Jeremy Lin and the Most Turnover Prone Stars in NBA History

In his eight games as a starter Jeremy Lin has been putting up some huge numbers. He's averaging 25 points and 9.5 assists since he got plugged into the starting rotation. Those are the good huge numbers. 

Then there is the not so good number, which is 6.5. That's the number of turnovers per game Lin is averaging as a starter. 

Now granted, that's over eight starts, so it's hard to put anything he does in a "historical" perspective. He's also learning the position. One thing that's lost in a lot of this is that Lin has historically been a shooting guard. He's still learning the position. 

Having said that his turnovers are a bit high, but that hardly prevents him from being a star. In fact, some of the best players in the history of the game are also among the leaders in turnovers. Here are the top 10 players in terms of turnovers per game in NBA history. 

10. George McGinnis, 3.5

George McGinnis was one of the marquis players in the ABA before the merger. When the merger went through he became an All-Star in the NBA. All told he averaged 20.2 points and 11 rebounds per game over his professional basketball career and 17.2 PPG and 9.8 RPG in the NBA. 

That kind of sort of makes up for his 4.0 turnovers per game overall, 3.5 in the NBA—10th highest in NBA history. 

9. Steve Francis, 3.5

Steve Francis averaged 18.1 points, 6.0 assists and 5.6 rebounds over the course of his nine-year NBA career. In his best season he scored 21.6 points per game to go with 7.0 boards and 6.4 dimes.

He made it to three All-Star games from 2002-2004 and was the 2000 co-Rookie of the Year along with Elton Brand. 

His 3.5 turnovers per game don't seem so important in perspective. 

8. Russell Westbrook, 3.6

Russell Westbrook has averaged 18.4 points and 7.0 assists per game over the course of his career.

He's averaging a career high in scoring right now with 23.2. This year he's really taken a step down in terms of ball handling though. He's averaging a career low 5.5 assists per game and a career high 4.3 turnovers. 

Even so, it's not like folks in Oklahoma City are clamoring to get rid of him. Players that handle the ball as much as he does and take it into traffic are going to turn it over. 

7. Dwyane Wade, 3.6

Dwyane Wade, when he retires, may well be considered one of the top 10 players in the history of the game. His Player Efficiency Rating right now stands as the sixth best in NBA history at 25.7. That makes it hard to complain about his 3.6 turnovers per game. 

He is one of the most dynamic, explosive scorers to the rim you're ever going to see. 

6. Allen Iverson, 3.6

Allen Iverson is in the news now for trying to work his way back into the NBA. His history is pretty amazing. 

His career averages of 26.7 points and 6.2 assists make him one of only five players in NBA history to have career averages of 25 and six. The other four are Dwyane Wade, LeBron James, Jerry West and Oscar Robertson.

Sure his 3.6 turnovers are a kind of a lot, but it's not hard to live with that when the rest of the production is so high.  

5. Jeff Ruland, 3.7

Jeff Ruland was a star who had his career cut short by two feet, as in his own two feet. He had brittle feet and the injuries eventually ended his career. 

Ruland did make it to the 1984 All-Star Game though. Over his short career Ruland averaged 17.4 points, 10.2 rebounds and 3.7 turnovers. 

He also had one of the best mustaches ever, but I'm not sure there is a stat for that. 

4. Pete Maravich, 3.7

Pistol Pete Maravich was widely considered to be one of the great ball-handlers in the history of the game. He was a veritable magician with the ball, and often made people look silly chasing him around the court while he dribbled the ball. 

It is his ball handling and court vision, not his passing so much, that draws comparisons to the contemporary Ricky Rubio. 

He averaged 21.7 points and 4.7 assists over the course of his career. He also averaged 3.7 turnovers per game. 

3. Isiah Thomas, 3.8

Isiah Thomas was one of the game's greatest point guards ever. He averaged 19.2 points and 9.3 assists per game over the course of his career. He went to 12 All-Star Games. Twice he was the All-Star Game's MVP. 

He also won two NBA titles and was the Finals MVP in 1990. 

Yeah, he averaged 3.8 turnovers, but that's not why anyone remembers him. 

2. John Wall, 3.9

John Wall is last year's top overall pick and in many ways he's been living up to that pick. Over the first year-and-a-half of his career he's been 16.6 points and 8.1 assists in spite of playing for one of the most selfish teams I've ever seen. 

The turnovers are up, not down in his second year, but I expect that eventually those numbers are going to come down. Wall is still a very young player. As he gets better teammates around him and the coaching improves, he'll be less inclined to force the issue. 

1. Magic Johnson, 3.9

If Jeremy Lin needs any comfort let him look no further than Magic Johnson, the NBA's career leader in terms of turnovers per game, and the best point guard the game ever saw as well. Magic averaged 19.5 points and 11.2 assists per game over the course of his career. 

Lin has a long way to go before he can be compared to Magic Johnson but Johnson at the top of this list establishes a fact—a lot of turnovers doean't mean you can't be a great NBA player. 

Players that are expected to score, dribble the ball a lot and pass it a lot are going to turn it over more often than most players. It's not a shock that Lin is turning it over. 

If he can lower the number to less than 4.0 per game, Lin will be doing a good enough job of containing the problem.