Better Stats Mean the Best?

When we think of the best players of all time do we think of their stats? Or do we think of these achievements these players made throughout the years they played, or is it how these players changed the landscape of the game. Stats have caused many to have different opinions on who they believe are the best players, but how do you take one statistic from the hundreds that there are to declare that one stands above the rest? Stats can also be used out of context for example a player that played the game in the past may have scored less three point shots then today’s player because of a rule change that brought the three point line closer to the basket to make the NBA games more high scoring. If a player has missed more shots then another does that mean they are worse then that player, or if a player has scored more goals in more games does that make them better.

In the article “Are We Becoming Too Obsessed With Stats In Sports?” its explained how people today, are taking these advanced stats and comparing every player with them, the problem with that is these advanced stats don’t include everything that goes into a player for example the stats could be comparing the points per game and the assists per game between two players and only using these to compare the players when a players may be better in other major areas then these two fields. It explained how stats are being overvalued and can’t truly show how dominant a player is. The article also goes into how people may never watch these players play and just go to the stats section of the players career and use that to define them, this leads to many people believing another player is better than another.

In my next article, “LeBron James vs. Michael Jordan: How their careers compare” this was a summary of the two players’ overall careers and who holds the better statistics and how there’s so many different ways to compare the players. The first statistic was Lebron has had the longer career, going into his 21st season while Jordan played 15 seasons. Many people could use this stat to say Lebron was more dominant over a longer period of time, or someone could say Jordan was more dominant in his years played the Lebron. The next stat was all time points scored LeBron’s has 38,799 while Jordan had 32,292. Lebron currently holds the record for most points scored of all time, this stat can be a major one used to say Lebron was better than Jordan, or you could use another stat which shows Jordan who averaged the most points per game of all time was better. The final stat the article would use was championships won which has Jordan currently ahead with his six championships won while Lebron James has 4 championship wins, However Lebron has been to the championship ten times total compared to Jordan’s six unfortunately for Lebron he lost six of those finals while Jordan never lost a single NBA final. The article’s overall conclusion was how do choose which statistic makes a player better when there are so many different ones to choose from.

In my final article I chose “What is the average points per game (PPG) in the NBA by year? Looking at the last decade and evolution of scoring” In this article is goes over how the 2022-23 season was one of the highest scoring seasons ever in the NBA. Due to the new rules that they did not have in the past which has led to the explosion of the three point shot, the game is played much different in todays game of basketball then in the past. This is yet another example of how the best statistics cause people to think players are better than others, due to more scoring this means there will be a higher assist average and higher points per game averages for everyone. A player back in the day before these new rules would average around fifteen point a game and be treated as a superstar however in todays game this kind of player would be what you hope for from a sixth man. In 1996 around 16 three point shots were being attempted per game while in 2022-23 the average is 34. My purpose for choosing this article is to show the effect that stats don’t mean everything when comparing players.

In today’s world with all of this technology players stats are being more used now than ever before, and the effect of this is causing fans to have all different kinds of opinions on who is the best, but they are consistently downplaying the past players and their greatness and what they brought to the game of basketball.

References

• https://www.sportskeeda.com/basketball/what-average-points-per-game-ppg-nba-year-looking-last-decade-evolution-scoring
• https://www.ocregister.com/2023/02/07/lebron-james-vs-michael-jordan-how-their-careers-compare/#:~:text=Jordan%20was%20the%20flashier%20scorer,triple%2Ddoubles%20to%20Jordan’s%2028.
• https://www.tacklesmartsports.com/are-we-becoming-too-obsessed-with-stats-in-sports/#:~:text=It’s%20a%20complicated%20question%2C%20and,game%20(and%20a%20player).