20 Second Timeout

"Moses and the Doctor": A Dual Biography of the ABA Duo Who Led the 76ers to the 1983 NBA Title

Luke Epplin's Moses and the Doctor: Two Men, One Championship, and the Birth of Modern Basketball (Grand Central Publishing, 367 pages, $30) is a dual biography tracing the initially parallel but ultimately intersecting careers of two of the greatest basketball players of all-time: Julius Erving and Moses Malone each started their professional basketball careers in the ABA before joining forces to lead the Philadelphia 76ers to the 1983 NBA title in one of the most dominant championship seasons in NBA history. Epplin did not interview Malone (who passed away in 2015), but he spoke with Erving and with many players who played with and against Erving and Malone.

If you classify Erving and Malone as basketball superheroes, it must be said that their "origin stories" were very different: Erving was a New York city kid with a flashy playing style yet he was lightly recruited as a high schooler, while Malone was a kid from a small Virginia town whose playing style was brutally direct and who was one of the most highly recruited high schoolers of all-time. 

It may be almost inconceivable to younger readers that a player as fantastically gifted and as spectacular to watch as Erving was so unheralded, but it is important to remember that when he finished high school he was a 6-3 "tweener" built like a guard but with the jumping ability and rebounding prowess necessary to play forward. Erving made a name for himself not only at the University of Massachusetts but also at Rucker Park and as the MVP of the U.S. Olympic Development Tour after not making the 40 man roster and only joining the team because one of the originally selected players got hurt.

Malone was heavily recruited by many colleges after his dominant high school career, and he initially committed to the University of Maryland before signing a huge (for that era) five year deal for approximately $1 million to play for the ABA's Utah Stars. Erving was the biggest star in the ABA--if not all of pro basketball--at that time: he won the 1974 ABA regular season MVP, the 1974 ABA Playoff MVP, and the 1974 ABA scoring title (27.4 ppg), while Malone spent the 1974 season as a high school senior in Petersburg, Virginia.

Erving and Malone first faced each other in the first game of Malone's rookie season as Erving's defending ABA champion New York Nets defeated Malone's Utah Stars, 105-89 on October 18, 1974. 

Here is a UPI photo of Erving and Malone from that game:

Erving scored a game-high 27 points, snared 10 rebounds, dished for seven assists, and swiped a game-high five steals, while Malone had 19 points and 11 rebounds. This game was a rematch of the 1974 ABA Finals, which the Nets won 4-1. Asked after the game what he thought of Malone--the first player to jump directly from high school to pro basketball--Erving replied simply, "I believe."

In 1974-75, Erving finished second in the ABA in scoring (27.9 ppg), eighth in rebounding (10.9 rpg), seventh in assists (5.5 apg), fourth in steals (2.2 spg), fourth in blocked shots (1.9 bpg), and sixth in three point field goal percentage (.333). He won the second of his three consecutive ABA regular season MVPs (this time sharing the honor with another future teammate, George McGinnis). 

Malone enjoyed a successful rookie season, averaging 18.8 ppg while ranking fourth in the ABA in rebounding (14.6 rpg), first in offensive rebounding (5.5 orpg), third in field goal percentage (.571), and 10th in blocked shots (1.5 bpg). He made the All-Star team, and he finished third in the Rookie of the Year voting behind Marvin Barnes and Bobby Jones, a fellow future Hall of Famer who was the NBA's inaugural Sixth Man of the Year in 1982-83 while teaming with Malone and Erving on Philadelphia's championship team.

In 1975-76, Erving had one of the greatest all-around seasons in pro basketball history, winning his third ABA scoring title (29.3 ppg) while ranking third in the ABA in steals (2.5 spg), fifth in rebounding (11.0 rpg), seventh in assists (5.0 apg), and seventh in blocked shots (1.9 bpg). Erving won his third ABA regular season MVP, and he was selected to the ABA's All-Defensive Team. Michael Jordan later received a lot of publicity--and one Defensive Player of the Year award--after notching back to back seasons with 200-plus steals and 100-plus blocked shots, but in 1975-76 Erving tallied 207 steals and 160 blocked shots to become the first 200-100 player. Erving, Jordan, Scottie Pippen and Hakeem Olajuwon are the only players to record at least 200 steals and 100 blocked shots in a season since those numbers have been officially tracked (1972-73 in the ABA, 1973-74 in the NBA); Erving and Olajuwon are the only players who have had both a 200-100 season and a 100-200 season (Erving had 190 steals and 204 blocked shots in 1973-74, narrowly missing becoming the only member of the 200-200 club). 

Erving was even more dominant during the 1976 playoffs, leading the ABA in playoff scoring (34.7 ppg) for the fourth time in his five year career while also ranking second in rebounding (12.6 rpg), third in blocked shots (2.0 bpg), third in steals (1.9 spg) and sixth in assists (4.9 apg). He shot .533 from the field--the best playoff field goal percentage of his 16 season career--and .804 from the free throw line. 

Erving led the Nets to the ABA's last championship as the Nets beat the powerful Denver Nuggets in six games, and he was the easy choice for ABA Playoff MVP honors after setting ABA Finals records for points (226) and scoring average (37.7 ppg, the fourth highest pro basketball Finals average at that time and still sixth on the all-time list). Michael Jordan holds the all-time Finals scoring record (41.0 ppg in six games in 1993), followed by Rick Barry (40.8 ppg in six games in 1967), Elgin Baylor (40.6 ppg in seven games in 1962), Shaquille O'Neal (38.0 ppg in six games in 2000) and Jerry West (37.9 ppg in seven games in 1969). Erving shot 79-134 from the field (.590) and 66-84 from the free throw line (.786) in the 1976 ABA Finals. 

The cash-strapped Stars sold Malone to the Spirits of St. Louis early in the 1975-76 season. Malone averaged 14.3 ppg and 9.6 rpg for the Spirits of St. Louis, with various injuries limiting him to just 43 games. The team went 35-49, did not make the playoffs, and was not included in the ABA-NBA merger, although the team's owners received a settlement package that proved to be very lucrative. After the 1975-76 season, four ABA teams joined the NBA: Denver Nuggets, Indiana Pacers, New York Nets, and San Antonio Spurs. The cash-strapped Nets traded Erving to the Philadelphia 76ers in a $6 million deal, with roughly half of that money going to the Nets and the other half going to Erving as part of a six year contract.

Erving made the All-NBA First Team in 1977 and from 1980-82, and he won the 1981 NBA regular season MVP--becoming the first non-center to earn that honor since Oscar Robertson in 1964--but during that era a team had to have a Hall of Fame center to win the NBA title. Erving's 76ers had the NBA's best cumulative regular season record from 1976-77--1981-82, and during that six season span Erving led the team to three NBA Finals and five Eastern Conference Finals, but most of those playoff runs ended in losses to teams led by a Hall of Fame center: Bill Walton's Portland Trail Blazers (1977 NBA Finals), the Elvin Hayes/Wes Unseld Washington Bullets (1978 Eastern Conference Finals), Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's L.A. Lakers (1980 NBA Finals), Robert Parish's Boston Celtics (1981 Eastern Conference Finals), and Abdul-Jabbar's Lakers (1982 NBA Finals). Parish was not the Celtics' best player, but the 7-0 center was an important part of a huge frontcourt featuring fellow Hall of Famers Larry Bird (6-9) and Kevin McHale (6-10) plus Cedric Maxwell (the 6-8 winner of the 1981 NBA Finals MVP) and Rick Robey (6-11). 

While Erving was immediately a big star in the NBA, Malone's ascent took a little longer. After the ABA-NBA merger, the Portland Trail Blazers selected Malone in the ABA dispersal draft of players who were not on the rosters of the four ABA teams that joined the NBA. Portland already had Bill Walton, so the Trail Blazers sent Malone to the Buffalo Braves for a first round draft pick that later became Rick Robey. The Braves then traded Malone for two first round picks, one of which became Wesley Cox and the other of which became Michael Ray Richardson.

Malone averaged 13.2 ppg and 13.1 rpg (third in the league) in 1976-77. He did not make the All-Star Team or the All-NBA Team, but he finished sixth in MVP voting behind Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Bill Walton, Pete Maravich, Bob Lanier, and Julius Erving. Erving's 76ers defeated Malone's Rockets in the Eastern Conference Finals, 4-2 (yes, Houston was in the Eastern Conference). Erving averaged a series-high 28.3 ppg, 6.3 rpg, and a team-high 6.0 apg while shooting .570 from the field and .800 from the free throw line (the NBA did not use the three point shot until 1979-80). Malone ranked third on the Rockets in scoring (18.0 ppg) with shooting splits of .467/.691, and he led both teams in rebounding (17.2 rpg).

The Rockets missed the playoffs in 1978, lost in the first round in 1979, and were swept by the Boston Celtics in the second round in 1980. Erving's 76ers beat the Celtics 4-1 in the Eastern Conference Finals before losing to the Lakers in the NBA Finals. The Rockets moved to the Western Conference for the 1980-81 season, and they reached the NBA Finals after going just 40-42 during the regular season. After the Celtics came back from a 3-1 deficit to beat the 76ers in the Eastern Conference Finals, the Celtics defeated the Rockets 4-2 in the 1981 NBA Finals. The Rockets lost in the first round in 1982, while the 76ers beat the Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals before losing to the Lakers in the NBA Finals. 

By 1982, Erving had a 12-6 playoff series record with the 76ers with three Eastern Conference titles but no NBA titles, and Malone had a 5-5 playoff series record with the Rockets with one Western Conference title but no NBA titles. Malone had won two regular season MVPs (1979, 1982) and led the league in rebounding three times. 

