NBA - Main

Yeah luka made his classic bad game stat be 35/6/8

NBA isn't an attractive game to me anymore - way too many ill-advised "heat-checks" and taking turns on offense. I'd much rather watch Euro-ball at this point.

Steph Curry

Somehow averaging 3.9 assists and 3.7 turnovers a game isn’t discussed because it’s so normal for him

It needs to be something out of the ordinary for me to care at this point. Someone getting 20 boards still registers. Or throwing up a 50 piece. But yeah the big triple double kind of falls flat.

Yeah I see threads about Cade dropping a monster 26 points and I'm not even impressed anymore

I want to see some quadruple doubles.

It’s all relative. There are far more possessions in games now than there were in the 90s or early 00s. More shots, especially with so many 3s going up, drives rebound totals. 3s are also inflating scoring numbers.

There was a time when it was normal to have 10 or so total players in the league averaging over 20ppg. 25 is the new 20.

Ever since peak helio-Harden and MVP Russ, nothing surprises me. There is not a single offensive statistical output that would genuinely shock me besides 60-50-90.

The only other thing that would genuinely blow my mind statistically is someone averaging 3 steals AND 3 blocks a game for a season. 2+2 is already extremely rare and impressive. 3+3 would be goat defender stocks output. Maybe that detroit rookie could do it someday, or possibly even Wemby.

The game is busted.

not really. still impressive to me. but im older, grew up in an era where a lot of guys werent getting triple doubles and if they were, it wasnt big numbers

The pace is so much faster these days, leading to more possessions and shots and a higher score. Seeing 30pts from a player when a team is getting 130 isn't nearly as impressive as when the team gets 100 points total.

what gets me off now are players with wild shooting splits for the season, or some stretch of games, or the clutch. Love hearing about whoever shooting 55/43/90 over some heater, or going 22/30 in the clutch on the season.

Go look up Wilt Chamberlain's regular stats and you'll be wowed again

Jokic is truly the Gears of War 2 of the NBA

For me it’s the efficiency. TS has blown up past 2 seasons. averaging 60% TS doesn’t feel special anymore

Some stats have gotten rarer in return. It’s been like 5 years since the last 5x5, triple doubles with blocks barely happen…

Product of modern NBA giving offense massive advantages over defense. Not even on some boomer shit but it really can't be understated just how large of an effect the lack of calls on carrying, traveling, and moving screens. And don't even get me started on how soft defensive foul calls are these days.

The NBA wants to prioritize offense because that's what casuals like to see but when everyone in the NBA is an offensive beast putting up 25-30+ every game it just all regresses to the mean.

I think nothing of a player scoring 25. Just sounds like a super average game to me but I bet the average player rarely, if ever, scores 25 in a game

I agree and relate completely.

The past few years Westbrook and to a certain extent Harden/Jokic/Giannis making stats look easy.

No

I’m numb to those “first player to score 21p/13r/11a/2 blocks/2 ft’s since December 19 2001” stat lines

People are pretty desensitized to “filling the stat-sheet” type lines since so many players are very versatile now. Like with the line you used, for example. Taking the stats individually 36 points, 16 boards, 9 assists isn’t THAT out of the ordinary. Obviously, putting it together is whats impressive but the stars you mentioned have a very high usage and their playstyles are suited to approach those numbers on almost a nightly basis. People are still impressed with big lines but it would have to be big individual stats like 50+ points 17+ assist 20+ rebounds etc.

I don’t even look at em anymore

Absolutely numb. I feel like so much of these are just empty stats.

I'm a big Luka and now I'm only impressed if he has 40/8/8 or something like that. A 30 point triple double at this point is routine

They hand out foul shots for bullshit

The game’s rule changes are working as intended. Stats were supposed to be higher. The game more fluid. But now, as you say, it’s also become Ho-hum.

The regular season is basically the all-star game every day. I get it, no one wants to watch the 03-04 Pistons vs Pacers without the fighting. But there has to be a balance.

NBA defense has been neutered and backburnered worse than the NFL's and that's saying something. Imagine the NFL allowing forward laterals as long as it wasn't 1000% overly egregious or allowing the QB to throw a yard or three past the LOS or eliminated QB fumbles by declaring them dead balls. That's basically what the NBA has become.

There have been myriad changes that have sped the game by bits, but the change to the shot clock has accelerated everything. The NBA dipped below 93 possessions per 48 minutes in 1994-1995 and remained there until 2013 (with the exception of hitting 93.1 in 1999-2000), usually hovering between 90-92 possessions per 48.

In 2014 there was a jump from 92 to 93.9. And then a slow growth for a few years. And then with the shot clock change in 2018 there was a 3 possession per night boost to 100 for the first time since the 1980s, and its been in the 99s almost every year (98.2 in 2021-2022) since.

You've gotta recontextualize yourself for a world where, in addition to the efficiency of the 3 pointer increasing point totals, players are also getting about 10% more chances to put up numbers than they did before. And almost all of that growth has come in the last decade, so yeah - it is sudden.

Add 10% to Hakeem's numbers from 1993-1994 https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/o/olajuha01/gamelog/1994 some of those games start to look awfully similar to what we're seeing now from Joker (like that 37-14-8-3 that he had in 38 mins against Dallas).

It reminds me of when I was a kid watching MJ, I undervalued the hell out of all the other top stars of his era who had "pedestrian" scoring averages of like 25 ppg. It wasn't until I looked back that I gained a strong appreciation of his contemporaries.

I think it's harder today because news is constant and information is bombarding us all the time, we fans take for granted some of the legit special performances happening in the game. Plus, amazing stops feeling amazing if it happens too often.

Try to imagine explaining Giannis or Jokic to somebody from 20 years ago when nobody was putting up numbers like that. A guy built like a slightly stretchier Karl Malone with the speed of a guard, who can handle the ball on the perimeter and is a good passer to boot. A traditional centre who can play out of the post and clean up the boards, but he also has a handle and can shoot from anywhere and is one of the best passers in the league history.

These are one of a kind talents we haven’t seen before, players people would have told you couldn’t be real 20+ years ago. Plenty of players will put up those stupid stat lines a few times a year, these guys do it almost every game because they’re special. It’s easy to go “Oh stat inflation” because pace is up and more teams are adopting a high-usage do everything model for their stars, but don’t lose sight of the fact that these guys are also doing things we’ve never seen before regardless of what their box score looks like at the end of the game.