Regular season points v all points combined

Beethoven · Post #1 » by **Beethoven** » Wed Feb 16, 2022 7:20 pm

This really remains within the Laker family (Lebron and Kareem) so I am not too concerned which stat is more highly lauded, but was always curious why there is more emphasis on All-Time Regular season Points as compared to All-Time points in total (regular and playoffs).

I would think that the latter would hold more clout as it shows the merit behind the points during regular as it opposed to some let say, some empty-statter (as a hyperbole for argument) could have way more regular season points but never even make it, or not last too long during the playoffs.

I just dont know why if you look up NBA most points all time historically, all websites, books, stat sheets etc all point to regular season points only. The other stat hardly even gets a mention. I mean, I just found out Lebron has the most just last week when they announced it on a whim.

Post #2 » by **zimpy27** » Thu Feb 17, 2022 8:16 am

Beethoven wrote:This really remains within the Laker family (Lebron and Kareem) so I am not too concerned which stat is more highly lauded, but was always curious why there is more emphasis on All-Time Regular season Points as compared to All-Time points in total (regular and playoffs).

I would think that the latter would hold more clout as it shows the merit behind the points during regular as it opposed to some let say, some empty-statter (as a hyperbole for argument) could have way more regular season points but never even make it, or not last too long during the playoffs.

I just dont know why if you look up NBA most points all time historically, all websites, books, stat sheets etc all point to regular season points only. The other stat hardly even gets a mention. I mean, I just found out Lebron has the most just last week when they announced it on a whim.

I wondered this tbh. I actually assumed it was for many years when I was younger.

Post #3 » by **Slava** » Thu Feb 17, 2022 12:14 pm

I think the reason they have regular season points is that it doesn’t penalize players who played in poor teams for most of their career. I think it’s bull as it’s basically a counting stat and any nba point should be counted for the records. Same with regular season mvp and finals mvp. It’s like the basketball between end of regular season and beginning of the finals doesn’t matter.

Landsberger · Post #4 » by **Landsberger** » Thu Feb 17, 2022 10:53 pm

Give Kareem the 4 years that LeBron got by going from HS to the Pros and this conversation is happening 4 years from now...

To the total point comment specifically. Go back to the late 60's the NBA had far fewer teams and a couple rounds to the playoffs. By the mid 80's more teams, more rounds and more points... today we have even more rounds and more games.

The regular season has been 82 games for a long time (ABA was 84 and those points are in there for players that played in both leagues) so that's the real benchmark of your ability to score compared to others of the same era and all time. The playoff opportunities have ranged from 17 games possible to 28

Beethoven · Post #5 » by **Beethoven** » Fri Feb 18, 2022 4:19 am

Landsberger wrote:To the total point comment specifically. Go back to the late 60's the NBA had far fewer teams and a couple rounds to the playoffs. By the mid 80's more teams, more rounds and more points... today we have even more rounds and more games.

The regular season has been 82 games for a long time (ABA was 84 and those points are in there for players that played in both leagues) so that's the real benchmark of your ability to score compared to others of the same era and all time. The playoff opportunities have ranged from 17 games possible to 28

OK got it. Makes sense. Thanks.

danfantastk32 · Post #6 » by **danfantastk32** » Tue Feb 22, 2022 8:11 am

Landsberger wrote:Give Kareem the 4 years that LeBron got by going from HS to the Pros and this conversation is happening 4 years from now...

To the total point comment specifically. Go back to the late 60's the NBA had far fewer teams and a couple rounds to the playoffs. By the mid 80's more teams, more rounds and more points... today we have even more rounds and more games.

The regular season has been 82 games for a long time (ABA was 84 and those points are in there for players that played in both leagues) so that's the real benchmark of your ability to score compared to others of the same era and all time. The playoff opportunities have ranged from 17 games possible to 28

Yeah, that is a good point about the postseason back in the day. Didn't think about that.

I do think if Kareem had gone straight to the pros from school, he'd never had started out at 29 ppg in his rookie season. But your point is definitely fair that this would be a discussion at least 2 years down the line. Pretty remarkable that Kareem not only went to College, but also played center during a much, much rougher era. And let's remember that the center is reliant on someone else to pass him the ball. And with all that, the guy was a scoring machine for 18 of his 20 years in the NBA. 14.6 ppg, and 6 boards at 40, back in those days, is the most impressive part to me. 29 minutes a game...80 games. At 40! If he'd played 1 more season, he'd have seen 4 decades of B-Ball. Just crazy

Landsberger · Post #7 » by **Landsberger** » Wed Feb 23, 2022 2:36 am

danfantastk32 wrote:
Landsberger wrote:Give Kareem the 4 years that LeBron got by going from HS to the Pros and this conversation is happening 4 years from now...

To the total point comment specifically. Go back to the late 60's the NBA had far fewer teams and a couple rounds to the playoffs. By the mid 80's more teams, more rounds and more points... today we have even more rounds and more games.

The regular season has been 82 games for a long time (ABA was 84 and those points are in there for players that played in both leagues) so that's the real benchmark of your ability to score compared to others of the same era and all time. The playoff opportunities have ranged from 17 games possible to 28

Yeah, that is a good point about the postseason back in the day. Didn't think about that.

I do think if Kareem had gone straight to the pros from school, he'd never had started out at 29 ppg in his rookie season. But your point is definitely fair that this would be a discussion at least 2 years down the line. Pretty remarkable that Kareem not only went to College, but also played center during a much, much rougher era. And let's remember that the center is reliant on someone else to pass him the ball. And with all that, the guy was a scoring machine for 18 of his 20 years in the NBA. 14.6 ppg, and 6 boards at 40, back in those days, is the most impressive part to me. 29 minutes a game...80 games. At 40! If he'd played 1 more season, he'd have seen 4 decades of B-Ball. Just crazy

That era played the same 82 games is 5 less weeks. 3 in a row's happend 2 or 3 times a year. I've never put much weight in the "back to back" issues because I remember the runs in the 80's where Kareem, in his late 30's, played 3 in a row.

I think Kareem's 85-86 season is one of his most impressive. At 38 years old he scored 23.4 while shooting 56% playing 33 minutes a game. During that season the Rockets had the Twin Towers in Hakeem and Sampson. The news of the day had Kareem fading while these 2 were the new face of big men in the NBA. Kareem scored 35, 46, 43, 23 and 18 while the Lakers went 4-1 against them. He averaged 38 min against them. As a big man in those times that year was amazing. The year before, at 37 he was the Finals MVP averaging 27 on 60% shooting against the C's....

Bron is aging well in terms of scoring etc. The best I've seen since Kareem actually.... and as you said, Kareem didn't bring the ball up the court.