18.6 composite · lower is better
Explore rankings
Player profile · CIN / CLE / KCK / KCO / NJN
Sam Lacey
Sam Lacey advanced stats and career rankings
14.6 average league finish
2,441 total value
Bottom line · Career overview
Sam Lacey ranks #129 all time. Across his three best seasons, his average league finish was #11.0. His full-career value ranks #134, making peak performance the stronger part of his case. Explore Sam Lacey's advanced stats by season, era-adjusted impact, workload, and historical comparisons.
Career standing
How Sam Lacey 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 Composite18.6
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
- 18.6
- Qualified seasons
- 13
- All-time rank
- #129
Strongest seasons
Every season
Sam Lacey 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1982–83Historical Defense Estimate | CLE | 34 | 60 | 1,232 | -4.19 | 3.2 | #246 | -54.9 | 2nd | Strong |
| 1981–82Historical Defense Estimate | KCK/NJN | 33 | 56 | 670 | -2.24 | 20.9 | #202 | -3.5 | 22nd | Established |
| 1980–81Historical Defense Estimate | KCK | 32 | 82 | 2,228 | +2.67 | 91.5 | #22 | 219.4 | 89th | Strong |
| 1979–80Historical Defense Estimate | KCK | 31 | 81 | 2,412 | +3.36 | 92.6 | #18 | 277.7 | 94th | Strong |
| 1978–79Historical Defense Estimate | KCK | 30 | 82 | 2,627 | +3.12 | 93.8 | #15 | 300.5 | 94th | Strong |
| 1977–78Historical Defense Estimate | KCK | 29 | 77 | 2,131 | +2.58 | 90.3 | #24 | 219.8 | 89th | Strong |
| 1976–77Historical Defense Estimate | KCK | 28 | 82 | 2,595 | +2.61 | 90.9 | #23 | 265.3 | 92nd | Strong |
| 1975–76Historical Defense Estimate | KCK | 27 | 81 | 3,083 | +1.91 | 86.2 | #27 | 265.8 | 92nd | Strong |
| 1974–75Historical Defense Estimate | KCO | 26 | 81 | 3,378 | +3.08 | 94.1 | #12 | 373.2 | 96th | Strong |
| 1973–74Historical Defense Estimate | KCO | 25 | 79 | 3,107 | +2.99 | 97.2 | #6 | 342.8 | 97th | Strong |
| 1972–73Historical Defense Estimate | KCO | 24 | 79 | 2,930 | -0.33 | 58.1 | #73 | 109.4 | 68th | Modeled |
| 1971–72Historical Defense Estimate | CIN | 23 | 81 | 2,832 | -0.86 | 50.0 | #83 | 73.6 | 58th | Modeled |
| 1970–71Historical Defense Estimate | CIN | 22 | 81 | 2,648 | -1.21 | 34.7 | #110 | 51.9 | 46th | Modeled |
Career movement
Sam Lacey's career impact by season
Peak +3.36 in 1979–80 · 13 seasons · 31,873 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.
Sam LaceyAl Jefferson
NBA season number · fixed impact axis −5 to +15
Similar career arcs
Players with careers similar to Sam Lacey
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 #430
Al Jefferson
93%career match
96% season match · 1978–79 ↔ 2013–14C · All-Time Career #54Nate Thurmond
92%career match
88% season match · 1978–79 ↔ 1973–74C · All-Time Career #133Dave Cowens
92%career match
91% season match · 1978–79 ↔ 1977–78C · All-Time Career #393Chris Bosh
92%career match
87% season match · 1978–79 ↔ 2009–10PF · All-Time Career #175Kevin McHale
91%career match
93% season match · 1978–79 ↔ 1987–88C · All-Time Career #575Andre Drummond
91%career match
86% season match · 1978–79 ↔ 2018–19Impact 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 →