Welcome to the B-Ball Brunch. Enjoy reading about my NBA musings about last night during your brunch hours.
Luka Doncic now has six triple-doubles in 13 games this season.
(PHOTO CREDIT: Jerome Miron/USA Today.)
I sort of talked about this with James Harden recently but now this has gone beyond scoring.
Luka Doncic has been incredible this season. People are starting to debate on whether he’s a legit superstar or not. It IS only his second season and he hasn’t made the playoffs yet so maybe let’s stop the car for a bit here.
What I’m scratching my head about, though, is that Doncic is getting raved for his six triple-doubles this season but I feel a lot of people are selectively being wowed by individual statistics that would normally blow our minds away.
I don’t know if it’s because whether we take it for granted, the narratives being thrown out there, or even race. But once upon a time, Russell Westbrook averaged a triple-double season. In fact, he did it the last three seasons. That’s incredible to me. And somehow, it just feels like it’s being glossed over.
We were so amazed when Oscar Robertson did it. He was the only one at the time! And Westbrook’s first triple-double season WAS noticed; he won the Most Valuable Player award even though his team finished #6 in the Western Conference.
Yet in the last two seasons, we heard derisive comments about how Russ was stat-padding. I mean, first of all, which NBA player DOESN’T want to pad their stats? And while a lot of people would say that Russ isn’t conducive to winning basketball, I don’t know about that. I always feel there are ways to put any basketball player in winning position. Either way, people weren’t all about his triple-doubles anymore after that historic first trip-dub season.
People were all over Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant (yeah, yeah, I know) when they were scoring all over the place. Jordan had back-to-back seasons where he averaged 37.1 points and then 35.0. Kobe had a dominant 2005-06 season; he averaged a cool 35.4 PPG. Harden is averaging 39.2 PPG in 14 games this season. I ask again, people are not blown away by this?
Someone tried to reason to me that going to the line doesn’t make it exciting. And I already prefaced this a few days ago that Harden’s game isn’t the most aesthetically-pleasing. But if you look back at the stars in the past, stars went to the line frequently. They somehow find ways to get the refs to whistle. You know how people mock Harden for drawing a foul by just breathing on him? Jordan got those, too! So did LeBron James once upon a time.
Either way, it seemed like people didn’t even bat an eyelash when Harden averaged nearly 45 points last week.
Maybe it’s the rise of advanced stats. I’m not sure if the general audience is all about it but a lot of people who write and blog about the NBA get into the Per 36 Minute Numbers and VORP (Value Over Replacement Player). They seem to be more impressed by those than actual production.
Yet here we are marveling on what Luka has done. I don’t know. This is all pretty confusing to me.
Bullet Passes
Just in case you needed another reminder, Luka is the second youngest NBA player ever to get a 40-point triple-double. You can take a guess on who the youngest is.
It is official. Carmelo Anthony is a Portland TrailBlazer. He will wear #00. Shoutout and rest in peace to Kevin Duckworth.
(Also, isn’t it weird that it says “From NBA Twitter”?)
I am far from convinced that the Blazers (who lost big against the Rockets on Monday) and Anthony might actually need each other. Probably Anthony more than the Blazers; after all, Carmelo has made it known that he can still play and likely wants to go out on his own terms.
The Blazers need help defensively. That is definitely not Melo’s strong suit.
Daniel Gafford led the Chicago Bulls in scoring with 21 points in a loss against the Bucks.
Who is Daniel Gafford? He was selected #38 (that would be the second round) by the Bulls in the previous draft. He went to Arkansas for college and played there for two years. Good for him for getting a chance there.
One last thing about not being blown away by stats: Andre Drummond is averaging 17 rebounds per game this season. In the last two seasons, he averaged 15.8 rebounds per. But Basketball Reference only has him making the Hall of Fame at a 2.1 percent probability. That is SO weird to me. Is it because he’s not winning? Huh.
Watch This Play
We used to make fun of Paul George for not coming through on the clutch but he does right here against his former team.
🚨 Paul George’s triple puts the @LAClippers in front late in the 4th quarter! #ClipperNation pic.twitter.com/KKU9Omhmib
— NBA (@NBA) November 19, 2019
Ballgame.
Rey-Rey is on Twitter at @TheNoLookPass.
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