1.    Mid-Life Crisis:    This was an interesting week or so for the older set.  First, 41-year old Scottie Pippen made noise about coming back.  Shortly thereafter, Dikembe Mutombo pulled down 22 rebounds in a game, the most for an NBA player over the age of 40.  That got me thinking of the magic 40 number.  Is Mutombo (who is reportedly older than his listed age) having the best season for a 40-something? 

 

In fact, there have been very few NBA players who have been starters after age-40 (defining such players as players who turned 40 before January 1st of the season).  A lot of players have made it into the late 30s but 40 is really a different plateau for most.  Moses Malone seemed like he played forever but he didn't start an NBA season at age-40 (he was 39 at the start of his final season).  Likewise, Reggie Miller and John Havlicek didn't quite get to their 40s.  Even Michael Jordan, who was greater than any 38-year old or 39-year old guard, didn't start a season at age 40.  I could find only five player seasons who were starters at age 40. Here's the full list of such players:

 

Player	Age	Year	Games	PPG	FG%	RPG	APG	PER
K. Abdul-Jabbar	40	1987-88	80	14.6	0.532	6.0	1.7	15.8
K. Abdul-Jabbar	41	1988-89	74	10.1	0.475	4.5	1.0	12.9
R. Parish	40	1993-94	74	11.7	0.491	7.3	1.1	16.1
J. Stockton	40	2002-03	82	10.8	0.483	2.5	7.7	21.0
K. Malone	40	2003-04	42	13.2	0.483	8.7	3.9	17.8
D. Mutombo	40	2006-07	26	5.3	0.616	7.3	0.3	15.0

   

We threw in Mutombo's stats as a starter this year to compare (his January and February stats). Here are some thoughts:

 

-Kareem gave the Lakers one slightly above average season and one mediocre season after age 40.  Wasn't a bad showing but I do remember thinking that Kareem was much older at the time than he actually was.

 

-Parish's age-40 season was his final season as a Celtic and was pretty solid, mirroring Jabbar's 1987-88 season.  Parish even ended his season in style, hitting a big shot to knock off a contending Bulls' team near the end of the 1993-94 season and costing the Bulls home court advantage in the playoffs.  Parish would go on to have three more solid seasons as a back up for Charlotte and Chicago, where he was productive per minute but didn't play more than 12 mpg.

 

-Stockton's age-40 year was the best of the older set and really not much off of the stats he put up since age-35 (1997-98).  It would've been fun to see how long Stockton could've kept up this level of play up.  I suspect that he benefited from the Jazz's conscious effort to reduce Stockton's minutes. Stockton had averaged at least 35 mpg from 1987-88 through 1996-97.  From 1997-98 onwards, Stockton was kept to 29 mpg every year.  Not riding Stockton too hard probably helped squeeze out a lot more production out of him.  This is probably a lesson for coaches for handling some of their older stars in the future.

 

-Malone was having quite a good age-40 season before a knee injury knocked him out.  It's not clear whether the knee injury was a fluke thing or a result of age-related decline.  Malone had always been a rock before that season but injuries happen, especially to older players.  For whatever its worth, Malone was All-Star level at age 39 (20.6 ppg, .462 FG%, 7.8 rpg, 4.7 apg).  Unlike Stockton, the Jazz were not very careful with Malone, who averaged 35.7 mpg or more from age 35 until he left the Jazz at age 40 (the Lakers reduced him to 32.7 mpg his final year).

 

-Mutombo's nice two month run as a starter generated stats that were slightly below Jabbar and Parish at age-40 (and better than Kareem at age-41) but really isn't near Stockton's record setting year.

 

-It would have been really interesting to see if Jordan could broken the curve at age 40.  His Wizard teammates didn't like his shooting so much but MJ scored 20 ppg, something that no other guard/perimeter player has done in his late, late 30s.  Unfortunately, neither MJ nor Abe Polin were willing to satiate my curiosity about MJ for one more year.

 

As for Pippen, a comeback is possible if he's willing to be a 10-20 mpg player.  There are a few of decent role players at age 40 (Parish, Kevin Willis, Cliff Robinson).  Anything more than that is totally unrealistic.  Pippen last played during the 2003-04 season, and at age 38 and he barely could get off the bench because of injuries and wear and tear.  In 23 games, he put up 5.9 ppg, 3.0 rpg, and 2.2 apg.  As for the inevitable comparisons between Jordan and Pippen, keep in mind that at age-38, Jordan had 22.9 ppg, 5.7 rpg, and 5.2 apg.  Pippen, was very good, but just not in Jordan's class.  Pippen could help that Lakers if Lamar Odom doesn't comeback but his help would be limited to splitting time with Maurice Evans, rather than leading the Lakers to a title.

 

2.    Eastern Conference Playoff Stuff:    Some quick musing on the lesser conference:

 

-The bottom of the Eastern Conference Playoff hunt is getting a little clearer now.  Thanks to Shaq, the Heat have become a decent team again.  At the same time the Pacers have gone into a freefall, losing seven straight.  Now the Heat are already up to the sixth seed (and a match up with the Wizards).  This conference is so wide open that it is definitely possible for the Heat to come out if things break rights.

 

-Cavs had a huge win last night, beating the Pistons in Detroit.  The Pistons are still the best team in the East but they are beatable.  LeBron James was truly ridiculous down the stretch of the game, creating shots, dunking, and passing.  He even hit a half court shot at the buzzer that would've won the game, though it was waved off when it was determined that the ball left James' hands a fraction of a second late.  James surged in the overtime, including a huge block on Rip Hamilton and ended up with 41 points, 7 boards, and 8 assists.  Considering that the Cavs gave the Pistons all they could handle last year, Cleveland looks primed to really battle in this playoffs.

 

-The Pacers losing streak is also pretty mystifying.  Not only have they lost seven in a row but the losses haven't even been close, save for the Kings game where the Pacers were down 15 at the half.  The team is now lumped together with the Magic, Nets, and Knicks for those final two spots.  None of the teams are playing particularly well right now and all four have had excruciating losses in the last week.  Hard to pick a favorite in this group, though the Nets are hoping that Richard Jefferson's return will make them good enough to separate themselves from the rest of the group.  RJ will help but if the Nets don't defend, they could easily miss the playoffs.

 

-Lastly, in perusing the standings I found the weirdest stat I've seen this year.  The Bucks aren't a great team but they are a bizarre 1-11 against teams in their division.  To date, only Memphis has a worst divisional record (1-13).  The Bucks beat the Pistons on opening night and have lost the next 11 divisional games.  This seems like a fluke because the Bucks are definitely good enough to win some games against Indiana, Chicago or Cleveland.