Alright folks, lemme tell you about this little side project I cooked up – comparing Luka Doncic’s and LeBron James’ first five seasons in the NBA. I know, I know, everyone’s already done it, but I wanted to get my hands dirty and see what the numbers REALLY say, you know?
The Setup: First thing I did was gather the data. I went straight to Basketball-Reference, the holy grail, and meticulously copied down all the relevant stats for both Luka and LeBron’s first five seasons. Points, rebounds, assists, steals, blocks, you name it, I grabbed it. It took a good chunk of an afternoon, lemme tell ya. My eyes were crossing after a while.
Data Cleaning (the boring but essential part): Then came the fun part… NOT. Cleaning the data. There were some inconsistencies in the way stats were presented across different seasons. Had to standardize everything. I used good ol’ Excel for this. Yeah, I know, Python’s the cool kid on the block, but sometimes you just need a reliable spreadsheet. I made sure all the columns lined up, data types were correct, and any weird entries were fixed.
Crunching the Numbers: Okay, now we’re talking. Once the data was clean, I started calculating some key metrics. Per game averages were the obvious first step. But I also wanted to look at things like true shooting percentage, player efficiency rating (PER), and win shares. I even dabbled in some advanced stats like usage rate and assist percentage. I wanted to paint a full picture, not just rely on basic scoring numbers.
Visualizations! (The pretty part): Numbers are cool and all, but charts and graphs make it way easier to compare the two players. I fired up Tableau (because I’m comfortable with it, sue me). I created line graphs to show their scoring trends over the five seasons. Bar charts to compare their rebounding and assist numbers. Scatter plots to see if there was any correlation between their usage rate and their efficiency. I played around with different color schemes and layouts until I had something that looked presentable.
The Findings (the juicy stuff): Alright, so what did I find? Well, Luka definitely comes out swinging with impressive numbers right from the get-go. His scoring and assist numbers in his first couple of seasons are comparable to LeBron’s. But LeBron’s rebounding and defensive stats were consistently higher. And honestly, LeBron’s efficiency metrics (like true shooting percentage) were just insane from the start. LeBron’s impact on winning was also undeniable, even early in his career.
Caveats and Context: Now, before you start yelling at me, I gotta add some context. The NBA’s changed a lot since LeBron’s first few seasons. The game is faster-paced, and scoring is up. Luka also came into the league playing a more mature game, having played professionally in Europe. So, it’s not exactly an apples-to-apples comparison. Also, five seasons is a relatively small sample size. Injuries, team dynamics, and coaching changes can all have a big impact. I am just doing the analysis to see for myself and have fun.
Conclusion (my two cents): Look, both Luka and LeBron were/are incredible players from day one. But based purely on the numbers, LeBron’s first five seasons were just a tad more impactful. His all-around game, efficiency, and win shares give him the edge, at least statistically. But Luka’s still got a long career ahead of him. It will be fun to watch him chase those records.
What I Learned: This little project reminded me of a few things. First, data analysis is fun, but it’s also time-consuming. Second, visualization is key to telling a story with data. And third, context is everything. You can’t just throw numbers around without understanding the bigger picture.
That’s my process, that’s what I found, and that’s what I learned. Maybe it’ll inspire you to do your own little data dive. Go get ’em!
