10 Eye-Popping Statistics from Early Part of the 2014-15 NBA Season
Early-season NBA basketball is in the air, and with it come the eye-popping, jaw-dropping, pants-ruining observations true hoops heads just cannot ignore.
Everything at this stage of 2014-15 comes with an asterisk, a caveat the size of Gregg Popovich's winning percentage in San Antonio. Things can, and will, still change. The numbers that catch your eye today could be gone tomorrow. It's the nature of small-sample cinema.
But so, too, is reacting to what we know. Right now, all we know comes from what we've seen. Ergo, what we've seen and know matters. For now.
Players and teams are on pace to set records, both good and bad. History could be broken. It could be created. The NBA is rife with numbers that make your eyes pop and, in some cases, bleed.
To find them, we'll journey to back and forth through time, using Basketball-Reference's time machine/statistical database. Anything that stands out—anything at all—we'll eat up, knowing full well such distinctions may not last.
There will, of course, be exclusions. You have jobs and families. I have a life. Certain discoveries will go unsaid or, you know, undiscovered.
What we will find, though, is worth the search. So scroll onward if you dare. Properly functioning sets of eyes await you at the end.*
*You're on your own when it comes to pants replacement.
Anthony Davis Making History...Again
1 of 10
Perhaps you, like myself, expect Anthony Davis to shatter records and rewrite history and disprove the theory of gravity. That doesn't render his stat lines any less impressive. It just means your eyes are forever popping.
Davis is on pace to become the first player in league history to simultaneously average at least 20 points, 12.5 rebounds, two steals and four blocks on 54 percent or better shooting. Sure, it's early. But those benchmarks aren't totally unprecedented.
Hakeem Olajuwon became the first—and, not including Davis, remains the only—player to average at least 20 points, 12.5 rebounds, two steals and four blocks for an entire season in 1989-90, during which time he shot 50-plus percent from the floor. As unsustainable as Davis' per-game totals may seem at the moment, Olajuwon came pretty damn close.
And anything a 27-year-old Hakeem Olajuwon can do, a 21-year-old world-wolfing Anthony Davis can do too.
He might even do it better.
Where All Them Three-Pointers At?
2 of 10
Three-pointers are all the rage in today's NBA.
Supposedly.
A trend has emerged in recent years: Shoot more threes. Then shoot even more threes. Avoid mid-range jumpers at all costs. And then shoot more threes still. You can never shoot enough threes.
Not every team is on board with this three-point-heavy philosophy early on, though. Six teams are currently attempting 17 or fewer threes per game: the Los Angeles Lakers, Memphis Grizzlies, Sacramento Kings, Washington Wizards, Orlando Magic and Minnesota Timberwolves. That hasn't happened over the course of a full 82-game season since 2010-11, back when advanced analytics pamphlets didn't double as bibles.
There's clearly still time to remedy this. It's just odd, really, to see any team attempt under 16 treys per game—or even under 20—in this day and age.
The Lakers' three-point aversion is one thing. They employ a head coach in Byron Scott who hates three-pointers and three-legged puppies. (Note: Only one of these things is true.) Other teams don't have the same excuse.
Volume bombing needs to be in vogue, as Grantland's Zach Lowe—along with so many others—discovered during a spectacularly in-depth analysis last December. Not shooting tons of threes is so 65 million years ago.
LeBron James, the Rookie?
3 of 10
LeBron James is struggling in his new-old digs.
Kevin Love, Kyrie Irving and James haven't made for an instant juggernaut, the Cleveland Cavaliers are playing .500 basketball and alarms around the globe are being (prematurely) sounded.
Much-needed comfort could be found in James' dominant stat lines—if he was actually posting dominant stat lines.
After improving his field-goal percentage in each of the last seven seasons, James is shooting just 43.6 percent from the floor. That would go down as his lowest mark since 2003-04 (41.7 percent), when he was a rookie. His 24.8 points per game would also be his lowest total since that same year. So, too, would his 23.1 player efficiency rating.
Individual production tends to fluctuate and even plunge in certain areas when playing alongside superstars. But James is supposed to be this efficient beast through and through, no matter the circumstances. He hasn't entirely lived up to that reputation in 2014-15.
