OK, I ran the D League player ratings, normalized everything - & ran NBA conversions.
I came up with exactly 30 players, based solely on D League production, who have played 88 or more minutes and translate to be better than NBA replacement level per minute production:
Code: Select all
+-----------------+-----+-----+------+------+-------+-------+------+-----+-----+-----+-----+------+-------+--+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+-------+
| Player | Tm | MP | M/g | P/g | Orb/g | Drb/g | R/g | A/g | S/g | B/g | T/g | PF/g | TS% | | Sco | 2pt | 3pt | FT | Reb | BH | Def | Total |
+-----------------+-----+-----+------+------+-------+-------+------+-----+-----+-----+-----+------+-------+--+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+-------+
| Jarnell Stokes | SFL | 203 | 29.0 | 18.1 | 3.7 | 5.1 | 8.9 | 0.6 | 1.3 | 1.1 | 1.4 | 3.3 | 0.641 | | 1.8 | 7.0 | -2.9 | -2.3 | 4.7 | -2.5 | 0.3 | 4.3 |
| Jack Cooley | IDA | 168 | 28.0 | 14.5 | 5.5 | 6.3 | 11.8 | 1.3 | 1.8 | 0.2 | 2.3 | 3.3 | 0.569 | | -3.3 | 1.9 | -3.9 | -1.4 | 9.1 | -3.2 | 0.2 | 2.7 |
| Terry Rozier | MAI | 101 | 33.7 | 23.3 | 1.0 | 5.7 | 6.7 | 7.3 | 1.0 | 0.3 | 1.7 | 0.7 | 0.565 | | -1.8 | -1.2 | -1.7 | 1.1 | -1.1 | 5.6 | -0.3 | 2.5 |
| DaJuan Summers | WES | 117 | 39.0 | 25.3 | 3.3 | 7.0 | 10.3 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 0.3 | 2.0 | 3.0 | 0.598 | | 0.8 | 3.1 | -1.1 | -1.1 | 2.6 | -1.2 | 0.2 | 2.4 |
| Delon Wright | RAP | 213 | 35.5 | 17.8 | 1.0 | 4.7 | 5.7 | 6.3 | 1.7 | 0.8 | 2.0 | 2.2 | 0.633 | | -1.3 | 1.1 | -1.5 | -0.9 | -1.4 | 4.1 | 0.8 | 2.2 |
| Bryce Cotton | AUS | 141 | 35.3 | 22.3 | 0.3 | 3.3 | 3.5 | 4.8 | 1.5 | 0.3 | 2.3 | 2.8 | 0.774 | | 4.7 | -3.1 | 7.3 | 0.6 | -3.6 | 1.5 | -0.6 | 2.1 |
| Elliot Williams | SAN | 454 | 41.3 | 29.3 | 0.9 | 6.5 | 7.4 | 6.3 | 1.5 | 0.2 | 2.6 | 2.5 | 0.610 | | 0.4 | 0.4 | -1.1 | 1.1 | -1.7 | 2.2 | -0.9 | 0.1 |
| Lucas Nogueira | RAP | 88 | 22.0 | 9.0 | 3.3 | 4.5 | 7.8 | 3.8 | 0.3 | 2.8 | 2.5 | 3.0 | 0.500 | | -7.8 | -0.3 | -6.6 | -0.9 | 6.2 | 0.4 | 1.2 | 0.0 |
| Michael Dunigan | CAN | 258 | 28.7 | 14.7 | 2.8 | 4.2 | 7.0 | 1.2 | 0.9 | 1.1 | 1.0 | 3.8 | 0.632 | | -1.1 | 2.4 | -3.1 | -0.4 | 2.6 | -0.7 | -1.0 | -0.2 |
| Lorenzo Brown | GRR | 397 | 33.1 | 16.6 | 1.5 | 3.9 | 5.4 | 6.2 | 2.0 | 0.3 | 1.9 | 2.3 | 0.556 | | -4.2 | -1.7 | -1.7 | -0.8 | -1.1 | 4.1 | 0.8 | -0.4 |
| Ronald Roberts | RAP | 203 | 33.8 | 15.3 | 4.8 | 7.8 | 12.7 | 0.7 | 0.7 | 1.7 | 1.7 | 3.3 | 0.579 | | -3.8 | 1.2 | -2.9 | -2.1 | 6.5 | -2.5 | -0.7 | -0.5 |
