Opinion: Is Anthony Tolliver Worth the Dollars?

The Sacramento Kings signed Anthony Tolliver this offseason to a contract of 2 years and $16 million.  This article examines if the Kings spent wisely.

On July 2nd, 2016, Anthony Tolliver agreed to a 2 years and $16 million contract with the Sacramento Kings.  Tolliver is a 6’8 combo forward with a great deal of NBA experience.  Tolliver is 31 years old with 8 years of NBA experience for 8 different NBA teams.  Sacramento will be his 9th team in as many years.

Let us divide deep into Mister Tolliver’s on-court game to see if the Kings spent wisely.

Offensive Skills and Production

Anthony Tolliver’s traditional offensive stats do not leap off the page at you.  For his career, Tolliver has played 19.6 minutes per game and averaged 1.1 3 pointers, 0.9 offensive rebounds, 0.9 assists, and 6.0 points per game on 40.9% from the field and 77.0% from the free throw line.  Below is a video compilation of some of Mister Tolliver’s offensive skills to give you a glimpse of what he has to offer.

My colleague Rafe Wong recently wrote a great piece chronically Tolliver’s best shot which can be found here.  Now let us examine the most beneficial offensive attributes he brings to Sacramento.

Tolliver brings 3 important offensive assets that the Kings are searching for.  First, Tolliver brings effective 3 point shooting.  He is a career 35.7% 3 point shooter and 39.3% on corner 3’s.  He brings with that the ability to space the floor as a player who won’t command the ball.  Tolliver is happy to be an ancillary option and knock down some 3 pointers.  Second, Tolliver is a very effective finisher at the rim.  He shoots 65.9% for his career from 0-2 feet from the basket.  The last thing he brings is a veteran presence.   The Kings need leadership and experience to form a cohesive unit on the offensive end of the floor and Mister Tolliver should bring that with him.

Tolliver struggles with his field goal percentage and is not much of a creator on offense, but if the Kings play to his strengths, he could be a net positive on offense.

Now let us look at Tolliver’s defensive skills and production to see how he stacks up there.

Defensive Skills and Production

The traditional defensive stats for Anthony Tolliver do not make you stand up and shout.  For his career, he averages 2.6 defensive rebounds, 0.4 steals, and 0.3 blocks in 19.6 minutes per game.  Below is a video showing off some defensive highlights of Mister Tolliver to give you a taste of his offerings.

Now let us examine Anthony Tolliver’s career defensive shot courtesy of NBASavant.com to get a glimpse at his on-ball defense.

As you can see, Tolliver is an adequate on-ball defender.  The opposition flirts with league average shooting from every spot on the floor.  He excels at defending left corner 3’s holding the opposition 8.1% below league average.  Tolliver plays an average, yet unimpressive defense.

Now let us view how the advanced metrics rate Anthony Tolliver.

Advanced Metrics

For those of you who prefer advanced metrics here is how Tolliver stacks up.  Looking at box score plus/minus, Tolliver earned a negative 0.2 offensive and negative 0.4 defensive for his career.  His career value over replacement player (VORP) is positive 3.0, though.  Tolliver has a positive VORP in 6 of his 8 NBA seasons.

If win shares are your preferred advanced metric then let us see how Tolliver stacks up in those categories.  He has a career positive 9.9 offensive and positive 6.7 defensive.  He has only had one negative offensive win shares season and has never had a negative defensive win shares season.  His career win shares per 48 are 0.089 (.100 is league average).  He has had 3 seasons where his win shares per 48 rated above league average.

All stats and advanced metrics courtesy of Basketball-Reference.

Now let us move on to examine Tolliver’s injury history.

Injuries

Health is the first key to producing on the court, so let us examine Anthony Tolliver’s injury history.  According to Fox Sports, Tolliver has only had one recent injury.  He sprained his right knee last season.  The injury caused him to miss a few games, but he should be healthy and ready to roll for the Kings this season.

Now, let us wrap this thing up and determine in the Kings spent wisely in signing Anthony Tolliver.

Summary

First, let us review what we found out about Mister Tolliver so far.  Tolliver’s traditional offensive stats aren’t eye-popping, but he is a good 3 point shooter, which fills a need for the Kings.  His defensive stats are also not massive, but he provides league average on-ball defense.  The advanced metrics rate Tolliver as a slightly below league average player, but better than a replacement player.  Tolliver also has no significant injury history to speak of.

So is Tolliver worth 2 years and $16 million to the Sacramento Kings?

I think it is a fair value contract, but the Kings certainly did not get themselves a steal.  They acquired a veteran who can fill a need or two for the team at $8 million a season.  With the salary cap at $94.143 million this season and projected to be $102 million next year, the Kings acquired a role player for roughly 8% of their cap for 2 years.  As long as Tolliver can stay healthy and produce at the level he has his entire career, the Kings got a fair value contract.

Hopefully, Tolliver can also bring some much-needed leadership to the locker room with his veteran presence.  That would make the contract look better for the Kings because they are in desperate need of a cohesive dressing room.  Not bad on this one Kings, in my opinion.  Now, I hope Tolliver can be the man to unite the Kings this season to make this contract look even better.

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