Today’s Sports Stat: June 20, 2019
TODAY’s SPORTSTAT-June 20, 2019
Overall #1 draft picks in NBA usually don’t stay with team that drafts them
The 2019 NBA draft is tonight (Thursday, June 20), so here’s a tidbit that you may find interesting…
I’m not ready to pin the tag of “Nostradamus” on myself or give myself a new nickname… “Tappradamus,” but here’s something I came across recently. It was written in one of my “Stats on Tapp” blogs almost seven years ago, dated June 28, 2012:
“It appears that Kentucky’s Anthony Davis will be the first overall pick in tonight’s NBA draft, taken by the New Orleans Hornets. Before Hornets fans get too excited and think that they will have a front-row seat to watching Davis develop into an NBA star and then retire as a Hornet, the reality is that not all number one overall picks stay with the team that drafted them.”
I wasn’t going out on a limb, per se, especially considering that many overall #1 draft choices in the NBA tend to leave the team that drafted them, but there are a handful of number ones who stayed with their draft team their entire careers. With his impending trade to the Lakers from the Pelicans, it appears that Anthony Davis will fulfill my prophesy and will not stay his entire career with the New Orleans franchise.
From 1950 to 2009, there were 60 NBA drafts and 60 different overall first picks in the draft. Of those 60, only nine players (15%) who were the number one pick in the draft stayed with that team that drafted them their entire career. Even if you look at the nine number one selections from 2010-18, three of the nine have already moved on to a different team than the one that drafted them, and one player, Andrew Wiggins, was drafted by the Cleveland Cavs in 2014 and was traded two months later to the Minnesota Timberwolves in a swap that brought Kevin Love to the Cavs.
Here is a look at the nine overall #1 draft picks in the NBA Draft from 1950-2009 who played their entire careers with the team that drafted them.
1958: Elgin Baylor, Minnesota/L.A. Lakers
1972: LaRue Martin, Portland
1973: Doug Collins, Philadelphia
1979: Magic Johnson, Los Angeles Lakers
1982: James Worthy, Los Angeles Lakers
1986: Brad Daugherty, Cleveland
1987: David Robinson, San Antonio
1997: Tim Duncan, San Antonio
2002: Yao Ming, Houston
For the record, John Wall was the number one selection in the NBA draft in 2010 by the Washington Bullets and he is still a member of that team. The last four number one overall choices in the draft are all still with the team (as of the 2018-19 season) that drafted them… 2015-Karl-Anthony Towns, 2016-Ben Simmons, 2017-Markelle Fultz, 2018-Deandre Ayton.
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Today’s Sportstat: June 17, 2019
Six Stats you may not know about… Anthony Davis
The big news in sports this past week was the impending trade of Anthony Davis from the New Orleans Pelicans to the Los Angeles Lakers. The trade has made the Lakers the betting favorite in Las Vegas to win the NBA championship in 2020.
Davis, who spent one year at the University of Kentucky before jumping to the NBA, is a six-time All-Star in his seven seasons in the league. He is also a three-time all-NBA selection, but he has seen post-season action with the Pelicans in only two of his seven campaigns.
Here are six stats you may not know about Davis.
- Davis’ up-to-date career numbers include 23.7 points per game, 10.5 rebounds per game and 2.4 blocks per contest. He is currently one of only four players to have career stats of 23 points, 10 rebounds and 2 blocks per game. The others: Shaquille O’Neal, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Joel Embiid.
- Davis holds the NBA All-Star Game record with 52 points. He did it in the 2017 All-Star Game. He has 103 career All-Star Game points and only one assist to go with those 103 career points. Of the 48 players who have 100 or more career All-Star Game points, he has the fewest assists with one. Paul Arizin is next with six assists.
- Davis had 1,000 points, 500 rebounds and 100 blocks in six of his seven NBA seasons. That ties him for 19th in that category. Tim Duncan tops the list with 17 seasons with 1,000 points, 500 rebounds and 100 blocks.
- In four of his seven seasons Davis had 75 steals and 150 blocks. That ties him for eighth most in league history. Hakeem Olajuwon tops the list with 13 such seasons. Davis is one of only 13 in league history to have 100 steals and 200 blocked shots in a season. He did it in 2015. Olajuwon tops this list with 13 seasons with 100 steals and 200 blocks.