The Rockets were disinclined to give Malone a market value contract after the 1981-82 season, so they traded him to the 76ers for Caldwell Jones plus a first round draft pick that later became Rodney McCray. Erving now had the Hall of Fame center that was a prerequisite for winning an NBA title, and Malone now had enough perimeter talent around him to avoid losing in the playoffs or even missing the playoffs altogether. 

The Malone-Erving duo teamed with Hall of Fame point guard Maurice Cheeks, Hall of Fame forward Bobby Jones, and guard Andrew Toney (who had Hall of Fame level talent but had his career cut short by foot injuries) to form one of the most dominant single season teams in pro basketball history. The 76ers set a record by starting the season 50-7, and they were threatening to become the first team to win 70 regular season games before late season injuries to Malone and Erving slowed the team to a "mere" 65-17. Neither Malone nor Erving were fully healthy during the playoffs, but the 76ers still set a record by going 12-1 in the postseason, including a 4-0 NBA Finals sweep of the Lakers. The 76ers outrebounded the Lakers 192-171 in the NBA Finals, with Malone grabbing more rebounds (72, 18.0 rpg) than any other two players in the series. Erving ranked second in the series with 34 rebounds (8.5 rpg); in the 1982 NBA Finals, the Lakers outrebounded the 76ers, 284-250, with Erving leading the 76ers with 49 (8.2 rpg), which was not enough to offset the efforts of Magic Johnson (65, 10.8 rpg) and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (46, 7.7 rpg).

It is tantalizing to wonder what might have been if Erving and Malone had teamed up earlier and stayed together longer; they were only teammates for four seasons. The duo posted a 5-2 playoff series record, including wins in the 1983 Eastern Conference Finals and 1983 NBA Finals. Their 1984 title defense ended in a shocking first round loss to the New Jersey Nets, and then in 1985 they stormed through the first two rounds of the playoffs with a 7-1 record to reach the Eastern Conference Finals before losing 4-1 to the defending NBA champion Boston Celtics. In 1986, the 76ers finished third in the Eastern Conference standings, but their championship hopes were dashed after Malone suffered a right orbital blowout fracture that prevented him from participating in the playoffs; the 76ers beat the Bullets 3-2 in the first round before falling to the Milwaukee Bucks 4-3 in the second round. While it does not seem likely that the 76ers would have won the championship even if Malone had played in the 1986 playoffs, they would almost certainly have defeated the Bucks and at least had an opportunity to battle the dominant Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals. 

After the 1985-86 season, the 76ers traded Malone, Terry Catledge, and two draft picks to the Bullets for Jeff Ruland and Cliff Robinson, a deal that turned out disastrously for the 76ers when injuries forced Ruland to retire after playing just five games with the 76ers (he made a brief comeback to the NBA for the 1992 and 1993 seasons). Malone made the All-Star team in each of the first three seasons after the trade. 

Erving played one season after the Malone trade before retiring. The 76ers had the NBA's best cumulative regular season record during the first 10 seasons after Erving joined the team before falling to second place behind the L.A. Lakers after Erving's 11th (and final) NBA campaign.  

Malone played one season for the 76ers as a backup center (1993-94) before retiring after the 1994-95 season. His playoff series record after being traded to the Bullets was 0-4, and his career playoff series record was 10-12. Erving's career playoff series record was 24-13, including 18-10 with the 76ers.

When two superstars play together, egos often get in the way, but that did not happen with Erving and Malone. After Malone joined the 76ers, he publicly declared, "This is Doc's team. I'm just here to help." Malone was the more dominant player by that stage of their careers, and he won the regular season MVP and the NBA Finals MVP in 1983--but the 33 year old Erving was no slouch: he finished fifth in regular season MVP voting, and he joined Malone, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, and Sidney Moncrief on the All-NBA First Team. Erving was the oldest player on the All-NBA First Team by five years, and the only player on the All-NBA Second Team who was older than Erving was Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who was 36.

Epplin notes that Malone's willingness and eagerness to embrace not just Erving but all of his teammates is exemplified by the fact that Malone refused the 76ers' offer to retire his jersey until the team agreed to put the names of every one of his 76ers' teammates--not just his teammates from the 1983 championship team--on the banner honoring him. Erving and Malone were the team's superstars, but they won as a team, and Erving and Malone were two of the most team-first superstars ever. It is impossible to imagine either of them demanding to be given "respect" on a personal level to detract from a team-first approach the way that Lebron James did after the L.A. Lakers won the 2020 "bubble" title.  

I wrote about Malone's jersey retirement: 

For a variety of reasons that fall outside the scope of this article, it is difficult to determine which basketball team is the greatest team ever but Philadelphia's 1983 championship team takes a back seat to no single season squad in pro basketball history; that does not mean that they are definitely the best, but it means you cannot point to a single team that is clearly better.

Malone was the dominant force on that dominant team, along with the incomparable Erving, and it is fitting that the 76ers honored not only Malone's greatness but that they did so in keeping with his wish to recognize all of his teammates as well. 

Epplin concludes that the impact that Erving, Malone, and the ABA had on pro basketball history was as great as it was underrated: 

The open-floor game and in-air improvisations that had struck basketball fundamentalists as heretical soon became as commonplace as bounce passes. Even so, as of this writing, the NBA has yet to incorporate ABA statistics into its record books. As a result, the ABA remains stuck in a liminal state, remembered more as a colorful curiosity than as a cradle for so much of what has elevated pro basketball into a worldwide phenomenon.

Yet the popular narrative about Johnson and Bird resuscitating a faltering league is incomplete without mention of the ABA and two of its signature players who merged their divergent talents in the NBA to disrupt the decade-long dominance of the Lakers and the Celtics on a team as bold as its boast of sweeping the playoffs. The legacy of the ABA lives on through the 1983 Philadelphia 76ers, a testament to the beauty and the guts of a league that made the game modern.

I have spent more than 25 years insisting that the NBA should officially count ABA statistics, and I hope that Epplin's book brings renewed attention to the shameful way that the NBA minimizes ABA history, ABA statistics, and the greatness of ABA players.

Labels: Andrew Toney, Billy Cunningham, Bobby Jones, Julius Erving, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, L.A. Lakers, Magic Johnson, Maurice Cheeks, Moses Malone, Pat Williams, Philadelphia 76ers

posted by David Friedman @ 9:58 PM

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The Groaning and Grumbling About the NBA's 65 Game Rule is Unfounded

Media members, players, and fans are groaning and grumbling about the NBA's rule that a player must participate in at least 65 games to be eligible for most regular season awards, including regular season MVP. The main complaint is that it is somehow unfair that a player who misses at least 22% of the season (at least 18 games out of 82) is barred from winning the regular season MVP. It should be emphasized that this rule was collectively bargained and agreed upon by the NBA and the National Basketball Players Association.

The NBA's regular season has lasted 82 games since 1967-68, with the only exceptions being the lockout shortened seasons in 1998-99 (50 games) and 2011-12 (66 games), and the COVID-19 shortened seasons in 2019-20 (64-75 games) and 2020-21 (72 games).  

I have noted that it used to be a given that NBA players tried to play in as many games as possible:

In 1982-83--when Moses Malone and Julius Erving led the Philadelphia 76ers on a glorious, record-setting 12-1 playoff run culminating in a 4-0 NBA Finals sweep of the defending champion L.A. Lakers--39 NBA players played in all 82 regular season games, and Clemon Johnson played in 83 regular season games (51 with Indiana, followed by 32 with Philadelphia). An additional 22 players played in 81 regular season games. Those numbers were typical for that era; in 1981-82, 42 players played in all 82 regular season games, and three players played in more than 82 games, while an additional 21 players played in 81 regular season games. 

It was a given during that era that MVP level players rarely missed games. From 1967-82, the NBA regular season MVP played in 81 or 82 games every year except for 1978, when 1977 NBA Finals MVP Bill Walton captured the regular season MVP despite being limited to 58 games due to injuries--and Walton was not "load managing": he was legitimately injured. Erving won four regular season MVPs during his ABA/NBA career; in those MVP seasons, he played in 84, 84, 84, and 82 games (the ABA regular season lasted 84 games). Malone won three regular season MVPs during his ABA/NBA career; in those MVP seasons, he played in 82, 81, and 78 games.

Playing all 82 games used to be a badge of honor for NBA players.

From 1983-98, every NBA regular season MVP played in at least 76 games, 11 regular season MVPs played in at least 80 games, and six regular season MVPs played in all 82 games. In the lockout shortened 1998-99 season, regular season MVP Karl Malone played in 49 of 50 games. From 2000-11, every NBA regular season MVP played in at least 71 games, and six of them played in 81 or 82 games. In the lockout shortened 2011-12 season, regular season MVP LeBron James played in 62 of 66 games. From 2013-2019, every NBA regular season MVP played in at least 72 games, and three of them played in at least 80 games. In the COVID-19 shortened 2019-20 season, regular season MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo played in 63 of 73 games. In the COVID-19 shortened 2020-21 season, MVP Nikola Jokic played in all 72 of his team's games. In the past three regular seasons, 2023 MVP Joel Embiid played in 66 games, 2024 MVP Nikola Jokic played in 79 games, and 2025 MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander played in 76 games.

The 65 game rule was not needed previously because (1) it was a given that players tried to play in as many games as possible, and (2) it was a given that the regular season MVP would play in the vast majority of that season's games. If the rule had existed in the past, the only MVP race that would have had a different outcome is 1978, when George Gervin would have won because Bill Walton would have been disqualified. I am fine with the voters choosing Walton--who dominated during the 1977 season (when he played in 65 games and finished second in regular season MVP voting) before dominating during the 1977 playoffs (leading Portland to the NBA title while winning the Finals MVP) and then dominating during the first part of the 1978 season before getting injured--but I would also be fine with the voters choosing Gervin based on Gervin playing at a very high level while participating in all 82 games. 

