	+14.9	A winning combo
HOU	Head	McGrady	Ming	+66	103.7	78.9	+24.8	Injuries cloud this read
IND	Jasikevicius	Jones	Artest	+101	111.9	75.2	+36.7	Pacers will miss Ron in the end
LAC	Cassell	Mobley	Brand	+96	100.4	96.2	+4.2	Yah, Clips have some solid players
LAL	Vujacic	Bryant	Odom	+117	111.9	95.0	+16.9	Trust Phil to figure it out
MEM	Jackson	E.Jones	Battier	+123	95.0	82.2	+12.8	Three savvy, under-rated players
MIA	Wade	Posey	Haslem	+189	106.5	95.5	+11.0	Payton-Wade-Shaq best in net/min
MIL	Williams	Redd	Kukoc	+76	113.0	98.0	+15.0	Kukoc always an on court positive
MIN	Jaric	Szczerbiak	Garnett	+127	96.0	90.3	+5.7	Broke up a winning trio w/trade
NJN	Kidd	Carter	Jefferson	+170	102.0	94.0	+8.0	Your three Nets stars...
NOK	Claxton	Butler	Brown	+69	94.5	84.6	+9.9	Speedy off the bench a plus
NYK	Robinson	Ariza	Frye	+52	107.6	90.3	+17.4	If only Larry would have faith
ORL	Nelson	Francis	Howard	+56	99.4	91.2	+8.3	Why ORL fans should be optimistic
PHI	Iguodala	Korver	Webber	+114	105.1	99.3	+5.7	No Iverson? He's in trios #2-4
PHO	Nash	Diaw	Marion	+217	106.1	95.4	+10.7	Ah man, and Amare to come...
POR	Telfair	Dixon	Randolph	+32	98.5	89.2	+9.3	Blazers should give it a chance
SAC	Bibby	Wells	Miller	+78	106.5	101.1	+5.4	Artest in the top trio before long
SAS	Parker	Ginobili	Duncan	+154	102.8	88.3	+14.6	Very good when they want to be
SEA	Murray	Allen	Fortson	+46	108.1	88.5	+19.6	Fortson's had a raw deal this year
TOR	James	Calderon	Villanueva	+34	108.4	101.6	+6.8	Babcock's legacy
UTA	Palacio	Brown	Collins	+67	96.7	79.1	+17.6	Odd, no AK, garbage time?
WAS	Arenas	Daniels	Jamison	+85	106.5	99.9	+6.6	Daniels will be pivotal in 2nd half

Just to put how dominant the Pistons have been in context, let's show the top trios sorted by highest raw +/- on the season to this point:

League wide top trios (net plus/minus)

Team	Player1	Player2	Player3	+/-	Off/g	Def/g	Net48
DET	Billups	Hamilton	B.Wallace	+360	101.2	86.6	+14.6
DET	Billups	Hamilton	R.Wallace	+356	101.2	85.5	+15.7
DET	Billups	Prince	R.Wallace	+355	101.1	85.9	+15.2
DET	Hamilton	Prince	R.Wallace	+348	101.1	85.2	+15.9
DET	Hamilton	R.Wallace	B.Wallace	+343	101.1	85.3	+15.7
DET	Billups	Hamilton	Prince	+339	100.5	86.0	+14.5
DET	Billups	R.Wallace	B.Wallace	+336	100.7	85.5	+15.2
DET	Hamilton	Prince	B.Wallace	+328	99.8	86.3	+13.6
DET	Billups	Prince	B.Wallace	+312	99.3	86.5	+12.8
DET	Prince	R.Wallace	B.Wallace	+305	99.7	85.8	+13.9
PHO	Nash	Diaw	Marion	+217	106.1	95.4	+10.7
MIA	Wade	Posey	Haslem	+189	106.5	95.5	+11.0
PHO	Nash	Bell	Diaw	+180	102.8	93.1	+9.7
NJN	Kidd	Carter	Jefferson	+170	102.0	94.0	+8.0
PHO	Bell	Diaw	Marion	+166	102.2	93.7	+8.5
PHO	Nash	Marion	Thomas	+162	106.3	98.4	+7.9
PHO	Nash	Bell	Marion	+162	103.9	97.9	+5.9
GSW	Davis	Fisher	Richardson	+156	107.5	92.6	+14.9
SAS	Parker	Ginobili	Duncan	+154	102.8	88.3	+14.6
PHO	Nash	Bell	Thomas	+151	104.7	96.8	+7.9
SAS	Parker	Bowen	Duncan	+144	94.6	88.2	+6.4
SAS	Parker	Duncan	Nesterovic	+143	93.1	83.4	+9.6
MIA	Wade	Posey	O'Neal	+142	111.6	97.9	+13.6
CLE	James	Marshall	Ilgauskas	+140	110.6	94.2	+16.4
NJN	Kidd	Jefferson	Krstic	+137	101.1	94.4	+6.7
MIA	Payton	Wade	O'Neal	+135	111.1	92.3	+18.8
NJN	Carter	Jefferson	Krstic	+135	101.1	93.7	+7.5
SAS	Bowen	Duncan	Nesterovic	+131	92.7	83.6	+9.1
PHO	Diaw	Marion	Thomas	+129	104.2	92.9	+11.3
PHO	Bell	Marion	Thomas	+129	104.2	97.3	+6.9

