Today’s Sportstat: September 6, 2019
A few stats you may not know about new basketball HOF’s Sidney Moncrief and Jack Sikma
A pair of former NBA stars with ties to the Milwaukee Bucks, Sidney Moncrief and Jack Sikma, will be inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame tonight, September 6.
Moncrief spent 10 seasons in Milwaukee (1979-80 to 1988-89) while Sikma played in Milwaukee for five seasons (1986-87 to 1990-91) after nine years with Seattle.
Both Moncrief and Sikma had unique careers. Moncrief was a two-way threat as a stellar defensive player (twice winning the league’s defensive Player of the Year Award) who could also score. Sikma was that rare big man who could score, rebound and shoot (he led the league in free throw shooting one year… and he was probably the first big man who effectively ventured outside to the three-point line).
Here are a handful of stats you may not know about this pair.
- Seven players had 10,000 points, 3,000 rebounds, 2,000 assists, 500 steals and 200 blocks in the 1980’s (1979-80 NBA regular season to 1988-89 season). Both Moncrief and Sikma are on this list. The others: Magic Johnson, Dennis Johnson, Julius Erving, Alex English and Larry Bird. Pretty good company, huh?
- Moncrief tops the Bucks list for most wins in his playing career with the team with 447. Eight players have won 300 or more games with the Bucks in addition to Moncrief: Junior Bridgeman (394), Bob Dandridge (391), Jon McGlocklin (375), Paul Pressey (368), Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (331), Brian Winters (32) and Marques Johnson (315).
- The Bucks were one of the best NBA teams in the 80’s in addition to the Lakers, Celtics and 76ers. Moncrief was with the team that whole decade and ranks tenth on the list for most wins of all NBA players in the 1980s (1979-80 season through 1988-89 season). Michael Cooper leads this list with 571 wins. Following Cooper: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (567), Dennis Johnson (540), Robert Parrish (540), Larry Bird (536), Magic Johnson (529), Maurice Cheeks (505), Kevin McHale (501), Moses Malone (469) and Moncrief (447).
- Moncrief is one of seven players to win a NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award in a season where he averaged 20 or more points (he did it twice; one of only four players to do so). He won the honor in 1982-83 and averaged 22.5 points per game, and won it in 1983-84 when he tallied 20.9 points per game. The other six players to win the league Defensive Player of the Year Award in a season where they averaged at least 20 or more points per game: Michael Jordan, Hakeem Olajuwon, David Robinson, Dwight Howard, Alonzo Mourning and Kawhi Leonard.
- Sikma is one of only six players 6’10” or taller (Sikma was listed as 6’11”) to have a career free throw percentage of .840 or higher (minimum of 500 career free throw attempts). The list: Dirk Nowitzki (.879), Danilo Gallinari (.871), Ryan Anderson (.854), Jack Sikma (.849), Mike Gminski (.843) and Danny Ferry (.840).
- Sikma is one of 25 players in league history who had 6,400 points and 3,700 rebounds in the league after age 30.
- Sikma is one of only five players in league history to have over 10,000 career rebounds and make 200 or more career three-pointers. The five: Dirk Nowitzki (11,489-1,982), Charles Barkley (12,546-538), Shawn Marion (10101-791), Sikma (10,816-203) and Bill Laimbeer (10,400-202).
- Sikma is one of 24 players in NBA history to have 1,000 career steals and 1,000 career blocked shots. If we add 10,000 career rebounds to that stat, he is one of only 14; if we add 10,000 career points to that stat, he is one of only 13 players is league history to have 1,000 career steals, 1,000 career blocked shots, 10,000 career rebounds and 10,000 career points.
- Sikma was 203-for-618 in three-point attempts in his career (a three-point shooting percentage of .328). He was the first player 6’11” or taller to attempt 200 or more three-pointers in a season and the first player 6’11” or taller to attempt 100 or more three-pointers in three consecutive seasons. He is one of 23 players in league history 6’11” or taller to have a career three-point shooting percentage over .325 (minimum of 600 three-point attempts to qualify).
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Is Michael Redd the best pure shooter in Bucks history?
Michael Redd (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Last night former Milwaukee Bucks guard Michael Redd officially announced his retirement from the NBA. Redd spent 11 years in Milwaukee during his 12-year career (he spent one year in Phoenix) and averaged 19 points per game in the league.
Redd currently ranks fourth on the Bucks all-time scoring list with 11,554 points behind Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Glenn Robinson and Sidney Moncrief, and he is one of five Bucks to play 19,000 or more minutes in a Bucks uniform.
So here’s the question: Where does Redd rank as one of the greatest Bucks of all-time? Also, considering that Redd was known primarily as a shooter, where should he be ranked among the best pure shooters in Bucks history?
