Every 2016 NBA All-Star's Most Mind-Numbing Stat
If you're an NBA All-Star, you're probably putting up some big numbers.
Such is the case for each of the 24 players who will be representing their teams and conferences in Toronto this coming weekend. Whether we're talking about Kyle Lowry's overall awesomeness, Stephen Curry's exploits from beyond the arc, Carmelo Anthony's passing or Kobe Bryant's insane popularity, each man has produced figures that will leave jaws on the floor.
Put a cushion under yours. We don't want to cause any bruising when these stats force you to follow suit.
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LaMarcus Aldridge, San Antonio Spurs
Perhaps it's time to think of LaMarcus Aldridge as a defensive stud.
Even though he's struggled to find a scoring rhythm during his first season with the San Antonio Spurs, the power forward has settled in on the point-preventing end and wholeheartedly adopted the stingy mentality that's become synonymous with his new team.
According to NBA.com's SportVU data, Aldridge allows his assignments to score just 0.82 points per possession in spot-up situations, which puts him in the 82.3 percentile throughout the league. When he's guarding someone in isolation, he's in the 89.7 percentile, giving up just 0.61 points per possession.
In the past, this All-Star has taken on less defensive responsibility and attempted to do little more than hold his own. This year, he's been a significant presence and one of the many reasons the Spurs defense has reached historic levels.
Carmelo Anthony, New York Knicks
Speaking of changing roles, we can't look past Carmelo Anthony's sudden willingness to emerge as a distributing hub for the New York Knicks.
Previously, Anthony has looked to score on virtually every possession, only passing when so many defenders swarm at him that he has no other choice. But this season, he's actively attempting to facilitate and help promote the growth of his young teammates.
The result hasn't just been 4.2 assists per game—the first time in Anthony's stellar career he's averaged more than four. Even better is his assist percentage of 22.3, indicating he's recorded assists on more than 20 percent of the shots his teammates have made for just the second time since 2011-12, when Anthony's assist percentage was 21.0.
Chris Bosh, Miami Heat
Maintaining a lofty usage rate is tough enough. Doing so while facilitating for teammates at heretofore unseen levels is tougher still. Doing both of those things while turning the ball over less frequently than ever before should be downright impossible.
But that's exactly what Bosh is doing. You can see his career-long trends in usage rate, assist percentage and turnover percentage below:
Bosh may not be the most glamorous player on the Miami Heat. He's not even the team's lone representative in the Eastern Conference's starting lineup for the All-Star Game. But he continues to function as the heart and soul, and he's only getting better as his career progresses.
Kobe Bryant, Los Angeles Lakers
By any objective analysis, Kobe Bryant isn't having an impressive season.
The Los Angeles Lakers have been 5.4 points per 100 possessions worse with him on the floor, he's posted a below-average player efficiency rating of just 14.3 and both his win shares and box plus/minus figures are in the negatives.
But that didn't matter to voters. Bryant drew 1,891,614 votes during the All-Star selection process, while Stephen Curry and LeBron James were the only other stars in seven figures. They hit 1,604,325 and 1,089,206, respectively.
The rabid popularity of this Laker shouldn't be surprising, but the fact he led the NBA by such a wide margin and posted the highest total since he earned 2,380,016 votes in 2011 certainly is.
Jimmy Butler, Chicago Bulls
It doesn't matter that Fred Hoiberg now coaches the Chicago Bulls instead of Tom Thibodeau. Jimmy Butler still spends an inordinate amount of time on the floor—this is his second consecutive season pacing the league in minutes per game—and makes the most of his action.
No player in the league has run as far as Butler, per NBA.com's SportVU data:
It's also notable that Butler has suited up in at least two fewer games than everyone else featured on the above graphic. He's just that involved.
Also, his current mileage means Butler is just shy of completing his fifth marathon of the NBA season. As soon as he returns from the hyperextended knee suffered against the Denver Nuggets, he'll get there.
Note: As reported by Yahoo Sports' Marc J. Spears, Butler's knee injury will keep him out of the All-Star Game, and he'll be replaced by teammate Pau Gasol.
DeMarcus Cousins, Sacramento Kings
Big men aren't supposed to be this physically dominant and skilled at the same time. Combining finesse and physicality creates unstoppable monsters, which is now basically the only way to describe DeMarcus Cousins.
