How does every NBA player stack up coming out of the 2017-18 regular season, based on everything we’ve learned after studying their performances during the last 82 games?

That’s the question NBA Math staff members and contributors sought to answer, ranking each and every player in the sport’s premier league on a 1-to-12 scale and then seeing who emerged with the highest averages. The distant past was irrelevant. Long-term potential doesn’t matter. Only the level at which we expect them to play right after the conclusion of 2017-18 matters, assuming health for those currently healthy and full recoveries from those presently injured. For example, Gordon Hayward will still be included in this analysis; we just assume he’s already completed his rehab and now has that as a prior portion of his overall injury history.

All players—classified by the team for which they last appeared, even if they were since waived or released in some alternative fashion—were graded on the following scale by each evaluator, and ties between players with identical averages were broken by sorting the scores from best to worst and propping up the men who had the highest mark at any point in the top-down progression:

1. Shouldn’t Get Minutes
2. End-of-Bench Pieces
3. Depth Pieces
4. High-End Backups
5. Low-End Starters
6. Solid Starters
7. High-End Starters, Non-All-Stars
8. All-Star Candidates
9. All-NBA Candidates, Non-MVP Candidates
10. Lesser MVP Candidates
11. MVP Frontrunners
12. Best Player in the League (only one player could earn this grade on each ballot)

Now, for the Houston Rockets:

Shouldn’t Get Minutes: 1.00 to 1.49

20. Chinanu Onuaku, 1.00 (0.81 down)

18(tie). R.J. Hunter, 1.09 (Unranked preseason)

18(tie). Markel Brown, 1.09 (0.11 down)

17. Aaron Jackson, 1.17 (Unranked preseason)

16. Tim Quarterman, 1.36 (0.26 down)

15. Bobby Brown, 1.45 (0.17 down)

End-of-Bench Pieces: 1.50 to 2.49

14. Zhou Qi, 1.55 (0.33 down)

Depth Pieces: 2.50 to 3.49

13. Tarik Black, 2.91 (0.1 up)

12. Brandan Wright, 3.09 (0.1 down)

11. Gerald Green, 3.09 (0.65 up)

10. Joe Johnson, 3.18 (1.07 down)

9. Nene Hilario, 3.36 (0.82 down)

High-End Backups: 3.50 to 4.49

8. P.J. Tucker, 4.45 (0.05 down)

Low-End Starters: 4.50 to 5.49

7. Luc Mbah a Moute, 4.91 (0.66 up)

6. Ryan Anderson, 5.09 (0.1 down)

5. Trevor Ariza, 5.45 (0.3 down)

Solid Starters: 5.50 to 6.49

4. Eric Gordon, 5.55 (0.23 up)

High-End Starters: 6.50 to 7.49

3. Clint Capela, 7.45 (1.83 up)

All-Star Candidates: 7.50 to 8.49

None

All-NBA Candidates: 8.50 to 9.49

2. Chris Paul, 9.45 (0.2 up)

Lesser MVP Candidates: 9.50 to 10.49

None

MVP Frontrunners: 10.50 to 12.00

1. James Harden, 11.09 (0.34 up)