There is plenty wrong with AI. I won’t dive into most of what’s wrong. After all, I mainly write about the Sixers, which means the only AI worth a damn wore No. 3. Among the things woefully inept about it, albeit it’s low on the what’s wrong scale, is its sports knowledge.
When Tiago Splitter became the interim head coach of the Blazers last year I asked who was the tallest NBA head coach ever.
Jeff Van Gundy popped up as an answer, all five-foot-nine of him.
Sure it has gotten better, and people will say well it’s all about how you ask questions. I don’t care. AI will make certain things easier. I have to use it for my job, and there are benefits. But as I thought about how I want to write a bit more, especially now. Especially when anyone could ask Claude or Chat GPT to write whatever, to allow for some machine to form words. It sucks.
Normally I write a few times each year about the Sixers. Occasionally I write about the Eagles. Maybe a movie opinion or two. When I do write about the Sixers it comes from the perspective of a fan. They are the first team I ever cared about. My coverage hasn’t necessarily been Xs and Os but more about experiences. How I feel watching games. The impacts of a draft pick or a free agent signing. Everything from the lens of a fan. That’ll still be the case, but I also obsess over statistics. It has always been one of my favorite ways to connect to basketball.
I’d share random stuff on Twitter back in its heyday. I enjoyed messing around with Basketball-reference’s stathead (importantly not AI!) to see the uniqueness of a Nicolas Batum, Joakim Noah, or Andrei Kirlenko statline. Stats aren’t the end all, be all. They are mostly fun. Cherry-picking a stat to help shape a narrative is commonplace.
Most NBA fans have seen this graphic:
As evident above, some stats are meaningless. But others tell a real story. Or at least try.
And that’s what I hope to do through this new weekly series called That Stat.
Each blog post will share a story of the past week of Sixers games through stats. Stathead will be used plenty to accurately capture historical trends. It would be impossible to physically check each box score of every NBA game ever. But as I am watching a game it’s easy to notice things.
As an example, Dominick Barlow dominated a game last year against the Clippers which turned into a career night. Namely on the offensive glass. I figured his performance was rare, so I plugged some numbers into Stathead and uncovered a cool list:
It’ll be mostly Sixers stuff. Those are the games I watch most frequently. But the rest of the NBA will get shouts every now and then.
Take last year when I caught the fourth quarter of a Detroit and Chicago game. Paul Reed was playing sensational, filling up the stat sheet and barely missing a shot. I had to see who else put up similar numbers. I wasn’t surprised to see the company B-ball Paul kept. He joined Nikola Jokic, Charles Barkley, and Julius Erving as players with at least 28 points, 13 rebounds, six assists and four steals while shooting 80 percent from the field. I try to keep numbers to multiples of five for points, rebounds, and assists to accurately capture the oddity of a performance because putting exact numbers opens the door for cherry-picked outcomes (a la Thaddeus Young). By making it 25 points and 10 rebounds instead of 28 and 13, the list expands a bit with even more former Sixers (Ben Simmons, Chris Webber, and Drummond) in addition to Amar’e Stoudemire, Vlade Divac, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
I am excited yet anxious to begin this series because honestly it has been a bit since I had to hold myself accountable to write anything. The only mandated writing I do these days are quarterly articles for a grants magazine. But you must start somewhere.
The best way to follow along is to subscribe. On my main page (feelingjustswell.com) you can type your email and click subscribe. I will have a few posts before the season is underway. Then on Monday, October 26 the weekly posts will begin. (Every Monday will be the goal, but that is subject to change due to life and stuff). I’ll continue through the postseason regardless of how far the Sixers go. I can’t promise each one will be dynamic, especially as I find my footing, but it won’t cost you a dime.
And if you like it, please share with a NBA or Sixer fan in your life.
One final stat for good measure. College basketball inspired.
Since 1980, players to score at least 700 points, dish out 150 assists, make 80 threes while shooting above 50 percent from the field in a season.
Jalen Brunson and Labaron Philon
Feel swell, friends!
feelingjustswell.com 
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