Searching for Spurs' Most Average Players in Franchise History

Since points, assists, and rebounds are the three most important statistical categories, I narrowed my search to players who averaged exactly 11.6 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 2.7 assists during their time with the Spurs. Still no exact match, so I expanded my parameters by +/- 0.5, and there was still no one who fit those numbers over the course of their career.

The reason no one was popping up is rather simple: pretty much everyone scores, but most players excel at either rebounding or passing, rarely both. Since the 449 players sampled play a variety of positions, finding someone to fit those averages was rather difficult.

Frustrated, I altered my approach. I would instead find two players. The first would fit the “backcourt” criteria, where I examined points, assists, steals, and turnovers. The second would be a “frontcourt” player, who adhered to points, rebounds, blocks, and fouls.

With this rewrite, I went back to the drawing board with the alterations remaining at +/- 0.5. For backcourt players, there were three results: Josh Richardson, Frank Brickowski, and Gene Banks. In the frontcourt, there were still no results, so at this point, I decided to roll with Richardson, Brickowski, and Banks.

With this list of three players, I returned to my entire list of statistical categories: points, rebounds, assists, steals, blocks, turnovers, and fouls. I then took each player’s average and compared it to the mathematical average listed earlier. Richardson and Brickowski tied, with a mean differential of 0.55 points, rebounds, etc different from the Spurs’ average.

Gene Banks easily cleared those two, with a differential, on average, of 0.39. His numbers in San Antonio between 1981 and 1985 were 11.8 points, 6.3 rebounds, 2.8 assists, 0.9 steals, 0.2 blocks, 1.8 turnovers, and 2.8 fouls per game. He was never an All-Star, although he did help revitalize Duke basketball in the 1970s and was on the first-ever McDonald’s All-American Team in 1977. On the Spurs, his career was mostly forgettable, as most average players are. However, he currently serves as a scout for the Washington Wizards and has found success there.