The 2019-20 NBA season has a high level of storylines from the stacked Western Conference to what team other than the Milwaukee Bucks and Philadelphia 76ers will emerge as a favorite to win the Eastern Conference. This season will also have no shortage of major milestones that several perennial All-Stars, former Kia MVP winners and future Hall of Famers to keep an eye on as this season gets underway.
LeBron James Could Pass Kobe
As he begins season No. 17, which he hopes ends in his fourth NBA title in June 2020, four-time Kia MVP and three-time Finals MVP LeBron James needs 1,101 points to pass future Hall of Famer who spent his entire 20-year career with the Lakers Kobe Bryant (33,643 points) for No. 3 on the all-time scoring list, where James entered this season at No. 4 on the list at 32,543. James based on his career average of 27.2 points needs half of this season (41 games) to pass Bryant and trail Hall of Famers Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (38,387 points), a six-time Kia MVP and Karl Malone (36,928 points).
Besides rising the NBA’s all-time scoring charts, James is poised this season to climb the latter in several statistical categories. At season’s end, James could go from No. 10 in assists to No. 8; from field goals made from No. 5 to No. 4; from No. 19 in threes made to No. 16; from No. 8 in free throws made to No. 5; from No. 16 in steals to No. 13 and No. 15 in minutes made to No. 7.
Another scoring list James is about to rise up on is becoming just the third player in NBA history to register 1,000-plus games scoring 20 points or more. He currently is No. 3 on that list at 993 games played trailing Abdul-Jabbar and Malone at 1,122 and 1,134 games respectably and is I front of Bryant at 941 games and Michael Jordan at 926 contests scoring 20-plus.
Westbrook on Cusp of Triple-Double History
Over the summer, the Houston Rockets acquired this era’s Oscar Robertson in 2017 Kia MVP in Russell Westbrook, who is tied for No. 2 on the NBA’s all-time triple-double list, trailing only the Hall of Famer and NBA champion with the Milwaukee Bucks in 1971 with 181.
With his next triple-double, Westbrook will pass Hall of Famer of the Lakers Earvin “Magic” Johnson for sole possession of that No. 2 on the all-time triple-double list. He needs 44 triple-doubles to pass the “Big-O” for the most in NBA history.
Over the last two seasons, Westbrook, who has naysayers say in recent years that he does not get his teammates involved from his time with the Oklahoma City Thunder has led the NBA in assists in each of the last two seasons at 10.3 and 10.7 after his teammate James Harden did so in 2016-17 at 11.2. If Westbrook leads the league in assists this season, he would become just the sixth player to win three straight assists crowns.
Third Straight Scoring Title for Harden?
Last season, 2017-18 Kia MVP of the Houston Rockets James Harden finished with the highest scoring average in an NBA season since Michael Jordan averaged 37.1 in 1986-87 season. If Harden, who led the NBA in scoring at 36.1, thanks to a 32-game streak of scoring 30-plus leads the NBA in scoring again this season, he would join current Brooklyn Net Kevin Durant (2009-12); Hall of Famers in Jordan (1995-98), former San Antonio Spur George Gervin (1977-80), Bob McAdoo (1973-76); Neil Johnston (1952-55) and George Mikan (1948-51) as the only players to lead the league in scoring average three straight seasons. Only Jordan (1986-93) and the late Hall of Famer Wilt Chamberlin (1959-66) led the NBA in scoring seven straight seasons.
Steady Popovich And Spurs
When the San Antonio Spurs hosted the New York Knicks in their 2019-20 season opener on Wednesday night, head coach Gregg Popovich, who signed a three-year contract extension this offseason begins his 24th straight season as the leader on the five-time NBA champion’s sideline.
That breaks a tie with Hall of Famer Jerry Sloan (1988-2011), who coached for 23 seasons with the Utah Jazz for the longest tenure in NBA history coaching for one franchise.
To put into perspective what Coach Popovich has done, since taking over for Bob Hill on Dec. 10, 1996, there have been 270 head coaches used in the NBA, including head coaches that were hired this summer, with the other 29 teams having at least three coaches and as many as 14 in the Popovich era.
In second place is Hall of Famer and 16-time NBA champion as a head coach and executive Arnold Jacob “Red” Auerbach (1950-66) with 16 straight seasons as the Celtics head coach. Tied for fourth is Alvin Attles (1969-83) of the then San Francisco, now Golden State Warriors and John MacLeod (1973-87) of the Phoenix Suns with 14 consecutive seasons.
Popovich has led the Spurs to the playoffs in each of his 22 full seasons, tying the Syracuse Nationals/Philadelphia (1949-71) 76ers for the longest streak of consecutive postseason appearances in NBA history. The last time the Spurs missed the playoffs was in 1996-97, the season before the arrival of now assistant coach and future Hall of Famer Tim Duncan, who helped them win five Larry O’Brien trophies.