The 65 game rule is needed now because (1) it is no longer a given that players try to play in as many games as possible and (2) the league, the players, and the MVP voters are so soft that without a firm rule in place an award for full season excellence might be given to a part-time player. Specifically regarding this season, it is unfortunate that several MVP caliber players may fall below the 65 game threshold, but if that happens then the MVP award should go to the best player who performed on a full-time basis. Contrary to the groaning and grumbling, that would not represent an injustice or some kind of dramatic break with history; it would maintain the correct way that MVP voting has consistently been done: a big part of being an MVP is being available for most of your team's games, and the voting trends from before the 65 rule game existed demonstrate this.

Kawhi Leonard is a good example. He is a two-time NBA Finals MVP (2014, 2019) because he was the best performer on the winning team while playing in every game of both of those series. It would have been illogical to give the Finals MVP to a player who missed several games in those series. During Leonard's 14 season career, he has played in at least 65 games four times (he still has a chance to reach the 65 game mark this season if he plays in at least nine of the Clippers' remaining 10 games). In those two seasons, he finished second and third in regular season MVP voting, and he won a Defensive Player of the Year award. His only other top five finish in regular season MVP voting happened in 2020, when he ranked fifth after playing in 57 out of 72 games. Leonard won the 2015 Defensive Player of the Year award in 2015 despite playing in just 64 games, but Draymond Green (who played in 79 games that season) had more first place votes (45-37). Under the current rule, Leonard would not have won the 2015 Defensive Player of the Year award, and that would have been a fair result: if you are not available to your team for a substantial portion of the season, then your "value" is diminished accordingly and it is difficult to argue that you are the "most valuable." 

The 65 game rule is not harming any players because from a practical standpoint it is not eliminating from award consideration anyone who would have likely won an award based on the way that voting has been done historically. The rule merely codifies the unwritten rule that existed for decades and it does so in a way that emphasizes to players the importance of being available. Players get paid guaranteed money whether they play or not, but they should not be guaranteed consideration for awards during seasons when they miss a substantial number of games. The number 65 is no more arbitrary or punitive than any other number, and having a defined rule in place is a sad necessity considering how soft the NBA has become; the alternative would be a farcical situation in which a player is named MVP despite playing barely half the season. 

The regular season MVP award is named after Michael Jordan, who played in all 82 games in four of his MVP seasons and who played in 80 games in his other MVP season; if the NBA gets rid of the 65 game rule and a player who plays in 50 or 60 games wins the regular season MVP then the award should be renamed for Joel Embiid or Adam Silver or perhaps the "Advanced Basketball Statistics Load Management MVP Award."

Labels: Bill Walton, Julius Erving, Kawhi Leonard, load management, Michael Jordan, Moses Malone, NBA MVP

posted by David Friedman @ 10:23 PM

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Nikola Jokic Becomes 10th Member of Pro Basketball's Three MVP Club

Nikola Jokic earned his third regular season MVP in the past four seasons, becoming just the 10th member of pro basketball's Three MVP Club, and the first new member of that exclusive group since LeBron James joined in 2012. Bill Russell was the first pro basketball player who won at least three regular season MVP awards, and he was then followed by Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Julius Erving, Moses Malone, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, and LeBron James. Jokic and Malone are the only members of that group who are not in my pro basketball Pantheon. Jokic's career began after I made my selections, while Malone did not miss the cut by much.

This season, Jokic ranked in the top 10 in scoring (10th), rebounding (fourth), and assists (third), and he is the second player in pro basketball history to accumulate at least 2000 points, at least 900 rebounds, and at least 700 assists in the same season, matching a feat first accomplished by Oscar Robertson in 1961-62. 

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Luka Doncic, Giannis Antetokounmpo, and Jalen Brunson rounded out the top five in this season's MVP balloting. They each had MVP-caliber seasons, but no one filled up a boxscore quite like Jokic did, and no one was as essential to his team's success. Jokic is not a defensive stopper, but he uses his size and strength to good effect to clog up the paint, and his defensive rebounding helps the Denver Nuggets to finish off defensive possessions by gaining control of the ball. The Nuggets ranked fourth in defensive field goal percentage and sixth in points allowed, and that would not be possible if the player who leads the team in minutes played were a defensive liability. 

My consistent position about MVP voting has been that the award should go to the league's best all-around player unless there is a dominant big man like Shaquille O'Neal who impacts the game more than any other player. Jokic is a hybrid who fits into both categories: he is the sport's best all-around player but he is also physically dominant in the paint as a scorer and rebounder. 

Jokic is just 29 years old and he has played at least 72 games in eight of his nine NBA seasons, so he is young enough and durable enough to play at an MVP level for at least another five or six years. It would not be surprising if he joins pro basketball's Four MVP Club, which has just six members: 

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: 6 (1971-72, 1974, 1976-77, 1980)
Bill Russell: 5 (1958, 1961-63, 1965)
Michael Jordan: 5 (1988, 1991-92, 1996, 1998)
Wilt Chamberlain: 4 (1960, 1966-68)
Julius Erving: 4 (1974-76 [ABA], 1981)
LeBron James: 4 (2009-10, 2012-13)

If Joel Embiid continues to be an injury-prone player who cannot lead his team past the second round of the playoffs then history will not look kindly on Embiid's 2023 regular season MVP award that cost Jokic the chance to become the first pro basketball player to win four straight regular season MVPs. Jokic has posted a 9-4 career playoff series record while leading the Nuggets to the 2023 championship, and even if the Minnesota Timberwolves knock out the Nuggets in this year's playoffs that will not invalidate Jokic's prior accomplishments and honors.

Labels: Bill Russell, Denver Nuggets, Julius Erving, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Larry Bird, LeBron James, Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, Moses Malone, Nikola Jokic, Wilt Chamberlain

posted by David Friedman @ 1:29 AM

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Russell Westbrook Joins the Elite 25,000 Point Club, and is the Second Player With 25,000 Points/9000 Assists/8000 Rebounds

Last Friday night, Russell Westbrook joined pro basketball's 25,000 point club after scoring 23 points as his L.A. Clippers defeated the Detroit Pistons, 136-125. According to the NBA and its media partners, Westbrook is the 25th member of the 25,000 point club--but ABA statistics should be counted by the NBA just like AFL statistics are counted by the NFL, so the truth is that the 25,000 point club has 29 members. Julius Erving (30,026 career points, ranking eighth all-time), Dan Issel (27,482 points, 13th), George Gervin (26,595 points, 18th), and Rick Barry (25,279 points, 26th) are the ABA players who are excluded by the NBA, while former ABA player Moses Malone is docked 2171 points but still makes the "official" cut.

Just as it has become more common for players to score 60 points or even 70 points in a single game, it is more common for players to score more than 25,000 career points. The 1977-78 Official NBA Guide (published the season after the ABA-NBA merger) lists the NBA's All-Time Top Scorers. The 25,000 point club had four members at that time: Wilt Chamberlain (31,419 points), Oscar Robertson (26,710 points), Jerry West (25,192 points), and John Havlicek (25,073 points). As I discussed after Vince Carter became the 26th member of the 25,000 point club on November 21, 2018, this club used to be ultra-exclusive (note that in 2018 LeBron James had not yet surpassed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar on the regular season career scoring list):

Younger fans may not realize that the 25,000 point club used to be even more exclusive. The "charter" members, so to speak, are Wilt Chamberlain, Oscar Robertson, Jerry West and John Havlicek, who founded the club from the mid-1960s through the mid-1970s. In the 1980s, the club added six members: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (who is still the all-time scoring leader), Julius Erving, Dan Issel, Elvin Hayes, George Gervin, Moses Malone and Rick Barry. The club has since more than doubled in size. This is similar to the dramatic increase in the number of chess players who have at least a 2600 FIDE (International Chess Federation) rating; there were just 15 such players on the first official rating list in 1971 but by 1991 there were 33 and by 2004 a 2600 rating was not enough to earn a top 100 spot in the world rankings. Chess ratings are affected by the composition of the entire pool of players (it is easier to gain points when there are more players who have high ratings), while pro basketball point totals are affected not just by skill but also by rules changes, style of play changes, training advances that have extended careers and other factors. 

In 1977, even the 20,000 point club was very exclusive, including only (in addition to Chamberlain, Robertson, West, and Havlicek) Elgin Baylor (23,149 points), Hal Greer (21,586 points), Walt Bellamy (20,941 points), and Bob Pettit (20,880 points).  

Although the 25,000 point club is less exclusive than it used to be, tallying 25,000 points is still a milestone accomplishment: if a player averages 25 ppg and plays in 80 games per season for 12 years, he will be 1000 points short of 25,000, so it is obvious that all of the 25,000 point scorers combined high level production with durability.

Westbrook has won two scoring titles (2015, 2017), but he made his mark as an all-around player who is an elite scorer, rebounder, and passer. He and LeBron James are the only players in pro basketball history to have at least 25,000 career points, at least 9000 career assists, and at least 8000 career rebounds. Westbrook led the NBA in assists three times (2018-19, 2021), he became pro basketball's career triple doubles leader in 2021--breaking Oscar Robertson's record of 181--and he currently has 198 career triple doubles. Nikola Jokic ranks second among active players with 120, trailing only Westbrook, Robertson, and Magic Johnson (138). LeBron James (110) and Jason Kidd (107) are the only other players who amassed at least 100 career triple doubles.

