triple bumble

triple bumble (trip'-uhl bum'-bul) noun. An embarrassing and ignominious triple-double in which one of the three "double" categories is turnovers.

Usage example: Every player wants to achieve a triple double. Unless, of course, it's actually a triple bumble.

Word history: The term was coined by the Basketbawful staff last February while watching Dwight Howard put up 21 points, 16 rebounds, and 11 turnovers against the Bulls. (And this is going to blow your socks the hell off, but the Magic still won that game.) Basketbawful reader shrugz thinks the triple bumble should be called the "D-Wade triple double" because Wade destroyed his fantasy basketball season (in the turnover category anyway) in 2005-06. But as you shall soon see, the triple bumble has a long and inglorious history that predates Wade's shameful accomplishment.

Word trivia: Thanks to basketball-reference.com, I now present to you the last 20 years worth of triple bumbles. All 41 of them. Unfortunately, the site doesn't have box scores prior to the 1986-87 season. That's a shame, too, because I'm sure there were lots of triple bumbles in those early days, when basketball teams consisted mostly of awkward white stiffs with paper bags for shoes, and the ball itself was actually just an old potato.

Note 1: In some of the following cases, the player had both a standard triple double and 10 or more turnovers, making it an even rarer quadruple bumble.

Note 2: You know who is entirely absent from this list? Okay, get ready to pick up your jaw here: Stephon Marbury. I know. Shocked me, too. I had already prewritten an entire paragraph under the assumption that Starbury would be the league's all-time leader in triple bumbles. But, believe it or not, Marbury has never turned the ball over 10 times or more. His career-high is 9 turnovers (which he's done several times, but still). I guess it sort of makes sense, since he really only passes the ball when he absolutely has to.

