Fun with Stats

In lieu of a study, I'll take this week as a bye and instead share some interesting stats.

One occurred today. Westbrook scored 40, Durant scored 50, yet it was Ibaka with a game that was more of a rare commodity -- a triple double with blocks. Oddly enough, it was the third time this season he's had double digit block totals but it was his first triple double. In fact, in one of those games he had only 4 points. However, has anyone had that kind of season putting up three double digit block performances? Well, David Robinson had not one, not two, but three block-triple doubles ... in a single month.

100 and 800

Here's an odd list of players:
Antawn Jamison
Shawn Marion
Donyell Marshall
Troy Murphy

What do they have in common? A propensity to hit three pointers and collect rebounds. They all collected more than 100 three point field goals and 800 rebounders, meaning they're basically  good for one three pointer and 10 rebounds a game. Floor spacing power forwards are a valuable weapon now, but the ability to crash the boards in tandem is a special combination. Kevin Love was 12 three pointers last year from joining the group, and even with a shortened season has a decent shot this year.

NBA Giants

I'd say the definition for an NBA giant height-wise is being 7' 3" or taller. These players are few and far between, and in fact basketball-reference only lists 20 players in the NBA's history at that gigantic size. There are a couple interesting patterns. One is that most of the giants who played long seasons had debuts in the 80's and 90's, while a number of giants in the 00's were barely in the league long enough to make an impression. Hasheem Thabeet, the only guy from this decade, will likely have the same fate. My theory is that the game changed enough to render men of that size effective unless they were skilled, which limited the pool to guys like Yao and Ilgauskas. Also, since that gigantic size was so apparent if you were an impossible tall and reasonably mobile guy you had a good chance at playing in the league, and the list below includes guys from North America, Europe, Asia, and Africa. Fun little tangent: Ha Seung-Jin and Slavko Vranes were both on the Jail Blazers in their heydays, and at one point got into a confrontation that culminated in Seung-Jin chasing Slavko around the facility with a stick. Ha got the last laugh with more playing time. I'm glad those days of the Blazers are over.

Rank	Player	From	To	Rank
1	Zydrunas Ilgauskas	1998	2011	13
2	Shawn Bradley	1994	2005	12
3	Rik Smits	1989	2000	12
4	Randy Breuer	1984	1994	11
5	Mark Eaton	1983	1993	11
6	Manute Bol	1986	1995	10
7	Chuck Nevitt	1983	1994	9
8	Ralph Sampson	1984	1992	9
9	Yao Ming	2003	2011	8
10	Arvydas Sabonis	1996	2003	7
11	Gheorghe Muresan	1994	2000	6
12	Keith Closs	1998	2000	3
13	Hasheem Thabeet	2010	2012	3
14	Swede Halbrook	1961	1962	2
15	Priest Lauderdale	1997	1998	2
16	Pavel Podkolzin	2005	2006	2
17	Aleksandar Radojevic	2000	2005	2
18	Ha Seung-Jin	2005	2006	2
19	Peter John Ramos	2005	2005	1
20	Slavko Vranes	2004	2004	1

The best giant in the NBA was Yao Ming who was also able to calmly knock down 85% of his free throws. Notice I said in the NBA -- Sabonis, by all accounts, was one of the best centers of all time but toiled overseas before he finally escaped to the NBA, but it was after major injuries nearly crippled his effectiveness. Pre-injury Sabonis sounds like more of a myth than a reality because he was an athletic 7' 3" center who flew around the court with great passing skills and range that extended to the three point line. Rik Smits also had a nice career, and Big Z Ilgauskas holds the "record" for most seasons played for a man of his size even after a series of foot problems nearly derailed his career. I think that's the other prominent pattern -- huge centers were very prone to injuries, especially foot problems. I don't think this is exactly a surprise, but maybe there's some sort of athletic limit to the human body with height.

20-10 Seasons


One of the arbitrary qualifying marks for an elite big man is the hallowed 20-10 line. Not only do you have to score at a healthy rate, but you have to hold your own on the boards. Doing this once is impressive, but over a long stretch of seasons you've basically earned your stay in the Hall of Fame. Seen here, 78 players have accomplished the feat, but only 22 have done it five times or more, and only 10 players have those seasons in the double digits. It's also really intersting to see Kareem and Hakeem are tied for 12 such seasons. Kareem was dominant in the 70's, but he also stayed around for a long time on a lesser role with the Lakers. Among active players, Garnett and Duncan have little chance of racking up anymore, and for Dwight this would only be his fourth season if he continued his numbers through the rest of the year.Griffin and Love, however, could both have their second 20-10 seasons at very young ages, and they could be the ones to carry the torch of 20-10 players into the future. One last note: a common mistake for evaluating players in different eras is that the pace, or number of plays a game, was significantly distorted in the past (usually faster.) This means compared to today, it was easier to put together a 20-10 year because you had more opportunities to shoot and rebound for each game.

