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The Totals Gimmick

What is the Totals Gimmick?​

Breaking statistical records is a highly sought after goal for professional players. It generates hype, the fans love it, the media loves it, and it's critical for a player's legacy. Single game records (most points in a game, most assists in a game, etc.) are extremely difficult to achieve, and with each successive year it gets more and more difficult. Most of these records are out of reach of just about any player. So what can a player do? There's the "totals" gimmick. Instead of getting a single game record, a player attempts to amass a total over his career that tops the previous total. There are two factors required for this:

  • play a lot of games
  • average as high a number possible in the target stat

Let's take scoring. In order to end up on the high totals point list (which Kareem currently tops), a player needs to play a very long time (probably close to 20 years now) and average a farily high ppg throughout the career. Only the top 1-2 players per team will have this opportunity.

So why is this a gimmick?​

As previously mentioned, the single game records are largely out of reach. Wilt, for example, holds many records that are unlikely to be broken anytime soon. So nobody can really top Wilt in single game scoring, or even average over a single season, etc. But, the totals record is within reach.

Why are totals records available?​

In the 90s moving forward, the average age for the NBA rookie has been getting lower and lower as players enter directly from high school. Furthermore, more and more of these HS rookies are able to be top players immediately, rather than putting some time in first. Lebron is an example that came straight from high school and instantly was leading his team as its top player. A player like that has the opportunity to break a totals record due to the fact that his career will likely average 4 or more years more than those that had to play in college first.
This is how modern players are able to more easily break a totals record set by past players. In Kareem's case, he played a very long time, but didn't always average 20+ ppg like LeBron or other newer players today. So someone today who consistently averages 20+ ppg will be able to approach that record (like Lebron, Kobe, etc).

How Impressed Should We Be?​

To judge how impressive something like this is, first consider what it really means:

  • It means the player played a long time as a starter.

That is it. If you are very impressed by that, that is your perspective. But what it ultimately means is simply that the player played for a long time. There are certain characteristics that come along with this such as:

  • the player was in good shape throughout his career.
  • the player was able to be a relatively top performer throughout his career (statistically speaking).

These things like longevity are to be appreciated, certainly. But this is not the same kind of record as someone who has a very high scoring game, or 20+ rebounds/assists in a game. Because the latter has to do with a single game performance, which is more indicative of an amazing event, then the accumulation of something over time.

In general, fans are going to be more excited by a person scoring 60 points in a single game, than someone scoring 20 points a game for 3 games. The total points is the same, but the latter example won't excite anyone.

So that's the gimmick. The thought process is: since the single game record is not available, I might as well target the easier to achieve totals record. Then the media and marketing will hype the totals achievement and try to sell it as a very exciting thing. But it's really not that exciting.