Statistical Trivia

[Statman]

That's the effect of ast*reb.

Yep.

[DSMok1]

That's the effect of ast*reb.

Yep.

Not alone. Note that most of the other 7 are not particularly outliers in that regard. What other stats do they hold in common? What was up with Issel?

[Mike G]

Issel in '84 was 35. He had career low ORb% and career high DRb%. Career low TO% and NBA career high Usg%.
His PER was right at his NBA career avg. WS took a dip to then career low, and next year would be his last.

We find 17 players who have had seasons with PER>20 and BPM<0 in >1000 minutes. This year, there are 5 more.
http://bkref.com/tiny/SteOi
Whiteside and Amare' are the lower-minute guys.

Mareese Speights has PER 19.7 and BPM -2.4 this year.
For his career, he's in some select company. Most minutes with PER>16 and BPM< -3 :

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player            years   Min.    PER   WS/48   BPM
Danny Fortson     98-07   8832   16.2   .121   -3.0
Marreese Speights 09-15   7800   16.8   .118   -3.3
Freeman Williams  79-86   6606   17.9   .072   -3.2
Enes Kanter       12-15   6091   17.2   .094   -3.3
Derrick Gervin    90-91   1082   16.3   .095   -4.6
Justin Willams    07-08    456   16.3   .116   -6.1

Just a few more with >100 minutes.

[Mike G]

Players with WS/48 > .200 and BPM < 0

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player      yr    tm    Min    PER   WS/48   BPM
Whiteside  2015   Mia  1033   26.2   .222   -0.8
Powe       2008   Bos   809   20.9   .256   -0.9
Strong     1993   Mil   339   20.0   .208   -1.4
Fortson    2001   GSW   203   24.4   .258   -2.9
Mahinmi    2010   SAS   165   21.6   .206   -3.9

Whiteside is charting some new territory.
A lot of recent seasons are appearing in these "anomalies" lists.

Before this year, 8 players had gone 1000+ min. with BPM < 0 and WS/48 > .175

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player      yr    tm    Min    PER   WS/48   BPM
Vandeweghe  88   Por   1038   19.8   .176   -0.2
R Pierce    94   Sea   1022   20.8   .188   -1.3
Geiger      94   Mia   1199   16.7   .179   -0.1
Magloire    02   ChH   1549   18.8   .177   -1.3
Randolph    03   Por   1301   19.9   .177   -1.1

Fortson     05   Sea   1047   17.0   .197   -2.9
Mutombo     05   Hou   1212   16.4   .186   -1.0
Mutombo     07   Hou   1289   14.4   .192   -0.5
Whiteside   15   Mia   1033   26.2   .222   -0.8
Valanciunas 15   Tor   2002   20.8   .192   -0.3

JV is the first to go 2000 minutes with these strange numbers.
Whiteside is just so out there in PER and WS/48.

In 1000+ minutes, players with ws/48 > .125 and BPM < -2.5

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player      yr    tm    Min    PER   WS/48   BPM
R Garrett   75   Chi   1183   14.2   .126   -3.1
Wennington  96   Chi   1065   11.0   .125   -2.5
Gatling     97   tot   1283   23.9   .145   -2.6
Fortson     05   Sea   1047   17.0   .197   -2.9

Haslem      10   Mia   2177   14.6   .132   -2.6
Hansbrough  12   Ind   1442   14.7   .129   -2.7
Hansbrough  13   Ind   1366   15.3   .154   -2.9
Biyombo     14   Cha   1072   13.3   .144   -2.5
Kanter      15   tot   2001   19.8   .136   -2.6

Well above avg by WS/48 and sub-replacement by BPM.
PER are all over the place.

[Mike G]

James Harden is the first player to make 700 FT and 200 3fg in a season.
Previously, Gilbert Arenas (2007) was the only player to hit 600/200.

Steph Curry shot .639 TS% and joins this list of player-seasons with such a good TS% and either most points or assists:

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player      yr   TS%    Pts   Ast
Stockton   '88  .645   1204  1128
Stockton   '95  .651   1206  1011
Nash       '08  .641   1371   962
Nash       '07  .654   1412   884
Curry      '15  .639   1890   612
LeBron     '13  .640   2036   551
LeBron     '14  .649   2089   488
Durant     '13  .647   2280   374
Dantley    '84  .652   2418   310

Nobody at this TS% level has had more points AND more assists in a season.


