23 Numbers from the 2022-23 NBA SEASON
The season is still going strong, but that doeSn’t mean we can’t appreciate some wacky and wonderful stats.
It’s about that time of year. The time where football winds down, and my time spent leaving the house on a weekend ramps up. Who am I kidding. There’s NBA to watch. Plus I live in Portland, OR. Why would I leave the house? It’s not May yet.
I digress. I’ve been paying attention to the NBA from afar, and every once and a while I’ll do a deep dive into some fun stats that I think can paint the picture of some pretty spectacular narratives.
So without further ado, here’s 23 numbers I think are telling the story of the 2022-23 NBA season so far.
1: 26 Players scoring 24+
If you round up, which I will, there are currently 26 (!!) players averaging 24 or more points per game. And while there’s still time for that number to cool off, we’re over 50% through the season and that’s been about the pace we’ve seen since the start. Compare that with last season, where only 20 players met that mark (regardless of qualifiers), and it’s easy to see scoring is up, especially at the star level, across the league. Also just funny, but 10 years ago, there were only five players scoring 24 or more. Five!!
2: Kessler with 2 BPG
Minnesota fans, shield your eyes. Walker Kessler, the rookie that Minnesota threw away along with 8 other assets in the blockbuster trade for Rudy Gobert, is literally outplaying Gobert by himself. I’m not going to pretend that blocks are the only indicator of good rim protection, and I also know that it’s hard to quantify Gobert’s true value, but c’mon man. Kessler is averaging 2 blocks per game, compared to Gobert at 1.3. That’s the difference between 4th best in the league (Kessler) and 16th (Gobert). It’s even funnier when you see Gobert is playing a full 11 minutes more per game. Poor Wolves fans.
3: 4/30 Shooting 40% from 3
Of the top 30 leaders in 3s attempted per game this season, there are only four players shooting above 40%. Desmond Bane is 25th in attempts and shooting 42.4%. McCollum is right above him at 24th, and shooting 40.1%. They both take 7.5 attempts per game. Buddy Hield is 42.6% from 3, taking 9.1 per game, which is good for 8th most in the league. Great season for him. And then of course, there’s Steph mf Curry, who to this day does not get enough credit for his greatness. Steph leads the league with 11.6! attempts per game, and is making 42.1%. He’s literally taking 50% more 3s than Bane, a known lethal shooter, and still hitting at the same clip. Anyway, Steph is an alien.
4: 20 Points and 10 Assists
^That’s Tyrese Haliburton’s stat line, in case you’re wondering. If he can keep it up, he’d be just the 14th player EVER to finish with a 20/10 season at PG. So yeah, he’s been pretty fucking good. Too bad no one watches Indiana basketball.
5: 7 Home Favorites to Bet On
Home court advantage is back! There are currently seven NBA teams with 5 losses or fewer on their home court. Boston, Milwaukee, New Orleans and Golden State are all 17-5 as of today. The Cleveland Cavaliers are 19-4. And then, at the top of the West, Memphis is 19-3 and Denver holds the league-best record of 20-3 at home. The Suns were the best home team last year, losing only 9 games all year. Could Memphis or Denver perform even better?
6: 8-0 vs. Rivals
The Suns have unquestionably disappointed this season, and the Devin Booker injury has only compounded their struggles. They’re 21-24 as of today, and sitting at 12th overall in the West. Weirdly enough though, they’re 8-0 so far against their own division. That means basically 40% of their wins have come against the same 4 teams. And those 4 teams are good! At least you know, good-ish. What can you glean from this? Idk, probably not much. But it’s weird!
7: 120 PPG
If I asked you to guess which team is leading the league in scoring, would you have guessed the Sacramento Kings? I might’ve, after a few tries, because I’m a degenerate, but even I was surprised to see the Kings leading the league at that mark. They’re a full point ahead of Boston right now for the league lead, and crazier, they’re a full FOUR points ahead of last season’s leader, the Minnesota Timberwolves, who finished scoring 116 per game.
8: The almost 50-40-90 Pelican
The Pelicans have been one of the most fun teams in the entire league this year, and I’m proud to be a round 1 Series A (or whatever the fuck reference makes sense) investor in this team. I’ve held onto my Trey Murphy stock for a while, and I think he’s the perfect microcosm of this weird team of misfits that rely on superior athleticism, shooting, and lanky defenders to cause havoc for other teams. He’s shooting 48.2% from the field, 40.3% from 3, and 92.5% from FT (2nd best in the whole league). Only nine players have ever hit the 50-40-90 mark, and if Murphy can make a few more layups, he might just squeeze in as the 10th.
