I was bored and was looking through the various Top-50 stat leaders, eventually deciding to post them here. The NBA is still unwatchable for me, but I catch myself checking some box scores for the white stars and "second tier" of players, more so than for many previous years. With about 85% of the season complete, this is approximately where things will shake out.
(I'm including Enes Kanter, Brook Lopez, and Steven Adams here for the record)
Scoring:
4. Luka Doncic - 28.6 ppg
12. Nikola Jokic - 26.3 ppg
21. Nicola Vucevic - 23.8 ppg
32. Domantas Sabonis - 20.2 ppg
43. Jonas Valanciunas - 16.8 ppg
(Gordan Hayward would rank 35th currently, but cannot stay healthy again this season)
Rebounds:
3. Valanciunas - 12.4 rpg
4. Sabonis - 11.9 rpg
5. Vucevic - 11.5 rpg
7. Enes Kanter - 11.2 rpg
9. Jokic - 10.9 rpg
14. Mason Plumlee - 9.3 rpg
16. Steven Adams - 8.9 rpg
22. Doncic - 8.0 rpg
23. Jakob Poeltl - 7.9 rpg
30. Ivica Zubac - 7.3 rpg
40. Kelly Olynyk - 6.8 rpg
Assists:
3. Doncic - 8.9 apg
6. Jokic - 8.5 apg
14. TJ McConnell - 6.6 apg
15. Ricky Rubio - 6.5 apg
17. Sabonis - 6.2 apg
39. Tomas Satoransky - 4.8 apg
41. Joe Ingles - 4.6 apg
Three Pointers Made:
5. Duncan Robinson - 3.5 pg (13 ppg)
13. Bogdan Bogdanovich - 3.1 pg (15.5 ppg)
14. Joe Harris - 3.1 pg (absurd 48% conversion, best in league), (14.3 ppg)
17. Doncic - 2.9 pg (28.6 ppg)
19. Davis Bertans - 2.9 pg (11.2 ppg)
24. Ingles - 2.8 pg (12.3 ppg)
35. Vucevic - 2.6 pg (23.8 ppg)
42. Bojan Bogdanovich - 2.5 pg (16.2 ppg)
Steals:
2. McConnell - 1.8 spg
12. Rubio - 1.5 spg
15. Jokic - 1.4 spg
26. Kevin Huerter - 1.2 spg
36. Sabonis - 1.2 spg
44t. Facundo Campazzo - 1.1 spg
44t. Raul Neto - 1.1 spg
44t. Donte DiVincenzo - 1.1 spg
48. Alex Caruso - 1.1 spg
(Hayward would rank about 25th with 1.2 spg)
Blocks:
7. Poeltl - 1.7 bpg
10. Brook Lopez - 1.5 bpg
18. Marc Gasol - 1.2 bpg
27. Alex Len - 1.0 bpg
34. Plumlee - 0.9 bpg
35 - Daniel Theis - 0.9 bpg
36. Zubac - 0.9 bpg
43. Valanciunas - 0.8 bpg
There is some buzz that the NBA has become too monotonous, as some 40% of all made baskets are three-pointers, and teams tend to go for either the three or the lay-up/dunk without exception. There have never been fewer touches in the post for big men, and mid-range jumpers are rather non-existent due to their inefficiency. This is a culmination of "stat geeks" having taken over front offices and turning the sport toward analytics more than ever before.
I thought it would be interesting to get a gauge on the presence of white players and see if the stereotypical "white skillset" has become more prominent in the new-look NBA. One thing I noticed that doesn't jump off the page here is the relatively low point totals for the top white 3-point shooters. Many of the blacks within the top 50 3PM have scoring averages in the 20s. The white players on the list are much more "specialists" rather than volume scorers. Duncan Robinson is a famous case as a Division 3 college recruit who transferred up to Michigan, was a 6th man as a senior, went undrafted, and now starts for last year's Finals runners-up. There is definitely still some "inefficiency" here, even assuming the "stereotype" that these white players can't create their own shots.
Doncic, Jokic, and Sabonis are all veritable superstars. They belong in every conversation with the best players in the league. Despite their successes while each playing a different position, you can see that the shortest list above is white scorers, while the most prevalent stat-line is the big white rebounder. I was impressed to see so many whites (especially white backups) in the steals leaders. You could infer that these are "hustle stats" from lunchpail players, or you could suppose that these players are athletic enough to check their defensive assignments with excellent results.
These aren't advanced metrics by any stretch, which would glean more insight than just counting stats. Still, they are the most visible to the average fan and have some weight in how the NBA shapes and markets its on-court product. You can see the dearth of white American players, which implies that there's a bias from a young age here versus Europe and abroad.
His father must be proud as