It is baffling and inexcusable that so many media members use any excuse to bash Westbrook. Not only is Westbrook one of the most talented and accomplished players of all-time, but he also embodies all of the best values of a professional athlete: He shows up for every game, he plays hard, he accepts whatever his role is, and he is a great teammate. Westbrook has played in all 48 of the L.A. Clippers' games this season, and he has enthusiastically accepted a bench role that would cause many players of his status--and even players of a lesser status--to complain and sulk. 

Westbrook's critics remind me of a line from the movie Searching for Bobby Fischer; the chess prodigy's father in the movie notes that his son is better at playing chess than most people will be at anything they do. Russell Westbrook is better at playing basketball than most people will be at anything, and that goes double for many of the credential-wearing people who pose as journalists. The way that the L.A. Lakers and LeBron James' media sycophants treated Westbrook during Westbrook's brief time with the Lakers was despicable, and it is noteworthy that the legendary Hubie Brown stood out from the crowd by praising Westbrook. 

It is fitting that with Westbrook playing a key role the Clippers are now fighting for the number one seed in the Western Conference while the Lakers--who supposedly improved themselves by trading Westbrook last season--are struggling to qualify for the Play-In Tournament. The Lakers made a fluky run to the Western Conference Finals last year, but--as happened with other teams that made fluky playoff runs, including Portland (2019 Western Conference Finals) and Atlanta (2021 Eastern Conference Finals)--the Lakers are now showing their true level in terms of defense and professionalism; Westbrook was not causing the Lakers' problems, and getting rid of him did not solve their problems.

Labels: Dan Issel, George Gervin, Julius Erving, L.A. Clippers, LeBron James, Moses Malone, Rick Barry, Russell Westbrook

posted by David Friedman @ 10:21 AM

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Would NBA Players Give Up Guaranteed Salaries in Exchange for Amending the Player Participation Policy?

Prior to this season, the NBA instituted a Player Participation Policy to curb load management and implemented changes in the Collective Bargaining Agreement stipulating that any player who fails to play in at least 65 out of 82 regular season games is ineligible for several major awards, including regular season MVP. Joel Embiid has already missed 13 games this season, and now that he has reportedly suffered a lateral meniscus injury it is almost certain that he will not meet the 65 games played threshold. Some media members and some NBA players have complained that in light of his high level play this season--including a 70 point game and a league-leading 35.3 ppg scoring average--it is not fair for Embiid to be automatically disqualified from MVP consideration.

Missing a lot of games is not an aberration for Embiid, an injury-prone player who sat out every game of his first two NBA seasons. He played 31 games in his third season, 2016-17, and since that time he has played at least 65 games in a season just twice (66 in 2022-23, 68 in 2021-22). Embiid is not only frequently unavailable during the regular season, but he often disappears during the playoffs: his playoff numbers for scoring, rebounding, and field goal percentage are all significantly lower than his regular season numbers, he has never won a second round series, and he has an 0-3 game seven record. Embiid has only won one series that went past five games, which indicates that (1) he only wins in the playoffs when his team is markedly superior to the opposing team, and (2) he tends to wear down over the course of a series.

Embiid won the regular season MVP last season, but is the above resume an MVP resume overall? There is no disputing that Embiid is a very talented player, but is he an MVP-level all-time great player? Put another way, should an MVP be expected to play more than 65 regular season games per year and deliver more in the playoffs than a bunch of second round losses? 

The Philadelphia 76ers obtained Embiid's draft rights by tanking, and they most assuredly have not tanked to the top. Tanking and load management are two sides of the same counterfeit coin, because both practices minimize the value of winning regular season games. The NBA was much better when tanking and load management did not exist, and when players like Julius Erving and Moses Malone took pride in playing every game: "From 1967-82, the NBA regular season MVP played in 81 or 82 games every year except for 1978, when 1977 NBA Finals MVP Bill Walton captured the regular season MVP despite being limited to 58 games due to injuries--and Walton was not 'load managing': he was legitimately injured. Erving won four regular season MVPs during his ABA/NBA career; in those MVP seasons, he played in 84, 84, 84, and 82 games (the ABA regular season lasted 84 games). Malone won three regular season MVPs during his ABA/NBA career; in those MVP seasons, he played in 82, 81, and 78 games."

Bill Walton's regular season MVP in a 58 game season is an aberration, and Embiid is not Bill Walton. Embiid has never led a team to the Eastern Conference Finals--let alone an NBA title--and there is no indication that he will ever be durable enough to avoid wearing down or getting injured before or during the playoffs. Think about that: Bill Walton--the poster child for injury-prone players--proved to be more durable when it matters most than Embiid has been up to this point in his 10 year NBA career. By traditional standards, Embiid has never had an MVP-caliber season. 

With the Player Participation Policy and the aforementioned changes to the Collective Bargaining Agreement in place, NBA fans are now seeing star players on the court--as opposed to sipping wine on the sidelines--more often than has been the case for the past several years. The NBA should not reverse this positive trend. Most working people are either paid based on showing up for work every day (i.e., paid by the hour) or based on performance; few people have salaries that are guaranteed regardless of their attendance or performance. If NBA players want to be eligible for postseason awards--and for contractual bonuses connected to those awards--without a minimum games played threshold then there is a simple solution: eliminate guaranteed contracts, and transition to paying each player per game played: Don't play, don't get paid. Under those rules, if players want to miss more than 17 game checks and hope that the award voters will still select them for MVP or the All-NBA Team, go for it.

I am not "blaming" Embiid or anyone else for being legitimately injured (there is no indication that Embiid is load managing). My two-fold point is (1) By definition the regular season MVP is (or should be) a player who plays at a very high level while missing very few games, and (2) players should not expect to both receive guaranteed paychecks despite missing a large number of games and be eligible for major awards: something has to give--either give up the guaranteed money, or accept that it is fair to expect major award winners to both stay healthy and not engage in load management.

Labels: Bill Walton, Joel Embiid, Julius Erving, load management, Moses Malone, Philadelphia 76ers, tanking

posted by David Friedman @ 12:28 AM

5 comments

Definining Athleticism, and Correlating Athleticism With Basketball Greatness

In 2007, I wrote Is Steve Nash the Best Athlete in the NBA?, an article that was not just about Nash specifically but rather an examination of how athleticism is thought about and discussed:

Athleticism is often defined very narrowly. In the context of basketball, athleticism is usually understood to refer primarily to explosiveness laterally (quickness) and vertically (jumping ability); in football, athleticism usually is defined by one's performance in the 40 yard dash and in the bench press. However, this kind of thinking leads to a lot of stereotyping and superficial analysis, usually along racial lines--i.e., Larry Bird being praised for his cerebral skills while Michael Jordan is commended for his athletic ability. The reality is that Bird was a phenomenal athlete, possessing superb hand-eye coordination, quickness for a step (a concept that will be explained below) and better jumping ability than most people seem to think; compare his blocked shot totals to those of legendary leaper Dominique Wilkins (Bird has the edge, with 755 blocks in 897 games compared to Wilkins' 642 blocks in 1074 games)--and while Bird did not have the broad jumping ability of a Julius Erving, he was more than capable of playing above the rim to get rebounds and even throw down some dunks (albeit ones that fans would term "generic"), particularly early in his career.

Nikola Jokic's emergence as not only a two-time regular season MVP but also an NBA champion and NBA Finals MVP provides a great opportunity to further explore athleticism in general, and basketball athleticism in particular. In the popular imagination, it seems that basketball athleticism is defined very narrowly, as noted above. The ability to broad jump--in other words, the ability to take off from one spot, soar through the air, and then dunk the basketball before returning to the ground--attracts a lot of attention and praise, and when a basketball player is described as "athletic," that is shorthand for "He can jump high above the rim" or "He can take off from the foul line and dunk." Most NBA players can execute a generic one handed dunk, so even though dunking may be considered an "athletic" move for a non-NBA player it is not a sign of elite NBA level athleticism--but flying through the air and dunking, particularly if the dunk is accomplished over a defender, is considered to be a sign of elite NBA level athleticism. To some degree, straight-line speed--particularly when dribbling a basketball--is also considered to be a sign of elite NBA level athleticism; a player may be described as "the fastest player in the league from baseline to baseline," and this is meant to indicate that said player has elite NBA level athleticism.

Such narrow definitions and descriptions of athleticism not only fail to capture the full breadth of what athleticism is, but they also fail to correlate athleticism with basketball greatness. Jumping high above the rim, broad jumping or sprinting very fast from baseline to baseline do not have much correlation with basketball greatness unless the player who has such abilities can apply them effectively on offense or defense. 

Broad jumping ability is most useful in creating high percentage scoring opportunities, but it is important that the ability is deployed with an understanding of time/score/game situation. Julius Erving, Michael Jordan, and Kobe Bryant are three players who not only had tremendous broad jumping ability but they each also had a great understanding of basketball fundamentals; for example, Erving's greatness is not defined by his mid-air feats, but by his ability to combine his physical skills with his broad understanding of the game--including knowing when to dunk, and when to execute a different shot or play. Similarly, Jordan and Bryant both knew how to use broad jumping ability in concert with basketball fundamentals to create high percentage scoring opportunities.

Athleticism should be defined in a broader way than just jumping high and running fast. Court vision, strength, hand-eye coordination, mental toughness, agility, and quickness are valuable athletic abilities.

Court vision refers not only to the ability to see what is happening on the court right now, but also to visualize what could or will happen depending on the movements of the other nine players. It has been said that Larry Brown could see where all of the other players were on the court at the same time, and that as a coach he would stop practice if a player were the slightest bit out of position. Brown was a three-time ABA All-Star guard who led the league in assists in each of the ABA's first three seasons before becoming the only coach to lead a team to an NCAA title (Kansas, 1988) and an NBA title (Detroit, 2004). 