20-10 Seasons (Assists)


This is much harder to accomplishment than the other feat, and even though different periods in the NBA's past were incredible offensively it still has only happened a total of 21 times with 9 different players. As you can below, Oscar Robertson is the leader, though he did play in an era with crazy statistics. Magic Johnson surprisingly only has three such seasons, but he was more pass-first than score. The somewhat forgotten electric point guard Kevin Johnson has the same number. Chris Paul had two such seasons in a stretch that was arguably the best ever from the position (a good argument for another day), but Deron Williams was the last to do it in a season that included a bewildering trade to the wasteland that is New Jersey.

Rank	Player	From	To	Count
1	Oscar Robertson	1962	1967	5
2	Isiah Thomas	1984	1987	4
3	Kevin Johnson	1989	1991	3
4	Magic Johnson	1987	1990	3
5	Chris Paul	2008	2009	2
6	Michael Adams	1991	1991	1
7	Tiny Archibald	1973	1973	1
8	Tim Hardaway	1993	1993	1
9	Deron Williams	2011	2011	1

Perfect Point Guard Games


Keeping with the point guard theme, for a single game I think nothing exemplifies that position at its finest more than distributing while never making a mistake and still being aggressive enough to draw 10 foul shots ... and not even miss one. That's a sharp difficulty curve, but it is possible. The table below has the 13 such games from 1986 to the present (basketball-reference has game data going back to only '86.) No one except Billups has done it more than once, showing his mastery of the position, and you also have non-point guards cutting in on the action like Michael Jordan and Alex English. The most surprising I think is Stephen Jackson. Who saw that one coming?

Player	Pos	Date	Team	Opp		MP	FG	FGA		FT	FTA	DRB	TRB	AST	STL	BLK	TOV	PTS
Paul Pressey	G-F	1986-03-12	MIL	PHO	L	47	6	13	.462	10	10	2	4	10	3	0	0	22
Alex English	F	1988-02-17	DEN	BOS	W	46	13	20	.650	11	11	3	4	11	0	0	0	37
Kevin Johnson	G	1989-03-18	PHO	SEA	W	37	3	6	.500	10	10	2	3	16	4	0	0	16
Scott Skiles	G	1990-03-20	ORL	NYK	W	48	6	17	.353	10	10	11	12	17	1	0	0	23
Michael Jordan	G-F	1990-04-03	CHI	IND	W	44	8	19	.421	12	12	3	4	10	0	2	0	29
Micheal Williams	G	1993-11-24	MIN	NJN	W	37	8	13	.615	11	11	2	2	10	3	1	0	28
Allen Iverson	G	1997-02-11	PHI	CLE	L	42	5	22	.227	10	10	3	5	11	1	0	0	21
Andre Miller	G	2002-01-29	CLE	MIN	W	33	3	6	.500	11	11	5	5	12	0	0	0	17
John Stockton	G	2002-12-02	UTA	IND	W	32	5	9	.556	11	11	1	2	10	4	0	0	22
Chauncey Billups	G	2007-03-30	DET	NJN	W	40	7	17	.412	14	14	3	3	14	0	0	0	32
Chauncey Billups	G	2008-01-18	DET	SAC	L	40	7	14	.500	11	11	7	8	10	2	0	0	28
Stephen Jackson	F	2009-02-10	GSW	NYK	W	47	9	20	.450	13	13	3	6	10	2	0	0	35
Chris Paul	G	2011-01-30	NOH	PHO	L	39	7	14	.500	10	10	1	3	12	1	0	0	26

Seasons over 25 PER


I would describe this section as sustained excellence. Once again using the 2000 minutes played gate and a table included, the all-time leader is Michael Jordan even with his retirement at the top of his game and a broken leg when he was young and scary athletic. Say what you want about PER, but it is difficult to achieve a 25 PER -- you basically need to be a first option with a combination of good peripheral numbers (rebounds, blocks, assists) and percentages. Looking at the table below, it's a list of Hall of Fame players immediately recognizable (except for Johnston who played in the crazy era of the league.)

Rank	Player	From	To	Count
1	Michael Jordan	1985	1998	11
2	Kareem Abdul-Jabbar	1971	1981	10
3	Wilt Chamberlain	1960	1967	8
4	Karl Malone	1990	2000	8
5	Shaquille O'Neal	1994	2005	8
6	Charles Barkley	1987	1995	7
7	David Robinson	1990	1998	7
8	LeBron James	2005	2011	6
9	Oscar Robertson	1961	1967	6
10	Tim Duncan	2002	2007	5
11	Kevin Garnett	2003	2008	5
12	Neil Johnston	1953	1957	5
13	Hakeem Olajuwon	1989	1996	5
14	Bob Pettit	1956	1961	5

LeBron James, however, has a legitimate chance at breaking the record because this year will be his seventh over 25 and his third above 30 (yikes.) He's only 27 years old, and if he ages well he could pull it off. Whether or not he'll age well is a legitimate question, but his body seems to be in the mold of a Michael Jordan or Karl Malone, and even if he loses some athleticism he's still tall, strong and skilled. He already passed Duncan and Garnett, which is remarkable. The full list is here.

