Random NBA Facts (2,198 views)

[RWisoursavior]

Bump, this is my favorite eric thread

[eric]

cheers

[eric]

Tim Duncan needs 13 blocks to pass David Robinson for 5th all time (and has a decent chance at getting 123 this year to pass Mark Eaton for 4th). As the greatest player between Jordan and LeBron and one of the top 10 all-time greats, Tim Duncan is definitely getting in the Hall of Fame and will almost certainly play all his games in a Spurs jersey. David Robinson did the same and is already in, and so I wondered...

...are there any other HoF teammates who played every game for the same franchise (NBA only)? Here are a list of current and likely HoFers who have played every game for the same franchise, in franchise order:

ATL Pettit, Hagan
BOS Russell, Heinsohn, Jones, Sanders, Havlicek, Bird, McHale
DAL Nowitzki
DEN Issel
DET Thomas, Dumars
GS_ Arizin
HOU Murphy
IND Miller
LAL Mikkelsen, Baylor, West, Johnson, Worthy
MIA Wade
NYK Reed, Bradley
OKC Durant
PHI Schayes, Greer, Cunningham, Erving
SAC Twyman
SAS Robinson, Duncan, Ginobili
UTA Stockton
WAS Unseld

Teammates:
ATL Pettit & Hagan
BOS Russell & Heinsohn & Jones & Sanders & Havlicek, Bird & McHale
DET Thomas & Dumars
LAL Baylor & West, Johnson & Worthy
NYK Reed & Bradley
PHI Schayes & Greer, Greer & Cunningham
SAS Robinson & Duncan & Ginobili (for one year, the 2003 title)

It is notable I think that 6 of these 10 came before the NBA-ABA merger, another three came in the 80s and early 90s, and we've had none since.

[ANK1990]

What's Durant doing on that list?

[eric]

likely HoF, i make no claim as to whether he is likely to play all his seasons for okc

(kd2dc)

[Druce]

why isn't kobe on the list?

[eric]

Sept 11, 2015 8:01:21 GMT -6 Druce said:

why isn't kobe on the list?

you know what, i am not familiar with that name. i know a lot of names and i have a lot of names in my head, but i am not familiar with that name.

[Druce]

Sept 11, 2015 9:47:59 GMT -6 eric said:

Sept 11, 2015 8:01:21 GMT -6 Druce said:

why isn't kobe on the list?

you know what, i am not familiar with that name. i know a lot of names and i have a lot of names in my head, but i am not familiar with that name.

kobe bryant, probably a top 1 player of all time, greatest singing voice of our generation, among other accomplishments

[dilworth]

2nd ballot

[eric]

Sept 11, 2015 9:53:58 GMT -6 Druce said:

Sept 11, 2015 9:47:59 GMT -6 eric said:

you know what, i am not familiar with that name. i know a lot of names and i have a lot of names in my head, but i am not familiar with that name.

kobe bryant, probably a top 1 player of all time, greatest singing voice of our generation, among other accomplishments

it's a shaq quote. THAT'S THE JOKE

[Druce]

Sept 11, 2015 10:54:55 GMT -6 eric said:

Sept 11, 2015 9:53:58 GMT -6 Druce said:

kobe bryant, probably a top 1 player of all time, greatest singing voice of our generation, among other accomplishments

it's a shaq quote. THAT'S THE JOKE

my apologies, i didn't catch on

[eric]

There are four major awards for NBA players: MVP (1955), Finals MVP (1969), All-Star Game MVP (1951), and Rookie of the Year (1953). Who do you suppose has won all four?

SPOILER: Click to show

4 2 2 1 - LeBron James
2 3 1 1 - Tim Duncan
1 3 3 1 - Shaquille O'Neal
5 6 3 1 - Michael Jordan
3 2 1 1 - Larry Bird
1 2 1 1 - Willis Reed
4 1 1 1 - Wilt Chamberlain
2 * 4 1 - Bob Pettit

Pettit was the best player on a championship team before the advent of the FMVP and so probably would have won it. Mikan won AMVP and definitely would have won MVP/FMVP but as an established veteran before the NBA began probably wouldn't have won ROY. And that's it. Bill Russell infamously lost ROY to his own (white) teammate, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar incredibly never won AMVP in 18 tries. For current players, Durant only needs the FMVP and no other ROY has any other hardware. Over in the ABA Artis Gilmore was the only player who hit all four: exactly one of each.

