The 100-100 Club Revisited
It takes exceptional defensive versatility to accumulate at least 100 steals and at least 100 blocked shots in the same season. The ABA officially tracked steals and blocked shots from 1972-73 until 1975-76 (after which the ABA merged with the NBA), while the NBA has officially recorded steals and blocked shots since 1973-74. I first wrote about pro basketball's 100-100 Club in the April 2002 issue of Basketball Digest and then I revisited the subject for NBCSports.com in November 2006. The version of the latter article that I posted at 20 Second Timeout was updated to include the 2006-07 season; in the past eight years, there have been nine 100-100 seasons recorded by a total of seven players. Six players joined the 100-100 Club since the 2006-07 season: Dwyane Wade (2009), Dwight Howard (2011), Kevin Durant (2013), Andre Drummond (2014), Anthony Davis (2015) and Nerlens Noel (2015). Josh Smith logged his first 100-100 season in 2006-07 and has added three more such seasons to his total (2008, 2010, 2014) to move into a tie with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Terry Tyler and Andrei Kirilenko for 11th-14th place on the all-time list. Smith is the only player who has had more than one 100-100 season since 2006-07.Only 58 players have had a 100-100 season and 32 of those players have accomplished the feat just once. Julius Erving not only founded the 100-100 Club in 1972-73 with 181 steals and 127 blocked shots for the ABA's Virginia Squires (ranking third and seventh in the league respectively in those categories) but he remains the 100-100 Club king with a record 12 such seasons, a mark tied by Hakeem Olajuwon. Kevin Garnett had eight 100-100 seasons before turning 30 but injuries and the aging process stalled his attempt to match Erving and Olajuwon.
The all-time top 10 is rounded out by Sam Lacey (seven 100-100 seasons), David Robinson (seven), Ben Wallace (seven), Bobby Jones (six), George Gervin (five), Vlade Divac (five) and Shawn Marion (five).
The even more exclusive 200-100 Club still has just four members: Michael Jordan (twice), Julius Erving, Hakeem Olajuwon and Scottie Pippen.
The 100-200 Club has expanded to 14 members, welcoming Anthony Davis last season as he tallied exactly 100 steals and exactly 200 blocked shots. Josh Smith had 123 steals and 227 blocked shots in 2007-08, becoming the eighth player with at least two such seasons. Olajuwon had 11 100-200 seasons, followed by David Robinson (seven), Abdul-Jabbar (three) and Ben Wallace (three).
In 2014-15, Nerlens Noel became the ninth member of the Top Ten Club by ranking seventh in blocked shots per game (1.9) and 10th in steals per game (1.8). Erving had six seasons during which he ranked in the top 10 in both steals per game and blocked shots per game. Olajuwon did this four times, while Bobby Jones and Ben Wallace accomplished this two times each. No one else has done it more than twice. Josh Smith very narrowly missed the cut in 2009-10, ranking third in blocked shots per game and 11th in steals per game, just .0247 steals per game behind Stephen Jackson.
Labels: Anthony Davis, Ben Wallace, David Robinson, Hakeem Olajuwon, Josh Smith, Julius Erving, Kevin Garnett, Sam Lacey
posted by David Friedman @ 1:38 PM