DeAndre Jordan wound up with eFG% of .711 (2nd alltime, to Wilt) and TS% = .638 : his FTA dinged his TS% by .073

[Mike G]

Best teams of all time, according to SRS:

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SRS      tm    yr     W   L    MOV     SOS
11.91   Mil   1971   66  16   12.26   -.34
11.80   Chi   1996   72  10   12.24   -.44
11.65   LAL   1972   69  13   12.28   -.63
10.70   Mil   1972   63  19   11.16   -.46
10.70   Chi   1997   69  13   10.80   -.11

10.07   Chi   1992   67  15   10.44   -.37
10.07   GSW   2015   66  15   10.14   -.06
9.31    Bos   2008   66  16    9.31   -.95
9.15    OKC   2013   60  22    9.21   -.06
9.06    Bos   1986   67  15    9.41   -.36

http://bkref.com/tiny/ZPFUi
Just a few days ago, the Warriors showed up in the #3 spot, behind only the '96 and '97 Bulls.
Those early '70s superteams surely benefited from all the patsies they played. Almost half the league was recent expansion teams.
You have to go all the way down to #25 to find a team with a positive SOS -- last year's Spurs.

[Mike G]

Anthony Davis ranks tied for 6th in points scored in his first 3 playoff games.

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1st 3 G   year   Pts
Kareem    1970   102
LeBron    2006    99
Tripucka  1984    93
K Johnson 1989    92
W Reed    1967    91
McAdoo    1974    90
A Davis   2015    90
Cummings  1985    89
Monroe    1969    88
Jordan    1985    88

Kelly Tripucka struck for 26, 27, and 40 in a first round series against the Knicks. In 22 subsequent playoff games, he cleared 24 just one more time; averaged 15.6 in PO for his career.

UPDATE -- A Davis' first 4 playoff games have the best cumulative GameScore of anyone since 1986 except Kevin Johnson ('89), and by just a whisker -- 25.2 to 25.1
Next up are Curry, Jordan, and Paul, in 4-game GmSc

In the same interval, only LeBron had more points (137-126).
12 players got more rebounds, but only 3 of those -- Mutombo, Ewing, Robinson -- also had more blocks.

[Mike G]

Last night, Zach Randolph was shooting FT, and the guy said he'd hit 86% during the season. Maybe I heard incorrectly -- Zach hit 76% -- but I thought it must be unusual to be such a strong rebounder with such a high FT%.

With at least 1500 minutes in a season (5000 in a career), the best FT% for a given TReb% (since 1971) belong to these guys:

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career    TRb%    FT%      season   yr   TRb%    FT%
Rodman    23.4   .584      Rodman  '95   29.7   .676
Nater     20.9   .760      Love    '11   23.6   .850
Fortson   20.4   .785     Laimbeer '84   18.6   .866
Love      20.1   .814     Laimbeer '87   18.0   .894
Laimbeer  16.7   .837      Gminski '88   15.9   .906
Sikma     16.2   .849      Bird    '92   14.4   .926
Bird      14.5   .886      Bird    '90   13.4   .930
R Barry *  7.8   .914    J Jackson '05    7.5   .931
.                          R Barry '80    7.2   .935
.                          Mullin  '98    6.9   .939
.                          R Allen '09    5.9   .952
.                         Calderon '09    4.9   .981

Both lists run from best Reb% to best FT%
Rodman's best TReb% coincides with one of his better FT% -- the next best Reb% are worse FT shooters: Reggie Evans, DeAndre, Drummond, Camby, Jayson Williams (who could shoot when he had to).

If Z-Bo had hit 86%, with Reb% = 18.5, he's still barely kept off the list by Bad Bill.
Gminski the only guy to make the 15 and .900 club. (Dirk came close)
Besides Love, others to hit 20 and .800 -- Kevin Willis, Garnett, David Lee, and Zaid Abdul-Aziz (Don Smith) back in 1974.

