When it comes to steals in the NBA it seems as though part of your name has to contain the sound of 'on' in it. Names such as Johnson, Robertson, Richardson, Don, Payton, Stockton, Iverson, Jordon (ok ok I spelt it wrong but it sounds like that), Pippon (yeah I got that wrong too).
In all the years of the NBA/ABA nobody had a better year and deserved the name 'The Glove' more than Don Buse of Indiana in 1975. In his 84 games that season he became the only player in NBA history to average over 4 steals a game. The final figure he ended up with was 4.12spg.
Nobody could get even close to that mark, including himself. His next season he tallied 281 steals at an average of 3.47, which is the 3rd best in NBA history. But does that make him the 'Man of Steal'? Or just a 'Man with a couple of good years of Steal'?
Lets take a look at players entire career of steals.
Don Buse could keep up the pace of his 75-76 seasons. His steal rates dropped off dramatically and ended his career with 1832 steals at an average of 1.77 a game. This could only plonk him in position 33 on the all time 'Men of Steal' list. Which I am guessing will drop with his limited play these days.
Who could be number 1? Surely Gary 'The Glove' Payton is up there, he has made a name for himself as a thief. Well this may surprise you but he is only in position 28 with 2638 steals @ 1.8spg.
Magic Johnson? Nope 22nd on the table with 2082 steals @ 1.9spg. Scottie Pippen? 16th. Jason Kidd? 13th. John Stockton? Nope 7th. Oh ok it is Michael Jordan. Sorry guys he could only manage 4th with an average of 2.31.
So who is it I hear you ask? The number one 'Man of Steal' over his career is Alvin Robertson. Robertson with a steal rate consistency above 2 steals a game after his rookie season, is the greatest of all time. His best season were 85-86 where he had averages for the San Antonio Spurs of 3.67spg (2nd Best NBA ever) and 3.21spg respectively.
As a total over his career he finished with an average of 2.71spg. This was added to his Most Improved award, Defensive Player of the Year award and 4 All-Star Appearances. Alvin certainly was the 'Man of Steal'.
The Top 10 Men of Steal include:
Coach Onski
This article was originally posted on www.onski.blogspot.com on the 27/12/2007
Stats thanks to www.databasebasketball.com. Pictures thanks to www.viewimages.com, www.sportsencyclopedia.com, www.nba.com
At the end of the 1985 season it looked like Dale Ellis' career was at the crossroads. Would he continue to be a bit player or take control of his career and become a scoring machine. For 3 years he had been in their side since his rookie season in 1983 and since his impressive rookie average of 8.19ppg, it only rose slightly to 9.26ppg the next year then dropped 7.06ppg in 1985. Dallas didn't think he had it in him to be the machine so they traded him to Seattle.
In Seattle his minutes rose from 15mpg to 37mpg and with this Dale didn't disappoint. He became the man, scoring almost 25ppg that season in what is the greatest scoring turnaround in NBA history. He continued this scoring trend in his time at Seattle peaking at an average of 27.48 in 1989. He was then traded around the Association to Milwaukee, San Antonio , Denver, Seattle and finally in Charlotte. Each season during those trade years his average stayed fairly consistent between 10 and 17ppg.
By the end of his career he managed to score over 20,000 points which in his day ranked in the top 50 of all time, today he is slightly out of the top 50.
Thanks to http://www.viewimages.com/ for the picture and http://www.databasebasketball.com/ for the stats.
Coach Onski
This article was originally posted on http://www.onski.blogspot.com/ on the 27/12/2007
The greatest year to year points percentage turnaround in history belongs to Don Maclean in his 1998 season. In the previous year which was his 6th he had joined New Jersey after stints in Washington, Denver and Phili. After only playing 9 games and averaging 0.33ppg in 1997 for New Jersey, Don moved on to the Seattle Supersonics where he managed 17 games.
In those 17 games his minutes also increased by around 17mpg. He was able to turn that 0.33ppg into a respectable 10.88ppg which was a massive 3165% increase. Over his career he had 3 seasons averaging around 11ppg and his 2nd season he managed 18ppg so it looked like Don was back on track after a disastrous 1997.
Unfortunately for Don the next year it dropped back down to 2.63ppg and his career was over.
Picture thanks to www.viewimages.com, stats thanks to www.databasebasketball.com
Coach Onski
This article was originally written on the 27/12/2007 on www.onski.blogspot.com
There has been a lot of talk in the past around Robert Horry being the go to guy in playoffs. And rightly so the fella has racked up a massive 7 NBA Championships and earned the nickname 'Big Shot Rob' thanks to his clutch shooting when the games matter.
