Basketball statistics

I was born decades after the Great Depression, so I never had the opportunity to meet Dr. James Naismith. I know that he wanted a game without contact but to make an honest attempt at that goal, players on defense should not be allowed to…

LeBron James celebrates after a shot to become the all-time NBA scoring leader, passing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar at 38,388 points on Feb. 7, 2023, in Los Angeles.Image: Getty ImagesOn Tuesday night, LeBron James became the NBA’s Vitruvian…

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar hands LeBron James the ball after James passed Abdul-Jabbar to become the NBA’s all-time leading scorer on Feb. 7, 2023, in Los Angeles.Image: Getty ImagesAnybody with a pulse could see the tension following LeBron…

Chris PaulImage: Getty ImagesAt the beginning of the 2021-22 NBA season, the rule changes were irksome to players used to getting touch fouls by lunging into unsuspecting defenders to draw contact and a whistle. Trae Young, Damian Lillard,…

Is some kind of Jokic?Image: Getty ImagesThe impending news that Nikola Jokić will be awarded his second-consecutive MVP awardhas sent the NBA community into a border war formation between respect for analytics and the eye test. Jokic’s…

Grayson Allen’s reputation is REALLY BAD so he’s not exactly getting the benefit of the doubt here.Photo: Getty ImagesAlex Caruso’s wrist is broken. He is going to miss the next 6-8 weeks of action for the Bulls. Grayson Allen, the person…

Numbers! How do they work, and why do they say that Nikola Jokić is better on defense than Joel Embiid?Illustration: Getty ImagesAnalytics can be misleading. Over the last decade, we’ve seen an influx of statistics take over the sports…

Nikola Jokić is having a dominant season.Image: Getty ImagesThe Denver Nuggets are currently 12-13, tied with the Dallas Mavericks for seventh in the Western Conference. Despite having Aaron Gordon for the entirety of this season, the…

Draymond is loving all the no-calls.Image: Getty ImagesThe NBA finally listened to the outcry and decided to turn back the clock on the game and make things more balanced where foul calls are concerned. The league is walking a fine line and…

James Harden’s not getting to the line as much as he’d like.Image: Getty ImagesIf the world ended today (because that’s the only way the NBA season would end today, and I hate cliches, but this one is useful in this case), the NBA would…