NBA Number Crunching
Here are four stats that will probably stun even the most avid NBA fan...
1. The San Antonio Spurs are winless on the road.
At 0-4, the Spurs are one of four teams who have not yet won away from home. The others are the Minnesota Timberwolves (0-5 on road, 1-11 overall), Charlotte Bobcats (0-7, 3-9), and - obviously - the New Jersey Nets (0-7, 0-13).
Incredibly, even the New York Knicks (3-9 overall) have won two games on the road.
2. Brandon Jennings is one of the best three-point shooters in the league.
Sure, you probably knew that the Milwaukee Bucks rookie was having a sensational year. And you may have even known he was averaging over 25 points a game. But did you know that he's shooting 51.9% from three-point land? His 52 attempts (with 27 makes) are the most of any player who ranks in the league's top 25 in three-point shooting percentage. And, counting only players who have at least 10 attempts from behind the arc, Jennings ranks sixth in the league.
Jennings isn't just answering all the critics who said his outside shooting was a major weakness, he's embarrassing them.
3. Joakim Noah is leading the league in rebounding.
Noah was an All-American at Florida because of his relentless attitude. During his first two seasons in Chicago, he was ripped by local columnists for not having NBA skills, but he's returned to roots. Noah has an unorthodox style, yet he's effective. He plays hard and relishes playing defense and crashing the boards. He doesn't look pretty, but his NBA-best 12.6 rebounds a game sure do.
4. The Charlotte Bobcats are in a historical shooting slump.
Through 12 games this season, the Bobcats are shooting just 39.4% from the field. That number is worse than it looks. The last NBA team to shoot under 40% for the season was the Boston Celtics (39.8%) in 1960-61. And the last time a team shot under Charlotte's current mark of 39.4% was the previous season, when the Minneapolis Lakers shot 38.6%. That was 50 years ago.
The Bobcats traded for Stephen Jackson in hopes of rejuvenating their offense, but it probably won't help their shooting percentage dramatically. Jackson's career shooting percentage is a mere 41.8%.
Even more number crunching...
To add on to your four great choices of stats, I have three more that I find fascinating:
5. Chris Paul's anti-Bobcat shooting ability. Before his injury, in the first 10 games of the season, Chris Paul shot an incredible 65.5% from 3 (19-29) and 59.4% from the field, which is currently 6th in the NBA, and one of only two guards shooting above 53% (Rajon Rondo is at 56%).
6. Josh Smith, the notorious free-spirited and discouraging (to his teammates) shooter, has attempted one three this season, after shooting between 80-150 3's the past four years, shooting a career % from 3 of 27%. Because of his new found shot selection, Smith is shooting 5% higher (54%) from the field than he has in any other year in his career.
7. On a per 48 minute scale, only two players in the NBA average more than 4 blocks. The man in 2nd is 21-year old (or 41 year old) Greg Oden, who's 3rd in the NBA in blocks, but does so in only 24 minutes a game, so averages 4.63 blocks per 48 minutes. Not too surprising. First? Didier Ilunga Mbenga, the great longtime 3rd string center of the Mavericks and the Lakers, who is averaging an incredible 5.53 blocks per 48 minutes, aided by his 10 minute cameos backing up Andrew Bynum. Ironically, Mbenga was actually better a year ago (though only played 23 games), with 6.36 blocks/48 minutes. Who knew?