In my mind, I imagine Norman Powell has a business card that says “Professional Scorekeeper.”
Its color seems white but it is not, in reality it is Bone.
The font is Copperplate Gothic, loaded with flared serifs that accentuate his style on the court and the way his hand hangs in pursuit of another successful field goal attempt.
There are no superfluous design elements because that would make it less effective.
Note the Hotmail email address. If it has nothing to do with scoring efficiently, Norman Powell wants nothing to do with it. This extends to your choice of a personal email client.
While searching through Creative Commons image licenses to find an image I could use for this post, with open usage rights so I wouldn’t get sued, I inadvertently stumbled upon the absolutely perfect image.
Although he is a picture of Normal Powell, he plays second fiddle to Kawhi Leonard.
Although the focus is supposed to be on Norman Powell, Norman Powell takes a backseat and lets someone else shine.
Meanwhile, he probably scored 25 points that night, going 10/12 shooting, including 3/4 from deep.
Let’s look at the scoring efficiency.
Of the 46 NBA players who used 20+ possessions per game this season, only ONE player ranks higher in scoring efficiency:
Nikola Jokic
Pro scorer Norman Powell is tied for second with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Karl-Anthony Towns.
If the tiebreaker were two names to make your name instead of three, he would be second.
So, in my opinion, he is the second. Second. Behind the best basketball player in the world.
They are literally Norman Powell and The Joker and everyone else on earth.
So who is TF Norman Powell? How do we get here?
Currently, he is the leading scorer for the Los Angeles Clippers. Ahead of guys like James Harden (annual salary: $33,653,846) and the aforementioned Leonard ($49,205,800).
That’s how much of a professional scorer he is.
It’s like a local plumber who doesn’t advertise, he just gets the job done ($20,482,758). And you are always satisfied with their work.
Between his 23.8 points per game average, NP makes 82% of his free throws and 42% of his three-point attempts. But what I appreciate most is his .554% conversion rate on two-point shots.
Comparison: Harden converts only 0.448% from two and 0.341% from three, Leonard 0.502% and 0.365%.
And what do you get for your efforts? He finished fourth in voting for the NBA Sixth Man of the Year award in each of the last two seasons.
it’s like you know of him, but not you know him.
And that’s (I guess) he likes it.
““Just get me the GD rock once I find an open space and I operate it professionally.”
– Norman Powell to himself (presumably) on every possession.
No matter how little used he was, NP has always scored effectively.
Powell was selected in the second round of the 2015 NBA Draft by the Toronto Raptors, a place where most draft picks go to die. The second round, I mean. But back then, even Toronto wasn’t an NBA burger.
He played 14 minutes per game and scored just under 6 points per game on 4.7 shots per game.
Fast forward to the Raptors’ championship season of 2019. He played a career-high 18.8 minutes and scored a career-high 8.6 points per game. It’s not a coincidence.
Over the next three seasons between two teams (Raptors and Trailblazers), his points per game increased each season to a career high of 19.6.
Over the next two seasons, primarily in Portland, he averaged 17 and 19 points per game in his seventh NBA season, while playing about 30 minutes per game.
In the 2021-22 season and his first year in La La Land, Powell shot a career-high .419% on three-pointers, the highest of his career. And he connected on 0.461% of his total field goals and 0.811% of his free throws while playing a career-high 32.4 minutes per game.
The following season, Norman Powell stumbled upon his Peter Parker/Bruce Wayne/Clark Kent moment and (presumably) didn’t even realize it: ball three.
He became the starting team’s sixth man in only 8 of the 60 games he played and (someone) noticed that his points-per-possession efficiency skyrocketed. In just 26 minutes per game he scored 17 points per game and made the second most three-pointers of his career.
But with 0.397% conversions, which would be enough for most, Powell went to the lab and mixed up some chemicals and stuff and drank it, while being bitten by a spider (presumably), while his parents were being murdered, while remembering his home planet, Krypton, and the reckless scientific experimentation that made him run away.
From there, it was all business. TO professionalso to speak.
Last season, he scored and made more 3-pointers than ever, connecting at a career-high .435 clip.
He made 83% of his free throws and the Clippers exceeded expectations by winning 51 games and securing fourth place in the Western Conference.
The Clippers had seen enough. They reinstated him as a starter this year and he is having a career year.
While he is shooting a career-high 7.7 three-pointers per game and connecting on a career-high 3.3 per game, hitting .554% of his twos and averaging a career-high 23.8 points per game.
Did I mention that in a career-high 33 minutes per game he is only averaging 2.0 turnovers per game, and in his career averages only 1.3? Completely professional.
Assists? Who cares.
Rebounds? What is that other than a fat girl you hook up with?
Does he steal? It doesn’t matter, but since you asked the highest level of your career: 1.3.
Points for possession? Second in the entire NBA.
That’s why Norman Powell is a professional scorer.
That’s why your business card says that.
And that’s why you should pay your respects.
