27.9 composite · lower is better
Explore rankings
Player profile · BUF / CLE / LAL / MIL
Elmore Smith
Elmore Smith advanced stats and career rankings
24.2 average league finish
1,325 total value
Bottom line · Career overview
Elmore Smith ranks #229 all time. Across his three best seasons, his average league finish was #22.3. His full-career value ranks #332, so this placement is driven more by dominance than longevity. Explore Elmore Smith's advanced stats by season, era-adjusted impact, workload, and historical comparisons.
Career standing
How Elmore Smith ranks all time
These are league placements, not raw scores. Each season is judged against that season's qualified player pool.
Best in the league
Elite finishes
Upper-tier finishes
Standard deviations across scoring seasons
Career Composite27.9
Equal average of Best 3, Prime 5, and Best 10 league finishes. The overlapping windows make this explicitly peak-weighted. Lower is better.
- Best 3 weight
- 63.3%
- Score
- 27.9
- Qualified seasons
- 7
- All-time rank
- #229
Strongest seasons
Every season
Elmore Smith advanced stats by season
Era-centered box impact supports comparisons through time. Impact Rate and its rank compare players only within that season.
| Season | Team | Age | GP | MP | Era-centered box impact | Impact Rate | Rate rank | Season Value | Value percentile | Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1978–79Historical Defense Estimate | CLE | 29 | 24 | 332 | -4.08 | — | — | -14.8 | — | Limited |
| 1977–78Historical Defense Estimate | CLE | 28 | 81 | 1,996 | +2.38 | 88.6 | #28 | 188.4 | 84th | Strong |
| 1976–77Historical Defense Estimate | CLE/MIL | 27 | 70 | 1,464 | -0.45 | 52.3 | #117 | 49.8 | 51st | Strong |
| 1975–76Historical Defense Estimate | MIL | 26 | 78 | 2,809 | +2.36 | 90.4 | #19 | 264.8 | 91st | Strong |
| 1974–75Historical Defense Estimate | LAL | 25 | 74 | 2,341 | +2.04 | 88.8 | #22 | 209.7 | 90th | Strong |
| 1973–74Historical Defense Estimate | LAL | 24 | 81 | 2,922 | +1.57 | 85.8 | #26 | 242.5 | 90th | Strong |
| 1972–73Historical Defense Estimate | BUF | 23 | 76 | 2,829 | +1.50 | 85.5 | #26 | 229.0 | 86th | Modeled |
| 1971–72Historical Defense Estimate | BUF | 22 | 78 | 3,186 | +0.16 | 64.6 | #59 | 155.4 | 72nd | Modeled |
Career movement
Elmore Smith's career impact by season
Peak +2.38 in 1977–78 · 8 seasons · 17,879 minutes
The same historical box-score model is used for every season, making the career shape comparable through time. This is separate from the current lineup-context ranking.
Era-centered box impactMinutesModeled estimate
Across-era box estimateWorkload
Career comparison
Compare the shape, not the calendar
Align by NBA experience to compare season one with season one, or by age to compare players at the same stage of life.
Elmore SmithKenny Sears
NBA season number · fixed impact axis −5 to +15
Similar career arcs
Players with careers similar to Elmore Smith
The score compares era-centered box impact, peak, prime, workload, career length, position, and trajectory aligned by NBA experience. It describes career shape, not playing style or equal ability.
PF · All-Time Career #120
Kenny Sears
92%career match
91% season match · 1975–76 ↔ 1958–59PF · All-Time Career #73Jack Coleman
92%career match
92% season match · 1975–76 ↔ 1951–52PF · All-Time Career #99Mel Hutchins
92%career match
94% season match · 1975–76 ↔ 1952–53PF · All-Time Career #63Harry Gallatin
91%career match
93% season match · 1975–76 ↔ 1953–54PF · All-Time Career #286George McGinnis
90%career match
93% season match · 1975–76 ↔ 1976–77C · All-Time Career #1401Jaren Jackson Jr.
90%career match
89% season match · 1975–76 ↔ 2024–25Impact Rate shows how strong a player was compared with everyone else that season. Season Value adds how much he played. The career ranking rewards a high peak, a long prime, and repeated seasons near the top. Older seasons use clearly labeled estimates where the NBA did not record today's full set of statistics. Read how every ranking works →