Can Advanced Basketball Statistics Really Bridge 50 Years of NBA History?
Oscar Robertson is the only player in pro basketball history who averaged a triple double for an entire season (30.8 ppg, 12.5 rpg, 11.4 apg in 1961-62; he also averaged an aggregate triple double over the course of his first five NBA seasons). Russell Westbrook is having a great 2015 season (27.5 ppg, 7.2 rpg, 8.6 apg) but is it really accurate--or meaningful--to declare, as Tom Haberstroh recently did, that Westbrook's statistics project to 46.9 ppg, 14.6 apg and 12.2 rpg at the NBA's 1961-62 pace of play? I explore this issue--and the limitations of "advanced basketball statistics" in general--in my newest article at The Roar:Can Advanced Basketball Statistics Really Bridge 50 Years of NBA History?
Labels: "advanced basketball statistics", Oscar Robertson, Russell Westbrook
posted by David Friedman @ 3:23 PM