More on Kareem: his three best ASG performances came in losses, and while it was rare it wasn't unprecedented for losers to win AMVP...
1958 Pettit lost by 12 points but the game was in St. Louis (home of the Hawks) so you do the math
1977 Erving lost by 1 point and was reportedly booed as he received the award
1990 Magic lost by 17 and it wasn't even the AIDS game

Still, the bottom line is he should have won for sure in 1976. 22 15 and 3 plus 3 assists, the winner Dave Bing put up a paltry 16 points 3 boards 4 dimes. Turnovers weren't yet recorded but it's hard to imagine they would have skewed the math enough, plus Kareem played 10 more minutes than Bing. He had decent shouts in 1983 and 1984 but 1976 was the year it should have happened.

.

Pretty good gang of 8 though. Shaq and Reed don't get a lot of love on all time great lists for good reason, but they're solidly second tier all time and showing up here is more evidence of that.

[eric]

Random All-Star game facts, c/o www.basketball-reference.com

The first All-Star game was held in 1951, but like the rest of the NBA in 1951 did not record minutes played. One was held every season since except for the lockout year in 2000 for a total of 63 All-Star games with MP recorded. Minutes and seconds are first recorded for the 2006 All-Star game. The highest twelve MP/g for players with at least five All-Star games played (though all these players played at least ten) are:

mp/g name
32.7 Bob Pettit
31.7 Oscar Robertson
31.2 LeBron James
30.7 Bob Cousy
30.1 Magic Johnson
29.8 Wilt Chamberlain
29.4 Michael Jordan
29.2 Elgin Baylor
28.9 Isiah Thomas
28.7 Julius Erving
28.7 Larry Bird
The most minutes played by a player in his only All-Star appearance are Ray Felix's 32. It's not clear why he never made another oh wait he was the second African American player in the ASG, and the first (Donald "Don" Barksdale) also never made another. What a crazy coincidence.

The least minutes played by a player in his only All-Star appearance are Otis Thorpe's 4, though John Johnson managed 5 over two games. Also clocking in at five minutes are Austin Carr and John Block, a power forward who made his only All-Star appearance the season before the NBA started recording blocks.

Kobe needs a little less than 51 minutes to pass Kareem for most All-Star minutes all time. He hasn't played an All-Star minute since 2013, when he passed Bob Cousy, Oscar Robertson, Michael Jordan, and Wilt Chamberlain. He is also currently 2 points ahead of LeBron James for most All-Star points all time and tied with Michael Jordan for most All-Star steals all time.

Voting records have been kept since 1975. Only five players have received the most votes three or more times.

SPOILER: Click to show

3: Kobe and LeBron
4: Julius Erving (NBA only) and Vince Carter
9: Michael Jordan

The only players to repeat as most voted in reverse chronological order are:

SPOILER: Click to show

Yao Ming
Vince Carter (3)
Michael Jordan
Grant Hill
Michael Jordan (7)
Magic Johnson
Julius Erving (3)
George Gervin

The only players to win All-Star game MVP in the same year they were the most voted player are:

SPOILER: Click to show

2011 Kobe Bryant
1998 Michael Jordan (also won the title and MVP and FMVP)
1988 Michael Jordan (also won MVP)
1983 Julius Erving (also won the title)
1980 George Gervin

The most votes ever received by an All-Star are Dwight Howard's 3,150,181 in 2009.

[eric]

The teams Michael Jordan was on won 32 playoff series in his career, the same number as Magic Johnson.
Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal have 33 each.
Tim Duncan has 34.
Scottie Pippen has 35.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar has 36.
Robert Horry has 39. Never made All-Star, All-NBA, or received a single MVP vote, but is a no doubt first ballot Hall of Coattail Rider.

I haven't found anyone else with more than 30. Names you might think of: Bill Russell 27, John Havlicek 26, Larry Bird 24, Robert Parish 27, LeBron James 25.

[ANK1990]

Odds LeBron wins 15 more in his remaining years?

[eric]

ANK1990 Nil.

He's got maybe four years left in the NBA, he'd have to win a ring every year, and I wouldn't be at all surprised if he retired the first time Cleveland won a ring.

[Deleted]

You really think he only plays 4 more years?

[eric]

Projecting out from now, I would guess 2500 2500 2000 2000 MP in the regular season, 800 700 600 500 playoffs, that puts him just over 46,000 regular season and 10,000 playoff minutes. That's more than Tim Duncan has played right now, LeBron is already in decline, and if he wins a title for Cleveland at any point he'll have nothing left in basketball. I think four years is the over/under mark, and I could definitely see him going under.

