League Leaders and their Impact

Here, we will look at the league leaders and try and quickly unpack the impact these actions have for their team and on the league.

Points – outrunning the competition
Leaders (players)

Stephen Curry – 34.7
Kevin Durant – 34.7
Lebron James – 31.9
Luka Doncic – 30.6
Zach LaVine – 29.9

Leaders (teams)

Portland – 107.1
San Antonio – 106.3
Golden State – 104.7
Charlotte – 103.8
Houston – 103.5

If you score more points than the other team, you win. Its as simple as that.

Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant lead the league at just under 35 points a game. The Nuggets score 99.8 points a game and the Mavericks score 96. Curry accounts for 35% of his teams points, and Durant, on the underachieving Mavericks, accounts for 36.1%. Both teams aren’t even in the top ten for scoring, and this leads me to believe that the team relies too heavily on these two players to succeed.

Portland, on the other hand, lead the league at 107.1 points per game, but dont have a scorer in the top five. As a counterpoint to the Curry and Durant examples, they seem to rely less on just one player and succeed more as a team system. Lebron, 37, scoring almost 32 a game is truly amazing!

Golden State, fighting for a play in spot, are top three in scoring. Play some defense!

Rebounds – collecting resources
Leaders (players)

Rudy Gobert – 17.5
Joel Embiid – 17.1
Clint Capela – 16.7
Willy Hernangomez – 15.7
Deandre Ayton – 15.6

Leaders (teams)

Detroit – 57.2
New York – 55.9
Minnesota – 54.5
Charlotte – 53.6
Chicago – 53.6

Welcome to the land of the giants! This is where the paint protectors make their living, with 4 of the top 5 rebounders also being terrific defensive bigs and rim protectors (Hello, Willy the outlier). Goberts elite rebounding presence (he grabs 30% of Detroits rebounds) sees the Pistons lead the league in rebounding. Number two on the list, Clint Capela, pushes his Knicks to second in the league. There is obviously a correlation between having a big, strong, tall defensive center and being a good rebounding team.

Minnesota have big Jonas who is in the top ten, Charlotte have a committee approach with McGee, Plumlee, Boucher and the Bulls have arguably the tallest frontline in the league with Davis, Whiteside and a bench of tall people.

Assists – effective communication
Leaders (players)

Russell Westbrook – 7.8
Lamelo Ball – 7.6
Lou Williams – 6.5
Nikola Jokic – 6.4
Stephen Curry – 6.2

Leaders (teams)
Portland – 25.3
Charlotte – 24.6
Houston – 24.6
Minnesota – 24.2
Washington 23.6

If you dont set the table, no one is able to eat!

This is the mantra that every good playmaker abides by. This is where Portland shows off their elite team chemistry, not only leading the league in assists but having the best assists to turnover ratio, too. Russell Westbrook leads the league in assists and leads Portland, buoying the team numbers.

The top four teams all feature truly elite passers (Harden, Jokic, Doncic, Paul, Ball) and a surprise in Washington, who feature two great passers in Embiid and Booker, and an intelligent, offensively talented team. There is a direct correlation between wins and assists numbers – the lower the assists, the lower the wins.

Blocks – protecting the pack
Leaders (players)

Rudy Gobert – 3.45
Jaren Jackson Jr. – 3.44
Myles Turner – 3.35
Hassan Whiteside – 3.29
Mo Bamba – 3.00

Leaders (teams)

Chicago – 8.4
Charlotte – 7.3
Portland – 7.2
Philadelphia – 7.0
Detroit – 6.7

Blocks, along with dunks, are the most physically intimidating plays that a player can perform. Not only are you reducing the efficiency of the opponent, and keeping their score lower, it is an emotional, spiritual lift for the performing team and a demoralising experience for the victim.

Gobert is so bloody good at protecting the paint, and he leads the league in both rebounds and blocks, and is the catalyst for the grimy, defensive dominance of the upstart Pistons team. Turner and Bamba block a lot of shots for not much gain, as their respective teams are still losing. Whiteside and Davis are the best blocking duo in the league.

Interestingly, no one on Portland averages over 2 blocks a game (before Hartenstein was traded in), but they are third in the league. Drummond, Gibson, Fall (R.I.P.) all average(d) around two blocks a game. Similarly, Charlotte block from a committee approach, led by McGee.

Steals – accumulating resources

Leaders (players)

La. Ball – 1.85
Murray – 1.62
Paul – 1.57
Lo. Ball – 1.56

Smart – 1.54

Leaders (teams)

San Antonio – 8.0
Memphis – 6.6
Charlotte – 6.5
Philadelphia – 6.4
Portland – 6.4

No Spurs in the top five, which goes to show just how defensively able their system/team is across the roster. All of the top thieves of the NSL are the usual suspects in the NBA, which demonstrates strong realism in terms of stealing ability in 2k. Not sure I have ever seen brothers in any top five list for any skill, other than the Morris brothers on the list for most technical fouls. Charlotte seem to be close to the top with every single statistic, which makes sense seeing as they are clear on top in the East.