Evolution of the NBA: Teamwork

In case you missed part one, click here.
And part two is here.

Have you ever looked at old clips of John Stockton and Karl Malone and just marveled at the simplicity and perfection of the way they run the pick and roll? I know I have. It's seriously one of the toughest plays to defend, but also one of the easiest to run on offense.

Picture from bonanza.com. John Stockton averaged 10.5 assists per game over his 19-year career.

From 1983 up until 1995, the leaders in assists averaged over 12 assists per game. John Stockton led eight of those seasons (all in a row). He averaged 10.5 assists throughout his career. Of those eight years, Stockton's high in points was 1,413 in 1990-1991.

Earvin "Magic" Johnson led the league in three of the other four years during the aforementioned span. He averaged a whopping 11.2 assists through his entire career. His high in points was 1,909 in 1986-1987.

This season, only James Harden (11.2 this season, 5.7 overall), John Wall (10.7 this season, 9.2 overall) and Russell Westbrook (10.4 this season, 7.9 overall) averaged over 10 assists per game. Two of those three players also scored over 2,000 points throughout the season. Westbrook scored 2,558, Harden scored 2,356 and Wall scored 1,805 points.

With the exception of John Wall, these assist stats are underwhelming. Harden led the league this year with the same average that "Magic" had over his entire 13-year career. Westbrook averaged less than Stockton did over his 19-year career.

Picture from thebiglead.com. Russell Westbrook averaged a triple-double this year.

As impressive as getting a 10+ average over a season is, it's nothing when you see Harden averages 5.7 assists through his seven years. Harden has also scored over 2,000 points in four of the past five years. Westbrook is doing a bit better with a 7.9 average, but still not impressive enough.

John Stockton owns the all-time career assists with 15,806 assists. The closest active player is Chris Paul who is averaging 9.9 assists in his 11-year career and a total of 8,251. At essentially 10 assists per game, Paul would have to play over nine more seasons without missing a game to even come close to matching Stockton's record.

What I am trying to get at, is that the game has turned into a team sport into a ball-hog sport. Westbrook may have averaged over 10 assists per game, but he took 2,524 shots this season. He scored an average of 1.01 points per shot. That's awful. Harden took 2,289 shots, which is 1.03 points per shot. Better, but not much better than Westbrook. Even Kobe Bryant, who is known for taking millions of shots, averaged 1.05 points per shot while scoring 2,832 points in the 2005-2006 season and averaged 1.06 points per shot.

The game of basketball has been, and always will be, a team sport. If I was a coach, one of my team goals wouldn't be to score 110 points a game, it wouldn't even necessarily to be to out-rebound the opposing team. My goal would be to average 27 assists as a team per game. If a team could average that many assists, I guarantee they win most of their games.

The team that has won the most games in a single season, the 2015-2016 Golden State Warriors averaged 28.9 assists per game. They lost in the finals averaging 22.5 assists per game.

Picture from earhustle411.com.

Next up is the physicality of the NBA.

Evolution of the NBA: Positions

In case you missed part one, click here.

Positions have become obsolete in the NBA thanks to some freak athletes that can do it all.

Back in the NBA heyday, you played your position and that's about it. Point guards were the ones that brought the ball up and were the facilitators in the game. Shooting guards were spot up shooters that had unspeakable range or skills. Small forwards were the versatile athletes that were able to do it all. Power forwards were asked to score often in the key and in the midrange. Centers were the towers that rarely seemed to leave the key on offense or defense. They also protected the rim from anyone looking for an easy bucket.

Picture from forum.ge. 

There were a few outliers, but they still usually stuck to a specific position. Earvin "Magic" Johnson is one example off the top of my head. The guy was a giant point guard at 6 foot 9 inches. Other point guards didn't stand a chance at guarding him, but he would blow past any other defender. This is why Johnson is regarded as one of the best point guards to ever play the game.

In the NBA now, we've got guys like LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Giannis Antetokounmpo that can basically play any position on the floor. They've got the ball handling skills of a point guard, range of a shooting guard, versatility of a small forward, length of a power forward or center and the defense to go with it.

Picture from slamonline.com.

This is one thing the NBA has going for it. They have some of the best athletes in the world. These athletes can instantly make any team better just by being on the floor. Sometimes though, these players think they're the only one that can do something.

