I need some expert opinion on this. Why are Harden and Westbrook putting up incredible stats, getting triple doubles every night? Are they two of the 10 best players in the history of the game as their stats would suggest? Are they better than Magic and Stockton and the Big O? Or is there something else at play? Is the league somehow less challenging than in the "old days"?
They're using gigantic number of possessions (sky-high Usage rates) and their team's offenses are entirely built around them getting stats. If you compare the Warriors and Rockets, for example: the Warriors' system is predicated on secondary play-making, everyone touching and moving the ball, hunting good shots. The Rockets' system is predicated on Harden pounding the ball and either shooting or penetrating to score or kick out for an immediate shot. They do fewer secondary and tertiary actions, so Harden's pass is usually the one that precedes the shot. They're also tremendous talents and playing in a very high pace league.
Scoring is up across the board. Only like 2 teams in the NBA are scoring less than 100 points per game and many are near or over 110. Just a couple years ago, I want to say over half of the teams were scoring less than 100 in the East, and around half in the West were scoring 100. It was just a couple years ago that teams were actually barely breaking 90 on an average night.
@BonesJones and I were talking about this same thing and he has a working theory that I support. Bones please share. I won't steal your thunder.
Newer, no-touch rules have empowered the aggressive/physical/attackingly mobile player! Lebron - Harden - Westbrook are in a class by themselves. Maybe Kyrie will join them.
Here's two things I notice with these two. 1.) They'll jump in front of their big men for uncontested rebounds. I've seen many times where these guys will hustle just to steal a rebound out of their big man's hands instead of being an outlet along the sideline to push the ball up the court faster. Westbrook especially has a tendency to sprint from the 3pt line and take rebounds his bigs have covered. It's turned into his bigs just boxing out so Westbrook can sprint from wherever he was to add to his rebounding total. 2.) They'll play according to stats. Ive seen this a couple times and it makes sense based on their box scores (especially Westbrook's): If RW has 30pts and 9asts with a couple minutes left in the game, he's looking to pass the ball and rack up that 10th assist. Meanwhile, if he has 10 assists already, then he's a lot more aggressive looking for his own shot. That would explain why he has a lot of games with only 10 or 11 assists. The fact is, they're both great players, who have a tendency to chase triple doubles. Mixed with their extremely high usage rates, it's just not that impressive to me.