So of the top thirty trios, Detroit has the top ten with that amazing starting five in various combos, the Suns have eight of the top thirty, followed by last year's champs the Spurs with four, the Heat and the Nets with three, and then the Cavs and Warriors (!) with one.

Since we've seen the best from each team, we might as well delve into the unsavory business of looking at the least successful in overall plus/minus:

Worst Player Trio by team (net plus/minus)

Team	Player1	Player2	Player3	+/-	Off/g	Def/g	Net48	Comments
ATL	Johnson	Harrington	Pachulia	-112	94.3	99.8	-5.5	Al can play, but elsewhere?
BOS	Greene	Pierce	Jefferson	-60	77.9	101.2	-23.3	Greene may not be the answer
CHA	Knight	Jones	Brezec	-120	82.7	107.2	-24.5	Ouch! Minus 24 pts per 48min
CHI	Duhon	Hinrich	Sweetney	-79	89.3	99.9	-10.6	NOT the trio to use
CLE	Wilks	Jackson	Henderson	-33	82.0	106.9	-24.8	Few minutes for a reason
DAL	Harris	Terry	Dampier	-33	88.2	97.5	-9.4	Dirk the key to all Mavs combos
DEN	Buckner	Anthony	Camby	-61	94.8	109.4	-14.5	Three of initial starting lineup
DET	Arroyo	Delfino	Evans	-60	89.3	110.9	-21.6	Pure bench/garbage time
GSW	Davis	Dunleavy	Murphy	-53	101.9	104.9	-3.0	Ouch! Another 3-starter trio
HOU	Head	Wesley	Howard	-112	83.7	93.6	-9.9	Howard not the best PF option
IND	Jones	Jackson	Granger	-61	84.8	97.3	-12.6	In the midst of the storm...
LAC	Livingston	Cassell	Brand	-59	88.8	102.2	-13.4	Ouch! Livingston's the future?
LAL	Parker	Bryant	Brown	-71	94.2	101.2	-7.0	3-starters: Kwame not there yet
MEM	D.Jones	Battier	Gasol	-44	81.1	94.9	-13.7	Battier/Gasol fine, so...
MIA	Payton	Kapono	Haslem	-46	92.4	107.2	-14.9	Mop up time probably
MIL	Ford	Welsch	Magloire	-64	85.0	107.5	-22.5	Welsch has a -12.4 on/off rtg
MIN	Hudson	Hassell	Olowokandi	-57	70.8	95.5	-24.7	Move on Kandi-man
NJN	Kidd	Vaughn	Krstic	-69	87.3	105.4	-18.1	Trouble when a starter sits
NOK	Paul	West	Brown	-124	89.6	95.9	-6.3	Lots of PT, better options?
NYK	Marbury	Richardson	Davis	-135	83.6	104.9	-21.2	Yikes! -21 pts per 48 min
ORL	Stevenson	Turkoglu	Battie	-59	87.4	92.4	-5.0	Howard/Francis the Magic core
PHI	Salmons	Korver	Hunter	-71	81.5	110.7	-29.2	Backups sure, but egads
PHO	Nash	Marion	Burke	-26	97.8	118.0	-20.2	You think Burke is the problem?
POR	Monia	Randolph	Przybilla	-99	84.3	105.3	-21.1	Scrap this trio idea
SAC	Stojakovic	Thomas	Miller	-84	87.1	101.1	-13.9	It will be different with Artest
SAS	Parker	Van Exel	Bowen	-27	87.3	100.1	-12.9	We're not Van Exel fans...
SEA	Ridnour	Lewis	Radmanovic	-101	105.7	114.8	-9.1	3-Starters = a problem
TOR	James	Rose	Bosh	-108	99.3	106.6	-7.3	Jalen's PT should be limited
UTA	Giricek	Okur	Collins	-74	84.7	93.9	-9.1	Sometimes a 3-starter trio
WAS	Arenas	Atkins	Butler	-53	97.5	108.1	-10.6	A.D. a big upgrade over Chucky

So there's some food for thought. Teams with three starter trios in this "hall of shame" might want to consider mixing things up, no?