Welcome to coverage of "NBA Cycles"

Welcome to my blog that will update every day with who scored "NBA Cycles" the night before.

What is an NBA Cycle you might ask?   It was something I came up with when I was working with a sports stats company in the 90s.  Thinking about "hitting for the cycle" in baseball (which, really, isn't much more than a "cute" stat... I mean, really, wouldn't you rather have a HR, Triple and 2 Doubles?), I thought about a "similar" stat for basketball, and came up with the "NBA Cycle".  The thing with the "NBA Cycle" though is that getting one thing in the cycle isn't really any "worse" than getting another thing (ie, getting a steal isn't worse than getting an assist).

To score a "cycle", a player must get at least one of every "positive" stat collected on a player in a game:
* 2-pt Field Goal Made
* 3-pt Field Goal Made
* Free throw made
* Offensive Rebound
* Defensive Rebound
* Assist
* Blocked shot
* Steal

A player can get a "double cycle" for getting 2 in every category, "triple" for 3, etc.  Obviously, the doubles are pretty rare, and the triple's, I believe only 3-4 people have done that since the 70s.

What does getting a cycle mean really?  Well, for one particular game, probably not a whole lot... I mean, yes, a player scoring 35 points and not getting a steal obviously still had a better game than someone with 9 points who had a "cycle".  But, IMO, the leaders in "cycles" at the end of the year will generally showcase players who have very good "all around" games and contribute over the course of the year in all phases of the game.  As well, I think it is a pretty good stat for Fantasy Basketball players to look at, as it shows a player that can help in many categories (especially if your league is more "roto" than flat stat based).

So, tomorrow I'll post up the first "cycles" of the 2011-12 season from the Xmas day games.