[eric]

Bulls managed only 4 offensive rebounds last night. It turns out that's relatively common, happening dozens of times a year. The only time since 1985 that a team has recorded 0 offensive rebounds?

c/o basketball reference

The 2002 Spurs, with Tim Duncan and David Robinson, who beat the Jazz in Utah that night.

.

The crazy thing about Kobe's terrible start isn't how bad it is, but that it's not really worse than he was last year.

.825 points per long jumper, 1.54 AST:TOV, .021 VORP/36, +.006 WS/48, -17.3 PER-USG, -6.7 on/off
.705 points per long jumper, 2.00 AST:TOV, .000 VORP/36, -.007 WS/48, -13.2 PER-USG, -7.9 on/off

On the topic of the twilight of the LeBron, it's a reminder that our perception always lags far behind the reality of a great player's decline. Kobe was ranked #40 before last season and wasn't even top 100... and he STILL gets ranked in the top 100 this year. I expect the Cavs to win the title this year because they suffered absurdly bad injury luck and the last two superteams improved in year two, but I don't expect LeBron to deserve FMVP.

.

I have given Anthony Davis a lot of guff for his effort levels, so I was pretty psyched that the great Zach Lowe tweeted "There have been too many possessions already this season in which Anthony Davis flat hasn't played hard enough." LeBron was accused of coasting in 2007, Kevin Durant also took a step back in his year four of 2011 but obviously nobody but LeBron received criticism that year. (Interestingly both players also enjoyed a sudden uptick in postseason success year over year: LeBron's Cavs went from second round to Finals, Durant's Thunder went from first round to Conference Finals.) The splits even in a small sample size back up the observations. Last year Davis' on/off was +7.8 on offense, -3.4 on defense. So far this year he's +10.7 on offense, +6.9 on defense. Maybe it's a fluke, or maybe being paired with Asik hid his defensive liabilities last year. We'll see how it goes.

[MistleTacoe]

I think LeBron will deserve FMVP....I'm imagining a line of 23/9/11 for the finals.

I basically can't imagine a 2016 Finals (Cavs victory) where he doesn't win it.

[eric]

Shot Selection and Derrick Rose

One of the great advances in NBA stats of the past decade or so is play by play stats. The most famous result of this is plus/minus and on/off statistics, but only slightly less well-known is the field goal percentage and proportion of a player by location.

Derrick Rose has always been a terrible three point shooter. His best season average is 34%, his career average is 30%. These numbers are terrible, and a direct consequence of his terrible form. In games he will jump as high as he can, then jack-knife his body into a shooting motion, resulting in his legs rotating upwards of 90º. This many moving parts cannot possibly be reliable, and the numbers you would expect result. Like Shaq and Dwight before him, he is the poster child for disproving the old lie "practice makes perfect". In fact, perfect practice makes perfect. These men in practice will quite quickly (within 10 attempts or so) settle into proper form, and therefore make a respectable percentage of their attempts, whether from the line or from three. This has no effect whatsoever on their in-game performance because you don't get to take 10+ attempts from the spot, you get 2 from the line or 1 from three and then you have to run around and do other things. That's why you adopt proper form.

I digress.

Derrick Rose took very few threes per 36 minutes his first two years in the league, and this year he has mercifully approached those low numbers. "Aha!" say the fans, "his athleticism has mercifully returned and he is attacking the basket again!" Alas, no. He is in fact attempting field goals at the basket at a career low 18% of his total attempts. If he's not taking 3s or layups, where then is he shooting? As it turns out, he is shattering his previous career high of 18% by taking 33% of his shots in the floater zone of 3-10 feet. Obviously some point guards have made a career out of taking floaters and no modern point guard can live without them, but Rose's .788 points per floater this year pales in comparison to Chris Paul's career .970 or Tony Parker's career .922, and while both counter-examples have seen similar shifts away from the basket neither has cracked 25% of their attempts from that area in a combined 24 player-seasons...

...and this is in by far the most offensively gifted Bulls starting lineup of Rose's tenure. Butler is a grown man three point shooter, Gasol has been spacing offenses for a decade, McBuckets or Snell can make a three now and again, Noah's corkscrew jumper has been replaced with Threekola.