But is he the player who steps it up in playoffs more than anyone else in history? Lets take a look at the stats to see.
If we look at the efficiency ratings of each player in NBA history there are a number of players who earn their money in the games that matter as compared to the regular season. One of the best was Dick O'Keefe.
Dick who? I hear you ask. O'Keefe was a 6"2' guard who played between 1947 and 1950 for the Washington Capitols. Having played 174 games in total he managed a regular season career with around 5ppg and he shot at 27% from the field and 64% from the line. Really he was just an average player for the league in the regular season where his efficiency rating was a measly 0.55.
But when it came to the playoffs Dick stood up to the challenge. He managed 7.5ppg, 2.5apg, 31% from the field and 88% from the line. He numbers rose quite a bit to give him an efficiency score of 5 in all playoff games.
That is a gigantic rise of 905% from regular season play to playoff games. Should he be known as 'Big Shot Dick'? Firstly I think he should cause it is a funny name, but realistically NAH!! Unfortunately his Capitols only got him to the playoffs twice so all this work I did analysing him was really a waste as his figures were skewed due to his measly games played. (sorry if your reading this Dick)
Some other players who had rose to the occasion like Dick but played a minimal amount of games include James Davis (efficiency rose from 0.33 to 5.03 but played only 36 games in totals, a rise of 1509%), Willi Cunningham rose from 1.78 to 19.69 in his 62 games, which is an increase of 1105% and Paul Long who went from 0.67 in the regular season to 7 in the playoffs for a 1050% increase over his 10 game career.
I have to mention a personal hero of mine Shane Heal, the blonde Australian guard who rose 336% from 1.04 efficiency to 3.5 efficiency in his 51 games. I also have to say I saw him when he played for the Brisbane Bullets in the Australian National Basketball League. He bombed away for 3 to win against the North Melbourne Giants, much to the dissapointment of my buddy MH. Heal for three still rings in his head I know.
But lets get serious, lets look at players who have played at least 50 playoff games and compare them to find out if 'Big Shot Rob' is the best step up player in the league ever.
After completing the analysis I found that Jerome Henderson came out as number 1 with a playoff increase of 587% but I had to remove him from the stats. I wasn't sure if it was true or a mistake in the stats but I saw he played 71 playoff games and only 7 regular season games. I couldn't put him in the review on this basis. If anyone out there knows the truth can you let me know.
But back to Big Shot Horry, after the analysis we find that Robert Horry is a true playoff performer. He stepped up his scoring average by 2ppg in playoffs, nearly 1.5 rebounds per game, 0.5 assists per game, 0.25 steals and he took and made on average a greater number of three's in playoffs than he did in the regular season. This took his regular season efficiency from 10.96 to 14.02, an increase of 128%. This shows that Rob was a playoff performer, he likes the action of the big dance and to be honest was a big reason that the Rockets, Lakers and Spurs won their championships with him on the side.
But he wasn't the biggest jumper from regular to playoff, he slotted in nicely at number 3.
Coming in at number 2 Was Ernie Vandeweghe (Father of Kiki Vandeweghe or Vanden Wedgie as I liked to call him when I played Lakers Vs Celtics on the old PC), whose efficiency rose 149% from 9.99 in the regular season to 14.83 in the playoffs.* He played 224 games in the regular season and 89 in the playoffs for his New York Knicks back in the early 50's. He became a solid scorer in playoffs rising from 9.53 to 15.21ppg, this was on the back of his shooting percentage rising from 42% to 49% and his foul shooting rising from 74% to 86%, It was definitely his offensive presence that made his palyoff value rise. Rebounding and assists stayed fairly static.
Finally the number 1 playoff monster was Kevin Williams. A 6'2" guard from Saint John's University, Kevin was a journey man in his career from 1983 to 1988, but is most remembered for his stint in Seattle. Rising to a total of 311 games he just snuck into this analysis with 51 of them being playoff matches. In playoffs he had an efficiency of 13.67 which was a monster 301% jump from his regular season efficiency of 4.54. During the regular season Kev managed around 5ppg, 1rpg, 1apg with steals and blocks not really worth mentioning, He shot poorly at 43% from the field and not bad at 80% from the line. As as a guard you should be able to shoot but he only managed 2/26 from the arc. Not nearly enough.