Boston Coach Bill Fitch called Larry Bird "Kodak" because it seemed like Bird could take a picture of the court with his mind and know where every player was. Oscar Robertson, Magic Johnson, and LeBron James are three other all-time greats blessed with elite court vision. Jokic is similar to Bird, Robertson, Johnson, and James because he can see plays before they develop; such players can make a pass that creates an opening, as opposed to merely passing to a player who is already wide open.

Strength is an important athletic ability, but not in terms of specific movements such as the bench press or the squat; strength is important in basketball only to the extent that a player can leverage it to gain an advantage, such as better rebounding position or better post position (both offensively and defensively). Moses Malone was a master of the subtle (and not so subtle) application of strength to improve his positioning in the paint to grab rebounds and convert high percentage shots. Players like Malone and Jokic prove that it is not necessary to fly above the crowd to have an athletic advantage over the competition; strength, when properly utilized, is very difficult to counter.

Hand-eye coordination is an underrated athletic ability that enables a player to handle the ball with dexterity even against pressure defense, and to use the dribble or the pass as appropriate to gain an advantage for his team. Dribbling in one place to show off just wastes precious time on the shot clock without gaining an advantage; much of the ball handling that generates praise and social media views is worse than useless in terms of winning basketball. A player's overall body movements may seem awkward, but if that player has finely tuned hand-eye coordination then he can control the ball in a way that defeats even high level defense. When Jokic advances the ball up the court after snaring a defensive rebound, his body movements may not match traditional expectations for grace and athleticism, but his superior hand-eye coordination enables him to control the ball and to make plays for himself and his teammates.

Mental toughness, which could be specifically defined as the ability to keep going when lesser athletes would give up, is another underrated athletic skill. There is research supporting the notion that there is a specific brain region linked to hand-eye coordination, and that there is a signaling molecule (interleukin-6) that generates a feeling of tiredness (in short, it is not our bodies that become tired, but rather our brains signal us to feel tired, or to not feel tired). ESPN's Jeff Van Gundy mentioned that Jokic's improved physical conditioning enables Jokic to log heavy minutes without a drop in efficiency/productivity; I agree with that, but would add that Jokic also appears to possess a lot of mental toughness that enables him to persevere through various challenges (foul trouble, the minor injuries that all players face but that affect some players more than others, etc.).

It may be easier to notice differences in jumping ability between various players than to notice differences in some of the other athletic abilities, but differences in hand-eye coordination and mental toughness may be more important than differences in jumping ability. As Charles Barkley has said, a deer can run and jump, but that does not mean that a deer can play basketball.

Quickness is not the same as sprinting speed. Quickness encompasses both mental quickness and physical quickness; it is a tremendous advantage to process events quickly mentally, and then be able to move quickly physically based on openings to pass, shoot, or drive that may only be available for a split second. A player who has a combination of elite court vision plus physical quickness can be very effective even if he does not jump particularly high or run particularly fast.

Agility is the ability to maintain body balance even in seemingly awkward or unfavorable situations. While jumping ability can be measured, agility is more difficult to quantify, and that is probably why an agile player like Jokic is sometimes described as awkward or unathletic; the way that Jokic moves does not fit the stereotype of what an athletic player looks like, but if you observe Jokic you will notice that he rarely falls down, he is rarely out of position, and he repeatedly makes passes and shots that an uninformed viewer may consider to be lucky. If some guy in the park makes one awkward shot every five games, then that is probably luck--but when Jokic makes such shots and passes on a regular basis, it is incorrect to dismiss such plays as luck or to suggest that he is not athletic.

Describing Jokic as unathletic is lazy and imprecise. Jokic has not demonstrated elite abilities in high jumping, broad jumping, or straight line speed, but he has demonstrated elite abilities in terms of court vision, strength, hand-eye coordination, mental toughness, agility, and quickness. I would argue that if one takes a comprehensive view of athleticism then Jokic is one of the best athletes in the NBA; players whose athleticism is limited to jumping high and running fast are not athletic enough overall to match up with Jokic, and that is one reason why Jokic has enjoyed so much recent success both individually and in terms of leading the Denver Nuggets to the franchise's first championship.

Labels: Julius Erving, Kobe Bryant, Larry Bird, LeBron James, Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, Moses Malone, Nikola Jokic, Oscar Robertson, Steve Nash

posted by David Friedman @ 11:32 AM

20 comments

The NBA Was Much Better When Load Management and Tanking Did Not Exist

A lot has changed in the NBA in the past 40 years, and many of the changes are not improvements. NBA players used to have complete skill sets; no one talked about "two way players" because the expectation was that all players--and particularly the star players--at least competed on defense, even if they were not exceptional defenders. Most of the top scorers had a variety of fundamental moves that did not involve traveling or flopping and flailing. 

The NBA game was not only more fundamentally sound and aesthetically pleasing, but the players actually showed up to games on a consistent basis. If you bought a ticket to go to a game to see your favorite player play, he almost certainly played. In 1982-83--when Moses Malone and Julius Erving led the Philadelphia 76ers on a glorious, record-setting 12-1 playoff run culminating in a 4-0 NBA Finals sweep of the defending champion L.A. Lakers--39 NBA players played in all 82 regular season games, and Clemon Johnson played in 83 regular season games (51 with Indiana, followed by 32 with Philadelphia). An additional 22 players played in 81 regular season games. Those numbers were typical for that era; in 1981-82, 42 players played in all 82 regular season games, and three players played in more than 82 games, while an additional 21 players played in 81 regular season games. 

It was a given during that era that MVP level players rarely missed games. From 1967-82, the NBA regular season MVP played in 81 or 82 games every year except for 1978, when 1977 NBA Finals MVP Bill Walton captured the regular season MVP despite being limited to 58 games due to injuries--and Walton was not "load managing": he was legitimately injured. Erving won four regular season MVPs during his ABA/NBA career; in those MVP seasons, he played in 84, 84, 84, and 82 games (the ABA regular season lasted 84 games). Malone won three regular season MVPs during his ABA/NBA career; in those MVP seasons, he played in 82, 81, and 78 games.

Playing all 82 games used to be a badge of honor for NBA players.

In contrast, in 2022-23 just nine players played in all 82 games. Mikal Bridges, perhaps the last throwback to a bygone age when the Jedi protected the Republic while the league, teams, and players cared about competition, played in 83 games (56 with Phoenix, followed by 27 with Brooklyn). Bridges entered the NBA in 2018-19, and he has yet to miss a game. 

The creation of the Play-In Tournament was supposed to minimize load management and tanking by incentivizing teams to play hard for all 82 games with the hope of at least earning the coveted 10th seed. Predictably, that is not how things have turned out. Last Friday, the Dallas Mavericks--with a chance to grab the Western Conference's 10th seed with a win and some help from other teams--rested every main player on their roster dating all the way back to Mark Aguirre. Luka Doncic played a whopping 12 minutes so that he could get credit for a game played, but he sat out the final three quarters of what turned out to be a 115-112 loss to the Chicago Bulls. The NBA is reportedly investigating the Mavericks for this blatant tanking. In 2018, the NBA fined Dallas owner Mark Cuban $600,000 for publicly stating "Losing is our best option." Since $600,000 did not prove to be sufficient to curb Cuban's tanking, I suggest that $1,200,000 plus forfeiting the draft pick that the Mavericks were trying to protect by losing on purpose might get Cuban's attention--and yes, I understand that the NBA is unlikely to do that, but if the league is serious about putting an end to tanking then Commissioner Adam Silver must impose penalties that convey that seriousness.

Also, the NBA's tanking investigation should not be limited to the Dallas Mavericks. Golden State just beat a team wearing Portland uniforms that did not feature the Trail Blazers' core players; the individual and team statistics from that 157-101 blowout--including Golden State's record 55 point first quarter--are meaningless, and the predetermined outcome of the game not only impacted playoff seeding but also had potential wagering implications (which matters now because the NBA and other sports leagues have intertwined their operations with wagering businesses). 

The toxic combination of tanking and load management cheats the fans who buy tickets to see their favorite players, compromises the integrity of playoff seeding, devalues individual and team statistics, and creates a host of issues regarding legalized wagering. There is a simple response to anyone who claims that "the science" proves that load management protects player health and safety: use "the science" to determine how many games players can safely play, limit the season to that number of games, and set the expectation that players will participate in a full season unless they have a legitimate injury.

Labels: Dallas Mavericks, Julius Erving, load management, Mikal Bridges, Moses Malone, Play-In Tournament, Portland Trail Blazers, tanking

posted by David Friedman @ 11:42 PM

20 comments

NBA Belatedly Provides Limited Benefits to Retired ABA Players

The NBA and the National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) jointly announced that the two organizations will partner to fund payments to approximately 115 retired ABA players who are not currently receiving any pension payments from the NBA. The program will provide an annual payment of  approximately $3828 for each year of service; for example, a player who played five ABA seasons would receive $19,140 per year. The payments are designated as "recognition payments" and not as pensions, no doubt for legal reasons as the NBA does not want to connect these payments in any way with their pension plan.

The Dropping Dimes Foundation deserves credit for pressuring the NBA until the league felt so ashamed about neglecting its legal and moral obligation to retired ABA players that it had to do something. Scott Tarter, the CEO and founder of Dropping Dimes, said after the announcement, "It's an incredible day for former ABA players, one that we and the players have been hoping for and working so hard toward for many years." Hall of Famer Mel Daniels, who passed away in 2015, was a major supporter of Dropping Dimes. Tarter noted, "Too bad Mel is not here to see this in person. This was his idea all along, saying, 'We've got to do something for these guys.'"