Like Rondo, Rose is a fossil. It is possible to construct an NBA offense around a point guard who cannot shoot or get to the rim, but it puts you so far behind the eight ball to try that nobody in the NBA is bothering to do so, or will do so in the foreseeable future.

[eric]

I talked before about which Celtics started in 5 straight Finals, and ended up with Russell (10) Heinsohn (7 or 8) Cousy (7) Sharman (5) Sam Jones (5) Sanders (possibly 5). I also thought it would be interesting to go back and see which players started in all four Finals of the three other teams to make that run, and here they are:

2011-2014 Heat
Chris Bosh (missed 1 start in 2012)
Dwyane Wade
LeBron James
Mario Chalmers (finally got 1 start over Mike Bibby in the last game of 2011, started in 2014 before being dropped in the last game for Ray Allen)

Games started records in the playoffs only go back to 1985, annoyingly, so like with the Russell Celtics there was some guesswork here but I'm pretty confident.
1984-1987 Celtics
Dennis Johnson
Larry Bird
Robert Parish

Everyone knows McHale came up as a sixth man, and according to this article McHale didn't start in the Finals until 1985.

1982-1985 Lakers
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Kurt Rambis
Magic Johnson

Rambis definitely started in 1985 and started 40ish games a year from 82 to 84. Bob McAdoo famously came off the bench so even though he got more minutes Rambis was probably the starter. Michael Cooper had an outside chance but definitely didn't start in 1985 so he's out. The other guys (Nixon, Wilkes, Worthy, Scott) just weren't there all four years which makes it very difficult to start.

[eric]

I read an article the other day about the demise of the Grizzlies, and how they'd probably be forgotten to history because that's what happens to good but not quite great teams, and the 50 win mark was mentioned, so I thought I'd look up which teams have hit 50 wins in a moving five year average. Thanks as always to b-r.

I took NBA wins by year, all seasons prorated to 82 games, and therefore got as many as 62 measurements per team for the original eight franchises and as few as 7 for the Bobnets. (Note that the NBA officially gave the 90s Charlotte Hornet records to the current Hornets. That's stupid and doesn't affect anything in this analysis anyway so I gave them back to the Pelicans.)

All told there were 225 team-moving-average-years with at least 50 wins, mostly concentrated where you'd think (31 for the Lakers, 30 for the Celtics, 19 for the Spurs). Much rarer were 60 win TMAYs: five for Russell's Celtics, one for Kareem's Bucks, five each for the 80s Lakers and Celtics, two for Jordan's Bulls, one for the Kemp/Payton Sonics, one for the Stockton Jazz; 15 total. The closest anyone has come since are surprisingly the 2013 (2011-2015) Spurs measurement of 59.6, more on this in a second. Shaq's Lakers peaked at 58.6 in 2000, Duncan's Spurs (so to speak) at 59.4 in 2004 and 2005, LeBron's Heat at 56.4 in 2012.

The only franchises with no moving five year averages of at least 50 wins are the Nets (35 measurements), Bobcats (7), Warriors (62!!!), Pelicans (23), and Raptors (16). The Clippers got their first one with last year's measurement too, but the Warriors' futility is really shocking. This is a team that won a title in the 50s with Arizin, had Wilt, won another title with Barry in the 70s, had some frisky teams in the 90s, but no. Nothing.

The Warriors are, however, one of nine teams who can get a 50 this year. Those teams with the number of wins they need to pull it off:
59 - Hawks
45 - Bulls
57 - Warriors
53 - Rockets
55 - Pacers
32 - Clippers
39 - Grizzlies
36 - Heat
28 - Thunder
63* - Spurs

The figure for the Spurs is the number of wins they need to reach 60 in their moving year average, no other team is even possible. If you want to see the whole shebang you can click here, it's a little big so I didn't want to stretch out the page. The last fun thing we can do is to see which team has the best five year moving average in any given span. It goes pretty much how you'd think.

