Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Stats of Seasons Past: The Best Years From Players That Have Faded In Time - Part 1 (2000-2001)

It's humbling to think back on the past.  My aunt stocking up on rations for Y2K and the 9/11 catastrophe are still very fresh memories for me, but the 2000-2001 NBA season was 12 years ago!  That's roughly half of the time I have spent experiencing things on this planet.

Associating the passage of time with the NBA is something I've always done, but I also have a bedroom plastered with 90's Bulls memorabilia so maybe I'm just stuck in a perpetual state of nostalgia.

In the 2000-2001 season, Kobe Bryant was a spry, young 22 year old with a full head of hair in the middle of a historic dynasty.  This makes me feel all existential and shit.  So much time has passed between then and now even though it only feels like a few years ago.  Think about how many random breakout seasons there were and how the NBA landscape has completely changed since then (i.e. No more hand checking, new CBA, the stretch 4 becoming prevalent)

I decided to go back and search for some of these seasons in the Basketball Reference database.  I chose 2000 as a starting point because it's roughly the past decade, and the 1990's are a whole different post.  Most of these findings weren't exactly shocking, but it's nice to look back and see just how good some of today's aging veterans used to be.  This journey will feature way too many players spanning from the year 2000 - 2009 and will be split into multiple posts.


2000-2001

Detroit Pistons, SG: Jerry Stackhouse 26 Years Old


40.2 Minutes, 29.8 Points, 3.9 Rebounds, 5.1 Assists, 1.2 Steals, 21.8 PER


Best Game: 57 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists



'00-'01 Rankings: PPG (2nd), FGA (1st), FTM (1st), TO (1st), FTM (1st), All Star Selection
Season Highs: Points (57), Rebounds (12), Assists (11), Steals (5), Blocks (4), 3PM (6), FTM (18), TO (11)

Here's some context as to how good of an offensive season '00-'01 was for Stackhouse:

  1. Kobe Bryant
  2. Allen Iverson
  3. Tracy McGrady
  4. LeBron James
  5. Dwyane Wade
  6. Kevin Durant
  7. Jerry Stackhouse
That is, obviously, excellent company to be in.  I doubt that anyone would mentally place Stackhouse in with these other players without first seeing that stat.  That season also included Stack posting an enormous 35.2% usage rate which puts him in even slightly rarer company.  Kobe owns the highest mark with 38.7% during the year he put up 35 points a game.

Stackhouse finished the season scoring 30+ points in an unbelievable 44 of 80 games, including 8 games of 40+.  He also got to the foul line 10.1 times a game shooting 82.2% along with 5.9 3PA at a 35.1% clip.


The Bad News

Stackhouse shot an abysmal 40.2% overall and Detroit finished 5th in the Central Division with a record of 32-50.  I'm sure a lot of these huge seasons will also be on bad teams, so don't sweat it, Stack.

Where is he now?

Now with his 5th different team in the last 5 seasons, Stackhouse (38 years old) has played 27 games and averaged 4.8 points in 14.4 minutes for the Brooklyn Nets this year.  He had a season high of 17 points against the Celtics on November 28th.  Keep on keepin' on, brother.



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