I am happy that the retired ABA players will--belatedly--at least receive something from the NBA other than excuses and neglect, and I acknowledge that even this relatively small amount of money may indeed be life-changing (as some have described it) for retired players who are in dire financial straits, but it must be emphasized that the ABA-NBA merger took place in 1976, so this payment plan is 46 years overdue and contains no provisions for makeup payments. Further, many retired ABA players have passed away, and their family members will not receive a penny, even though those players should have been receiving pension money (or "recognition payments") for many years, if not decades.

Also, let's place the "recognition payments" in context. The plan will cost the NBA and NBPA $24.5 million, but the NBA is a multi-billion dollar per year business, which means that $24.5 million is the NBA equivalent of spare change found in between couch cushions. The value of NBA franchises has soared since the ABA-NBA merger thanks not only to the brilliance of great players including but not limited to Julius Erving, Moses Malone, George Gervin, Artis Gilmore, David Thompson, Dan Issel, and Bobby Jones, but also because of the adoption of ideas either created by and/or popularized by the ABA, including the three point shot rule and the Slam Dunk Contest. 

The ABA's impact is not acknowledged and recognized by the NBA and its media partners, as I noted in The Legacy of the ABA:

The ABA developed and nurtured many of the players who became the NBA's marquee stars in the late 1970s and early 1980s, including Hall of Famers Julius Erving, Moses Malone, George Gervin, David Thompson and Dan Issel. The scintillating Erving had an excellent NBA career but those who saw him in his ABA days got a special treat. Mike Gale, a two-time ABA All-Defensive Team guard who played with Erving on the 1974 ABA champion New York Nets and later played against him in both leagues, says, "Doc was an awesome player. Because of the way the ABA was at that time (not having a national TV contract), most of America did not get to see him in what we would call his prime. Some of the moves that he made, you will never see again. It was amazing to see his work ethic. After practice, we'd be out there playing and shooting. He just loved the game. He'd try to think of things that were out of the ordinary and not done the regular way. It was a sight to see. We sat back (as teammates) and would say, 'How'd he do that?'"

The ABA changed the way that basketball is played and the way that it is packaged and presented. The ABA did not introduce the three point shot--it had been previously used in the ABL and some college teams had experimented with it decades earlier--but the ABA popularized it. The rivalry between the leagues was so bitter that the NBA could not bring itself to start using the three point shot until four years after the merger. College basketball began using the three point shot a few years later. It is impossible to imagine basketball at any level today without the three point line. March Madness would not be the same without the possibility of an underdog team getting hot from three point range and knocking off a blue chip school.

The ABA wrapped a concert and a Slam Dunk contest around the 1976 ABA All-Star Game, essentially creating the concept that has morphed into what is now known as All-Star Weekend. The NBA scoffed at that idea for years before finally embracing it in 1984. The ABA's influence can even be felt in the box score. Steals, blocked shots, turnovers (the ABA called them "errors") and offensive rebounds are statistics that were first tracked by ABA scorekeepers before the NBA decided to make them part of the game's official numerical language. Ironically, while the NBA adopted these categories for its own use it stubbornly refuses to acknowledge the statistics compiled by ABA players. The NFL recognizes that the AFL’s Joe Namath was the first pro quarterback to pass for 4000 yards in a season but the NBA acts as if the 11,662 ABA points scored by Namath's New York contemporary Julius Erving do not exist. The careers of great ABA players like Roger Brown and Mel Daniels exist in a statistical netherworld; sometimes, they are mentioned in articles or on TV but often their accomplishments are completely disregarded.

The NBA's stubborn refusal to officially count ABA statistics is as foolish as it is petty. The NFL had a fierce rivalry with the AFL, but after the AFL-NFL merger the NFL as a league as well as the NFL's individual teams included AFL statistics in the sport's official records. Contrast the NFL's sensible approach to this issue with the NBA pretending that most of Julius Erving's 40 point games never happened or that Kyrie Irving holds the Nets' single game scoring record that actually is still held by Julius Erving. The NBA wants you to believe that Erving is the 74th leading scorer all-time with 18,364 NBA regular season points instead of accepting the reality that Erving is the eighth leading scorer in pro basketball history with 30,026 regular season points. Younger fans who think that they know who is the greatest forward of all-time may be surprised to know that Erving is the first non-center in pro basketball history who scored at least 30,000 career points, and that he retired as the third leading scorer in pro basketball history behind only Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Wilt Chamberlain.

Despite the ABA's immense cultural and historical impact, the "recognition payments" for ABA players pale in comparison to what is received by retired NBA players via the NBA's pension plan. The NBA's pension plan for players who retired post-1965 currently pays out more than $800 per month for each year of service. A 62 year old retired NBA player who played at least 10 seasons receives an NBA-funded pension of $215,000 per year, and the minimum that a 62 year old retired NBA player who played just three seasons receives is an NBA-funded pension of $56,988 per year. As mentioned above, the NBA's belated "recognition" of retired ABA players is coming in the form and amount of money that the NBA found in between couch cushions.

The "recognition payments" are a small first step, but if the NBA is serious about acknowledging its debts--financial and historical--to retired ABA players then the NBA will increase those payments to place them on par with the payments from the NBA's pension plan, and the NBA will remove ABA statistics from the "memory hole" and place those numbers in the official records.

Labels: ABA, Artis Gilmore, David Thompson, George Gervin, Julius Erving, Moses Malone, NBA

posted by David Friedman @ 8:18 PM

4 comments

The NBA and Its Media Partners Continue to Ignore the ABA's History and Statistics

Can you imagine the NFL or its media partners discussing the league's history, statistics, and great players without mentioning legendary AFL players and teams? Joe Namath's guarantee prior to the New York Jets' Super Bowl III upset win over the Baltimore Colts is one of the most iconic moments in pro football history. 

In sad and inexcusable contrast, the NBA ignores the ABA's history and statistics. This leads to absurd conversations like the one that took place on ESPN's pregame show prior to game six of the Eastern Conference Finals when the panel debated where Stephen Curry should rank all-time. The consensus was that Curry probably does not belong in the top 10, and the debate focused on whether or not Curry has surpassed Julius Erving and Moses Malone, two players who ESPN has determined rank in the top 20 but not the top 10. ESPN graphics listing the players' career accomplishments and honors asserted that Erving won one regular season MVP, one championship, and no Finals MVPs. This is equivalent to asserting that Joe Namath's AFL statistics and honors should not be counted. Not counting ABA records does not harm Malone as much as Erving because Malone's ABA career was shorter and less distinguished than Erving's, but one also gets the sense that Malone is somehow "tainted" because he did not spend his entire career in the NBA. Is there any three-time regular season MVP whose career is as ignored as Malone's? How many fans realize that Malone won the same number of MVPs as Larry Bird and Magic Johnson? 

Regarding Erving, no matter how often the NBA and its media partners deny history, these are the facts: Erving won four regular season MVPs, three championships, and two Finals MVPs. Further, in the 1976 ABA Finals, Erving played at a level that Curry cannot even dream of reaching: Erving led both teams in scoring (37.7 ppg), rebounding (14.2 rpg), assists (6.0 apg), steals (3.0 spg) and blocked shots (2.2 bpg). Who was Erving competing against in that series? Just a Denver Nuggets team coached by Hall of Fame Coach Larry Brown, and led by Hall of Fame players David Thompson, Dan Issel, and Bobby Jones. 

Erving still belongs in the greatest player of all-time conversation; pretending that he is fighting for a spot in the top 20 and that he has been surpassed by a 6-3 guard is ridiculous. The only player shorter than 6-5 whose impact can be compared with Erving's is Jerry West. 

Before Curry is compared to players like Erving and Malone, he needs to surpass a few more of his contemporaries. There is no question that Curry was the second best player behind Kevin Durant on Golden State's 2017 and 2018 championship teams. If the Warriors win the 2022 championship that will not retroactively change what happened in 2017 and 2018. Durant may be a borderline Pantheon player, but Curry is definitely behind Durant (and not next in line, either).

Curry is a great player, and this article is not meant to bash him. I enjoy watching Curry play, and I think that he represents a lot of what is great about basketball, including his skill set development, his superior conditioning, and his unselfishness. The issue is not Curry or anything that he has accomplished; the issue is that the NBA is doing the sport of basketball a great disservice by ignoring vast swaths of history.

Labels: Julius Erving, Kevin Durant, Moses Malone, Stephen Curry

posted by David Friedman @ 12:51 AM

6 comments

Nikola Jokic Joins the Select Back to Back MVP Club

Nikola Jokic has won the 2022 NBA regular season MVP, joining the select group of pro basketball players who won at least two consecutive MVPs: Bill Russell (1961-63 NBA), Wilt Chamberlain (1966-68 NBA), Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (1971-72, 1976-77 NBA), Julius Erving (1974-76 ABA), Moses Malone (1982-83 NBA), Larry Bird (1984-86 NBA), Magic Johnson (1989-90 NBA), Michael Jordan (1991-92 NBA), Tim Duncan (2002-03 NBA), Steve Nash (2005-06 NBA), LeBron James (2009-10, 2012-13 NBA), Stephen Curry (2015-16 NBA), and Giannis Antetokounmpo (2019-20 NBA). Antetokounmpo finished third this year, while Joel Embiid was second.

Last month, I provided my take on the 2022 regular season MVP race:

Reigning regular season MVP Nikola Jokic also had a fantastic season (career-high 27.1 ppg, career-high 13.8 rpg, 7.9 apg, career-high .583 FG%), becoming the first player in NBA history to have at least 2000 points (2004), at least 1000 rebounds (1019), and at least 500 assists (584) in the same season (to be fair, Wilt Chamberlain missed out on this distinction by just eight points in 1968 and by 44 points in 1967, two seasons during which he had over 1900 rebounds). Jokic joined pro basketball's "Five-Tool Club," the elite group of players (Julius Erving, Dave Cowens, Scottie Pippen, Tracy McGrady, Kevin Garnett) who led their teams in scoring, rebounding, assists, steals, and blocked shots in the same season.

