Which NBA Stats Record will be the most difficult to break?

Yeah, I agree on Wilt's 100. Oscar's triple double avg has got to be up there too.

 

How about Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's career points record? I few years ago, I thought that it was untouchable. Now we have:

Yrs Gm Pts Avg
1 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar 20 1560 38,387 24.6
2 Karl Malone 17 1353 34,707 25.7

Does Karl Malone have a couple of good years left to move to the number 1 spot?

How about Dream's career blocks?

Yrs Gm Total
1 Hakeem Olajuwon 18 1238 3830
2 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar 20 1560 3189
3 Mark Eaton 11 875 3064
4 Patrick Ewing 17 1183 2894
5 David Robinson 13 923 2843
6 Dikembe Mutumbo 12 840 2836

I think that this stat was not recorded the first three years of Abdul-Jabbar's career so he may have more blocks than Dream but Dream is still playing.

John Stockton's steals and assists seem pretty untouachable:

Steals:

Yrs Gm No
1 John Stockton 18 1422 3128
2 Michael Jordan 14 990 2391
3 Maurice Cheeks 15 1101 2310
4 Clyde Drexler 15 1086 2207
5 Scottie Pippen 15 1091 2181

Assists:

Yrs Gm No Avg
1 John Stockton 18 1422 15,177 10.7
2 Magic Johnson 13 906 10,141 11.2
3 Oscar Robertson 14 1040 9,887 9.5
4 Mark Jackson 15 1172 9,840 8.4
5 Isiah Thomas 13 979 9,061 9.3
6 Rod Strickland 14 970 7,490 7.7
7 Maurice Cheeks 15 1101 7,392 6.7
8 Lenny Wilkens 15 1077 7,211 6.7
9 Bob Cousy 14 924 6,955 7.5
10 Gary Payton 12 947 6,927 7.3

 

Andre Miller has a chance at the assists and if Shaq put a lot on scoring and his averages and so forth, he could catch Malone and Jabbar for the #1 scorer in NBA history but I don't think it will happen. He won't play long enough and he doesn't care enough.

 

I think Malone will stick around just to break the scoring record. It's bound to make him feel better about not winning a championship. It would be bizarre: the Jazz would have the all-time scoring, assists, and steals leaders. Wow.

Anyway, I've never been that impressed with totals. The fact is that really good players are now coming out earlier, and you're bound to run into a Kobe Bryant/Kevin Garnett every few years. Malone's 38, 39 and has played 16 years. If Kobe or Garnett play till 38, they'll have 20 years. I can see many of those totals in jeopardy if we just wait long enough.

As for Hakeem's blocking records, I don't put much stock in them since Wilt and Russell both had more blocks than he did, they just weren't officially counted. But that makes Hakeem 3rd best at the worst.

Wilt's point records (100 pts/game, 50.4 pts/average) will probably never be broken because teams know that you can't win with someone averaging 50. A decent coach wouldn't let it happen. Wilt's situation was unique because the league was not a sure thing to survive, and they needed those high point averages. One year Wilt played in about 50 exhibition games to raise money.

Wilt's record of 48.5 minutes/game is also tough. Shaq was a likely canidate, but he's too out of shape now.

But by far basketball's most unreachable records are at the college level. Pete Maravich's 45 pts/average and college career 3,600 points (in three years!) will never be broken, because no one that good will even go to college, or if they do, it will only be for a year.

 

I agree w/ Kenogu & AstroRocket. Teams barely go for a hundred now a days so a player will NEVER EVER drop 100 in a game again.

Wilt really played OVER 48 min a game in a season? Damn! If that record was just 48, maybe someone could do it but that record will never be broken either unless they make games 50 min long.

