Hello my fellow NBA fans. Ive been contemplating this subject and its really bothering me & i need the help of smart statistics folks to determine whether this is happening...
I would like to bring to your attention the scorekeeper of the Memphis Grizzlies. I was wondering how a solid defensive player can suddenly have some specific statistical categories that are completely off the charts. I am referring to Jaren Jackson Jr., who, after having missed ~16 games to start the season due to off-season foot surgery immediately started having extreme outlier high steals + blocks statistics, leading the entire NBA in blocks per game by a wide margin, and in fewer minutes per game than other players repeatedly getting outlandish block #s.
I decided to take a closer look at his games and IMMEDIATELY 1 thing became crystal clear. At home in Memphis he has 66 blocks, averaging 4.13 blocks per game, versus just 27 on the road, averaging 2.25 in nearly identical minutes. In home games he has been credited with 22 steals, versus only 8 on the road. This means he is averaging nearly 1.4 steals per game at home, but just 0.66 steals on the road per game. In home games he has been credited with 88 blocks + steals, versus 35 on the road. This equates to an average of an outlandish 5.5 blocks+steals at home in limited minutes versus a reasonable and realistic, and still outstanding, 2.9 steals+blocks per game on the road. This equates to a 1.9X home stat increase only in these 2 categories. A 90% increase in performance specifically at home is truly an aberration which should be reviewed. This demonstrates the sort of statistical credulence which calls for serious analysis.
Just 2 out of his 13 games this season with 5+ blocks+steals have come on the road. 8 out of 9 of his 6+ steals+blocks games have been recorded in Memphis. I decided to watch 2 memphis grizzlies games where he had one of his ludicrous 8+ blocks+steals games. By my count he actually had 3 fewer blocks than he was credited for by the home scorekeeper. I wonder if the scorekeeper has some sort of vested interest in Jaren Jackson getting maximum high value defensive statistics that he thinks he can get away with putting down into the box score.
Why is this happening so blatantly to the point where a person can just look at Jaren Jackson Jrs. steals+blocks #s on the box score and determine with a high level of confidence whether that game was played on the road or in Memphis is the next question...
Three potential explanations, only one of which is innocent:
Jaren Jackson plays MUCH MUCH MUCH harder at home and hustles like a maniac and focuses on stealing and blocking shots like crazy in Memphis, causing his numbers to be skewed in an absurd manner even compared to his regular highly efficient top 3- but realistic, road numbers. This can almost certainly be discounted because i looked at his other statistics and everything from his minutes per game to points per game to rebounds per game and even fouls are close in terms of home/away splits.
The Memphis scorekeeper is a huge Jaren Jackson Jr. fan and is purposely imbellishing his steals & blocks, since that is much easier to do than points or rebounds, for instance. When he contests a shot well, but does not touch the ball, perhaps the scorekeeper purposely gives him the undeserved stat and donates blocks to him where none occurred, for instance.
It should also be investigated in this age of fantasy basketball and gambling on sports whether this scorekeeper or his family/friends bet on Jaren Jackson to win the defensive player of the year at super long odds and as a result has a tremendous financial incentive to juice and fake a player's 2 most valuable defensive statistics- BLOCKS and STEALS, which are also the easiest to fudge #s on because it is often most difficult to definitively label steals and blocks without slow motion on at least some of the plays in question.
I and all NBA fans would appreciate a thorough investigation into this matter. It is important to have 100% integrity in statistics not only for things such as fantasy sports, sportsbetting, futures wagers, but even more importantly to ENSURE THE INTEGRITY OF THE GAME FOR ALL. This is mandatory to be able to compare players' statistics versus other players now in the league fairly as well as across seasons and know the numbers are accurate, correct, and not unfairly manipulated by home arena scorekeepers.
