Alex Rucker was once a scorekeeper for the Vancouver Grizzlies, and some shocking claims from him were revealed on the Pablo Torre Finds Out podcast. Rucker stated that he was encouraged to inflate stats for star players when he was a scorekeeper.
“My job is to create the most accurate historical record of what occurred in the game, and I learned very quickly that, that was not the prevailing viewpoint,” Rucker said. “Went to the training in Detroit, part of this training, is they would show us video clips. They show us (John) Stockton to (Karl) Malone clips.”
Rucker says he felt John Stockton shouldn’t have been credited with an assist on a few of those plays but was told they were assists.
“There’s a discussion, ‘That wasn’t an assist, that was a pass and then Malone dribbled a couple times, pump fake, pump fake, and then made a tough shot.’ That’s great,” Rucker continued. “… There’s no cause or connection between the pass and the basket and the majority opinion by a mile was, ‘Oh no, that’s definitely an assist.’ I said, ‘What?’ (I was told) ‘That’s John Stockton.'”
His experience there made Rucker realize that the NBA is an entertainment business.
“I left there clearly understanding that yes, we are supposed to create the most accurate representation we can, but the NBA is also an entertainment business,” Rucker stated. “And it’s up to us, in very small part as statisticians, to support or reinforce stars, and excitement and fun. And that message was definitely reinforced internally within the Grizzlies.”
Former Grizzlies scorekeeper turned Sixers exec Alex Rucker ADMITS to juicing NBA stats in the 90's — and says that the practice was "reinforced internally within the Grizzlies." 😳
"There's a discussion, 'That wasn't an assist, that was a pass.' … And the majority opinion by… pic.twitter.com/luln2ACGU3
— Pablo Torre Finds Out (@pablofindsout) February 27, 2024
If we go by what Rucker is saying, it appears this practice was promoted league-wide during these training sessions. With him using Stockton, in particular, as an example, it also casts a shadow on the Hall of Famer’s incredible stats.
Stockton is the NBA’s all-time leader in assists with 15,806, and there is no one even close to him (Jason Kidd is second with 12,091). How many of these were actually assists, though, and not just scorekeepers wrongly giving them to him? Well, we will never know that number. Also, to be fair to Stockton, if this was happening, then other stars would have benefited from it as well, not just him.
It will be interesting to see if the NBA responds to these claims by Rucker. Accuracy in terms of statistics should be paramount in sports and if this practice was being encouraged, then it is a very bad look for the league.
The Memphis Grizzlies Were Accused Of Boosting Jaren Jackson Jr.’s Stats
We actually had a case not too long back, where the accuracy of some stats was brought into question. In January 2023, the Memphis Grizzlies scorekeeper was accused of posting fraudulent stats for Jaren Jackson Jr.
There was a huge disparity in Jackson’s blocks and steals in home and away games which led to speculation that the scorekeeper was boosting them. In response to that, the NBA released a statement denying that the Grizzlies scorekeeper was inflating Jackson’s stats.
“In order to ensure the integrity of our game statistics, auditors, independent of the statisticians on-site, review all plays and stats decisions in real-time during NBA games. If changes are necessary, they are made at that time or following a postgame review. All of the plays questioned in the post on Memphis games were scored consistently within the rules set forth by the NBA statisticians manual.”
We might see another statement like this from the league in response to Rucker’s claims. As I said, this is a very damaging accusation and it’s not one that is taken lightly.
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