I know there are a lot of people out there who scoff at the work of people like ESPN's John Hollinger, refusing to believe that there could be any other way to judge basketball players than by points, rebounds, and assists.

Still, the stats-behind-the-stats movement is gaining steam across all sports, and Hollinger is probably the most well known amongst the NBA crowd (and was kind enough to do a Q&A with us this past season).

Anyway, his yearly PER rankings (Player Efficiency Ratings) were released yesterday, and in them he foresees good things for several Hawks players.

For one, he projects Josh Smith as the 25th most efficient player in the league, right in front of All-Stars Ray Allen (26th), Rashard Lewis (27th), Chauncey Billups (28th), Vince Carter (29th), and Shawn Marion (30th). I mean, look at those names - that is some heady company.

Joe Johnson checks in at 39th. For those wondering how Joe could be 14 spots lower than J-Smoove, just remember the impact that Josh has on the defensive end with his blocked shots and steals (Joe is a great defender, but defensive performance is the hardest thing for most statisticians to quantify outside of blocks and steals, so Josh gets quite a boost from that). Interestingly, I think Hollinger rates Joe lower than you might think for someone as talented as he is because he expects the Hawks to improve this year and require Johnson to shoulder less of the load.

These rankings aren't perfect, and Hollinger doesn't argue that they are the end-all-be-all of player evaluations. But still interesting to see where his complex mathematical formulas have the Hawks performing.

Hollinger sets the league average at 15.00, and has four Hawks eclipsing that mark: Smith at a team-high 20.74, Johnson at 18.77, Zaza Pachulia with 16.87, and Josh Childress at 16.6 (who, in his notes, he trumps as a legit Sixth Man candidate). Tyronn Lue and Marvin Williams check in just below the cut-line at 14.68 for T-Lue and 14.63 for Marv. It should be noted that rookies don't get rankings, so though he is very high on Al Horford and, to an extent, Acie Law, they don't show up here.

If you don't have ESPN Insider, you won't be able to see all the profiles of the individual players, but the rankings themselves are fascinating and represent the next generation of player evaluation, so definitely check them out.