Today’s Sportstat: February 29, 2020
Last time each NFL team drafted a QB in the first round
Even though it’s the “off-season,” the NFL is in the news with the NFL Combine being held in Indianapolis.
One thing that usually goes along with the Combine is the plethora of mock drafts which circulate in the media. Every NFL expert (and even some who are not experts) have an opinion about who and how each of the NFL’s 32 teams will draft in April.
One such mock draft I read had the Packers choosing a QB in the first round. The logic was that the team needed to prepare for the inevitable time when Aaron Rodgers would not be an elite QB and the team needed to start putting a succession plan in place. Should the Pack select a QB in the first round of this year’s draft? Let the debate start.
It got me thinking about QBs selected in the first round over the past several years. Specifically, I looked at the QBs who were chosen in the first round of the NFL Draft since 2000, a total of 20 drafts this century.
A total of 56 QBs were chosen in the first round of the draft from 2000-2019, an average of just under three per year. Four teams, however, have not drafted a QB in the first round this century: Dallas, New England, New Orleans and Seattle. In fact, the team that has the longest stretch where they have not drafted a QB in the first round are the New Orleans Saints. The last QB they drafted in the first round was in 1971 when they tabbed Archie Manning, Peyton and Eli’s father, in the first round of that draft.
Here’s a look at the last year each NFL franchise chose a QB in the first round of the NFL Draft (the current city for each franchise is listed).
1971: New Orleans (Archie Manning)
1989: Dallas (Troy Aikman)
1993: New England (Drew Bledsoe), Seattle (Rick Mirer)
2003: Cincinnati
2004: L.A. Chargers, Pittsburgh
2005: Green Bay, San Francisco
2007: Oakland
2008: Atlanta
2009: Detroit
2011: Carolina
2012: Indianapolis, Miami
2014: Jacksonville, Minnesota
2015: Tampa Bay, Tennessee
2016: Denver, L.A. Rams, Philadelphia
2017: Chicago, Houston, Kansas City
2018: Baltimore, Buffalo, Cleveland, N.Y. Jets
2019: Arizona, N.Y. Giants, Washington
- Nine franchises have drafted three or more QBs in the first round this century; the Redskins and Browns have each drafted four different QBs in the first round since 2000. The seven teams that have drafted three QBs in the first round since 2000: Arizona, Baltimore, Buffalo, Denver, Jacksonville, N.Y. Jets, Tennessee.
- There have been four colleges that have had three or more of their QBs taken in the first round since 2000… USC has seen four of its QBs taken in the first round since 2000 to top the list; California, Florida State and Oklahoma have had three of their QBs taken in the first round since 2000.
Follow Jerry on Twitter @StatsonTapp
Today’s Sportstat: February 27, 2020
NBA Buzzer-Beaters: Who is the king of the last-second shot?
Ever wonder who the greatest clutch shooter is in NBA history? Is it Michael Jordan? Kobe Bryant? Someone else?
One of my favorite websites is sports-reference.com and their affiliate sites for specific sports like football, basketball and baseball. I use these websites quite often as I research sports stats.
Recently, sports-reference.com noted that they had researched every “buzzer-beater” in NBA history and it was now posted on the basketball-reference.com website. They came up with a comprehensive list of every “buzzer-beater” in NBA history, 772 shots to be exact. They defined a “buzzer-beater” as “successful shots taken with the shooter’s team tied or trailing which left no time on the clock after going through the net.”
The chart lists the player who made the shot, the date, opponent, type of shot (free throw, two-point shot, three-pointer), who assisted on the shot, and the distance of the shot. This is an impressive undertaking.
My curiosity was piqued about which player was listed most often on the list of 772 buzzer-beaters. Here’s the list of 22 players who had four or more career buzzer-beaters in their NBA career.
9-Michael Jordan
8-Kobe Bryant, Joe Johnson
7-Gilbert Arenas, Vince Carter, LeBron James, Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce
5-Andre Iguodola, Dwyane Wade
4-Greg Ballard, Larry Bird, Carl Braun, Monte Ellis, World B. Free, Rudy Gay, Bill Laimbeer, Chuck Person, Jerry Stackhouse, John Stockton, Jerry West, Moe Williams
Any surprises?