| Jimmer Fredette | WES | 257 | 36.7 | 24.4 | 0.3 | 3.9 | 4.1 | 4.9 | 2.4 | 0.1 | 3.1 | 2.1 | 0.590 | | 0.7 | -1.9 | 1.4 | 1.2 | -3.0 | 0.4 | 1.4 | -0.5 |
| Malcolm Thomas | LOS | 242 | 34.6 | 17.7 | 3.7 | 8.3 | 12.0 | 2.6 | 0.9 | 2.4 | 1.4 | 3.4 | 0.577 | | -4.1 | -0.3 | -1.8 | -2.1 | 3.2 | 0.2 | 0.1 | -0.6 |
| Walter Tavares | CAN | 96 | 24.0 | 10.0 | 3.8 | 7.0 | 10.8 | 0.3 | 0.8 | 2.8 | 2.8 | 4.3 | 0.714 | | -2.5 | 0.4 | -2.9 | 0.0 | 7.5 | -6.6 | 0.9 | -0.7 |
| Chris Walker | RIO | 165 | 23.6 | 15.0 | 3.6 | 4.6 | 8.1 | 0.6 | 0.6 | 1.9 | 1.6 | 3.6 | 0.610 | | -1.5 | 2.7 | -2.9 | -1.3 | 4.2 | -2.8 | -0.5 | -0.7 |
| Micheal Eric | TEX | 167 | 27.8 | 13.8 | 3.2 | 6.2 | 9.3 | 0.2 | 0.3 | 3.0 | 1.8 | 4.2 | 0.619 | | -2.0 | 2.5 | -2.9 | -1.6 | 4.6 | -4.0 | 0.2 | -1.2 |
| Jordan Mickey | MAI | 389 | 35.4 | 18.7 | 2.1 | 8.9 | 11.0 | 1.5 | 1.0 | 4.4 | 2.0 | 2.1 | 0.545 | | -4.5 | -1.2 | -2.3 | -0.9 | 1.9 | -1.9 | 3.2 | -1.3 |
| Allen Durham | TEX | 199 | 22.1 | 7.4 | 3.6 | 4.2 | 7.8 | 0.9 | 0.4 | 0.7 | 0.7 | 1.6 | 0.558 | | -6.3 | -2.1 | -2.0 | -2.2 | 6.3 | -0.5 | -0.9 | -1.4 |
| Erick Green | REN | 317 | 39.6 | 30.0 | 0.8 | 4.5 | 5.3 | 4.1 | 1.1 | 0.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 0.670 | | 2.1 | -0.6 | 2.4 | 0.3 | -3.0 | 0.8 | -1.4 | -1.5 |
| Alex Stepheson | IOW | 337 | 33.7 | 12.9 | 4.0 | 8.7 | 12.7 | 1.1 | 0.5 | 1.2 | 1.3 | 3.1 | 0.556 | | -5.3 | 0.4 | -3.1 | -2.6 | 6.5 | -1.4 | -1.4 | -1.6 |
| Keith Benson | SFL | 204 | 20.4 | 11.5 | 2.7 | 4.1 | 6.8 | 0.2 | 0.4 | 1.4 | 1.4 | 2.4 | 0.553 | | -2.9 | 1.4 | -3.2 | -1.1 | 5.4 | -4.1 | -0.3 | -1.9 |
| Henry Sims | GRR | 304 | 27.6 | 14.6 | 2.9 | 5.8 | 8.7 | 0.8 | 1.3 | 0.7 | 1.7 | 4.0 | 0.601 | | -2.5 | 1.4 | -3.2 | -0.6 | 3.6 | -2.7 | -0.9 | -2.5 |
| Vincent Hunter | REN | 335 | 33.5 | 20.8 | 5.8 | 6.2 | 12.0 | 1.1 | 1.0 | 1.1 | 1.8 | 4.1 | 0.565 | | -3.7 | 1.0 | -3.1 | -1.7 | 4.4 | -1.8 | -1.4 | -2.6 |
| Tyus Jones | IDA | 108 | 36.0 | 21.3 | 0.7 | 3.7 | 4.3 | 5.0 | 1.7 | 0.3 | 2.7 | 2.7 | 0.566 | | -1.3 | -1.7 | 2.2 | -1.8 | -2.6 | 1.3 | -0.1 | -2.7 |
| Joshua Smith | RIO | 195 | 19.5 | 9.0 | 2.8 | 2.4 | 5.2 | 1.4 | 0.6 | 0.7 | 1.1 | 2.6 | 0.657 | | -3.4 | 1.3 | -3.1 | -1.6 | 2.6 | -0.6 | -1.3 | -2.7 |
| Sundiata Gaines | REN | 109 | 27.3 | 20.0 | 0.5 | 3.5 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 1.5 | 0.0 | 2.5 | 1.5 | 0.588 | | -0.6 | -3.4 | 3.6 | -0.8 | -2.8 | 0.4 | 0.0 | -3.1 |