The Sacramento Kings still haven't been able to build cohesive units around him, but the NBA's best center is shining as an individual. He's actually on track to become the first player in league history to average at least 27 points, 11 rebounds, three assists and one three-pointer made.
Only four have averaged at least 20 points, 10 rebounds and two assists while making no fewer than one triple per contest: Cousins, Charles Barkley, Kevin Love (three times) and Antoine Walker.
Stephen Curry, Golden State Warriors
Below, you can see the 100 highest three-point attempts per game in NBA history, ranging from Stephen Curry's 10.7 triples per game this year to Ray Allen's 6.2 in 2007-08:
Just sit back and marvel.
At this point, that's really all you can do when Curry is involved.
Anthony Davis, New Orleans Pelicans
Sure, Anthony Davis' 2015-16 campaign has been disappointing. He's still putting up incredible individual numbers, but he's failed to build upon last year's historic exploits, and the New Orleans Pelicans are well outside the Western Conference playoff picture.
But if we weren't comparing Davis to his previous body of work, he'd be standing out in a positive way. The big man has still earned 5.2 win shares this season—more than all but 25 players throughout the entire NBA.
Among everyone in league history, only LeBron James, Shaquille O'Neal, Dwight Howard, Kevin Durant and Chris Paul have earned more win shares before the completion of their age-22 season. If he continues on his current 2015-16 pace, Davis will move past the last three by the end of the season, leaving him alone in third.
DeMar DeRozan, Toronto Raptors
NBA.com defines a drive as "any touch that starts at least 20 feet of the hoop and is dribbled within 10 feet of the hoop and excludes fast breaks." No one has been more successful on them than DeMar DeRozan.
The Toronto Raptors shooting guard is scoring 8.7 points per game on drives, thanks in large part to his 51.4 percent shooting and willingness to draw contact. No NBA player has produced a higher average, with Reggie Jackson and his 7.7 points per game sitting in a distant second.
DeRozan may be embarking upon more drives during a typical contest than anyone else, but his gaudy scoring figures aren't just a product of sheer volume. As you can see in the above graphic, even the other high-frequency drivers simply aren't putting up the same number of points.
Andre Drummond, Detroit Pistons
Collecting offensive rebounds and corralling boards on the defensive glass take completely different skill sets, which is why players so often thrive on one end but are merely mediocre on the other. Fortunately for the Detroit Pistons, Andre Drummond is dominant on both.
The young center is leading the league in both offensive and defensive rebounds, which puts him on pace to join a rather exclusive club.
In the past 30 years, only Dwight Howard and Dennis Rodman have emerged victoriously in both categories during a single season. Soon, the membership of that group could swell, and it doesn't seem like the 22-year-old Drummond is going to stop improving anytime soon.
Kevin Durant, Oklahoma City Thunder
Remember when it was going to take a while for Kevin Durant to regain full confidence after dealing with so many foot injuries and sitting on the sidelines while Russell Westbrook blossomed into a bona fide MVP candidate?
So much for that.
The last time Durant failed to score 20 points in a game came back on Nov. 10, when he registered 14 in just under 17 minutes against the Washington Wizards before exiting with a strained hamstring. If we exclude that outing, he's broken past the 20-point barrier in every single game this season.
But even with that injury-impacted asterisk included, the 2014 MVP has now scored at least 20 points in 37 consecutive contests. During the last five years, only twice has there been a longer streak—38 games from LeBron James spanning the end of 2011-12 and the beginning of 2012-13, and 56 from Durant during his MVP campaign.
Pau Gasol, Chicago Bulls
Pau Gasol doesn't have much of a defensive reputation, but the Chicago Bulls have figured out how to use him perfectly. By allowing him to lock down a single area instead of asking him to flit around the half-court set, they've helped make him one of the more statistically impactful defensive players in the NBA.
Defensive box plus/minus (DBPM) estimates how many more points someone saves per 100 possessions than an average player would on an average team, and Gasol's 3.4 DBPM is excellent. It's the best mark of his career, and it leaves him trailing only Tim Duncan (5.5 DBPM), Rudy Gobert (5.0), Hassan Whiteside (4.4), Draymond Green (3.7) and Nerlens Noel (3.7) among all qualified players.