In playoffs he was still a bad long range shooter, of his 5 attempts they all were bricks. But it was his overall game that picked up. His 5ppg turned into 11.7ppg, his 1rpg flew up to almost 6rpg, steals were up, blocks were up and his field goal percentage skyrocketed to 54%. Kevin was definitely a playoff star.
The rest of the Top 10 and their increase are as follows:
4. Big Ben Wallace 128%
5. Jaren Jackson 126%
6. Bryon Russell 124%
7. Anfernee (Penny) Hardaway 123%
8. Walter Davis 122%
9. Moses Malone 121%
10. Aaron Mckie 121%
*Please note that the statistics for Ernie Vandeweghe had values for Steals and Blocks for his playoff games only which would have skewed the results slightly.
This article was originally posted on 24/12/2007 on www.onski.blogspot.com
Coach Onski
Photos courtesy of www.basket-plus.com/, www.1960sailors.net/, www.blogs.newsok.com, www.allposters.com/
Statistics thanks to www.databasebasketball.com.
Recently we had a look at Wilt Chamberlain of Philadelphia and his amazing statistics. One year in particular stood out, that year 1961.
Boston Celtics had come off an impressive 4-1 win over the St Louis Hawks in the playoffs the previous year which was their 3rd championship in 4 years. They were starting a dynasty that will never, in my eyes, be surpassed. I am not just talking NAB here either I am talking sport.
The Celtics went on to win the next 6 championships before slipping in 66-67 season, then picking up another two rings in the subsequent seasons.
This was the era that Wilt Chamberlain was rocking the NBA with his complete dominance, but no year he was more dominant than in 1961. Statistically he was racking up figures (yes on and off the court) that today's players can only dream of. 50 points and 25 rebounds a game, how can this be possible? And how can we forget his March 2nd game against the New York Knicks in which he scored a lazy 100 point, yes 100 points in a game. (Philadelphia won 169-147 in the shootout in front of 4,124 fans.)
Elgin Baylor of the Los Angeles Lakers was next on the points leader board with 38ppg (18rpg), and the heart of the Celtics Bill Russell was 2nd in the rebounds with almost 24rpg (18 ppg).
Other stars of the time include Oscar Robertson of Cincinnati with 30ppg, 12rpg and 11 Assists per game. Walt Bellamy had 32ppg and 19rpg, Bob Petit had 31 and 19. We also had names like Jerry West, Bob Cousey & Tom Heinsohn thumping the hardwood around the US. It was a grand time for the NBA with so many superstar efforts.
Coming to the end of the season it would seem almost certain that Chamberlain's season would provide him with the MVP. How could he not win, no other player was close to matching his season statistically.
But Boston as a team was dominating, individually they didn't blow anyone out of the water with their box scores. Tom Heinsohm was their leading scorer with a measly 22 points per game. Bill Russel managed to pull down the boards like Chamberlain and managed to grab 24 per game as mentioned earlier. But none of them were as individually great as Chamberlain.
In fact, as far as efficiency on the court is concerned Oscar Robertson, Elgin Baylor, Walt Bellamy and Bob Petit were ahead of the first Boston player in Bill Russell.
So how did Bill Russell win the MVP that year? From a statistical view it seems crazy. I was not around back then but I cant figure it out. Maybe the judges wives were part of Chamberlains 10,000 women statistic. I can only assume that Bill Russell was the best player on a great team, which at the end of the day means more than individual honours.
This article was originally posted onwww.onski.blogspot.com on the 14/12/2007.
Coach Onski
Thanks to http://www.databasebasketball.com for the stats, http://www.nba.com for a great amount of history and http://www.prairienet.org for the picture.
Who is the best player ever in terms of efficiency ever in the NBA?
If we use the efficiency formula
(pts+reb+ast+stl+blks-((fga+fgm)+(fta-ftm)+to)/games
on all players and their season stats since 1946 we find that Wilt Chamberlin blows everyone out of the water. He had an efficiency rating of 41.5 over his 1045 game career. To manage a score of 41.5 in a game is considered a great game, to do it over your career is just phenomenal.
The Top 10 efficient players over their career are:
Wilt Chamberlin 41.5
Spencer Haywood 37.8 (only played 84 games)
Artis Gilmore 33.1
Julius (Dr J) Erving 32.3
Bill Russell 31.7
Oscar Robertson 31.6
Bob Pettit 31.1
Kareen Abdul-Jabbar 30.9
Connie Hawkins 30.3
Larry Bird 29.8
The player that most consider the greatest ever in Michael Jordan finished 12th with 29.2. Of current day players Shaquille O'Neal led the way finishing 14th with 28.3, new Boston veteran Kevin Garnett (20th) with 27.3 and star Spur Tim Duncan (25th)with 26.8.