Joel Embiid, who openly campaigned for the MVP award throughout the season, won his first scoring title with a career-high 30.6 ppg while also grabbing 11.7 rpg and dishing for 4.2 apg. 

The historical standard is that an NBA MVP must play in at least 85% of the scheduled games, which adds up to at least 70 games in the traditional 82 game season. Bill Walton is the only regular season MVP in NBA history who played less than 85% of his team's games. In fact, 19 MVPs played all 82 games, 11 MVPs played in 81 games, and five MVPs played in 80 games (also, Karl Malone played 49 of 50 games in the lockout-shortened 1999 season). I miss the days before "load management"! If the 70 games played threshold still matters to the MVP voters, then Jokic (74 games played) prevails over Embiid--who played in a career-high 68 games--and Antetokounmpo, who played in 67 games.

Jokic averaged 35.7 ppg, 16.3 rpg, 7.4 apg, and 2.1 spg in his final seven games to help his Denver Nuggets secure a playoff berth despite being without the services of injured star point guard Jamal Murray, who missed the entire season due to an ACL tear. Playoff statistics are not considered regarding regular season MVP voting, but it is worth noting that Jokic led the league in playoff scoring in 2022 (31.0 ppg) while also averaging 13.2 rpg, 5.8 apg, 1.6 spg, and 1.0 bpg. He shot .575 from the field, and it was not his fault that his outmatched Nuggets lost 4-1 in the first round to the Golden State Warriors. Jokic's career playoff averages (26.4 ppg, 11.5 rpg, 6.4 apg, .519 FG%) confirm that his game does not fall apart in the postseason, which distinguishes him from some highly touted players.

Labels: Bill Russell, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Julius Erving, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Larry Bird, LeBron James, Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, Moses Malone, Nikola Jokic, Stephen Curry, Steve Nash, Tim Duncan, Wilt Chamberlain

posted by David Friedman @ 12:16 AM

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NBA TV Celebrates Julius Erving's 72nd Birthday by Airing "Sir Charles and The Doctor"

Julius Erving turns 72 tomorrow, and NBA TV provided a birthday gift for basketball fans by airing "Basketball Stories: Sir Charles and The Doctor," featuring a conversation that Erving had with Charles Barkley (Barkley celebrated his 59th birthday on February 20). Erving and Barkley were Philadelphia 76ers teammates from 1984-87, Erving's final three NBA seasons and Barkley's first three NBA seasons. 

Barkley remembered that before he joined the 76ers he was nervous about meeting Erving for the first time. Barkley asked his college teammates how he should address Erving, and they told him they were not sure. Erving took all of the pressure off by approaching Barkley, and introducing himself. 

Thinking back to his first meeting with Barkley, Erving said that he did not follow college basketball very closely, but his philosophy was always to "extend a hand of friendship" to rookies who joined the 76ers. Erving recalled that there were questions about how Barkley would fit in with the 76ers, and that the 76ers had drafted Barkley hoping that Barkley could provide rebounding. 

Barkley said that every NBA team needs helpful veterans like Julius Erving and Moses Malone, who were Barkley's mentors early in his pro career. Erving agreed that veterans should help young players, but he pointed out that not all young players will listen to advice from veterans.

Barkley told Erving that Moses Malone provided a very blunt reply when Barkley asked Malone why he was not getting more playing time. Malone said, "Young fella, you're fat and you're lazy." Malone offered to help Barkley improve his conditioning. Erving said that as a professional athlete it is important to be in good enough condition to deal with the physicality of the game and to avoid injuries. Erving noted that Barkley, Wes Unseld, and Shaquille O'Neal are among the few players who could carry a lot of weight but still be mobile and avoid serious ankle or knee injuries.

Barkley soon got into better shape, and established himself as a threat to take a defensive rebound and go coast to coast for a dunk. Barkley's direct approach did not fit in with Coach Billy Cunningham's concept of how to play the game. Erving said that Cunningham's philosophy was "Get the rebound, make the outlet pass, and fill the lane," but Barkley's philosophy was the shortest distance between two points was a straight line--so Barkley just grabbed the rebound and dribbled down court without making the outlet pass. Erving said that Cunningham told him that he was going to retire because Barkley was driving him crazy. Cunningham retired from coaching after Barkley's rookie season, and Cunningham never coached again in the NBA, though he was part of the Miami Heat's ownership group for a while. Cunningham has the second highest regular season winning percentage in NBA history (.698, just behind Phil Jackson's .704), and he led the 76ers to one championship and three NBA Finals appearances in eight seasons.

Barkley said that he would have scored 2000 more points if Maurice Cheeks would have passed to him more often on the fast break. Erving laughed, and he said that Darryl Dawkins also thought that Cheeks had a "Dr. J eye," but Erving added that Cheeks loved getting assists and Cheeks knew that if he passed to Erving then the ball was going in the basket with no nonsense.

Barkley remembered that the intensity of the Philadelphia-Boston rivalry surprised him as a rookie. Barkley asked Erving to talk about what that rivalry meant to him. Julius Erving versus Larry Bird was the NBA's best rivalry in the early 1980s, but Erving is too modest to say that. Instead, Erving replied,  "Respect is more important than popularity." Erving remembered how the Boston fans chanted "Beat L.A." in the waning moments of game seven of the 1982 Eastern Conference Finals after it became clear that the 76ers were going to beat the Celtics and move on to face the Lakers in the NBA Finals. Erving finished with 29 points and was the CBS Player of the Game for game seven, though it must be noted that Andrew Toney (game-high 34 points) was also sensational. Erving said that Boston hated Philadelphia and Philadelphia hated Boston, but "When I say 'hate' I don't really mean hate. We all survived it. Everybody got their trophies, and their stats, and life goes on." Erving's approach to life and basketball is different from the Michael Jordan "I took that personally" meme.

The conversation shifted to the beginning of Erving's pro career. Erving described how he signed with the ABA's Virginia Squires after his junior year at the University of Massachusetts (UMASS). In typical Erving style, he said that Charlie Scott was the best player on the team, even though it is obvious that Erving quickly established himself as a better all-around player than Scott. Erving said that he became the team's best player after Scott jumped to the NBA's Phoenix Suns. 

Erving said of going to the ABA, "It was absolutely the right move. I have no regrets about it." Erving won three regular season MVPs (1974-76) and led the New York Nets to two championships (1974, 1976) before the ABA merged with the NBA prior to the 1976-77 season. Erving noted with pride that when he retired he was just the third player in pro basketball history to score at least 30,000 regular season points, trailing only Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Wilt Chamberlain. Erving expressed frustration that ABA statistics are disregarded by the NBA and by media outlets, resulting in him erroneously not being listed as a member of the elite 30,000 point club. Erving declared, "The ABA takes a slap to the face, big time...Maybe they'll wait until I die (to count the ABA numbers)."

I have said it for over 20 years, and I will say it again: ABA Numbers Should Also Count. The NFL counts AFL statistics, awards, and championships, and it makes no sense that the NBA ignores ABA statistics, awards, and championships. 

Barkley asked Erving about navigating the turbulent 1960s and 1970s, when Erving was a young adult and Barkley was still a child. Erving said that Arthur Ashe, Reggie Jackson, and Bill Russell provided good guidance. "You don't get through it by yourself," Erving concluded. 

Barkley and Erving talked about mortality. Erving's brother was just 16 when he died from lupus, and Erving's sister died at 34. Erving's son Cory died at 19. Those losses have shaped Erving's thoughts and perspective about mortality. "All of this is gravy," said. "You think about mortality based on what happens in your life. How you react to what happens in your life determines if you are happy."

Erving is proud of how his 1982-83 76ers won the NBA title in dominating fashion with a 4-0 sweep of the L.A. Lakers in the NBA Finals, but he pointedly notes, "Nobody wants to count the ABA. I won two championships in the ABA...If you are going to make me a rookie, then maybe I should have won Rookie of the Year." That latter sentiment is a thought that I have expressed before: if the NBA is not counting ABA experience and ABA statistics, then Erving should have been the Rookie of the Year for the 1976-77 season.

Barkley asked Erving how and when he knew that it was time to retire. Erving recalled the exact moment in the 1985-86 season: "The year before I retired we were in Cleveland. It was a blizzard. The arena was cold. My knees hurt so bad I could not even sleep in the hotel bed. That's when I knew."

Erving mentioned that now players are sticking around to play 20 seasons or more (he played 16 seasons) and he said,  "If I wanted to stay out there, there was a way. But I wanted to go out the front door. I left college early and came in through the side door. That Farewell Tour was second to none."

Barkley said that being a member of the 76ers during Erving's 1986-87 Farewell Tour was a career highlight, and he said that he learned a lot about leadership by watching how Erving conducted himself. Barkley recalled one piece of advice that Erving gave to him at that time: "When you are the leader of the team, you are an amateur psychiatrist." 

Barkley said that he was a great player, but he did not earn a Farewell Tour the way that Erving did. Barkley knew it was time to retire when guys who could not play were outplaying him. Erving said that he had a story along those lines, recalling when rookie Ron Harper dunked on him. Erving was a shot blocker who was not used to players staying in the air longer than he did.

Barkley gave Erving several rapid-fire questions. Erving tapped Kevin Loughery as his best coach, recalling that when he played for Loughery with the Nets, "I had the green light. I had the freedom to express my gifts. That was the greatest feeling." Erving made a similar point years ago in an NBA TV show titled "The Last Night of the ABA": "That was the time when I had the most fun playing basketball. Between age 21 and age 26, I genuinely was empowered with this ability to do anything that I wanted to do on a basketball court and anything that I had ever dreamed of doing." 

