T-Mac is carrying
the Rockets this year.

Which other players have proven themselves to be indispensable to their teams this year? Alternatively, along the lines of Bill Simmons' Ewing Theory, which players seem to be bringing their teams down? This analysis looks at players that have logged enough minutes and missed enough games to warrant inclusion:

• Appeared in at least 10 games
• Missed at least 5 games
• Averaging at least 25 minutes per game

For each player meeting these criteria, I compared his team's winning percentage in games in which he played to the winning percentage in games in which he didn't play. First of all, here are the players who appear to be doing more harm than good:

Expendable Players (through games of 1/29/2006)

Calderon is actually playing 26
minutes a game for Toronto.

• No true Ewing Theory candidates here ... a few of them are former All-Stars, but none receives an inordinate amount of attention.
• Obviously, 2 of these players (Blount and Stojakovic) were literally expendable, having been traded last week.
• The Kings are 4-1 this year in games in which both Stojakovic and Abdur-Rahim do not play.
• Abdur-Rahim has posted solid numbers (19.6 PPG, 8.0 RPG) for almost a decade in the league, but famously has yet to play for a winning team.
• The identical played vs. missed records for the Bucks' Simmons and Ford are just a coincidence--they have no overlapping missed games.

At the other end of the spectrum, here are the players whose teams are doing much better when they're in the lineup this year:

Indispensable Players (through games of 1/29/2006)

Notes:

• The Heat are winning more this year with Shaq in the lineup, although last year his presence throughout the regular season and playoffs seemed to have little impact on the bottom line: The Heat were 62-24 in games that he played, and 8-3 in games that he missed.
• Posey appears on the list because in most of the games that he missed, Shaq was also out. As with "unadjusted" plus/minus ratings, it's important to keep other factors like this in mind.
• The effect of Hughes' presence on the Wizards last season was very similar to his effect on the Cavs this year: both teams were several games above .500 with him in the lineup, and right around .500 with him out.