- In his 13 career playoff games, Davis is averaging 30.5 points per game, 12.7 rebounds and 2.5 blocks per contest. He is the only 30 points-10 rebounds -2 blocked shots (minimum of 10 playoff games played) player in playoff history.
- Davis was the #1 selection in the 2012 NBA Draft. He is, however, second on the list of most career points for players chosen in that draft (Damian Lillard has 12,909 career points to Davis’ 11,059, although Davis 23.7 points per game average ranks ahead of Lillard’s 23.5 for the 2012 draft class) and he is second on the list for most rebounds from that class (fellow 2012 draftee Andre Drummond has 7,424 career rebounds to Davis’ 4,906).
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Today’s Sports Stat: April 23, 2018
Here are a handful of stats from this past weekend’s NBA playoff games.
- The Bucks have evened their series with the Boston Celtics at 2-2 with victories in Games #3 and #4 in Milwaukee. It has been well documented that the Bucks have not won a playoff series since 2001; they have lost seven series since then, losing in first round of those seven playoffs.
The Bucks will try to take the lead in their series with Boston by winning on the road in Game #5. However, past history has shown that the Bucks have not fared well in Games #5 through #7 in their past seven post-season series…the Bucks are 2-9 in Games #5-Games #7 since 2003. Following is a quick look at the Bucks record in each game of the playoffs since 2003.
Game #1: 1-7
Game #2: 2-6
Game #3: 4-4
Game #4: 4-4
Game #5: 2-4
Game #6: 0-4
Game #7: 0-1
- The New Orleans Pelicans had two players score 40 or more points in a playoff game when on April 21 Anthony Davis had 47 and Jrue Holiday had 41 as the Pelicans swept the Portland Trailblazers 4-0 in the first round of the playoffs. It was only the fifth time in NBA history that a pair of teammates scored 40 or more points in the same playoff contest. The five times:
Anthony Davis (47) & Jrue Holiday (41), New Orleans, 4-21-18
LeBron James (41) & Kyrie Irving (41), Cleveland, 6-13-16
Reggie Miller (40) & Jalen Rose (40), Indiana, 5-6-2000
Clyde Drexler (41) & Hakeem Olajuwon (40), Houston, 5-5-95
Sleepy Floyd (42) & Hakeem Olajuwon (41), Houston, 4-30-88
- Speaking of Davis, in addition to his 47 points in that game, he only recorded one assist in the contest. It was the 37th time in NBA playoff history that a player scored 40 or more points in a playoff game with only one or no assists. It was the fourth most points scored in a playoff game by a player with one or no assists in the game; Sam Jones holds the record… he had 51 points for the Celtics in a March 28, 1967 playoff games with only one assist. Karl Malone holds the mark for most points scored in a playoff game with no assists; he had 50 points and no assists for Utah in a post-season game on April 22, 2000.
Five players have had multiple playoff games with 40 or more points and only one or no assists. Reggie Miller, Shaquille O’Neal and Amare Stoudemire did it three times, while Bob McAdoo and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar did it twice.
- The Bucks Thon Maker had a pair of games, Game #3 and Game #4, where he had five blocked shots in each contest. He is only the second player in league history to have multiple playoffs games (now three, he had one game with five blocks last season) with five or more blocks before the age of 22 (Maker is only 21). The other player is Serge Ibaka who had six playoff games with five or more blocked shots before he turned 22.
Maker has 10 blocks in the playoffs so far this season, ranking him second on that list, Anthony Davis tops the list with 11 blocks so far this post-season. It’s interesting to note, however, that Davis has 11 blocks in 152 minutes played; Maker has 10 blocks in only 56 minutes played.
- Utah rookie guard Donovan Mitchell scored 28 and 27 points in the first two playoff games for the Jazz. He became only the 26th rookie in NBA history to have multiple playoff games with 25 or more points. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar tops the list with 10 playoff games with 25+ points as a rookie. He is followed by David Robinson with six such games, Elvin Hayes with five, and Alonzo Mourning and Arvydas Sabonis with four games each.