"It's a process, even for me," James said, per Sports Illustrated's Chris Mannix. "We're trying to build something here."
Patience. Process. Restraint. All these words hold weight when it comes to evaluating the Cavaliers this early. Super though he is, James isn't an exception. He needs time.
Hey! We Found the Three-Pointers
4 of 10
Back in 2012-13, the Houston Rockets and New York Knicks both broke the record for three-pointers made and attempted. The Knicks have sole possession of both records now, having shot 891 of 2,371 from behind the rainbow.
The 2014-15 Rockets are set to obliterate and liquidate that record.
Houston leads the league with 32.3 three-point attempts per game, 13 of which are being converted. That puts the Rockets on pace to make a record 1,066 long balls on a record 2,649 attempts. That's absurd, and it beats New York's historical marks by 175 makes and 278 attempts.
It sounds egregious, but really, the Rockets are just being smart, running one-in, four-out lineups that stretch defenses wafer-thin. They also rank in the top eight of offensive efficiency after losing their No. 3 (Chandler Parsons) and No. 4 (Jeremy Lin) scorers from last season.
That they're tied with the Grizzlies—who, ironically, don't shoot many threes themselves (14.9)—for the Western Conference's best record should, perhaps, send a message to those teams that have been allergic to deep balls thus far.
Oh, Kobe
5 of 10
First, some good news: Kobe Bryant, the 36-year-old freakazoid whose career should be hanging in the balance after two serious injuries, leads the NBA in scoring with 27.5 points per game. Whether or not that lasts doesn't matter. It's supremely impressive.
Now, the bad news: Bryant is shooting just 38.8 percent from the floor, which is not only a career low but would also give him the worst field-goal percentage of any player in NBA history who averaged at least 27 points per game.
Not even effective field-goal percentage—which takes into account the difference between two- and three-pointers—helps the missing-est player in league history. He's tracking toward the sixth-lowest effective field-goal percentage (42.9) of anyone who posted his scoring average for an entire season.
Finally, it's time for some perspective: Have you looked at the Lakers roster lately?
Julius Randle and Steve Nash are done for the season. Nick Young is still watching from the sidelines. Carlos Boozer doesn't even remember when Carlos Boozer could rebound consistently. It's a mess, and it's left Bryant to ferry a historically heavy offensive burden.
Just over 38 percent (38.5) of the Lakers' offensive plays run through Bryant. That puts him on track for the highest usage rate of any 36-year-old in NBA history.
Oh yeah, it also puts him on track for the second-highest usage rate of anyone in NBA history, behind only himself in 2005-06 (38.7).
Such is the physical and statistical toll a crazed competitor playing for a plummeting Lakers team must pay.
The Dallas Mavericks Offense
6 of 10
Don't ask about the Dallas Mavericks defense. Seriously, don't, under any circumstance, ask about their defense. It's bad—the seventh-worst in the league, actually.
Feel free to ask about their offense, though.
With the colossal caveat that it's still early, the Mavericks are preparing to field the NBA's most potent offense in five years. They're scoring 114.4 points per 100 possessions, which easily leads all teams and, most notably, would be the highest offensive rating since the 2009-10 Phoenix Suns pumped in 115.3 points per 100 possessions. That offense, for what it's worth, is recognized as the seventh-best point-piling attack of all time.
The Mavericks, as of now, look like they'll belong in similar conversations.
"Early on in the season, the numbers don't mean much and the eye test is even shakier than usual," wrote CBS Sports' Matt Moore. "But when the two converge, you start to get a sense for where things are going. And where things are going is the Mavericks may be the best offense in the league, in a league with some killer offensive teams."
Eight games is nothing. Then again, right now, it's everything. We always knew these Mavericks would score. They're merely proving us right from the jump. That they also happen to be exceeding even the most hope-drunk expectations is neither here nor there.
Stephen Curry Sadz
7 of 10
Whale on your panic buttons. Sound every alarm ever. Check under your bed for human-guzzling aliens. Hold your loved ones close. This may be the end of the world as we know it.
Because Stephen Curry isn't on fire.