9: 13 Extremely Average Teams
In this stat, I’m focusing on point differential.Your point differential is the average number you get when you subtract your average points scored from your points allowed. So the Kings, scoring 120 ppg, only have a point differential of +3 because they still allow 117 per game. This season, there are 13 teams with a point differential between -1 and +1. In other words, there’s a lot of average teams out there. Compare that with last year, where there was only 6 teams meeting that threshold, and you can conclude the NBA is more competitive this year than recent memory. But that doesn’t mean better…
10: The Player with a 14.2 Net Rating
WOoOo. Getting nerdier. Your net rating as a player is the number you get when you subtract the average number your team scores on offense, per 100 possessions, with you on the court from the average number your team allows on defense, per 100 possessions, with you on the court. Make sense? Well, when you sort through qualifiers, you’ll see one player this season reigning supreme. That man is Jaren Jackson Jr. (TBH wasn’t sure if I do another period there, so I did this). Jackson has been sublime for the Grizzlies since returning, but especially on the defensive end. He’s a big reason why this team is currently on a 10 game winning streak, too.
11: The 3 Players from One Team Right Behind the Player with a 14.2 Net Rating
You want more net rating stats? I give you more net rating stats. With a filter of minimum 25 games played, and 25 minutes played per game, you’ll see three names behind Jackson all from the same team: Denver. Literally fight me, but Nikola Jokic is the MVP, again. Jokic posts a net rating of 12.6 right now, good for second in the league. Right behind him at 12.6 and 12.5 are Aaron Gordon and Kentavious Caldwell Pope. I wonder why they’re ranked so high…hmm. Maybe something to do with playing on the same team as the best offensive player in the NBA right now, full stop. Speaking of…
12: The Best Scoring Lineup in the NBA, with a 120+ Offensive Rating is…
Denver! Duh. Feel like that was obvious? There are only eight total players this season with an offensive rating of 120+. Again, that means your team scores 120ppg per 100 possession they’re on the court. FIVE OF THOSE EIGHT PLAYERS ARE JUST THE DENVER STARTING FIVE. Jokic leads the way at 124.0, with Gordon (123.9), KCP (122.4), Michael Porter Jr. (120.9) and Jamal Murray (120.0) rounding it out. The other three players, for what it’s worth, are Domantas Sabonis, Kevin Huerter, and Devin Booker.
13: Truly The Best Shooter in the NBA at 67.3% TS
Danger. Dad joke alert. This is a true shooting find, which I think deserves a tiny explanation. True shooting is meant to be a better representation of how accurate a shooter any given player is. The formula, if you care, is points divided by 2(FGA + (0.44xFTA)). Is it worth explaining why that matters? Not really. The takeaway though, like normal FG%, is that the stat is usually dominated by big men, who make a higher percentage of their shots. Of the top 10 players that qualify, 8 of them are centers. Another one is the 7ft. tall Lauri Markannen. But then, at 4th overall in the entire category, is Kevin Durant. Averaging 29.7 points per game. Only Jokic is even close to that among his competitors. Anyway, long winded and convoluted way of saying KD is still that guy, pal.
14: The 30% Usage Role Player in Phoenix
Your usage rate is calculated by how possessions end. So if you attempted a FG, a FT, or turned the ball over, you’re the one credited with the usage for that possession. Make sense? Well, there are 15 total players with above a 30% usage. Steph Curry sits just outside at #16 with a usage rate of 29.8%. 14 of those 15 are all-star caliber players, and the exact names you’d expect to see. But at #15 overall? With a 30.1% usage despite playing only 13.3 minutes per game? Phoenix reserve Duane Washington Jr. Duane is shooting 37.5% from the field this year. That’s…not good. The point of this? Phoenix needs help. Bad.
15: The Two Teams that Move the Ball
Your assist ratio, as a team, is the number of made field goals that benefitted from an assist. The Houston Rockets, to no one’s surprise, are last in the league with a 15.9% assist rate. There are only two teams above 20%. Those teams? Denver, leading the league at 20.4% and Golden State sneaking in at 20.1%. It’s no coincidence that as an outsider with 0 NBA level talent, those look like the two most fun teams to play for, too.