The last rookie to score 30 or more points in a playoff game was the Bucks’ Brandon Jennings; he had 34 points on April 13, 2010 in a playoff game versus the Atlanta Hawks. The most points scored by a rookie in a playoff game is held by another Bucks rookie, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. He tallied 46 as a rookie in an April 3, 1970 playoff games versus the Philadelphia 76ers. Magic Johnson and Chuck Person are the only other rookies to score 40 or more points in an NBA playoff game.
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Today’s Sports Stat: March 12, 2018
New Orleans Pelicans big man Anthony Davis celebrated his 25th birthday yesterday by collecting his first triple-double in the NBA. He had 25 points, 11 rebounds and a career-high 10 blocks in his team’s loss to Utah.
In the games leading up to his 25th birthday, Davis accumulated 9,125 points and 4,044 career rebounds. His 9,125 career points before his 25th birthday are the seventh most in NBA history. LeBron James tops this category with 13,927 career points.
Following are the Top 10 players in most career points before the age of 25.
LeBron James, 13,927
Kevin Durant, 12,258
Carmelo Anthony, 10,768
Kobe Bryant, 10,658
Tracy McGrady, 10,420
Shaquille O’Neal, 9,208
Anthony Davis, 9,125
Bob McAdoo, 8,960
Dwight Howard, 8,936
Gilbert Arenas, 8,445
Davis also became only the fourth player in NBA history to reach 8,000 career points and 4,000 career rebounds before the age of 25. The others: Shaquille O’Neal, Dwight Howard and Kevin Garnett.
Davis and Garnett are the only two players in NBA history to have 8,000 points, 4,000 rebounds, 700 assists, 500 steals and 500 blocked shots before their 25th birthday.
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Anthony Davis wins MOP with fewest points ever in a Championship Game
Sports Stats ‘on Tapp’ is a sports statistics blog published multiple times weekly focusing on stats that go beyond the numbers.
Anthony Davis Jordan Brand Classic 2011 (Photo credit: BasketballElite)
Kentucky‘s Anthony Davis recently won the Naismith Player of the Year Award, his team won the national championship, and Monday night he set a record for the fewest points scored in a championship game by the Final Four Most Outstanding Player (MOP). Davis had 16 rebounds, six blocks, five assists and three steals to go with only six points in the MOP performance. It was the fewest points scored by an MOP in a title game since Bobby Hurley was MOP in Duke’s 1992 national championship. Hurley had only nine points in the title contest.
Following are the Final Four MOPs who had fewer than 15 points in the championship game.
Points, Player, Team, Year
6: Anthony Davis, Kentucky, 2012
9: Bobby Hurley, Duke, 1992
10: Patrick Ewing, Georgetown, 1984
11: Walt Hazzard, UCLA, 1964
12: Marv Huffman, Kansas, 1940
12: John Kotz, Wisconsin, 1941
13: Corey Brewer, Florida, 2007
14: Alex Groza, Kentucky, 1948
One more look at the leading scorers from last night’s game. Kansas’ Tyshawn Taylor led the Jayhawks with 19 points. This was the fourth straight year that the leading scorer for the losing team scored under 20 points.
In looking at the history of the tournament, there have been 42 players who scored 20 or more points in the title game as a member of the losing team. Slide the scale up to 25 points and we see that there have been 15 players who scored 25 or more points in a losing cause in the NCAA men’s Div. I championship game. Seton Hall’s John Morton tops the list with 35 points in his school’s 1989 championship game loss to Michigan.
Here’s a look at those 15 players who scored 25 or more points in a losing cause in the title game.
Points, Player (School, Year)
35: John Morton (Seton Hall, 1989)
34: Kevin Grevey (Kentucky, 1975)
29: John Wallace (Syracuse, 1996)… Larry Finch (Memphis, 1973)
28: Rick Mount (Purdue, 1969)… Cazzie Russell (Michigan, 1965)… Jerry West (West Virginia, 1959)
27: Udonis Haslem (Florida, 2000)… Ron King (Florida State, 1972)… Jerry Lucas (Ohio State, 1961)
26: B.J. Born (Kansas, 1953)
25: Greg Oden (Ohio State, 2007)… Trajan Langdon (Duke, 1999)… Howard Porter (Villanova, 1971)… Elgin Baylor (Seattle, 1958)
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