| Xavier Munford | BAK | 374 | 31.2 | 19.2 | 0.4 | 3.2 | 3.6 | 5.3 | 1.2 | 0.3 | 3.8 | 2.0 | 0.620 | | 0.2 | -0.3 | 0.7 | -0.3 | -3.0 | -0.1 | -0.6 | -3.5 |
| Dakari Johnson | OKL | 342 | 31.1 | 11.5 | 3.8 | 5.8 | 9.6 | 2.2 | 1.0 | 1.1 | 1.4 | 2.7 | 0.465 | | -8.6 | -4.0 | -2.9 | -1.7 | 5.1 | 0.1 | -0.1 | -3.5 |
| Sean Kilpatrick | DEL | 402 | 36.5 | 25.9 | 0.9 | 2.7 | 3.6 | 1.6 | 0.9 | 0.1 | 2.4 | 1.0 | 0.646 | | 2.4 | -1.8 | 3.9 | 0.3 | -3.1 | -2.1 | -1.0 | -3.8 |
| David Laury | DEL | 245 | 24.5 | 11.2 | 1.3 | 4.9 | 6.2 | 2.4 | 1.1 | 0.7 | 1.5 | 2.9 | 0.580 | | -4.1 | -3.7 | 1.6 | -1.9 | 0.5 | 0.2 | -0.4 | -3.8 |
+-----------------+-----+-----+------+------+-------+-------+------+-----+-----+-----+-----+------+-------+--+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+-------+
Those categories on the right are how many points the player would be expected to add to an average NBA lineup per 100 possessions. Jarnel Stokes would be expected to add 4.3 points to an average lineup - based mainly on his extremely solid projected 2pt per minute production (KA Towns/Greg Monroe level) & rebounding (again, around Greg Monroe level).
Since offensive rebounding translates the best from D to NBA (after normalized for pace & league), then steals, then D rebounding, then blocks - productive big men would, theoretically, be able to step to the NBA & have less of that huge per minute drop off than other types of players.
Elliott Williams has been THE star of the D League (of guys that have actually played all season) - he translates to an average NBA player. There is no reason why he shouldn't be playing in the NBA over MANY lesser options.
My past college to NBA projections loved Jarnel Stokes & Delon Wright. Not sure why they aren't getting more run in the NBA. Jarnel's projected production per minute would put him around 60th in the NBA -a Thaddeus Young type expected per minute production.
Now, these minute totals are really small sample sizes to work with - & can give weird outliers (like Jack Cooley being one of the best rebounders in the world not named Andre Drummond). Ideally, If I were going to project current NBA production - I'd use current NBA & D league results - with weighted & projected forward (based on age progression relative to statistical skillsets) to this season: preseason, summer league, & last year international or college or D &/or NBA (whatever pertains).