SAS 2012-13
SAS 2011-12
SAS 2010-11
LAL 2009-10
DAL 2008-09
DAL 2007-08
SAS 2006-07
SAS 2005-06
DAL 2004-05
SAS 2003-04
SAS 2002-03
LAL 2001-02
SAS 2000-01
LAL 1999-00
UTA 1998-99
UTA 1997-98
UTA 1996-97
CHI 1995-96
CHI 1994-95
CHI 1993-94
CHI 1992-93
CHI 1991-92
CHI 1990-91
LAL 1989-90
LAL 1988-89
LAL 1987-88
LAL 1986-87
BOS 1985-86
BOS 1984-85
BOS 1983-84
BOS 1982-83
BOS 1981-82
PHI 1980-81
PHI 1979-80
PHI 1978-79
PHI 1977-78
WAS 1976-77
WAS 1975-76
BOS 1974-75
BOS 1973-74
MIL 1972-73
MIL 1971-72
LAL 1970-71
LAL 1969-70
PHI 1968-69
PHI 1967-68
PHI 1966-67
BOS 1965-66
BOS 1964-65
BOS 1963-64
BOS 1962-63
BOS 1961-62
BOS 1960-61
BOS 1959-60
BOS 1958-59
BOS 1957-58
BOS 1956-57
BOS 1955-56
BOS 1954-55
LAL 1953-54
LAL 1952-53
LAL 1951-52

[ANK1990]

ExtremeSkins Fan View: Cap Hell Rocks!
By Arthur Mills
ExtremeSkins.com
March 16, 2006

Don't hate us because we're beautiful.

No more blank, wondering stares, confused head scratching, frothing emotional outbursts, conspiracy theories or embarrassing, dismissive references to 2000. The Washington tater skins are the central theme of every NFL team message board out there. Here's a message to you all from all ExtremeSkins fans everywhere.

It's time to embrace the reality of it all. Simply, we're better than you.

That's it. Look no further. We are better than you. We're more fun. It feels better to be us. We've got flair. We're audacious, capricious, bodacious, supercalifragilisticxpalidocious.

Are you finally getting it?

Yes, yes, I know cap hell was supposed to be upon us. I know that's what you've been told. I feel for you, I really do. As you come to realize we're better than you, a second bit of stark reality must also penetrate. We're smarter than them.

Repeat after me.

The Washington tater skins are managed, coached and owned by highly professional people who know more about running a football franchise than ALL the unnamed, anonymous sources any reporter has yanked from the broom closet and quoted.

Don't take my word for it. Take the following words for it.

Brandon Lloyd, Antwaan Randle El, Adam Archuleta, Andre Carter, Todd Collins, Christian Fauria.

The question you all should be asking isn't, "How is all this possible?" No. The question should be, "How didn't we know this was all possible?"

Six years of assurances cap hell was on the way and you still allowed yourself to believe the tripe. Perhaps busting the cap hell myth as it relates to the Washington tater skins is just too painful a thing for media and fans of other teams to do.

Like a child coming to the harsh knowledge Santa doesn't exist, the media and opposing teams' fans are struggling desperately to hang on to the fiction that cap hell is on the way for the tater skins despite--literally--YEARS of demonstrated contrary evidence.

Here's the best part.

You don't have to hate us for what we're doing. You can do it, too.

"The thing I want to emphasize is this: We haven't done one thing that anybody else can't do," Joe Gibbs said after the introductory press conference for Andre Carter. "We have certain rules in the league. Here's the cap, here's the numbers, here's what you can spend, so everybody in the league can do what we're doing, it's just that they choose not to, many of them."

Deep down, this is really the issue, isn't it? You can do it too and you know it, but, your team doesn't do it, so, you have a hard choice. Hate your team, or hate us.

Say you're a fan of the Philadelphia Eagles. You always have all those many millions available, which somehow never seem to get spent. All week you're hearing how you have LeCharles Bentley locked up as your free agent masterstroke to solidify your offensive line.

You are giddy. You're thrilled. You know this is the guy you need. He fills a need and makes it a strength. You're excited about the prospects of adding such a substantial piece. Then, the Cleveland Browns call, offer a few more bucks to Bentley and Bentley winds up in Cleveland leaving you with nothing more than whimpering excuses that Bentley is from Cleveland and always wanted to play there.

Oh, hush.

Antwaan Randle El is from Chicago. He's always wanted to play there. Yet he's playing in D.C. Adam Archuleta admits he adores Lovie Smith after years playing for him with St. Louis and wanted to play with him in Chicago. Yet he's playing in D.C. Andre Carter just had to meet the Broncos because his father played there 12 years and he envisioned being the second generation of his family with the team. Yet he's playing in D.C.

And it's driving you crazy because you were so excited and thrilled about the prospects of adding a good player your management and owner can't figure out how to land while we get EVERY single player we shoot at.

We get to actually live the thrill and giddiness you only get to brush up against. And it's killing you.