We'll always think about his skill on the offensive end before anything else, but the Bulls have converted him into a two-way contributor. That's a major reason he can justifiably replace Butler on the Eastern roster.
Paul George, Indiana Pacers
Paul George's shooting may be a bit streaky this season, but his overall body of work from beyond the arc has been incredible.
He's never lofted up nearly as many shots from downtown, and his accuracy is also reaching new levels. He may have produced a better percentage during the 2014-15 campaign, but that number came with far less volume and during a meager six-game sample:
That, my friends, is improvement.
Draymond Green, Golden State Warriors
Sure, we could highlight the fact that Draymond Green already has 10 triple-doubles this season, which leaves him behind just 14 individual campaigns since 1983-84. But focusing on his overall line is even more fun.
Green is averaging 14.4 points, 9.6 rebounds, 7.4 assists, 1.4 steals and 1.3 blocks, which pushes him into unexplored territory. That's not even remotely hyperbolic. Throughout all of NBA history, no other player has averaged even 14 points, nine boards, seven assists, one steal and one block.
This versatile power forward stands alone. At this point, it's already safe to call him one of the most unique players we've ever seen.
James Harden, Houston Rockets
Labeling James Harden as a scoring threat is selling him far too short. The bearded shooting guard has become one of the most dangerous non-defensive players in NBA history, thanks to far more than his ability to put the ball in the basket and get to the free-throw line.
Harden is also a deft passer who constantly sets up the rest of the Houston Rockets, and he's an aggressive rebounder who can clear the defensive glass and immediately burst into the open court for a transition opportunity. As a result, he's averaging 27.8 points, 6.3 rebounds and 7.0 assists in 2015-16.
Even without taking efficiency into account, precious few players have ever managed to match or exceed each of those three numbers. Larry Bird, John Havlicek, LeBron James, Michael Jordan, Oscar Robertson and Russell Westbrook are the only ones.
LeBron James, Cleveland Cavaliers
LeBron James remains quite the impactful player.
Below, you can see how the Cleveland Cavaliers perform with him on the bench and on the floor. Fittingly for a man who remains a significant factor in the MVP race (note: non-Stephen Curry division), the discrepancies are rather substantial:
Looking at the NBA ranks in those categories is even more telling:
Just focus in on the Cavs' net rating. With James on the floor, they trail only the Golden State Warriors and San Antonio Spurs. But when he sits, they suddenly morph into a team better than just the Brooklyn Nets, Los Angeles Lakers and Philadelphia 76ers.
Kawhi Leonard, San Antonio Spurs
At this point, it's difficult to believe shooting was one of the primary knocks on Kawhi Leonard when he declared for the draft at San Diego State. The reigning Defensive Player of the Year has developed into one of the NBA's most dangerous marksmen, thriving from beyond the arc while serving as the go-to option on the Spurs.
Per NBA.com's SportVU data, Leonard is scoring 1.32 points per possession in spot-up situations, which leaves him in the 97.5 percentile throughout the league.
Among the 205 players who have suited up in at least 30 games and used spot-up shots on no fewer than 15 percent of their offensive possessions—Leonard is at 24.5 percent—only Jerryd Bayless and J.J. Redick are scoring more efficiently.
Kyle Lowry, Toronto Raptors
Let's turn to total points added (TPA), a metric that shows how many more points a player contributes on both ends of the floor than a league-average player would (explained in full throughout this article).
According to TPA, Kyle Lowry is on pace to finish the 2015-16 season with one of the NBA's top five scores:
- Stephen Curry, 685.32 TPA
- Russell Westbrook, 578.24
- LeBron James, 463.22
- Kyle Lowry, 439.49
- Kawhi Leonard, 400.8
That's some impressive company, but Lowry's score is also impressive because he's on track to post the biggest improvement between last year and the current campaign:
Kyle Lowry: MVP and MIP candidate. If the latter award literally meant Most Improved Player and was evaluated objectively, the Toronto Raptors floor general would be running away with it.
Paul Millsap, Atlanta Hawks
Paul Millsap has established himself as one of the more underrated players out there; popular perception of his game doesn't match up with the monumental impact he has on the Atlanta Hawks. His ability to thrive in so many areas makes him a vital contributor to the fringe contenders in the Eastern Conference, and it also leaves him in a rather unique position.