Following the Spurs and Nationals/76ers, the Portland Trail Blazers (1982-2003) are second all-time with 21 consecutive postseason appearances. The Jazz (1983-2003) in the Malone, John Stockton era, are third with 20 straight playoff appearances with the Boston Celtics (1950-69), under Auerbach fourth with 19 straight appearances.
Potential Record-Setting Final Season for Carter
There is only active player left in the NBA that was drafted in the 1990s and his name is Vincent Lamar Carter, who has simply gotten every ounce out of his incredible talent in his NBA career that will land him in the Springfield, MA. The 42-year-old’s career resume that consists of eight All-Star selections; Kia Rookie of the Year; two-time All-NBA selection (Third Team in 2000 and Second Team in 2001) and 2000 NBA Slam Dunk Champion. He is set to make some serious history of monumental proportions this season.
When the Atlanta Hawks took the court on Thursday night at the Detroit Pistons, a 117-100 win in their season opener, the No. 5 overall pick in the 1998 NBA Draft by the Toronto Raptors set the NBA record for most seasons played at 22, surpassing the previous high mark of future Hall of Famers Kevin Garnett, the recently retired Dirk Nowitzki, Robert Parish and Kevin Willis at 21 seasons. Abdul-Jabbar and Bryant have the third most with seasons played with 20.
In the history of the four major North American sports, there have been four individuals to play more seasons than the 22 played by Carter.
Hall of Famer pitcher, eight-time All-Star and World Series champion with the 1969 New York Mets of Major League Baseball (MLB) Nolan Ryan pitched for 26 seasons with “The Amazins,” the then California Angels, now Los Angeles Angels.
Hall of Famer and four-time Stanley Cup champion of the NHL’s Detroit Red Wings Gordie Howe, who also played in the United States Hockey League UHL), World Hockey Association (WHA) and International Hockey League, played 26 seasons in the NHL.
Also playing 26 seasons in the NHL was Hall of Famer, 11-time All-Star and three-time Stanley Cup champion Chris Chelios, who also played for the Red Wings as well as the Montreal Canadiens, Chicago Blackhawks, and Atlanta Thrashers.
In his combined time playing in the American Football League (AFL) and the National Football League, Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback and placekicker George Blanda, who won three AFL titles played 26 seasons of pro football for the Chicago Bears, the then Baltimore Colts, Chicago Bears, then Houston Oilers and Oakland Raiders
If the Daytona Beach, FL native plays in the Hawks game to open the New Year at the Celtics on Jan. 3, 2020, he will become the first player in NBA history to play a game in four different decades.
Carter, a native of Daytona Beach, FL also has the chance to join the rare 1,500-game club if he plays 19 games this season joining Parish (1,611), Abdul-Jabbar (1,560), Nowitzki (1,522) and Stockton (1,504).
Carter, who turns 43 on Jan. 26 could also become the fourth player in NBA history to appear in a game at age 43 or older. Matthew “Nat” Hickey at age 45 appeared in a game on Jan. 28, 1948 for the Indianapolis Kautskys. Former Hawk Kevin Willis, who also played his 21 seasons with the Heat, Warriors, Raptors, Denver Nuggets, Rockets, Mavericks, and Spurs, where he won in 2003 a title appeared in an NBA game on Apr. 18, 2007 with the Mavericks at age 44. Parish appeared in a game for the Bulls, who he helped win a title on Apr. 19, 1997 at age 43.
Curry Seeks More Three-Point Records
As the five-time defending Western Conference champions start the 2019-20 season in their new digs at the Chase Center in San Francisco, CA on Thursday night versus the Los Angeles Clippers on TNT, two-time Kia MVP Stephen Curry is chasing two Hall of Famers on the all-time three-pointers made list.
With 78 more made triples, Curry (2,483) will pass Hall of Famer and current NBA on TNT color analyst Reggie Miller (2,560) for second place on the all-time list and based on his average makes from distance last season at 5.1, he would move into that No. 2 spot after 16 games. If he can keep that current pace, he would surpass Hall of Famer Ray Allen for the No. 1 spot next season. Right behind Curry is newest addition to the Bucks (2,351) and former Hawk, Maverick, Celtic, Net, Rocket and Buck Jason Terry (2,282).
Amongst active players, Curry (43.6) is second in the league and to his brother in Dallas Mavericks sharp-shooter Seth (43.9) in three-point field goal percentage, ahead of the Bucks newest addition Kyle Korver (42.9), the Nets Joe Harris (42.7) and Curry’s “Splash Brother” teammate with the Warriors Klay Thompson (41.9).
Information, statistics, and quotations are courtesy of 10/21/19 www.nba.com story, “6 Milestones To Watch For In 2019-20;” https://www.espn.com/nba/player/stats/_/3975/stephen-curry; https://www.espn.com/nba/player/stats/_/id/3992/james-harden; https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Jordan#Regular_season; https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vince_Carter; https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jason_Terry; https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_Willis; https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nat_Hickey; https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Auerbach; https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_McAdoo; https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nolan_Ryan; http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gordie_Howe; http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Chelios; and https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Blanda.
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