LeBron’s Season: The Best Since MJ
Using his patented Player Efficiency Rating analysis, John Hollinger surmises that LeBron James is having the single best season since Michael Jordan‘s 1990-91 campaign when he posted 31.5 points, 6.0 rebounds, 5.5 assists per game. That computes out to a 31.79 value, one tenth of a point higher than the 31.69 that LBJ is earning for 28.6 points, 7.6 rebounds and 7.3 assists per game. Hollinger’s head might actually explode if Dwyane Wade comes away with MVP hardware this year.
The interesting thing about Hollinger’s analysis is not just how James is dominating the competition right now. It’s how he would have fared if the League played at the pace of earlier eras. Had James played as many minutes as MJ did during his ’87-88 season and at that pace, he’d be averaging 32.5 points, 8.7 boards and 8.3 assists per night. Had he played at the pace of Oscar Robertson‘s NBA in ’61-62, he’d be closer to 40-10-10.
Vying for the lead in the MVP race with Wade in recent weeks, LeBron has taken his already historic season to the next level, rattling off 30.1 ppg, 9.6 boards, and 9.6 assists per game over his last nine contests. If he continues at this clip, and maybe does a bit more down the stretch, James could threaten to overtake Jordan’s PER.
Could he be denied the MVP if he finished with a greater PER than MJ?
Source: ESPN
-->
March 24th, 2009 at 3:46 pm
Guitar Hero says:
Everything about him screams MVP this season.
Kobe and Wade don’t stand a chance.
March 24th, 2009 at 3:48 pm
Kayfah says:
i dont even understand how this could still be a question in peoples minds…LeBron is the MVP period.
March 24th, 2009 at 3:49 pm
jeremy says:
hollinger is an idiot
March 24th, 2009 at 3:53 pm
2Cleva says:
Don’t blame Hollinger. He only puts out what his Excel worksheet tells him.
March 24th, 2009 at 3:59 pm
Xavier says:
What bothers me is that to defend his point of view he uses a system that HE MADE. I think LBJ and Wade both deserve the MVP, but that article is complete PR bullshit, specially lines like:
“LeBron James is having a historically great season, and it’s time we all took notice”
Are you kidding me Hollinger? THATS ALL YOU GUYS EVER TALK ABOUT. Never mind that the guy lost all credit when he wrote this back in the day:
“Looking at the big picture, Tim Duncan is great, and Shaq is dominant, but McGrady was the best player in the league [in 2002-03]. McGrady’s only 24 and is getting better every year. It’s really vexing to see that the media have billed Kobe Bryant as the closest thing to the next Jordan for the past five years, and the whole time they had the wrong guy.”
March 24th, 2009 at 4:04 pm
2.0 says:
James White has a multi-year contract. Lebron will have some competition in next year’s dunk contest!!
March 24th, 2009 at 4:11 pm
Blue says:
his PER system is a crock of shit!
March 24th, 2009 at 4:16 pm
Ian says:
i like the per system hey at least its a better indicator than gunning on a bad team to show how good u r
March 24th, 2009 at 4:17 pm
Rafa23 says:
@ xavier
i agree, hollinger is somewhat dumb,
BUT, you cant fault him for the Tmac thing. look at him in 02-03, he was just AWESOME. nobody could have seen the injuries coming.
March 24th, 2009 at 4:27 pm
fallinup says:
hollinger is a douche with too much time on his hands. You don’t need the PER to see that Bron’s having an awesome season. He’ll be MVP just out of the sheer jock slurping he’s been getting from his coach on down.
March 24th, 2009 at 4:34 pm
KWAME says:
I’M NOT GONNA ARGUE WHO IS MVP OR NOT…BUT WHO CARES ABOUT PER…
March 24th, 2009 at 4:50 pm
Celts Fan says:
LeBron IS the MVP, but PER is dumb. Also, I used to think TMac was at least as good as Kobe too. Dude was AMAZING before the injuries took hold. All in all though, yes, Hollinger is an idiot…
March 24th, 2009 at 5:09 pm
Dragonyeuw says:
Wouldn’t Lebron’s PER be higher last year? He averaged the same amount of rebounds and assists, but was scoring 30ppg to this year’s 28.6. How is this year’s higher?
March 24th, 2009 at 5:17 pm
... says:
teams success
March 24th, 2009 at 5:24 pm
AY says:
I don’t believe espn has any links to dime, only a one way street from dime. That’s sad.
March 24th, 2009 at 5:55 pm
Flip says:
Man, the PER system is way better than comparing simple stat lines…. “Player A is scoring .8 more PPG than player B, so he must be better” gets kinda tiring after a while.
March 24th, 2009 at 6:11 pm
Shrink This says:
even if the PER system was valid, i don’t think you can compare numbers from today’s NBA to those from 90/91. the league and its rules are just different now. Lebron is a great player. MJ was the greatest.
