Not sure if many of you recall, but Simmons created the '42 Club' in a column a few years ago. He basically added the point, rebound and assist averages for the playoffs for players and if they broke 42, they were a 'Pantheon Guy'. Most players on the list check out as being dominant forces. http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/060602 It was a cool little stat which I thought I'd revisit. This time though, I've added steals and blocks because it adds some weight to the defensive end and allows for ball hawks and rim protectors to get some love. Whilst I've always been an 'eye test' guy and believe no kind of stat can tell the whole story, I still think it was interesting to have a crack at. The numbers so far this season for a few guys: Anthony Davis: 43.9 Boogie Cousins: 42.4 James Harden: 41.3 Lebron James: 40.7 Steph Curry: 39.6 Marc Gasol: 33.8 Dwight Howard: 31.2 Adding turnovers to the list keeps it the same in terms of sequence, but Davis remains the only player over 40, at 42.7. Crazy. Again, this doesn't take into account efficiency, minutes yada yada yada...still, it's food for thought. Just pretend it's the 90's and per game stats are all that matter. :grin: Also, insane to think that the players he listed achieved that magic number based off only three statistical categories.
Doesn't Simmons 42 club require 13 playoff games minimum to qualify? Aren't these playoff accomplishments he's noting? Oh wait, I forgot...TS% in the regular season is the most important category to determine the best players of all time.
I believe this '42 Club' is reserved just for the playoffs. Here's a look at some players who've hit it since the time Simmons introduced this idea. Hopefully I didn't make any mistakes or leave off anyone. Kobe Bryant: 42.4 ('07) Antawn Jamison: 43.1 ('07) LeBron James: 43.6 ('08), 51.7 ('09), 46 ('10), 45.6 ('12) Tracy McGrady: 42 ('08) Dirk Nowitzki: 42.8 ('08) Dwyane Wade: 45.6 ('10) Carmelo Anthony: 42.5 ('10) Dwight Howard: 43 ('11) Kevin Durant: 46.1 ('13), 42.4 ('14) Russell Westbrook: 42.1 ('14) I think you could say each one of those players was or currently is a franchise player at this point. (Except Jamison WTF?) Durant and Westbrook look to be the future; here's hoping one of them jumps ship. LeBron has hit the 42 mark six times; is it possible for him to beat Jordan's mark of six? Regarding our stars: Dwight Howard had a 41.5 for the '14 playoffs; very close to hitting the key 42. James had a 37.3.
Which would be why Simmons instituted the minimum 13 games rule, to keep guys who put up 30 and 10 while their team got ravaged in the first round from qualifying. If Jamison had been able to post those numbers throughout a deep playoff run, then he deserves it. Getting hot for 4 games while your team is losing? Not impressive. Edit: Which would narrow the list you posted to just Lebron (3x), Durant (1x) and Westbrook (1x), a bit more in line with the eliteness of the club - only 17 guys in 38 years..
Here are a list of players who averaged 42 or greater in their playoff careers: Wilt Chamberlain* Michael Jordan* Elgin Baylor* Bob Pettit* LeBron James While Baylor and Pettit are great players I don't think they really belong with MJ, Wilt, and LBJ. Here is a complete List Code: Player PTS+REB+AST Wilt Chamberlain* 51.2 Michael Jordan* 45.5 Elgin Baylor* 43.9 Bob Pettit* 43 LeBron James 42.8 Jerry West* 41 Kevin Durant 40.9 Larry Bird* 40.6 Hakeem Olajuwon* 40.3 George Mikan* 40.1 Charles Barkley* 39.8 Allen Iverson 39.5 Karl Malone* 38.6 Shaquille O'Neal 38.6 Dirk Nowitzki 38.2 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar* 38 Elvin Hayes* 37.8 Oscar Robertson* 37.8 Moses Malone* 37.3 Derrick Rose 37.2 Russell Westbrook 36.8 Tim Duncan 36.1 George Gervin* 36 Carmelo Anthony 35.8 Dwight Howard 35.8 Kobe Bryant 35.4 Stephen Curry 35.2 Chris Paul 35.1 Rick Barry* 35 Paul Arizin* 35 Dominique Wilkins* 34.7 Walt Frazier* 34.3 Alex English* 34.2 Isiah Thomas* 34 John Havlicek* 33.7 Clyde Drexler* 33.4 Dwyane Wade 33.3 Julius Erving* 33.1 Marques Johnson 33.1 Tracy McGrady 32.9 George Yardley* 32.6 Patrick Ewing* 32.5 Tom Burleson 32.4 Bob Love 32.3 LaMarcus Aldridge 32.2 Cliff Hagan* 32.1 Jo Jo White 31.6 Bob Dandridge 31.5 Amar'e Stoudemire 31.3 Anfernee Hardaway 31.3 Vince Carter 31.2 Bernard King* 31.1 David Thompson* 30.9 Paul Pierce 30.3 Hal Greer* 30.2 James Worthy* 29.5 Lou Hudson 29.2 Doug Collins 29.1 Adrian Dantley* 29 Ben Gordon 26.6 Reggie Miller* 26
Different era - rebounds were insanely easy to rack up in the 60s, which is likely why Simmons deliberately excluded the era for his calculations. You honestly might get closer to the truth if you sliced the rebounding numbers in half for all three 60s guys there.
13 games seems like an arbitrary number. If you allow Akeem to swap out Blocks for Assist, then he also did it in 1986, for 20 games. I think that should be allowed. Also, using Simmons formula, he did it over the final 17 games of the 1986 playoff run, once Fitch realized he had to ride Akeem. Also, Hakeem did it on 12 games in 1993, and 10 games in 1987
Make it 45 or 46 and include blocks and steals. Other than that, I love the criteria. The numbers certainly correspond to my memory of certain players go full beast mode in the playoffs. 1993 Barkley is the first to pop into my mind. He was insane good that year all the way through the Finals.
I realise the 42 Club is for the playoffs. I was simply looking to use it's basic mathematic premise and apply it to regular season stats as a way to measure a players greatness over 82 games. This is why I included steals to favour guards who might not block a lot of shots, and blocks for big men who may not get many steals. 42 again seems to be the magic number. Those players getting to 42 off three categories is just insane though. Absolute beast mode.
