34.0 composite · lower is better
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Player profile · DEN / NJN / NOJ / PHO / SAC / UTA
Rich Kelley
Rich Kelley advanced stats and career rankings
17.6 average league finish
1,350 total value
Bottom line · Career overview
Rich Kelley ranks #333 all time. Across his three best seasons, his average league finish was #12.3. His #325 full-career value adds a meaningful longevity advantage. Explore Rich Kelley's advanced stats by season, era-adjusted impact, workload, and historical comparisons.
Career standing
How Rich Kelley 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 Composite34.0
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
- 34.0
- Qualified seasons
- 10
- All-time rank
- #333
Strongest seasons
Every season
Rich Kelley 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1985–86Historical Defense Estimate | SAC | 32 | 37 | 324 | -1.55 | — | — | 3.1 | — | Limited |
| 1984–85Historical Defense Estimate | UTA | 31 | 77 | 1,276 | -1.94 | 28.9 | #181 | 1.7 | 29th | Strong |
| 1983–84Historical Defense Estimate | UTA | 30 | 75 | 1,674 | -1.66 | 30.6 | #173 | 12.3 | 33rd | Strong |
| 1982–83Historical Defense Estimate | DEN/UTA | 29 | 70 | 1,345 | -0.68 | 48.6 | #131 | 40.4 | 49th | Strong |
| 1981–82Historical Defense Estimate | PHO | 28 | 81 | 1,892 | +0.26 | 66.1 | #87 | 88.6 | 66th | Strong |
| 1980–81Historical Defense Estimate | PHO | 27 | 81 | 1,686 | +2.57 | 90.7 | #24 | 168.1 | 82nd | Strong |
| 1979–80Historical Defense Estimate | NJN/PHO | 26 | 80 | 1,839 | +0.76 | 74.0 | #61 | 112.0 | 68th | Strong |
| 1978–79Historical Defense Estimate | NOJ | 25 | 80 | 2,705 | +4.12 | 98.2 | #5 | 374.7 | 98th | Strong |
| 1977–78Historical Defense Estimate | NOJ | 24 | 82 | 2,119 | +3.21 | 92.8 | #18 | 249.0 | 91st | Strong |
| 1976–77Historical Defense Estimate | NOJ | 23 | 76 | 1,505 | +2.41 | 89.3 | #27 | 148.4 | 78th | Strong |
| 1975–76Historical Defense Estimate | NOJ | 22 | 75 | 1,346 | +3.07 | 93.1 | #14 | 151.7 | 77th | Strong |
Career movement
Rich Kelley's career impact by season
Peak +4.12 in 1978–79 · 11 seasons · 17,711 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 impactMinutes
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.
Rich KelleyClifford Ray
NBA season number · fixed impact axis −5 to +15
Similar career arcs
Players with careers similar to Rich Kelley
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.
C · All-Time Career #268
Clifford Ray
94%career match
92% season match · 1978–79 ↔ 1973–74C · All-Time Career #89Willis Reed
91%career match
93% season match · 1978–79 ↔ 1968–69C · All-Time Career #81Clyde Lovellette
90%career match
91% season match · 1978–79 ↔ 1955–56PF · All-Time Career #1029Ryan Anderson
90%career match
88% season match · 1978–79 ↔ 2012–13C · All-Time Career #133Dave Cowens
89%career match
95% season match · 1978–79 ↔ 1974–75PF · All-Time Career #737Kyle Anderson
89%career match
86% season match · 1978–79 ↔ 2020–21Impact 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 →