March 24th, 2009 at 6:46 pm
Ian says:
dragon he plays less mns , better percentages and less turn overs.
flip i agree
shrink i think u kinda can compare i dont like the league was better thing people say to defend their fav players. i kinda can say the same thing for any player or era.
March 24th, 2009 at 6:48 pm
Sanpitch says:
Bron should be the MVP.
But come on, Hollinger’s PER lost all credibility when he said Paul is a better PG than Magic.
Also, Jordan was pretty dominate and had high PER early in his career but was truly more dominate later in his career. Notice when he won his other 5 rings that his PER was lower. His PER was high when he won his first ring.
So Hollinger can shove his PER up his own a***ole.
I don’t need no PER to tell me who is/was dominate.
March 24th, 2009 at 7:02 pm
Ian says:
san thats because he had better teammates he didnt have to do as much but jordan is the highest per alltime and most of u guys think hes the best ever so i guess per is not that off. again the reason why i think its good its because it factors in the team u r in.
on the paul thing it just says paul has to do more than magic and when u compare teams he does.
March 24th, 2009 at 7:36 pm
yoda says:
does anyone knows shaqs PER from his first championship run??
March 24th, 2009 at 8:16 pm
Ian says:
30.6
30.2
29.7
and
miami ring
24.4
hes number 2 alltime
jordan
shaq
robinson
wilt
lebron
pettit
duncan
johnston
barkley
kareem
top ten
March 24th, 2009 at 8:19 pm
Ian says:
looking at the top 20 list 15 of the top 20 players alltime are on the list prob.
March 24th, 2009 at 8:27 pm
Smooth says:
PER the most ridulous stat ever made man i guess steve kerr is the greatest nasketball player of alltime and if hed averaged 48 mpg hed be getting buckets 39 ppg
March 24th, 2009 at 8:28 pm
Smooth says:
steve kerr = GOAT , PER said so
March 24th, 2009 at 8:52 pm
Ian says:
smooth
per doesnt up your mns to 40 where did u get that??? all u did was up the ppg
March 24th, 2009 at 9:30 pm
Kryptonite Hops says:
Can’t compare players from different eras- just can’t.
The MVP should go to the best player on the team with the best winning record. This hides alot of individual strengths and weaknesses, but it is a rule that can be consistently applied throughout every year as a benchmark of who was a great player in the best team over the course of time. The word “valuable” is misleading. Yes, you will have 2 appearances by Steve Nash in the history books, but you can’t argue that he and his team were not a great in those years.
Remember when there was the Schick IBM rating award which was a seperate award to the MVP? What happened to that? That award should be updated (with better statistical analysis), which would appease all the LBJ fans on this forum from a statistical point of view. I am sure if they called it something cooler than the Schick IBM award people would be happy. Until then, we should just wait till 82 games are played.
March 24th, 2009 at 9:59 pm
bobbys says:
didn’t bron have a better season last year?
30, 7.9, 7.2, 1.8, 1.1, 48.4%, 31.5%, 71.2%
vs
28.6, 7.6, 7.3, 1.8, 1.3, 48.8%, 33.1%, 76.8%
the only thing he’s significantly improved on is the FT%, and not even by that much
March 24th, 2009 at 10:04 pm
Raj S says:
The MVP is a judgment call anyway, and there are no set criteria for the voters to take into account.
Imagine two players, A and B, on two different teams. Both teams have identical records and finished 1st in their respective conferences. Player A averaged 40 ppg on a team that acored 100 ppg (A scored 40% of his team’s points). Player B scored 50 ppg on a team that scored 150 ppg (B scored 30% of his teams points). All other factors being equal, how the hell is one supposed to choose who is more deserving of the MVP?
March 24th, 2009 at 10:04 pm
Raj S says:
The MVP is a judgment call anyway, and there are no set criteria for the voters to take into account.
Imagine two players, A and B, on two different teams. Both teams have identical records and finished 1st in their respective conferences. Player A averaged 40 ppg on a team that acored 100 ppg (A scored 40% of his team’s points). Player B scored 50 ppg on a team that scored 150 ppg (B scored 33% of his teams points). All other factors being equal, how the hell is one supposed to choose who is more deserving of the MVP?
March 24th, 2009 at 11:39 pm
darkdefender says:
Then u go with Player B. He scores 10ppg more.
March 24th, 2009 at 11:42 pm
flavur says:
Well I am a huge Dwyane Wade fan I mean any question about best player in the league or MVP I without a doubt would say DWADE but lebron has been playing amazing and will most likely win the MVP hands down (D-WADE 4 MVP and yes I know that he will most likely not win)
March 24th, 2009 at 11:48 pm
LakeShow84 says:
Thank you Bobby..
thats what i been thinking for a while.. Lebrons stats were BETTER as a whole last year, he only playing 2 less minutes a night.. but add a cake walk schedule and drones of highlight lovers and all of a sudden hes 1) the best player in the world, 2) the best defender in the league and 3) about to have as good a season as MJ..