These results are only up until the 2005 season so I am sure that Garnett has increased his position in this time, Duncan would have stayed quite constant and Shaq most likely would have dropped.
This shows what dominance Wilt had over the league in the 60's. He was unstoppable, or was it that the league was just not up to scratch. That brings the age old question, how would he go in today's game. Would he be as dominate today in the league with some much size and physical skill. Something we will never know. But let me point this fact out at well, these stats are based on the stats kindly provided by www.databasebasketball.com but unfortunately stats like steals and blocks weren't collected in Wilts day. Either were turnovers but the block factor is a big one, a guy 7-1 who scores over 20 rebounds a game would have been a block machine as well so maybe add a few extra points to his efficiency rating while your at it, or remove some from the modern day players. The guy was a freak!!
But lets not take away from some of his amazing feats. We all know of his 100 point game and the reported 20,000 odd women he has been with but what about some other facts.
If we look at his individual seasons he leads the all time list with his monster 1961 season. Where he averaged 50.4ppg shooting at .0505 from the field, pulled in 25.7rpg and had an efficiency rating of 52.3.
But wait there is more, the next 6 best efficient seasons of all time are also held by him. In fact he holds 8 of the top ten most efficient season of all time. (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar has the other 2) Even in his rookie season (1959) he managed 33.8ppg and 24.3rpg. The guy is a statisticians dream he is full of mind boggling stats.
Will anyone ever be this dominant of a league? Could anyone ever be this dominant of a league? I personally don't think so.
Coach Onski
This article was orginally posted on www.onski.blogspot.com on the 13/12/2007.
Thanks to www.databasebasketball.com for the raw stats that I worked with to bring you some of these interesting NBA facts. stay tuned sports fans there will be more to come.
Bernard King was a master of the basketball court, a scoring nightmare for opposition teams. Over his career he managed to score 22.55ppg. But his final comeback from knee injury may have tarnished a legend.
In 1990 King was suiting up for Washington and averaging a solid 28.39ppg, that was until injury set in and kept him out of the game for not only the rest of the season but the entire 1991 season as well.
In 1992 he came back for the New Jersey Nets but he could no longer continue his dominance due to his knee injury. He managed 32 games that season but wasn't even half the player he once was. Dropping to a career low 6.97 points per game and never playing again.
This was a scoring drop of 21.42 from his previous years play. If we ignore the 1991 season in which he didn't play, it is the biggest year to year scoring drop by any player in NBA history (with a minimum of 30 games in his comeback season).
If we were to look at the top 3 yearly scoring drops in NBA history we would find King followed by
Jim McDaniels 1971 - 23.79ppg to 1972 - 5.56ppg
Travis Grant 1974 - 25.19ppg to 1975 - 8.0ppg
Please note this is just a statistical story, I personally think that Bernard King is a legend of the game and worthy of Hall of Fame induction. This article is just to show the massive drop (in fact the biggest) in scoring production by a player.
Coach Onski
Stats thanks to www.databasebasketball.com
Picture thanks to www.basketsession.com
Originally Posted on www.onski.blogspot.com on the 27/12/2007
When it comes to steals in the NBA it seems as though part of your name has to contain the sound of 'on' in it. Names such as Johnson, Robertson, Richardson, Don, Payton, Stockton, Iverson, Jordon (ok ok I spelt it wrong but it sounds like that), Pippon (yeah I got that wrong too).
In all the years of the NBA/ABA nobody had a better year and deserved the name 'The Glove' more than Don Buse of Indiana in 1975. In his 84 games that season he became the only player in NBA history to average over 4 steals a game. The final figure he ended up with was 4.12spg.
Who could be number 1? Surely Gary 'The Glove' Payton is up there, he has made a name for himself as a thief. Well this may surprise you but he is only in position 28 with 2638 steals @ 1.8spg.
So who is it I hear you ask? The number one 'Man of Steal' over his career is Alvin Robertson. Robertson with a steal rate consistency above 2 steals a game after his rookie season, is the greatest of all time. His best season were 85-86 where he had averages for the San Antonio Spurs of 3.67spg (2nd Best NBA ever) and 3.21spg respectively.