 

Yeah, Wilt averged 48.5 by virtue of the overtimes. The only time he didn't play was when he was thrown on techs for one game. Wilt's career minutes are like 45.8. Wilt just had athleticism and endurance that big guys today don't know about. He also felt that even if he was a little tired, he was still better tired than anyone coming off the bench fresh. Wilt was also slow to get into games, and felt that if he went to the bench it took him too long to get back in the flow.

 

I think LeBron James will come along and average a quintuple double in his rookie season and score 128 points in a game. Oh Wait, Thats Slam Magazine, sorry.

 

Oldest virgin - A.C. Green, 38 years old

 

hahaha that's hilarious

 

Unless you have friendly hometown scorers for the two most subjective stats like he does! Remember that game with the clock operator?

 

I don't think it is a sure thing to happen, but who thought David Robinson would throw up 70 some points? If a team is ever locked into a certain seed late in the season and their guy is in the race for the scoring title, I could see a guy approaching Wilt's record. Not in a regular meaningful game, however.

 

You could be right, I forgot about that DRob game. But think about it this way, 1) He was playing the Clippers 2) They gave him the ball EVERY trip down the court in the 2nd half and I believe he took all but 5 of the team's attempts in the second half and 3) He still had 30 points to go. Thats 15 made field goals! or 10 FG's and 10 FT's!!

It will be hard to break that but like you said, it will have to be in a meaningless game.

Back to Wilt. He was the man! He was out there like "screw it. No matter what I'm the best player on the court tired or not so I'm not coming out!" Thats amazing. thanks for the mini Wilt history lesson DF22.

 

Wilt's 50.4 a season might be even harder than 100 in a game. Who knows. somebody may make a run at 100 just for publicity's sake. It just requires a team willing to dog it, teammates willing to help, and a monster scorer. To average 50 over an 82 game season would require rule changes or wider baskets or something, it's just too long to do.

 

I vote for the big O's triple double for a season. Few guys get a triple double in a game, can you imagine averaging those numbers for a season. You would need to get at least around 40-50 trip-dubs and go off in some games to pick up the games where you fell behind. Long streaks and averages are harder to break than single game type stuff, just look at Shawn Green. Who would have thought he would have the record for total bases in a game.

 

All Time Steals by a CENTER ........................you know who............HO

 

Actually if you average Big O's first five years, you end up with a triple double as well!

~Radical Subjectivity~

 

I bet there will be another 100 pt game. One of these days, an Allen Iverson or Kobe-without-Shaq is going to take 40 shots... amke them all, and get fouled alot. Probably after said team has already clinched a division title, or the team's already out of the running.

But I doubt that scoring average will ever be broken.

 

I hate to shamelessly jock any player, but let me point out yet another thing about Wilt's game: blocks and steals were not counted until after he left, and somewhat bizzarely, the exact year after he announced his retirement (blocks/steals first counted in 1972-73 season). Now consider this: 1967 was the first year of his career in which he did not lead the league in scoring, his eighth year, and also the first year in which he won a championship. He finally discovered that his teammates needed to do nearly as much as he himself. He put together one of the finest seasons in NBA history: 24 points, 24 rebounds, 8 assists, 45 1/2 minutes, and a 68 FG%. Got that? 8 assists a game (he became the only non-guard to lead the league in assists the next year, with 8.6). That's nearly a triple-double already (and, like Oscar's 30-12-11, a manly triple-double). Now consider that Earl Strom, the late head of referees, says that both Wilt and Russell were averaging around 8 blocks for most of their careers. Now I'll write that 66-67 stat line again, and feel free to do a double-take:

Wilt Chamberlain, 1966-67: 24 points/game, 24 rebounds/game, 8 assists/game, 8 blocks/game, 45.5 minutes/game, 68 FG%

That, my firends, is nearly a quadruple-double. Now you know why I laugh when people say he was Shaq of the 1960s. Shaq sure as hell could never do that.

Okay, my rant is over. Resume talking to non-obsessed people .

 

Great post Drexlerfan.

I would have to go with 48.5 PPG as most untouchable.