Thats what cracks me up about Lebron Lovers.. Dwade was drafted in the same class.. Dwade made the playoffs his first year and hit a game winning shot in his FIRST playoff series.. The next year.. Dwade gets Shaq, proceeds to KILL the East and wouldve made the finals in his SECOND YEAR had his ribs not been hurt against Detroit.. Next year, long story short WINS A CHIP AND COPS A FINALS MVP.. and if u watched that Finals series he did it all by himself basically..
Now this year he has been KILLING again.. performing against ALL the elite teams he plays and averages more POINTS, ASSISTS, STEALS and BLOCKS than Lebron but yet people still saying Lebron is DPOY.. People still saying Lebron is the MVP hands down..
yeah ok..
March 25th, 2009 at 12:07 am
lololz says:
umm, i don’t know if it’s me, but it seemed as though the MVP race was over even before this season began. i mean, they were ready to give LBJ the trophy at the start of the season. they were saying stuff like: this award is lebron’s to lose. so ya know, it’s almost pointless to have discussions like this when it seems as though the media have decided way before hand who to give the award to.
and no, i don’t think the fans need a statistical analysis to realize that lebron is having an unbelievable season. we can see that by watching the games. which im not sure hollinger does.
March 25th, 2009 at 12:54 am
Kryptonite Hops says:
Agree with #34, that the media (and league) want to give the MVP to Lebron, but unfortunately, for the more serious fan who gets into arguments with their serious fan friends, statistics is the only “objective” means of comparison at the margin e.g We can all name 3 potential MVPs this year but there is no other meaningful way available at the moment to show how much better one player is to another, except through statistics. It is not perfect, but it is what is available.
Go read Bill Simmon’s article ESPN
March 25th, 2009 at 9:05 am
anthony durham says:
if leberon dont win the mvp the nba is crazy
March 25th, 2009 at 10:46 am
SoulOnIce says:
@ LakeShow84
I couldn’t have said it better myself.
March 25th, 2009 at 11:03 am
austinw says:
On the low, LeBron James has been the best player in the world since he has been in highschool. At any rate there is no question on him being the MVP this season. Hell, he could have gotten it last year, but I agree with Kobe being the pick. If LeBron James is not the MVP this season I don’t know what an MVP looks like.
March 25th, 2009 at 11:17 am
Semantik0 says:
I just find it amuzing that the peoplidiculing PER dont even understand how it’s calculated… it’s in no way perfect, but it does add value and is way better than stats like ppg. Though Hollinger does exaggerate it’s value, after all he created it, but get to understand the stat before you dismiss it…
March 25th, 2009 at 12:31 pm
Sanpitch says:
@22
any system that doesn’t have russell in the top 10 is bogus! that dude was a player-coach, all-star, mvp, dpoy and still won it all.
besides i didn’t think the PER system used wilt and the big “o” because turnovers weren’t recorded back then…??? so how can they be in the top 10?
hollinger’s PER is a great way to rate players efficiency, but to base who is the goat off that system or who is a better player from different eras is a whole different ball game and loses credibility with me.
just use the PER to state that someone is having a great year and leave it at that but don’t go and compare players from different eras because one players PER is better or the same as someone else. different times, different players and a different system.
but again any system that ranks top 10 players and leaves out bill russell is bogus and holds no credibility.
hollinger is putting all his eggs into this PER basket. take a second and step away from the numbers and “watch” the game.
March 25th, 2009 at 5:19 pm
KEVIN K says:
tmac in his orlando days was better than Kobe… Tmac has always been a better passer and a playmaker than Kobe. Was a better shooter, slasher, dunker, defender, and everything else before he got bigheaded and lazy plus the injuries
March 25th, 2009 at 11:08 pm
bola says:
kobe will not get his 2nd straight MVP award.. it’s gonna be either LBJ or Wade this season.. Although FINALS MVP is still possible unless Boston gets back to its former self or Dwight Howard start going vintage Shaq on everybody.. it still a long way..
@kevin k
you said it! even kobe admitted to that (at least during that year). LOL
March 26th, 2009 at 5:31 pm
Smooth says:
how is dwight gonna go vintage shaq when the man has no post moves at all!!! come playoff time dwight is gonna get locked up like always and not score much hes gonna rebound well and block shots but offensively he gets shutdown easy in the playoffs young fella needs 2 work on that post game
March 27th, 2009 at 10:24 am
Dagomar says:
Couple points:
Lebron is leading in efficiency not just according to Hollinger’s PER stats, but according to various other stats at other websites/databases.
Lebron is having a better season than he had last season because he’s playing better defense and more importantly playing fewer minutes for a better team. All told his statistical output is higher.
Give the man his first MVP!