For Milwaukee Bucks fans, the team had 33 buzzer-beaters (and was the victim of a buzzer-beater 26 times). Six players had two or more buzzer-beaters… leading the way was Sidney Moncrief who had three buzzer-beaters with the Bucks. He was followed by five players each who had two buzzer-beaters in a Bucks uniform: Andrew Bogut, Marques Johnson, Khris Middleton, Brian Winters and Mo Williams.
Follow Jerry on Twitter @StatsonTapp
Today’s Sportstat: February 22, 2020
Complete Games not a common theme during Counsell’s tenure
If you follow baseball, you know that relief pitching and managing the bullpen are key factors in today’s game, and that starting pitching, and specifically, complete games, is a quickly dying occurrence.
The Milwaukee Brewers are a prime example of this trend. Manager Craig Counsel begins his sixth season with the team and the way he handles the pitching staff is either the reason for the most recent success Counsell and the Brewers have had, or it is a cause for frustration for Brewers fans (and maybe the team’s starting pitching staff).
Debate about why this has happened within the Brewers pitching staff can shift from a strong bullpen to a weak starting staff. Most everyone has an opinion. But the numbers don’t lie… complete games are on the decline for every team and the game has changed, especially when it comes to how pitching staffs are handled.
The complete game stats are pretty significant when you look at the past five seasons with Counsell in charge. From 2015-19, the Brewers had only two complete games (Taylor Jungmann on July 11, 2015 and Jimmy Nelson on June 18, 2017). That is tied for the fewest complete games in the majors over the past five years with the Tampa Bay Rays pitching staff.
If we look at the past two seasons, the Brew Crew had zero complete games, one of four teams that did not have a complete game over the past two seasons. The others were the Rays, Detroit Tigers and San Diego Padres.
Here is a look at the number of complete games each MLB pitching staff had in the past five seasons (2015-19).
34: Cleveland
22: San Francisco
20: Boston, Chicago White Sox
15: Chicago Cubs, Minnesota, Seattle
14: L.A. Dodgers
13: Houston, Texas
12: Detroit
11: Oakland, Pittsburgh, Washington
10: N.Y. Mets, Toronto
9: Kansas City, Philadelphia
8: Colorado, L.A. Angels, N.Y. Yankees, St. Louis
7: Arizona, Atlanta, Cincinnati
4: Baltimore, Florida, San Diego
2: Milwaukee, Tampa Bay
In addition:
- The Brewers have had zero complete games in three (2016, 2018, 2019) of Counsell’s five seasons. The only other season where the Brew Crew had zero complete games was in 2012.
- The last season where the Brewers had double-digits in complete games was in 2008 when they had 12.
- Most complete games in a season for the Brewers pitching staff? In 1978 they had 62 complete games; the following year they had 61.
- In the first 26 years of the Brewers franchise (1969-94) the team had a total of 836 complete games; in the last 25 years (1995-2019) the team had 89 complete games.
You get the point!
Follow Jerry on Twitter @StatsonTapp
Today’s Sportstat: February 20, 2020
Milwaukee Bucks: Six stats to keep an eye on as the season draws to a close
The Milwaukee Bucks jump into the second half of the 2019-20 NBA season with the league’s best record. With a 46-8 record, the Bucks have 28 games remaining on the schedule. The team, and a few of its players, is closing in on some noteworthy stats. Here are six stats that you’ll want to pay attention to as the regular season gives way to the playoffs.
- Giannis Antetokounmpo is averaging 30.0 points per game, 13.5 rebounds and 5.8 assists. He could become the fifth player in NBA history to finish a season with an average of 30 points, 10 rebounds and five assists. Wilt Chamberlain (1963-64 and 1965-66) and Oscar Robertson (1960-61, 1961-62) each did it twice in their careers; Elgin Baylor did it in 1960-61, and the most recent player to reach these numbers was Russell Westbrook in the 2016-17 campaign.
- As mentioned above, the Bucks have a 46-8 record. The team’s best regular season record was in 1970-71 when they went 66-16. The second-best record was the following year when the team went 63-19. Last year’s Bucks were 60-22, tied for the third best record in team history with the 1972-73 and 1980-81 squads. This year’s team will need to finish 21-7 in their final 28 games to top the 1970-71 team’s record of 66-16.
- Guard George Hill has been lights out from the three-point arc this season. He has made 131 threes, but the impressive part of that is his percentage… he is shooting threes at .511 percentage through the first half of the season. There has been only five times in NBA history that a player has shot over 50% on three-pointers with a minimum of 150 threes made in the season. The five times: Detlef Schrempf (.514 percentage, 181 made threes) in 1994-95, Steve Kerr (.524-170 threes) in 1994-95, Tim Legler (.522, 245 threes) in 1995-96, Steve Kerr (.515, 237 threes) in 1995-96 and Jason Kapono (.514, 210 threes) in 2006-07. Hill has a chance to join this list.
