By George Orfanakis / info@eurohoops.net
As is the case every season, this season the battle for the championship ring is expected to be close, however, the individual achievements of players are of particular interest as well.
Some athletes are better scorers, some specialize in other statistical categories, while others have so much mileage in the league that simply playing in a certain number of games is newsworthy.
Eurohoops picked out and presents here the most important milestones of the season that is about to start!
Dirk Nowitzki: Aiming to surpass Wilt Chamberlain
It won’t be easy though, as Dirk Nowitzki has in front of him a unique opportunity to climb to 5th place on the list of the top scorers of all-time, leaving behind Wilt Chamberlain.
A few days before the start of the new season, the beloved German has scored a total of 30260 points and is chasing down Chamberlain, who has 31419 points. This means that their difference is 1159 points, or, if you prefer, 14.13 points in 82 games. How feasible is this milestone?
Dirk completed last season with 769 points in 54 games. If he stays healthy then it is certain that he will pull off yet another impressive achievement and will find himself even higher on a Top 10 list that is made up of 9 Americans and 1 European. So, Nowitzki’s fans will head into the new season with the hope that their favorite star will score 1159 points!
LeBron James: Becoming the youngest player with 30000 points!
LeBron is a player who can do everything on the court. He scores, gets rebounds, creates, plays amazing defense and, above all, offers bucket-loads of spectacle. The truth is that he was never established in people’s minds as a born scorer, like, for example, Kobe Bryant, but the numbers show that his relationship with the opponents’ basket is more than close.
With the existing data, the King counts 28787 points and is just 1213 points away from the milestone of 30000. In short, the Cavaliers superstar needs an average of just 14.8 points in a total of 82 games to go beyond this particular limit, something that should be considered a given.
From there, James will be able to aim even higher and try to reach Chamberlain’s 31419 points and surpass him in the 2017/2018 season. But this seems a long way away right now, so, for starters, let’s focus on the 30000!
Stephen Curry: Going for the 2000 three-pointers and… we’ll see from there!
Is Stephen Curry the best shooter in the history of the sport? The younger generations would easily say ‘yes’, but those who remember Ray Allen and Reggie Miller would hesitate. But the numbers don’t lie and according to them, it’s only a matter of time before the Warriors superstar surpasses legendary names of the NBA.
More specifically, Curry has scored 1917 three-pointers in his career and is only 83 away from reaching 2000. Using very simple math, this translates into a little more than 1 three-pointer in every one of the 82 games of a season. Piece of cake!
Aside from that, in the last three seasons, Curry has scored 286, 402 and 324 three-pointers, in that order. So, the big and realistic goal is to reach Jason Terry at 3rd place with 2242 three-pointers, and Curry needs another 325 three-pointers to do that.
Concerning the best of the best, that is Ray Allen with 2973 three-pointers more than Stephen Curry. The latter is 29 years old, which means that it’s only a matter of time and… health to score the 1056 threes he needs to be featured at the top!
Russell Westbrook: He wants to reach 100 triple-doubles!
Russell Westbrook is coming off an epic season, in which he got 42 triple-doubles and, in doing so, broke Oscar Robertson’s unprecedented – until a few months ago – record.
The Thunder’s great leader has finished 79 games with a triple-double in his career so far and is just 21 triple-doubles away from the 100 milestone. With last year’s data that number doesn’t seem large, but the arrival of Paul George and Carmelo Anthony might change things.
Common sense says that Westbrook will score less, will not get as many rebounds and, therefore, it won’t be as easy for him to register triple-doubles. Even so, the initial goal of 100 seems feasible and then, from there, the next barrier is Jason Kidd with 107. If Russell keeps going with the same kind of energy, everything is possible…
Vince Carter: The 25000 points are close! Or are they…?
Vince Carter is one of the most respected athletes in the NBA right now. He has never caused trouble, his ethos is unmatched, the spectacle he has offered has been at times abundant and his love for basketball is a given. The fact that he’s one of only four players in the league that were born in the 70s and are still playing, is telling.
For this reason, the milestone of 25000 points will be celebrated not just by him, but by his thousands of fans as well. As he’s about to start his 20th season in the NBA, Carter counts 24555 points and he needs only 445 in order to enter an exclusive club that includes just 20 players.
But how easy is it for him to score 445 points, or else, to complete the season with an average of 5.42 points in a total of 82 games? To begin with, “Air Canada” has played in 82 games in a season only once in his career and, to be realistic, this won’t happen this season. In the last three seasons he has scored 384, 395 and 586 points, in this order, which means that it’s going to be close. A lot will depend on the role and playing time he gets in the Sacramento Kings. Let’s hope, though, that he will break the barrier of 25000 points! He truly deserves it…