The power forward is averaging 17.7 points, 8.6 rebounds, 3.2 assists, 1.8 steals and 1.4 blocks. How many players have ever matched those per-game marks?
Hakeem Olajuwon did so twice—once in 1993, when he trailed only Charles Barkley in the MVP voting, and again in 1995, when he finished fifth. Barkley did so in 1986 and '87, and he finished sixth in the balloting both years. That's it.
MVP voters in 2016, take notice.
Chris Paul, Los Angeles Clippers
Chris Paul has the worst turnover percentage of his NBA career (14.1), but he's still coughing the ball up only 2.8 times per contest. That's how jaw-droppingly good this point guard has always been at maintaining control of the rock.
First, let's put in perspective how his assist and turnover numbers in 2015-16 stack up against the rest of his career:
By his standards, that's not exactly an exemplary set of stats.
Nonetheless, Paul is going to average at least nine assists with no more than three turnovers per game for the ninth consecutive season. Throughout all of NBA history, only 17 other players have done that even once, and just Muggsy Bogues, Jason Kidd, John Lucas, Johnny Moore and Doc Rivers have joined the group multiple times.
Isaiah Thomas, Boston Celtics
It's impossible to watch Isaiah Thomas and not notice his height. The 5'9" point guard seems to come up to nothing more than the waist of some bigger defenders when he's probing the painted area, but he's still putting up points in bunches for the Boston Celtics.
Only 10 individual seasons have ever been recorded in which a player 5'11" or shorter has averaged at least 20 points, and this is now Thomas' second appearance on the list. Only Michael Adams (26.5 points per games in 1990-91) and Calvin Murphy (25.6 in 1977-78) beat his current scoring average of 21.4.
Thomas won't close the gap between himself and either of those two predecessors, but he's already established himself as one of the best truly diminutive scorers we've ever seen.
Klay Thompson, Golden State Warriors
Even though Klay Thompson still has plenty of opportunity to drain triples before his fifth professional season draws to a close, he's already knocked down more treys than anyone else in NBA history during the first five campaigns of a career:
Damian Lillard will close the gap significantly during the next year-and-a-half, and there's a substantial chance he'll surpass Thompson's eventual total by the end of 2016-17.
But this is Thompson's record for the time being. And considering the Washington State product has made more threes than anyone but his fellow Splash Brother this year, that shouldn't be particularly surprising.
Dwyane Wade, Miami Heat
If you need evidence Dwyane Wade is turning back the clock a bit on the offensive end, look no further than what he's doing within the three-point arc.
First, the Miami Heat 2-guard is creating shots for himself so well that he's only required assists on 28.4 percent of his two-point makes. That's the lowest mark for Wade since the 2009-10 season, right before LeBron James joined him in South Beach.
Second, Wade has dunked the ball 24 times in 2015-16, and that's already just one shy of his total throwdowns during the previous season. He won't hit triple digits, as he did six years ago, but we're starting to see a little more explosiveness during his age-34 season.
John Wall, Washington Wizards
Speaking of slams, we have to give a little credit to John Wall, who has already dunked 30 times this season.
The Washington Wizards floor general has attacked the rim with ferocity all year long, using his speed in transition and his quick first step in the half-court to leave nothing but open space between himself and the basket. As a result, he's on pace to record 50 dunks by the end of the year, which would break his personal record of 47 in 2011-12.
According to NBASavant.com, Russell Westbrook (47) is the only point guard ahead of Wall on the slam leaderboard. In third place is Zach LaVine (28), and Michael Carter-Williams is a distant fourth (24).
Russell Westbrook, Oklahoma City Thunder
Early in his career, Russell Westbrook struggled to make meaningful strides as a passer, vacillating between mediocre and solid assist numbers while throwing a reasonable number of ill-advised feeds. Now, he's completed the transition into a deadly distributor:
Sure, the bad-pass turnovers are higher than they've ever been, but that's understandable. So, too, are Westbrook's assists, to the point that he could soon become the latest member of the ultra-exclusive club for players who average at least 20 points and 10 dimes.
It's pretty terrifying that Westbrook is anything but a "pure point guard" and still passes better than most of the players who fall into that category.
Adam Fromal covers the NBA for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter @fromal09.
Unless otherwise indicated, all stats are from Basketball-Reference.com or Adam's own databases and are current heading into games on Feb. 8.
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