The Incredible Ball-Hoggery of Russell Westbrook
Feb 27, 2015 15:46:41 GMT -6
Heynong Man, Bruns, and 1 more like this
Post by eric on Feb 27, 2015 15:46:41 GMT -6
or, How Does One Score 26 a Game While Shooting 43% From the Field and 28% from Three?
-Usage % (USG%) is a metric that estimates the percentage of possessions a player finishes while on the court by dividing the team's total possessions into their field goal attempts, turnovers, and .44 * free throw attempts.
-Assist % (AST%) is a metric that estimates the percentage of teammate field goals a player assists while on the court by dividing the team's field goals less the player's into the player's assists.
Russell Westbrook is leading the league in both metrics. This has never happened since they could first be calculated in 1978. Tiny Archibald probably would have done so the year he led the league in assists and points, Wilt probably would have done so one of the three separate years he was top 5 in both. The closest anyone has come to this feat is Dwyane Wade, who in 2009 was 1st in USG% and 5th in AST%. Allen Iverson, LeBron James, and Paul Westphal each had a year where they were 2nd and 5th.
We can look even deeper by doing USG + (1 - USG) * AST: that is, the possessions a player finished by field goal attempt, free throw attempt, turnover, and successful assist. (Data on passes that lead to shot attempts that would count as assists if made but are missed, as well as passes that would count as assists but for a defender fouling, is only available for a couple years and more research is required on these assist attempts.) When we calculate that metric for these four years, we find...
67.45 Westbrook 2015
61.90 Wade 2009
61.28 LeBron 2010
50.66 Westphal 1978 (obviously it's easier to be top X in anything when there are 22 teams than when there are 30)
We can also look at general cases of extreme USG% guards for context: Jordan, Kobe, Iverson.
59.44 Iverson 2005
58.21 Iverson 2006
55.71 Jordan 2002
55.66 Jordan 1988
53.47 Kobe 2006
52.13 Kobe 2015
And we can look at Westbrook's numbers without Durant. USG goes from a ludicrous 37.6 to an irresponsible 43.5, and even more heinously his AST rises from 48.8 to 51.5; that is, he passes to his teammates MORE when they are NOT named Kevin Durant. His composite figure goes to 69.74, so seven out of every ten possessions involve Westbrook finishing the play... and that's only counting the passes he makes where a teammate makes the shot!
tl;dr: Westbrook has the ball in his hands, like, a lot.
-Usage % (USG%) is a metric that estimates the percentage of possessions a player finishes while on the court by dividing the team's total possessions into their field goal attempts, turnovers, and .44 * free throw attempts.
-Assist % (AST%) is a metric that estimates the percentage of teammate field goals a player assists while on the court by dividing the team's field goals less the player's into the player's assists.
Russell Westbrook is leading the league in both metrics. This has never happened since they could first be calculated in 1978. Tiny Archibald probably would have done so the year he led the league in assists and points, Wilt probably would have done so one of the three separate years he was top 5 in both. The closest anyone has come to this feat is Dwyane Wade, who in 2009 was 1st in USG% and 5th in AST%. Allen Iverson, LeBron James, and Paul Westphal each had a year where they were 2nd and 5th.
We can look even deeper by doing USG + (1 - USG) * AST: that is, the possessions a player finished by field goal attempt, free throw attempt, turnover, and successful assist. (Data on passes that lead to shot attempts that would count as assists if made but are missed, as well as passes that would count as assists but for a defender fouling, is only available for a couple years and more research is required on these assist attempts.) When we calculate that metric for these four years, we find...
67.45 Westbrook 2015
61.90 Wade 2009
61.28 LeBron 2010
50.66 Westphal 1978 (obviously it's easier to be top X in anything when there are 22 teams than when there are 30)
We can also look at general cases of extreme USG% guards for context: Jordan, Kobe, Iverson.
59.44 Iverson 2005
58.21 Iverson 2006
55.71 Jordan 2002
55.66 Jordan 1988
53.47 Kobe 2006
52.13 Kobe 2015
And we can look at Westbrook's numbers without Durant. USG goes from a ludicrous 37.6 to an irresponsible 43.5, and even more heinously his AST rises from 48.8 to 51.5; that is, he passes to his teammates MORE when they are NOT named Kevin Durant. His composite figure goes to 69.74, so seven out of every ten possessions involve Westbrook finishing the play... and that's only counting the passes he makes where a teammate makes the shot!
tl;dr: Westbrook has the ball in his hands, like, a lot.