16: The 500+ Possession Difference
The Utah Jazz lead the NBA in total number of possessions, with 4,758 so far this season. Compare that with the last place team, Brooklyn (4,262) and that’s well over a 10% increase in total number of possessions. What does that mean? Well, Brooklyn is efficient as shit. We already discussed the insane efficiency of KD, but it’s the rest of the team, too. Brooklyn is second as a team in effective field goal % and tied with the Nuggets at #1 in true shooting. So in other words, who needs rebounds if you’re just gonna make the first shot, am I right?
17: The Denver Death Lineup of the East
Remember like 2 seconds ago when I was gushing about the Denver lineup? Well, as a lineup, it’s 6th in total minutes played together and averages a 122.9 offensive rating. Just ahead of them at 5th in minutes played together? The Knicks! Julius Randle, Mitchell Robinson, Quentin Grimes, Jalen Brunson, and RJ Barrett have sneakily been one of the best lineups in the entire NBA, matching Denver with a 122.9 offensive rating. BTW, there are 19 total lineups with more than 200 minutes played together. One of them is the healthy GS lineup, clocking in with a 126.6 offensive rating. Sheesh. Denver who?
18: Not a Death Lineup Officially, but…
When you filter by lineups with the highest offensive rating, and then you set a minimum of 50 minutes played together, one lineup rises to the top. It’s exactly what you guessed: the Pacers! Myles Turner, Buddy Hield, Tyrese Haliburton, Aaron Nesmith, and Bennedict Mathurin are posting an offensive rating of 147.9!!!! with some actual genuine consistency to show for it. Small sample size, but still. Damn. And yes, with the same qualifiers, this lineup is first in net rating, too.
19: Age 38 and 6.3 Fast Break Points per Game
I mean c’mon man. This is about LeBron. Who, if I really wanted to, I could’ve written this entire piece about because every single one of his numbers is insane for a guy pushing 40. But as I was filtering through stuff, I couldn’t help but notice LeBron leads the whole damn league in fast break points. And by the way, it’s not close. Only two players are even averaging more than 4.7 fast break points, and it’s him and Giannis at 5.7 lol. Eventually this guy will slow down, right. Right?
20: The Almost 20 Points in the Paint Guy
If I asked you to guess who leads the league in points in the paint, would you guess Giannis? It’s a good guess, after all. He’s second. AD, Lebron, Jokic, Embiid and even Shai are also all good guesses. But no. It’s the human wrecking ball Zion Williamson that takes the cake. Zion is averaging an insane 19.1 points per game in the paint alone, a full point more than Giannis in second. Last year, Ja lead the league with 16.6, lol. So ya, suffice to say, Zion’s been a monster.
21: You Have One Job, But You’re Kinda Bad at It?
I was looking at players who take a high % of 3s, and funny enough, there’s only one guy that’s playing more than 15 minutes per game who also has 75% or more of his points come from 3. That guy? Reggie Bullock, who by %, is the 117th best 3 point shooter in the NBA. In other words? Get Luka some god damn real help, man. You have a guy (two actually, if you count Davis Bertans) whose entire role is to shoot 3s, and he can’t even do that. Inexcusable.
22: The (Almost) 90% Solo Artist
Speaking of Luka, he easily leads the NBA in unassisted field goals, with 88.1% of his made shots coming without an assist. Shai is second in the category at 79.5%. There are only eight guys that qualify over 75% period, and again. 88%! What does this mean? Well, for one, Dallas is boring as shit to watch. Luka is amazing, but watching a guy never pass gets old. I also think it’s an indictment of the roster. No one besides Luka and maybe Spencer Dinwiddie (lol) is a natural creator, and this stat is the perfect illustration of that.
23: The Most Overpaid $35 Million Man
Look, I don’t want to give Ben Simmons too much shit (who am I kidding lol, I will). He’s the 21st highest paid player this year. Of everyone in that list above him, excluding Khris Middleton who’s been hurt, the vast majority of the players are scoring at least 20 points per game. Gobert, one of the few to not meet that mark, is 89th in the league in scoring at 13.3 points per game and provides clear value elsewhere (kinda). Russell Westbrook (15.7) and Tobias Harris (16.4) are the next lowest. And then, at 178th overall in the league, there’s Ben Simmons. Quite literally almost 100 spots lower than the next worst scorer in the $35M range. He is tied in scoring with Kenrich Williams, the third small forward on the Thunder’s depth chart. Use this information how you wish.
Woof okay, done. Some fun stuff in there, I think? Did something surprise you? Did something anger you? Wolves fans, do you need a therapist? Let me know.