- Through games of February 12, the Bucks have an active streak of 78 consecutive regular season games with at least 100 points. That is tied for 6th as the longest streak in league history. If they finish the season with 100 or more points in each of their remaining 28 games, that would increase the streak to 106 games at the end of the season. That would be the third longest streak in NBA history. Denver has the longest streak with 136 straight games with 100 or more points (in 1981 and 1982) and the San Antonio Spurs are second at 129 games (1978- 80).
- Brook Lopez has 135 blocks and has attempted 242 three-pointers this season. He should pass the 250 mark in three-point attempts soon; that would give him three seasons where he has had 100 or more blocks and 250 or more three-point field goal attempts. He would become only the fourth player in league history to reach those numbers (100 blocks and 250 three-point shots attempted) in three or more seasons. The others: Shawn Marion (he did it four times), Rasheed Wallace and Karl-Anthony Towns (three times each).
- Last season the Bucks set a team record with nine different players making 50 or more three-pointers in the season. With 28 games remaining, the team already has eight players with 50 or more made threes (Middleton-114, Matthews-82, Korver-77, Antetokounmpo-73, Brooks Lopez-72, Hill-67, DiVencenzo-62 and Bledsoe-56). The Bucks need two more players to reach the 50 mark to break the team record of nine players with 50 or more threes made in a season. The best bets are Ersan Ilyasova (he has 44 this season), Pat Connaughton (he has 35) and Sterling Brown (he has 31).
Follow Jerry on Twitter @StatsonTapp
Today’s Sportstat: February 17, 2020
Counsell bringing stability to Brewers dugout
Milwaukee Brewers manager Craig Counsell in 2020 will be starting his sixth season (yes, he has been the manager for five seasons already!). That is noteworthy from the standpoint that only three other Brewers managers in team history had a stretch of more than five years as manager of the team.
Back in 2015 when Counsell was handed the job after a stint in the Brewers front office, many questioned the move, especially considering that Counsell did not have any managerial experience. But with two consecutive post-season appearances in 2018 and 2019 and a regular season record 24 games above .500, Counsell, with more success in the future, could make a move to challenge the most career games and career wins by a Brewers skipper.
For the record, Counsell is 405-381 record (.515 winning percentage) in his five seasons with the Brew Crew.
Consider this:
- Counsell is only 53 wins from taking over second place on the team’s list for most wins by a manager. There’s a good chance that could happen this year.
- He is 158 wins as a manager from the top spot. A pair of good seasons in 2020 and 2021 could launch Counsell into first place on that list.
- His 786 regular season games managed for the team ranks fourth. He is 34 games out of third place. To take over the top spot from Phil Garner, Counsell will probably have to manage the team well into the 2022 season to surpass Garner.
- He is one of four Brewers managers with 400 or more career wins. The only Brewers manager with 500 or more wins is Garner with 563.
- Of the seven Brewers managers who managed the team for 500 or more career regular season games, Counsell’s .515 winning percentage is tied for second with Tom Trebelhorn, only .003 points behind George Bamberger, who tops the list at .518.
- Counsell last season became the only Brewers skipper in team history to lead the team to two post-season appearances. He also became the 93rd manager in MLB history to have two or more appearances in the post-season on his managerial resume.
- His six playoff wins as a manager of the Brewers ties him with Harvey Kuenn for most in team history.
- His 10 playoff games managed with the team is third on the list behind Kuenn with 12 and Ron Roenicke with 11.
Here is a list of the seven men who have managed the Brewers for 500 or more regular season games (also noted is their win-loss record and winning percentage in those games).
Phil Garner, 1180, 563-617 .477
Ned Yost, 959, 457-502 .477
Tom Trebelhorn, 819, 422-397 .515
Craig Counsell, 786, 405-381 .515
George Bamberger, 728, 377-351 .518
Ron Roenicke, 673, 342-331 .508
Del Crandall, 609, 271-338 .445
Note: Of the remaining 12 men who have managed the Brewers in the team’s history, none skippered the team for more than 300 games.
Follow Jerry on Twitter @StatsonTapp
Sports Stats 'on Tapp' 