Dec. 16, 1986: Fat Lever - 17 PT/11 REB/14 AST/11 TO

Feb. 2, 1987: Buck Williams - 14 PT/13 REB/10 TO

Mar. 17, 1987: Charles Oakley - 23 PT/16 REB/10 TO

Mar. 27, 1987: Charles Barkley - 28 PT/15 REB/10 AST/10 TO

Mar. 10, 1987: Isiah Thomas - 36 PT/11 AST/10 TO

Jan. 15, 1988: Karl Malone - 28 PT/11 REB/10 TO

Apr. 5, 1988: Cliff Robinson - 21 PT/10 REB/10 TO

Apr. 12, 1988: Hakeem Olajuwon - 26 PT/20 REB/10 TO

Apr. 23, 1988: Patrick Ewing - 19 PT/10 REB/10 TO

Apr. 13, 1989: Gary Grant - 31 PT/10 REB/10 TO

Nov. 27, 1989: Karl Malone - 22 PT/ 17 REB/10 TO

Feb. 25, 1990: Scottie Pippen - 17 PT/10 REB/12 TO

Apr. 19, 1990: Hakeem Olajuwon - 52 PT/18/REB/11 TO

Nov. 16, 1990: Kevin Johnson - 32 PT/11/AST/10 TO

Nov. 19, 1990: John Stockton - 14 PT/15 AST/10 TO

Jan. 22, 1991: Clyde Drexler - 24 PT/10 AST/10 TO

Mar. 18, 1991: Michael Adams - 17 PT/10 AST/10 TO

Jan. 31, 1992: Derrick Coleman - 17 PT/12 REB/10 TO

Jan. 4, 1994: Hakeem Olajuwon - 33 PT/11 REB/10 TO

Mar. 13, 1994: Rony Seikaly - 36 PT/16 REB/10 TO

Apr. 12, 1994: Vin Baker - 18 PT/11 REB/10 TO

Feb. 3, 1995: Tim Hardaway - 15 PT/14 AST/10 TO

Mar. 19, 1995: Chris Webber - 23 PT/4 REB/10 TO

Jan. 30, 1996: Scottie Pippen - 28 PT/12 REB/12 TO

Feb. 25, 1996: Alonzo Mourning - 15 PT/10 REB/10 TO

Dec. 6, 1996: Robert Pack - 18 PT/12 AST/10 TO

Jan. 22, 1997: Clarence Weatherspoon - 15 PT/11 REB/10 TO

Jan. 25, 1997: Damon Stoudemire - 26 PT/11 AST/12 TO

Nov. 29, 1997: Shawn Kemp - 18 PT/11 REB/10 TO

Mar. 4, 1998: Tim Duncan - 35 PT/17 REB/10 TO

Apr. 19, 1998: Grant Hill - 21 PT/12 REB/10 TO

Nov. 17, 2000: Jason Kidd - 18 PT/12 REB/10 AST/14 TO

Jan. 31, 2001: Jerry Stackhouse - 30 PT/10 AST/10 TO

Jan. 20, 2003: Jason Kidd - 33 PT/13 REB/10 TO

Nov. 5, 2004: Richard Jefferson - 26 PT/21 REB/11 TO

Nov. 16, 2004: Steve Nash - 17 PT/18 AST/10 TO

Dec. 22, 2004: Yao Ming - 20 PT/14 REB/10 TO

Jan. 17, 2005: Andre Miller - 14 PT/10 REB/10 TO

Nov. 9, 2005: Dwyane Wade - 29 PT/11 REB/10 TO

Nov. 8, 2006: Paul Pierce - 35 PT/13 REB/12 TO

Feb. 26, 2007: Dwight Howard - 21 PT/16 REB/11 TO

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9 Comments:
Anonymous Anonymous said...
man J kidd and lebron are probably the only one's capable of Quaduple

and jkidd did it once but I'm sure oscar robertson and his tripledouble averaging had to have done it at one time lol (too bad no records of it)

Blogger Basketbawful said...
shrugz -- I dunno. I think that Wade could do it. He's come close a couple times. Don't forget that Barkley pulled on off (fourth entry in the list).

Oscar for sure, and probably Wilt as well (he probably had plenty of quadruple bumbles, thanks to his amazing shot blocking ability). In fact, I bet there were a lot of triple bumbles in the late 60s, early 70s (what I refer to as the Golden Age of Stat Padding). There were a lot more turnovers back then, because every team runned and gunned.

Blogger Evil Ted said...
When you think triple bumble, you'd normally think awful player, but there's plenty of high profile all-star talent on this list...

Just as "most accidents happen in the home" because we spend most of our TIME at home, I suppose players most likely to lose the ball 10 times in a game are the talents, the ones handling it most - just a nugget of deep thought from your buddy Evil Ted.

Anonymous Anonymous said...
damn ruffin looks cut in that picture!

Anonymous Anonymous said...
Wow. If I'm Clarence Weatherspoon, I'm printing off this list and putting it in my wallet to impress all the ladies out there.

"Hey baby, you know who I am? Well look at this list. Oh yeah, that's right. It's Clarence Weatherfreakinspoon along with my friends Charles Barkley, Jason Kidd, and Dwight Howard. I bet your boyfriend ain't on a list with Dwyane Wade. C'mon baby, do the 'Spoon".

Anonymous Anonymous said...
whatsup with wade's shoes? the soles are screaming "this side up"

i agree with evil ted. i mean, besides gary friggin grant and robert pack, all the guys on the list are all-stars.

Anonymous Anonymous said...
one more thing.. check this link out:

http://www.basketball-reference.com/leaders/ls_career.html

thats ALL TIME. ALL TIME!!!

Blogger Basketbawful said...
evil ted -- Oh, absolutely. The thing is, no scrub would be allowed to continue playing if he was turning the ball over at that rate.

alexandra -- Seriously. I wonder if his mom is the Photoshop editor responsible for preparing the AP photos?

katchoo -- Dude, seriously, that really made me laugh.

easy e -- Ye gods and little fishes! Antoine Walker continues to set records he wishes he never would have set. And this guy has a championship ring?!

Anonymous Anonymous said...
forgive us neophytes to the stats game, but can anyone please tell me what a loss share is?