Evolution of the NBA: Complaining & Refs

The National Basketball Association has always had some of the best athletes in the world, but the way the game has evolved should be worrying to the league.

The NBA has seen a flurry of stars from Bob Cousy in the 1950s all the way to LeBron James today. These athletes have also evolved with the game as they seem to get bigger, faster and stronger, but somehow wimpier and whinier also.

Picture from twitter.com.

Refereeing has to be one of the toughest gigs ever. Someone is bound to complain because there always has to be a loser and a winner. I wasn't alive in the '50s, so I don't know, but I'm sure there was some complaining then, but I doubt it's anywhere close to where we are now in the NBA.

I feel like in the '80s and '90s, there wasn't as much complaining to the referees, because if someone got away with a foul, you'd make sure to get them back for it tenfold. Everyone was given six fouls, so everyone had six chances to make sure that guard stopped coming down the lane, or that power forward learned his lesson for even trying to get passed you or your teammate.

Nowadays, there's always someone in the referee's ear saying how he thought so-and-so bumped him on his way to the basket, or because that player didn't think he deserved the foul called on him because he got all ball with his hand while also mauling the offensive player with any other part of his body.

Picture from nbadraft.net. I'm not saying Tim Duncan was the start of this trend, but I'm pretty sure the guy never thought he fouled anyone in his life.

As much as the players are to blame, I think the referees need to bear some of this weight. The referees feed into it. They have for years with star players. Referees aren't there to change the outcome of the game or be biased. They are there to be fair and consistent. Unfortunately, in the NBA, that's not alway happening, especially with consistency. 

I took a basketball officiating class, the rules aren't hard. I don't understand why these professional referees allow these professional athletes to get away with breaking some of the rules. Traveling is one that is always coming up. It's an easy call, but referees just get lazy or want to see the big dunk also.

Picture from interbasket.net

My biggest pet peeve when watching an NBA game is illegal screens. Referees rarely ever call that as an offensive foul, but you could call it nearly every time. The screening player is not allowed to move while screening, nor is he allowed to stick his arms or legs out. After the screen, you can open up and seal that defender by going to the hoop. It's not a hard call, but the referees never call it. 

Some of the worst offenders right now are Draymond Green, Deandre Jordan and Tristan Thompson. I watch them manhandle the poor smaller defender on almost every play and nothing from the refs. 

What happened to the beautiful game of pick and roll that John Stockton and Karl Malone executed so well for so many years? Those were mostly always clean screens because Malone would slip the screen and get an easy basket.

"Good Samaritans" and "Millennials"

Millennials are generally viewed as a complacent, lazy, technologically advanced generation, but a lot of them can be amazing people and incredibly smart.

The other day at work, one of our lifeguards, Mariah, had car troubles. Her Jeep wouldn't start and she was just looking for a jump to start it up. Her direct supervisor, Mike, and I went out to help her get it started.

When we got the hood up, a family came out of the community center and happened to be parked next to her. The father offered to help and tried and tried to get it jumped, but the car wouldn't even click. He was determined to get it to start, but to no avail. He eventually left, probably disappointed he couldn't help more.

Picture from http://jeepoffroadadventures.com/.

As Mike, Mariah and I were talking an old beat-up car backed into the spot kitty corner to Mariah's Jeep. It was muddy and beat up with a poorly executed backing into a spot, but when the two high school-aged boys got out, they immediately asked what was wrong.

I told them it was dead, but a jump didn't work. I was thinking to myself what difference would it make if you two knew anyway. It's not like they could help, right? Man, could I have been more wrong.

They immediately started pulling tools from the back of the car to take out the battery and put their own in it to see if it was the battery.

"We're mechanics at Snow Canyon High School," one of them said. I was highly impressed by the amount of knowledge these two kids had about cars.

The car never started, so Mariah called her parents, and they eventually arrived. The two SCHS mechanics told her dad that it was probably the starter and it wouldn't take long to fix.

These two guys happened to be in the right place at the right time to help out someone they didn't even know from a school they probably don't like. They had the right education and was able to assess the issue that might have taken a paid mechanic all day to get to.

So think about who you're grouping into the term "millennials" before you stereotype an entire age group based on their birthdays. I know I will.

Graphic from pinterest.com.