We're far enough into the season for stats to be meaningful. I was just looking and was shocked to see that only 9 players in the entire league are averaging over 20 ppg. Compare that with just 5 years ago, when there were 31 such players.

Thoughts?

is the number of superstars down, or are they more spread out and getting fewer points?

Can you compare minutes leaders the same way?

I think with the growing number of number-crunchers in NBA front offices they're starting to realize exactly how much an inefficient 20 ppg scorer hurts you; you're better off taking the Nuggets route and having a bunch of good players than trying to pretend someone who can score a lot is a franchise cornerstone.

Superstars getting together to play on same team+only one ball to go around ='s less individual stats. Plus team scoring is way down this year.

Rule changes (e.g. Zone Defence) resulting in less one-on-one isolation and more team play.

zone defenses were brought back in 2001, over ten years ago.

I think most teams want to have more balanced scoring so you're seeing less "non scorers" on the floor. The Nuggets are a good example. The Spurs and Clippers as well. All three of those teams have very good offenses and score a lot of points but none of them have a 20 point scorer. The Spurs are 3rd in the league in scoring as a team and Parker averages 19 to lead the team.

Plus, most teams don't really play zone. And if they do, it's only situational. Zone is really only good for college basketball where players can't play defense. Teams in the NBA don't use it all too often because they would get killed on the offensive glass.

[This message has been edited by Enzo The Baker (edited 12/24/2012 11:11a).]

It isn't that teams play zone. The rule change eliminatting illegal defense allowed teams to defend isolation plays effectively.

According to Henry Abbott, in 1990, the number of free throws attempts to 3 point attempts was almost a 5:1 ratio.

Now, they are almost equal.

I found that to be very interesting. Stu Jackson talked about how much less 1 on 1 there is now.

http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/post/_/id/54569/the-only-constant-is-change

I wonder what the 3Pt/FT differences are for players like Jordan, Kobe, Durant.

The elimination of illegal defense + more creative defensive schemes (Thibodeau was one of the first to figure out how to take advantage by flooding the strong-side with extra defender) means teams defensively are forcing the ball out of the best scorer's hands and making someone else shoot.

In 2002, 27 guys averaged 20+ PPG. There were also 25 guys that averaged 17+ FGA/game. As you said this year only 11 guys are averaging 20+ PPG. How many are averaging 17+ FGA/game? Only 11. In general, the primary scorers are shooting less of their teams' total shots because the rules changes have allowed teams more options defensively to try and make them get rid of the ball.

Minutes played might be another factor. In 2002, 28 guys averaged 38+ MPG. This year, only 11 guys are on pace to average 38+ MPG. And no one is averaging 40 minutes a night. In 2002, 10 guys averaged 40+ MPG, including Iverson at a ridiculous 43.7 MPG.

I think coaches are doing a better job of using their bench and not running their guys ragged as much during the regular season to try and save something for the playoffs.