Death of the Scoring Center


Since the 2000-01, there have only been four guys listed at center or forward/center who have scored 50 or more in a game -- Jermaine O'Neal, Tim Duncan, Chris Webber, and Amare Stoudemire. I'm really surprised that particular O'Neal showed up, and each guy isn't even a full-time center. Duncan was playing next to Robinson at the time, Webber is definitely a power forward and played few minutes at pivot except at the end of his career, and Amare was a part of the small-ball Suns and now on a more traditional team is the power forward. Okay, so I cheated a little and didn't use the end of the 99-00 season with games from Shaq and Cliff Robinson, but the most recent 50 point game was January 5th, 2005 from Amare Stoudemire (a day earlier was Jermaine's 50 point binge.) With the hand-checking rules lifted and perimeter players unleashed, it's become harder for a center to score at a high rate. That doesn't mean they're less important because you still need rebounds and they protect the basket once the guards get into the paint, but it could be a long time before another real center scores 50.

60 TS% and 20 Usage%

For those not familiar with true-shooting percentage (TS) it's a way to adjust field-goal percentage for three pointers and free throws, and 60 is basically the mark for a super efficient season. Usage percentage, per basketball-reference's definition, is the percentage of team plays used by a player. Since there are five players on the court for a team, this means at 20 or above you're using more plays than the average guy. A higher true-shooting percentage with an above average usage is coupling efficiency and volume, and it's not something even superstars do very often. Minimum, again, of 2000 minutes played enforced for this list. Random complaint: basketball-reference has TS percentage stored in the database not as a percentage, but a rate, meaning you have to search for .60 TS%, yet you search for 20 Usage%. Go figure.

Rank	Player	From	To	Count
1	Reggie Miller	1990	2000	10
2	Steve Nash	2001	2011	9
3	Kareem Abdul-Jabbar	1979	1986	8
4	Kevin McHale	1984	1991	8
5	Charles Barkley	1986	1992	7
6	Adrian Dantley	1980	1988	7
7	Magic Johnson	1980	1991	7
8	Chauncey Billups	2005	2011	5
9	Bill Cartwright	1980	1984	5
10	Dwight Howard	2007	2011	5
11	Kiki Vandeweghe	1982	1986	5
12	Michael Jordan	1988	1991	4
13	Amare Stoudemire	2005	2010	4

Reggie Miller is at the top of the list, but Nash will likely tie him this year. It's an odd assortment of players, and they have little in common besides a knack for scoring with stellar efficiency. Barkley and McHale, for example, were two very different power forwards, but they had similar results. Also note that usage percentage couldn't be calculated until the late 70's, which is almost a blessing in disguise because some of the seasons beforehand were unbalanced; it was almost a different game. Here is the full list.

There Is Only One

Earlier in the article, I mentioned the combination of rebounding and there point shooting as a rarity. Think about how difficult it is to wrestle an offensive rebound away when you're further away from the basket than other elite rebounders.One way to find these mavericks is through season totals, but a more accurate method is with advanced stats because you can sort through different eras better and eliminate a guy who chucks a lot of shots at a low percentage. Well, three point percentage isn't advanced, but it's a good way to separate the shooters, and 40% is a common number to do so. In rebounding, I think the simplest way to think about it is actually through the percentage of rebounds grabbed, not total rebounds. If you know nothing about the sport, it's impossible to gauge what 800 rebounds a season or 10 rebounds a game means. If you say player X grabbed 20 percent of all available rebounds when there's 10 players on the court, however, it's more intuitive to comprehend. So who's put together a season with 40% of three's hit and 20% of rebounds grabbed? Only Kevin Love, who also has such stats like the  30 point-30 rebound game already in his young career. Of course, Minnesota didn't even give him a max extension on his contract.

A Man's Triple Double

Again with the symmetry, I'll end with a rare triple double. This one, however, has only happened five times since 1986, and three players involved are Hall of Fame-level. There have been 979 triple doubles in the classic points-rebounds-assists format since 1986 (as far back as the database goes), and only 0.5% have been this kind. So what is it? It's something that's easily obtainable, and some players average two of the marks for a season in the modern era. There's no strange kink like zero turnovers and five steals. In fact, it's very simple. Who's done it?

Larry Bird.
Magic Johnson. Twice.
Jason Kidd. Twice.

Those are definitely some of the masters of the triple double. Magic did it in a single month, and Jason's two games spanned 14 years. Bird notched his a year after his MVP string and championship. I'm in fact surprised that so few people have accomplished this because it doesn't seem that hard, and if you lower the requirements by one there are 16 such games. But let's stick with simplicity as it's sometime the most beautiful.

Only three players in the past 25 years have had games with .... 15-15-15 in points, rebounds, and assists. Details are here. If you dig through statistics enough, you can find treasure if you are lucky.