The Kids Who Crashed the NBA's Party

[¹²³]

It's no secret that the Portland Trail Blazers, who are making their first NBA playoff appearance since 2003 on Saturday, are a young team. When grouped together, the average age of its players is 25.3 -- which makes them significantly younger than veteran squads like the San Antonio Spurs.

But a simple average doesn't do Portland justice. After all, Raef LaFrentz, the team's injured 32-year-old center who didn't play a minute this season, is still on the roster. A better way to compare Portland to the rest of the league is "effective age," a statistic that averages players' ages but also weights by how many minutes they play. By this metric, Portland is the NBA's second-youngest team overall, one of the 10 youngest of the last three decades and the youngest since 1980 to win at least 50 games.

Despite using as many as four rookies in their rotation and relying on two third-year players (Brandon Roy and LaMarcus Aldridge) as go-to guys, the Blazers won a share of the Northwest Division title. In doing so, Portland defied one of the laws of the NBA: that older teams are better. There is a strong correlation (.515) between a team's effective age and its success. In fact, an extra year of effective age is roughly equivalent to four extra wins per season.

There's no reason to believe the Blazers' inexperience will hold them back now. Of the 10 youngest teams to win 50-plus games since 1980, seven reached the second round. With the league's fourth-best home record and home court advantage over the Houston Rockets, the Blazers stand an excellent chance of doing the same.
—Kevin Pelton

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[Wizard Mentor]

I wonder what NOHs effective age was last year.

 

[¹²³]

I wonder what NOHs effective age was last year.

I'll try to find this info, but according to this article their effective age was higher than 26.4 since they won 56 games.

 

[Shooter]

The Wall Street Journal, eh? Very nice.

 

[Stevenson]

"The youngest since 1980 to win at least 50 games."

That is the amazing stat of the day.

 

[Boob-No-More]

"The youngest since 1980 to win at least 50 games."

That is the amazing stat of the day.

I'm curious about the "since 1980" qualifier. Does that mean there were younger teams to win 50 games before 1980, or is that just as far back as they went?

I tend to think it's the latter. Back in the "old days" players generally played at least 3 and usually 4 years of college ball prior to entering the NBA draft. That alone raises the average age of NBA players.

I'm not sure when the "hardship" exception went into effect, but prior to that, Players were not allowed to enter the NBA draft until their class had graduated from college (which is why Wilt played for the Globetrotters for a season before starting his NBA career. I know when Julius Erving declared for the draft in 1971 he had to get the hardship exception to be eligible for the NBA draft.

Just as a general data point, prior to 1980, it was rare for the NBA rookie of the year to be younger than 22 (it was more common in the ABA as they didn't have the same rules about drafting college kids before their class graduated). If you look at recent ROY winners, Brandon Roy was considered an "old" rookie when he won the award at 22. The last ROY winner older than 22 was Derick Coleman in 1991. Prior to that year, there had only been a single ROY winner under the age of 21 (20-year old Adrian Dantley in 1977). Since 1991, there have been a total of 8 ROY winners that were 19 or 20.

So, the NBA, in general, has gotten younger since 1980. I'd be curious to know if the Blazers are THE youngest team EVER to win 50 games.

BNM

 

[mgb]

What was the age of the Blazers team that won the championship? I know that team was pretty young too.

 

[¹²³]

The Wall Street Journal, eh? Very nice.

That's why I love Google News.

 

[Entity]

Who was a more hyped youth movement in its time?

The 2009 Portland Trail Blazers (54-28)
Batum (20), Bayless (20), Oden (21), Rodriguez (22), Webster (22), Aldridge (23), Fernandez (23), Roy (24), Outlaw (24), Frye (25), Blake (28), Przybilla (29)

or...

The 2005 Chicago Bulls (47-35)
Deng (19), Gordon (21), Curry (22), Chandler (22), Duhon (22), Hinrich (24), Nocioni (25), Pargo (25), Griffin (30), Harrington (31), Piatkowski (34), Davis (36)?

 

[¹²³]

I'm curious about the "since 1980" qualifier. Does that mean there were younger teams to win 50 games before 1980, or is that just as far back as they went?

I tend to think it's the latter. Back in the "old days" players generally played at least 3 and usually 4 years of college ball prior to entering the NBA draft. That alone raises the average age of NBA players.

Found this:

Also, after some research, Elias Stats says the Trail Blazers are the third-youngest team in NBA history. The youngest team ever was the 2000-01 Chicago Bulls. The second-youngest team was the 1953-54 Baltimore Bullets. That Bulls team went 15-67. The Bullets went 16-56. The Blazers are, obviously, proving that you can be young, and win. That's not an easy thing to do.

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Pretty mamazing to see such a young team in 53-54. Althought their record was pretty bad.