[Mike G]

Playoff leaders:

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Points
195  Griffin  LAC
176  Curry    GSW
169  Butler   Chi
162  Harden   Hou
159  Paul     LAC

Rebounds
106  Griffin  LAC
106  Jordan   LAC
81   Horford  Atl
81   P Gasol  Chi
81   Millsap  Atl

Assists
65  Griffin   LAC
63  Wall      Was
62  Teague    Atl
55  Paul      LAC
51  Harden    Hou

Per game, Griffin is 7th in scoring, 3rd in assists, still tied for 1st in rebounds.
He has 3 triple-doubles in 8 games; also a 20-19-7

EDIT - Griffin has had at least 20 pts, 12 reb, and 6 assists in 5 consecutive games.
The only other players with more than 3 such games consecutively, since 1986 at least, are Webber and Barkley, each with a pair of 4-game runs.

[Mike G]

Griffin's unique streak was broken, as he got just a couple of assists last night.
But in 9 games, he's averaging 25.4 Pts, 13.4 Reb, and 7.7 Ast

Only 2 players have carried such numbers through a postseason:
Oscar Robertson, in 1963, got 32-13-9 for 12 games.
George McGinnis in 1975 (ABA) had his 32-16-8 playoffs run, 18 G.

Relax the requirements to 22-12-6, and you add Wilt, Erving (ABA), and Ruland (4 G)
http://bkref.com/tiny/feY1i

[Mike G]

In last night's debacle, the Rockets hit just 40% of their 2-pt FGA
While this isn't historically bad**, it seems not one member of their team hit over 50% of their 2FGA.
Neither did anyone hit >50% of their 3FGA. However, the team hit .429 from the arc (12-28), equivalent to .644 from inside it.

They managed to combine the above scenario with .500 from the FT line (15-30).
Last time a team shot as badly on more than 23 attempts (in the playoffs) was 3 years ago, LAC at Mem.
http://bkref.com/tiny/KgZ16

DeAndre did not contribute to that mess. Reggie Evans went 2-8, Griffin 3-9, Bledsoe 1-5.
And the Clipps won.


** EDIT: In fact, the Bulls yesterday made just .338 of their 2FGA.
This is the worst playoff mark of the postseason.
Not one Chi player hit over half their 2fga.

[Mike G]

This season, rookie Nerlens Noel went 2311 minutes with per-36 minute rates of 2.2 blocks and 2.1 steals.
Only 3 other players have gone as many minutes with 2 Blk/36 and 2 Stl/36 -- Bobby Jones in 1977, Hakeem Olajuwon (3 times -- '88, '89, '90), and David Robinson '92.
http://bkref.com/tiny/GF8Fh
Only 4 others have done it for as much as 1000 minutes in a regular season.

In the playoffs this year, Mareese Speights (GSW) has 3 of each in 51 minutes.
Ben Wallace in 2003 averaged 2.6 and 2.1, and did it for 722 minutes -- almost 4 times as long as anyone else has ever sustained. (His best RS Stl rate was 1.95)
Olajuwon did it twice in 1st-round eliminations, 160-ish min.
http://bkref.com/tiny/hKtvR

[Mike G]

Before this year, just 9 players have had a postseason of at least 500 minutes with all these:
- PER > 25
- WS/48 > .225
- BPM > 8

Kareem did it in '74 (when BPM retroactively begins). Ten years later, Bird did it; then Magic twice ('86,87).
Starting in 1989, Jordan did it 6 times (missing only in '92, his baseball years, and '98).
Hakeem managed it once, but not in a title year. It was 1997, ending on Stockton's shot.

Then we have Duncan '03, Wade and Brand in '06.
LeBron's done it in '09 and '12-14, 4 times.
And this year, both Curry (26.9, .257, 9.5) and Harden (26.4, .235, 8.5) are pulling it off.

Just 18 player-postseasons in 41 years, likely 2 more this year.
http://bkref.com/tiny/YBnn4

[Mike G]

Most playoff minutes with fewest assists:

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non-passers     yr   tm    Min  Ast  Ast%
DeSagana Diop  2006  Dal   407   2   0.7
Serge Ibaka    2011  OKC   490   3   1.1
Mark West      1990  Phx   544   5   1.3
Tyson Chandler 2011  Dal   680   8   1.9
Tyrone Hill    2001  Phl   742  10   2.2
...