Seven games into his sixth NBA season, Curry is shooting a career-worst 35.7 percent from beyond the arc. His previous low came last season, when he still put in a scintillating 42.4 percent of his long balls. The typically torrid point guard is scoring 26 points per game while shooting 48.1 percent overall, but his distance "struggles" are disconcerting given his track record.
Troubling still, there's no guarantee his three-point accuracy improves with time. Curry has a chance to become the fifth player in NBA history to fire away eight or more three-pointers a night. Only one of those players banged in more than 40 percent of his attempts. His name was Ray Allen.
Looking on the bright side, Allen began that season (2005-06) shooting 28.3 percent from downtown through his first seven games before drilling 42.5 percent the rest of the way. For Curry to eclipse 40 percent and become the first player in NBA history to do so in each of his first six seasons, he'll need to hit 40.5 percent of his treys moving forward, assuming health and the continuation of his per-game averages. That's totally doable considering, again, he's never shot under 42.4 percent from deep.
Curry is, however, already pacing himself toward a two-point record. (I know, it feels dirty to say such a thing.) If his inside-the-arc marksmanship holds, he'll have the highest two-point percentage of any guard to attempt at least 10 two-pointers every night. John Stockton holds the current record, having converted 56.1 percent of his twos in 1988-89; Curry's 57.5 percent clip would put that to shame.
So, you know, that's something.
Wildly Efficient Chucking
8 of 10
One.
That's the number of players in NBA history who have buried at least 45 percent of their threes for an entire season while averaging six or more looks per game (Curry).
Four.
That's the number of players currently on pace to join Curry this season: Mirza Teletovic (45.5 percent), Klay Thompson (47.4 percent), Trevor Ariza (48.1 percent) and...
Kyle Korver (55.3 percent).
That's the three-point-draining deity who, as of now, could go down as the most accurate single-season shooter in Association history. Steve Kerr set the record for qualified players in 1994-95 when he sank 52.4 percent of his threes.
Korver now has a chance to make that record his own.
The Knicks Keep on Giving
9 of 10
Last year, the New York Knicks missed the playoffs. It was the first time in Carmelo Anthony's career that his team failed to make the postseason. And it looks like the Knicks will now give him an encore in the form of inefficient offense.
Not one of Anthony's teams has ever finished in the bottom 10 of offensive potency. The 2005-06 Denver Nuggets and 2011-12 Knicks, who both ranked 17th in points scored per 100 possessions, are the closest he's come.
Until now.
New York ranks 21st in bucket-getting efficiency through its first seven games. The implementation of Phil Jackson's triangle offense hasn't been smooth. Anthony himself is struggling to grasp its concepts and thrive. He's averaging just 21 points on 41 percent shooting, the latter of which would be a career low.
"The lack of confidence we have as a team, it's affecting both ends of the court," Anthony said after after a recent loss to the Atlanta Hawks, per the New York Daily News' Peter Botte. "So we got to figure out a way how to kind of bounce back and get our confidence back."
In time, hopefully that confidence—along with some wins and made baskets—comes. Otherwise, Anthony, a point-totaling power, may find himself playing for the worst (ranked) offensive team of his career.
Oh, Lakers
10 of 10
Little about the Lakers' season has been pretty. What has transpired, however, wasn't supposed to be this ugly—not even on the defensive end.
Entering 2014-15, we knew the Lakers would struggle to defend. Just like we knew the Mavericks would score, we knew the Lakers would let other teams score. We just didn't know they would be historically bad.
Though the Lakers predictably own the league's worst defense at the moment, they're potentially on the verge of owning the worst defense in NBA history. Opposing offenses are averaging 117.4 points per 100 possessions against them; the worst defenses on record—the 1990-91 Nuggets, 1992-93 Mavericks and 2008-09 Kings—allowed 114.7. These Lakers haven't just been that bad. They're worse.
"This is a team that will struggle to keep up on the perimeter, doesn't seem to understand the value of the three-pointer and lacks the kind of interior presence that might make life simpler," SI.com's Rob Mahoney wrote. "They also field a roster so light on rebounding that many defensive possessions will drag on until a basket is surrendered."
Baskets have been surrendered. Too many of them. And if this keeps up, the 2014-15 Lakers will become the standard that every historically horrid defense is measured against.
Stats courtesy of Basketball-Reference unless otherwise cited.