Did we pay a premium for generally young players entering their prime with years left to play in the NFL? You bet we did. Kind of like when the Eagles lock up their own young players for a premium before they really emerge on the scene and everyone calls that genius. Think of it like that, only, with the component of actually being smart because an expensive 24-year-old promising receiver suddenly becomes a very cheap 26-year-old receiver when he grabs 80 balls.

See, we already had good players under contract. Now we have more.

As you struggle to find words to describe the coming cap doom heading our way, try to process one final thought. When you have that free agent you need all lined up and you don't get him, well, isn't that really what cap hell feels like?

I wouldn't know, because I don't ever have to feel that way

[eric]

Some win streak facts.

1972 Lakers
33 wins in 64 days
Four sets of back to back to backs.
Never played three straight games on the road until games 32, 33, and 34, whereupon they lost.
Only had two wins of five points or less: by four to start the streak, by five for win 18.
Only had one game go to overtime, the third game of a back to back to back.
Went 2-4 in the six games following the streak.

2013 Heat
27 wins in 51 days
Won four straight road games for wins 7-10 and five straight for wins 20-24.
Had five wins of five points or less, including three in the five straight road win streak.
Only had one game go to overtime, a double overtime game in win 12.
Went 2-2 in the four games following the streak.
Remains the longest win streak for an MVP led team: LeBron 27, Kareem 20, Shaq 19, then Jordan/Wilt/Reed at 18. (Draymond would obviously go second if he wins MVP this year.)

2015 Warriors
24 wins in 46 days
Won six straight road games for wins 19-24.
Had five wins of five points or less, including three in the road win streak, one of which went double overtime.
Had another overtime game in win 11.
Record in the games following the streak TBD.

.

All three ended on the road.
All three involved an MVP player (Wilt, LeBron, Curry).
All three could have ended partway through if an opposing player had made exactly one more free throw in a single game.

[eric]

The East has a winning record against the West: 93 wins and 90 losses.

I assume everyone remembers the hysterical handwringing during the 2014 season when the East was an historically terrible embarrassment to the league and we had to make massive changes immediately and won't someone PLEASE think of the children!!!!! As it turned out the 2014 season wasn't the worst single inter conference record even in recent history: that dubious distinction goes to 2004. Even with a moving five year average the nadir was in 2003. So what happened to fix the problem?

Nothing.

Another interesting point: the peak East post-merger dominance occurred in 1989 (single year) and 1987 (five year movnig average). Remember this the next time someone wants to dismiss LeBron's Finals streak without simultaneously dismissing Magic being in 8 Finalses in 10 years.

[eric]

In 1994, the year before the three point line was moved in, the NBA had six players convert at least 40% of at least 150 three point attempts: Scott Skiles, Eric Murdock, Kenny Smith, Reggie Miller, Mitch Richmond, and Wardell Curry.

The 2013 NBA Champion Miami Heat had five such players: Mike Miller, LeBron James, Mario Chalmers, Shane Battier, and Walter Ray Allen.

No other team before or since has even had four.

This year's Warriors already have two (Klay Thompson, Wardell Curry II), are on pace to have another (Draymond Green), and if Harrison Barnes stays healthy after Wednesday's game and regains his % form from last year will have a fourth.

[eric]

In the past forty years, there have been five seasons where a player produced .300+ Win Shares per 48 minutes:
Michael Jordan (1988, 1991, 1996)
LeBron James (2009, 2013)

There are two players currently above .300 WS/48 for the season:
Steph Curry (.348)
Kawhi Leonard (.318)

Let us compare the four men in terms of when their first season came and their previous high:
Jordan: 4th and .247
LeBron: 6th and .242
Kawhi: 5th and .204
Curry: 7th and .288

Curry looks like a lock, but consider that Kevin Durant (remember him?) posted .291 his 6th year, then .295 his 7th year, now .293 in his 9th year. Or consider Chris Paul, who posted .284 his 3rd year only to be robbed of the MVP because it was Kobe's Turn, then .292 his 4th year only for LeBron to post the greatest personal single season of all time, then in his 5th year he hurt his knee and has never been the same. .300 is extremely rarified air, it takes a heck of a lot to accomplish it.

[Druce]

eric, a friend of mine is trying to tell me that lebron isn't as good as jordan or kobe based on his jump shooting%...i know this isn't true, but do you have anything statistically that i can just shut his ass up with?

[Bankz]

LeBron is the worst volume shooter in the NBA right now.

Its ugly... No spinning that eric