And why is this timely? Well, I just noticed the Cavs with 2 starters getting fewer than 1 assist per 100 possessions. How common is this?

From a list of lowest Ast% for >250 playoff minutes, sorting by team and then by year, I pick out this parade of non-passing tandems (chronologically) --

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non-passers      yr   tm    Min  Ast  Ast%
Bill Cartwright 1984  NYK   398   5   1.9
Truck Robinson  1984  NYK   362   7   2.6

A.C. Green      1987  LAL   505  11   2.7
Mychal Thompson 1987  LAL   401   9   2.9 

Tree Rollins    1988  Atl   333   6   2.2
Kevin Willis    1988  Atl   462  11   3.3

Antonio Davis   1994  Ind   401   7   3.0
Dale Davis      1994  Ind   578  11   3.2

Antonio Davis   1995  Ind   367   7   3.1
Dale Davis      1995  Ind   490   6   2.1

Greg Ostertag   1998  Uta   336   5   2.4
Greg Foster     1998  Uta   335   5   2.6

Marcus Camby    1999  NYK   509   6   2.3
Chris Dudley    1999  NYK   294   5   2.8
Kurt Thomas     1999  NYK   419   7   3.0

Patrick Ewing   2000  NYK   461   6   2.6
Marcus Camby    2000  NYK   386   6   2.7

Tyrone Hill     2001  Phl   742  10   2.2
Dikembe Mutombo 2001  Phl   981  17   2.9

DeSagana Diop   2006  Dal   407   2   0.7
Erick Dampier   2006  Dal   454   6   2.0

Tyson Chandler  2008  NOH   412   5   1.8
Peja Stojakovic 2008  NOH   455   6   2.0

James Jones     2011  Mia   272   2   1.3
Joel Anthony    2011  Mia   575  10   2.7

Tyson Chandler  2011  Dal   680   8   1.9
Brendan Haywood 2011  Dal   275   4   2.2

Joel Anthony    2012  Mia   329   2   0.9
Chris Bosh      2012  Mia   439   8   3.3

Chris Anderson  2013  Mia   303   3   1.7
Udonis Haslem   2013  Mia   357   6   2.8

Chris Anderson  2014  Mia   317   5   2.5
Rashard Lewis   2014  Mia   319   5   2.5

Tristan Thompson 2015 Cle   480   7   2.3
Timofey Mozgov  2015  Cle   359   7   3.2

http://bkref.com/tiny/vnfUG
Some of these aren't starters. You can get 250 minutes just by getting to the Finals at 10-12 mpg

[Mike G]

LeBron is averaging 29.9 pts, 10.8 reb, and 8.5 ast, thru 19 playoff games.
The only player to match these averages in any number of games was Oscar in 1963. In 12 games, he went for 32-13-9.
Oscar averaged 47.5 mpg, while LeBron is going 42.

If LeBron's herculean performance gets his team to a Finals Game 7, he has a shot at getting the highest postseason VORP on record.

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VORP   player   yr    tm    min    PER    WS   WS/48   BPM
2.9   LeBron   2009   Cle   580   37.4   4.8   .399   18.2
2.8   LeBron   2013   Mia   960   28.1   5.2   .260   10.2
2.8   Jordan   1991   Chi   689   32.0   4.8   .333   13.8
2.8   Olajuwon 1994   Hou   989   27.7   4.3   .208    9.1
2.7   Jordan   1992   Chi   920   27.2   4.1   .216    9.6

2.6   Duncan   2003   SAS  1021   28.4   5.9   .279   11.6
2.6*  LeBron   2015   Cle   798   25.6   3.0   .181   11.0
2.6   Wade     2006   Mia   959   26.9   4.8   .240    8.9
2.5   Jordan   1989   Chi   718   29.9   4.0   .270   12.8
2.5   Jordan   1993   Chi   783   30.1   4.4   .270   12.8

Well, he already has the top spot. He could end the year with 3 of the top 5 spots.
Neither PER nor (especially) Win Shares are very appreciative of the effort. BPM and VORP get it, though.