the league is setting an absolute RECORD pace for 30/40+ point games

[STATUTORY]

your average run of the mill rotation player on any given night can drop 30+ or 40+

[lilteapot]

who's an average player that has dropped 30 or 40 recently?

[Kblaze8855]

Im wating for someone really bored to give me a comparison for today vs the early 60s. Or at least the early 60s if you put aside Wilt and Baylor who kinda skew it by never coming off the floor and scoring huge by request of their coaches partly to keep their teams afloat fan wise.

Guys today may score more than in the 60s considering the minutes. Giannis scores 29 a game and Baylor peaked at 38. But Baylor played 44 minutes a game to do it and Giannis plays 32. Per minute...Giannis scores more.

Im not putting in the effort right now for a bigtime comparison...but id like to read one.

[STATUTORY]

who's an average player that has dropped 30 or 40 recently?

Spencer Dinwiddie got himself 30 last night
Marcus Morris and Luke Kennard were right there with 29

[StrongLurk]

If you actually watch the games, you'll see the average SKILL level for scoring has gone up over time, especially with the 3-point ball factoring in so much.

Watching 10 average games now vs 10 in the 80's and you'll see a big difference in the skill level of the AVERAGE player scoring the ball.

Superstar skill level has remained pretty constant since the 80's...but shit we even have tons of Euro talent now that barely existed before 2000.

[Kblaze8855]

If you actually watch the games, you'll see the average SKILL level for scoring has gone up over time, especially with the 3-point ball factoring in so much.

Watching 10 average games now vs 10 in the 80's and you'll see a big difference in the skill level of the AVERAGE player scoring the ball.

Superstar skill level has remained pretty constant since the 80's...but shit we even have tons of Euro talent now that barely existed before 2000.

That argument would have more merit if there weren

[StrongLurk]

[QUOTE=Kblaze8855]That argument would have more merit if there weren

[Kblaze8855]

Of course it’s as talented as ever. It’s just making an active effort to allow the offensive talent to flourish at the expense of defense.

[SomeBlackDude]

[QUOTE=Kblaze8855]That argument would have more merit if there weren

[sbw19]

[COLOR=Teal]I believe current scoring numbers won't go down until NBA officials and statisticians implent tracking technology to account for concrete defensive stats (deflections, contested shots, boxing outs) on the fly, and I suspect this will happen within the next 5 years the way AI is advancing.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=Teal]Once such metrics are trackable league-wide in realtime, where you could check after every qtr, game etc and they become part of the record books, fans will talk and analysts will use them in arguments and players (and GMs/coaches) will care about those numbers.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=Teal]More than ever the league culture (pertaining individual production and impact and overall success) is that of quantifiable milestones, so it's rather understandable how concrete defensive numbers not being easily and quickly accessible diminishes players interest in playing defense.
[/COLOR]
[COLOR=Teal]In a way it's our own fault as obsessed fans as much as anyone's. Players are giving us product (numbers, mostly offensive stats) we care and talk about, and this is where change must begin.
[/COLOR]
[COLOR=Teal]In this day and age, it's virtually impossible to not care about measured success, so the alternative is to add more layers to it so it becomes more balanced.
[/COLOR]

[STATUTORY]

[COLOR=Teal]I believe current scoring numbers won't go down until NBA officials and statisticians implent tracking technology to account for concrete defensive stats (deflections, contested shots, boxing outs) on the fly, and I suspect this will happen within the next 5 years the way AI is advancing.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=Teal]Once such metrics are trackable league-wide in realtime, where you could check after every qtr, game etc and they become part of the record books, fans will talk and analysts will use them in arguments and players (and GMs/coaches) will care about those numbers.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=Teal]More than ever the league culture (pertaining individual production and impact and overall success) is that of quantifiable milestones, so it's rather understandable how concrete defensive numbers not being easily and quickly accessible diminishes players interest in playing defense.
[/COLOR]
[COLOR=Teal]In a way it's our own fault as obsessed fans as much as anyone's. Players are giving us product (numbers, mostly offensive stats) we care and talk about, and this is where change must begin.
[/COLOR]
[COLOR=Teal]In this day and age, it's virtually impossible to not care about measured success, so the alternative is to add more layers to it so it more balanced.
[/COLOR]

very astute analysis. Measurable stats have always distorted how the game is played

when fans/media valued volume scoring, ppg went up
when fans/media valued efficiency, efficiency + 3 point shooting went up

right now there's no good way of measuring defense so players can't reliably get paid from playing it, so it's not valued.

[StrongLurk]

exactly.

dudes are talking that 'evolution' bullshit but the same guys who are stars now, were stars 4-5 years ago before the freedom of movement initiative by the league... where were russ' triple double seasons before that? why is the beard only now pushing 40ppg seasons?

why are teams only now putting up scoring, pace, efficiency #s that haven't been seen since the late 60s, pre merger era?

again, same basic group of dudes... vastly different results.

Russ got trip dubs because he had like highest usage rating seasons of all time.

Harden is chucking more than he ever has before...

People figure out what works on offense and then perfect it/spam it until defenses catch up.

This is why Luca is so good already. He was been watching tons of film obviously on guys like Harden, Lilliard, and Lebron...so he has come in the league with a tailored made game.

[STATUTORY]

who's an average player that has dropped 30 or 40 recently?

Jaylen Brown just scored 30

literally every night somebody drops 30, just too easy

[Doranku]

I mean... look at the lines from JUST last night:

DLo - 52/9/5
Wiggins - 40/5/7
Siakam - 44/10/4
Luka - 38/14/10
Dame - 60/4/5

And those guys are all B list stars at best. This isn't Kawhi, LeBron, KD, Harden, etc dropping those kinda numbers on the same night.. and it doesn't even end there. Dinwiddie dropped 34, Bogdanovic had 33, Marcus Morris has 29/9, Luke Kennard had 29/6/5, Vucevic with 23/16/6...

ANYONE can go off in today's NBA.

[BigShotBob]

Jordan would average 50