Let’s throw some numbers out to help this discussion. Based on Bucks players who played 200 or more games with the franchise, Redd is one of six Bucks players who had a career field goal percentage above 44%, a career three-point shooting percentage above 35% and a career free throw shooting percentage above 80% (these numbers are only while playing with the Bucks). The six players:
Player, Career FG Pct, 3-PT Pct., FT Pct
Ray Allen: .450/.406/.879
Craig Hodges: .478/.404/856
Michael Redd: .449/.383/.840
Jack Sikma: .447/.352/.884
Mo Williams: .450/.364/.853
Brian Winters: .478/.363/.843
Your choice as the best pure shooter in Bucks history?
Finally, although Redd was known primarily as a shooter, he is one of only six players in Bucks history to accumulate 2,000 rebounds, 1,000 assists and 10,000 points in his Bucks career. The six:
Player, Rebounds, Assists, Points
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: 7161/2008/14211
Bob Dandridge: 4497/1956/11478
Marques Johnson: 3923/1934/10980
Sidney Moncrief: 3447/2689/11594
Michael Redd: 2334/1305/11554
Glenn Robinson: 3519/1609/12010
So, where does Redd rank on your list of all-time Bucks?
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Milwaukee Bucks: Success and failure of previous drafts
Dirk Nowitzki (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Sports Stats ‘on Tapp’ is a sports statistics blog published daily that focuses on stats that go beyond the numbers.
Considering that the University of Kentucky and the University of North Carolina had one-sixth of the 60 collegiate players drafted in yesterday’s NBA draft, it’s not surprising that the Bucks decided to select one player from each of those schools for their two 2012 draft choices. North Carolina’s John Henson was the team’s first round selection and Kentucky’s Doron Lamb was the second round choice.
It will be some time before we can determine if these selections were the right choices, or if these players were worthy of being chosen among the 60 picks. Like many NBA teams, the Bucks have had their share of hits and misses with the draft. For some drafts, a player chosen spends a good portion of their career with the team that selected them; for others, a player may be drafted by a team and find success in the league with another team after a trade or after departing via free agency.
In the Bucks 44-year history, they have chosen a handful of college players in the draft who have gone on to have great NBA careers. Some have had long careers in Milwaukee, others had only a short stay with the club, and others were drafted and never put on a Bucks uniform.
Using points scored as a measuring stick, here’s a look at the players who had the most success in the NBA after being drafted by the Bucks. Following are the players drafted by the Bucks who scored 10,000 or more points in their NBA career.
Player, NBA career points (draft year by Bucks)
Lew Alcindor, 38,387 (first round, first overall pick of 1969)
Alex English, 25, 613 (second round, 23rd overall pick of 1976)
Dirk Nowitzki, 24, 134 (first round, ninth overall pick of 1998)
Julius Erving, 18, 364 (first round, 12th overall pick of 1972)
Stephon Marbury, 16,297 (first round, fourth overall pick of 1996)
Bob Dandridge, 15,536 (fourth round, 45th overall pick of 1969)
Glenn Robinson, 14,234 (first round, first overall pick of 1994)
Marques Johnson, 13,892 (first round, third overall pick of 1977)
Michael Redd, 11,972 (second round, 43rd overall pick of 2000)
Sidney Moncrief, 11931 (first round, fifth overall pick of 1979)
Vin Baker, 11839 (first round, eighth overall pick of 1993)
Three of the players above, Nowitzki, Erving and Marbury never put on a Bucks uniform in their career. Nowitzki was a draft day trade to Dallas (with Pat Garrity) in exchange for Robert “Tractor” Traylor. Erving decided to begin his career in the ABA and didn’t enter the NBA until 1976. Marbury was a draft day trade to Minnesota in exchange for Ray Allen and a 1998 first round draft choice.
On the other extreme, there have been players drafted by the Bucks in the first round who have not panned out; not only with the Bucks, but also as NBA players.
Following are the 10 players who were drafted by the Bucks in the first round that played less than 200 career games in the NBA.
Draft Year: Player, College, NBA games
1968: Charlie Paulk, Northeastern State University, 120
1970: Gary Freeman, Oregon State, 52
1971: Collis Jones, Notre Dame, o
1972: Russ Lee, Marshall, 97
1984: Kenny Fields, UCLA, 184
1991: Kevin Brooks, University of Louisiana at Lafayette, 126
1994: Eric Mobley, Pittsburgh, 113
2000: Jason Colllier, Georgia Tech, 151
2002: Marcus Haislip, Tennessee, 89
2008: Joe Alexander, West Virginia, 67
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