Earlier this week, PointAfter unveiled Player Value Index (PVI) to determine the most valuable players in the NBA. Now, it’s time to examine the other, darker side of the spectrum: the least useful players. The guys who commit bone-headed turnovers, chuck up ill-advised shots from all over the court and exhibit a painful lack of understanding on the defensive end.To review, PVI incorporates the following statistics into its formula: Player Efficiency Rating (PER), Value Over Replacement Player (VORP), box plus-minus (BPM), win shares and usage rate. These statistics are all at the forefront of the NBA sabermetrics movement, and are widely used in measuring a player’s efficiency and/or value to his team.The players highlighted here aren’t the benchwarmers who rarely saw court time - the 323 players who qualified for consideration all played at least 41 games. Because when a losing squad reviews its season and wonders what could have been, the finger of blame isn’t pointed at the roster filler who barely got to play. It’s aimed toward the guys who had the chance to prove themselves but couldn’t seize the moment. The 25 players deemed least valuable by PVI ultimately should have seen a hefty portion of their minutes allocated to more efficient contributors.Player Value Index: 34.6If a so-called shooter can’t actually shoot, does he deserve a spot on an NBA roster? “Swaggy P” probably doesn’t after enduring the worst season of his nine-year NBA career, posting career lows in scoring (7.3 PPG) and shooting percentage (33.9%).Oh, in case you’ve been living under a rock, he was also caught telling his teammate about cheating on his fiancée. Overall, not a great 2015-16 campaign for the gregarious 30-year-old who often acts like a teenager.Player Value Index: 34.3Vivek Ranadive has overseen an extraordinarily dysfunctional period in Kings history. One of the most glaring instances of this was his borderline insistence on drafting Stauskas, which was gloriously captured in a behind-the-scenes look at Sacramento’s war room. In the linked clip above, Ranadive cited Stauskas telling scouts he once made 91 of 100 three-pointers in practice.Two years into his NBA career, Stauskas has a career shooting percentage of 37.8% and now plays for the dreadful Philadelphia 76ers. His “Sauce Castillo” nickname is really the best thing he has going for him.Player Value Index: 33.4In 2012-13, Foye set Utah’s franchise record for most three-pointers in a season. This season, he barely cracked Oklahoma City’s rotation after coming over in a midseason trade from Denver despite the Thunder desperately coveting guards with shooting range. The 32-year-old made just 30 percent of his long-range attempts, signaling a decline that came faster than anyone expected.Player Value Index: 33.3A free agent this summer, Mayo picked an awful time to post the worst shooting numbers of his career across the board. A string of hamstring and ankle injuries that cost him 41 games didn’t help his value, either. He was one of many disappointments on a Milwaukee Bucks team that wildly underachieved expectations following a surprise playoff berth last season.Player Value Index: 33.2Cunningham started a career-high 46 games for New Orleans this season and posted a career-low 8.6 PER. Part of that could be attributed to his move to small forward, which was necessitated by the Pelicans’ crowded frontcourt. Cunningham just doesn’t have the shooting stroke or shot creation skills necessary to thrive out on the wing in today’s NBA.Player Value Index: 32.8Detroit leaned on Blake as its backup point guard behind Reggie Jackson. Pistons coach Stan Van Gundy probably should have invested more time in developing one of the team’s other young point guards to take Blake’s place.The 36-year-old was presumably expected to provide a steady hand, but instead logged a ghastly turnover rate of 24.6%. That was the third-worst mark among qualified players, worse than only Nick Collison and Rajon Rondo.Player Value Index: 31.5Sampson was bad enough this season to be cut by the Philadelphia 76ers in February. The second-year wing’s awful shooting just couldn’t cut it on a team already lacking spacing.Sampson’s agent somehow convinced the Nuggets to sign him to a multi-year contract, where he started 22 games and marginally improved. His -1.0 VORP tied for the worst mark on this list, and ranked 322nd out of 323 qualified players.Player Value Index: 30.5Gee actually posted the best field-goal percentage (51.8%) of his career, but that’s largely because the swingman was only trusted to take shots at the rim. Whenever he ventured outside of the restricted zone, things got ugly. His 9.2% usage rate, the fourth-lowest mark in the NBA among qualified players, illustrates just how useless he was on offense.Gee played in 73 games before a ruptured hamstring ended his season, as he became one of many Pelicans to sustain a serious injury during the team’s seemingly cursed campaign.Player Value Index: 29.9The Wizards traded up a few spots to nab Oubre in the 2015 NBA Draft, but the former Kansas Jayhawk had a rough go of it during his rookie year. That’s not exactly a surprise, since he didn’t turn 20 until December 2015. But the rangy wing didn’t show much to get excited about, averaging 3.7 points in 10.7 minutes.Player Value Index: 28.7I was stunned to learn Hairston started 43 games for Charlotte before he was traded to Memphis midway through the season. This was a guy who shot 32 percent and tallied more turnovers (22) than assists (21) during his rookie campaign in 2014-15.Hairston was marginally better in his “sophomore” year in the NBA, but only just. The Hornets were 27-26 before they moved Hairston and 21-8 after the fact. That’s probably no coincidence, as the 23-year-old was one of the 10 worst players in the NBA by PER (6.9).Player Value Index: 28.7Huertas was one of 10 qualified players who accumulated negative win shares this season, which means he actively cost the Lakers wins. The 32-year-old rookie, who played several years in Europe, made a name for himself early on this season due to his uncanny knack for getting crossed up on defense. On the plus side, his most notable defensive play relied on the sort of wonderful trickery you’d expect from a crafty Euroleague veteran.Player Value Index: 28.4Everyone who praises Collison says the 35-year-old veteran does the little things that don’t show up on the box score. That’s not necessarily true, though - his league-worst turnover rate of 28.8% sticks out like a sore thumb.Player Value Index: 28.4According to PVI, Lawson was the least valuable point guard in the league. The Rockets tried desperately for months to make the Lawson-James Harden backcourt partnership work, but the two ball-dominant guards just never clicked together. Lawson’s turnover rate (20.3%) was nearly as high as his assist rate (22.4%), a harbinger of utter failure at the point guard position.Player Value Index: 27.3In the past, the only reason you’d want Kyle Singler on your team is to shoot threes. You might not have even wanted him to do that this season.Even though nearly half of his attempts were from downtown, Singler barely converted 30% of those shots. It was by far his worst shooting rate after previously making at least 35% each year and peaking at 40.5% in 2014-15.Player Value Index: 27.0The 2015-16 season represented the perfect chance for Vonleh to break out in Portland. The Trail Blazers acquired him in the Nic Batum trade, dropping him into a frontcourt that lost both its starters from the previous year.Instead of seizing the opportunity, Vonleh averaged 3.6 points and 3.9 rebounds in 15.1 minutes per game. There’s still hope for the raw 20-year-old to grow into his game, but after two years of uninspiring play, the clock is ticking.
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