Erving said that Moses Malone was the best player he ever played with, and that the teammate he was closest with was Steve Mix, who remains a close friend to this day. Erving's biggest basketball regret is "Not being a little bit more selfish." After Erving joined the 76ers, General Manager Pat Williams instructed Erving that the team wanted Erving, George McGinnis, and Doug Collins to each score around 20 ppg instead of Erving scoring 28-30 ppg like he did in the ABA. Erving went along with this, and the 76ers advanced to the 1977 NBA Finals before losing to Portland, but I agree with Erving that the best player should not have been sacrificing the most. 

Erving said that Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is the best player that he ever played against: "If I'm starting a team tomorrow, I'm starting with Kareem."

Barkley and Erving ended their conversation by talking again about mortality, and also about legacy. Erving said that he does not focus on what he accomplished or where he ranks all-time: "I don't want to live in the past. I want the carrot out in front of me." Erving hopes that his accomplishments and honors are "inspirational" to his family.

Labels: ABA, Andrew Toney, Billy Cunningham, Charles Barkley, Julius Erving, Kevin Loughery, Moses Malone, New York Nets, Pat Williams, Philadelphia 76ers

posted by David Friedman @ 10:59 PM

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NBA's 75th Anniversary Provides an Opportunity to Celebrate Generations of Greatness

As the NBA celebrates its 75th anniversary season, we have a great opportunity to recognize the accomplishments and contributions of players whose efforts are too often minimized, if not forgotten. The Associated Press has published All-Decade Teams for the 1950s (Paul Arizin, Bob Cousy, George Mikan, Bob Pettit, Dolph Schayes), the 1960s (Elgin Baylor, Wilt Chamberlain, Oscar Robertson, Bill Russell, Jerry West), the 1970s (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Rick Barry, Walt Frazier, John Havlicek, Elvin Hayes), and the 1980s (Larry Bird, Julius Erving, Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, Moses Malone). The AP has published one All-Decade Team per month since the season began. It will be interesting to see the 1990s team, because Michael Jordan would appear to be a lock to be the first player to be honored in more than one decade.

All of the players listed above helped to build the NBA and lift basketball's prominence. I cringe whenever I read or hear anyone who attempts to diminish the contributions made by great players from previous eras.

The 1970s and 1980s teams are closest to my heart, because that is the era when I first started following basketball as a child. In 2016, I selected my All-Decade Teams for the 1970s and 1980s. Overall, the AP's selections for the first four full decades of NBA history are solid, but the main drawback is that the AP--like the NBA itself--relegates the ABA to George Orwell's "memory hole." The NFL acknowledges AFL history and statistics, because the leagues ultimately merged and thus share not only a common present/future but also a common history. Similarly, you cannot accurately tell the story of pro basketball from the late 1960s through the late 1970s without recognizing the ABA's impact. 

The two best pro basketball players in the 1970s were Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Julius Erving. In the 1970s, Abdul-Jabbar won five regular season MVPs, one Finals MVP, one championship, and two scoring titles, while Erving won three regular season MVPs, two Finals MVPs, two championships, and three scoring titles. In Erving's first NBA season after playing the first five seasons of his career in the ABA, he won the All-Star Game MVP, led the Philadelphia 76ers to the best record in the Eastern Conference, and averaged 30.3 ppg in the NBA Finals as the 76ers fell in six games to a dominant Portland team that started the next season with a 50-10 record before Bill Walton suffered a season-ending (and career-altering) injury. Erving was selected to the All-NBA Second Team in 1977, and he made the All-NBA First Team in 1978, in addition to the honors mentioned above. 

You cannot tell the history of pro basketball in the 1970s without discussing Julius Erving's impact, and there is no doubt that he belongs on the All-Decade Team for the 1970s.

At least the AP included Erving on the 1980s team. Erving won the 1981 regular season MVP and played a major role for Philadelphia's 1983 championship team, but revisionist history pretends that only Bird and Magic mattered during that decade. Erving's 76ers beat Bird's Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals in 1980 and 1982, and they beat Magic's Lakers in the 1983 NBA Finals. Erving was a perennial MVP candidate until he was 35 years old, by which time the decade was half over. 

That 1980s team would match up well with any of the other All-Decade Teams. Bird, Erving, Magic, and Jordan are each members of my pro basketball Pantheon, and Malone did not miss the cut by much; the only AP All-Decade team with five Pantheon members is the 1960s. 

The interesting thing is that even though the 1980s was a talent-rich decade four of the five selections are easy. The only question about the 1980s team was whether to take Malone or Abdul-Jabbar at center. Malone dominated Abdul-Jabbar in the 1983 Finals, and Malone won two regular season MVPs in the 1980s compared to Abdul-Jabbar's one, but Abdul-Jabbar won five championships in the 1980s, picking up a Finals MVP in 1985 at the age of 38. Abdul-Jabbar earned more All-NBA First Team selections (four) in the 1980s than any center even though he was well into his 30s when the decade began. I picked Abdul-Jabbar for my All-1980s Team, but I don't have a big problem with the AP choosing Malone. At his best, Malone could match up with any center in pro basketball history; he missed the cut for my Pantheon not based on peak value, but rather based on Chamberlain, Russell, Abdul-Jabbar, and Shaquille O'Neal sustaining an elite level for a longer period of time.

The AP has also published a host of interesting articles pertaining to the NBA's 75th anniversary. In Dr. J says players from many eras built league, Erving guest-authored a piece discussing the contributions that many players made to elevate the NBA to its current status. Erving mentioned the pivotal role that the Salvation Army played in his development not just as a basketball player but as a person: "Being a Salvation Army kid, that was always in my mind. It helped make me who I am. That's where I played basketball. That's where I learned to travel and be a good representative of the entity that I'm traveling with. And so, we'd get in the station wagon and we'd go all over Long Island, we'd go to New Jersey, we went to Pennsylvania. And to be on the traveling team, that was very important. When you went, you had to behave and you had to represent your family and you had to represent the Corps, and you had to represent where you were from. And so that helped you in terms of communicating with people and trusting people."

Those of us who have followed Erving's life and career know that he has always given credit to the Salvation Army. Erving has never been someone to shout about how great he is; he has always preferred to give praise to others, and to uplift as many people as he can. When Erving was inducted in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, he requested that a Salvation Army flag be draped behind him on the Hall of Fame stage, and his request was granted. 

When I was a kid, I was always excited to see Erving on a magazine cover or featured in a newspaper article, so it was wonderful to go to the AP's NBA 75th Anniversary site and see not only Erving featured on the 1980s team but also given a byline to discuss the NBA's evolution.

Labels: Julius Erving, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, Moses Malone

posted by David Friedman @ 2:39 AM

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MVP Selection Criteria

The NBA has deliberately never published a specific set of criteria for selecting the regular season Most Valuable Player award. The league long ago determined that the controversy and conversation that almost annually surrounds the selection process is good for business. A few unwritten rules have gained general acceptance, most notably that the MVP should participate in the vast majority of the season's games, and that the MVP's team should finish in the top four in its conference. 

If one accepts the notion that the NBA's MVP should participate in at least 85% of the regular season games (70 games in an 82 game season, or 61 games in the 72 game season that the NBA is using in 2020-21), then LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Joel Embiid, Kawhi Leonard, and James Harden are among the players who are disqualified from consideration for this year's MVP. Two-time reigning MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo, who has played in 48 of Milwaukee's 57 games, needs to play in 13 of his team's 15 remaining games to not fall below the 85% participation threshold. 

Nikola Jokic (26.4 ppg, 11.1 rpg, 8.1 apg, .569 FG%) has performed so well while playing in all 57 games for the fourth seeded Denver Nuggets that he might be the top candidate even if most of the other top candidates had not disqualified themselves by missing so many games. All factors considered and weighted appropriately, Antetokounmpo (28.5 ppg, 11.2 rpg, 6.0 apg, .564 FG% for the third seeded Milwaukee Bucks) is the only player this season who is competing with Jokic for the MVP award.

The NBA first selected an MVP after the 1956 season. The only NBA regular season MVP who did not participate in at least 85% of his team's games (including the 2020, 2012, and 1999 seasons that did not last the full 82 games, and the 1956-67 seasons when the NBA schedule gradually increased from 72 to 81 games) was Bill Walton, who played in 58 out of 82 games in 1977-78. Walton led Portland to the 1977 NBA title, and the 1978 Trail Blazers went 48-10 with Walton compared to 10-14 without him. Walton was so dominant during the 1976-78 period that the voters rewarded him for his impact on his team and the league despite how many games he missed during his MVP campaign.

Another unwritten rule for MVP voting is that the winner's team should rank among the top four teams in his conference. In 1982, Moses Malone won the regular season MVP while playing for a Houston squad that finished 46-36, tied for fifth-sixth place in the Western Conference. Malone had carried the Rockets to the NBA Finals in 1981, and he had previously won the MVP for the 47-35 Rockets in 1979. Malone won his third and final MVP in 1983 after teaming up with 1981 MVP Julius Erving to lead the 76ers to a league-best 65-17 record (and the 76ers subsequently set the all-time playoff mark by going 12-1 en route to winning the title). Like Walton a few years earlier, Malone was such a dominant player that in 1982 he overcame the voters' usual reluctance to support players from mediocre teams.

Russell Westbrook, whose 2017 Oklahoma City Thunder finished sixth in the Western Conference, is the only exception to that "rule" since 1982, and Westbrook overcame the "rule" by becoming the only player other than Oscar Robertson to average a triple double for an entire season, a feat that Westbrook accomplished in each of the next two seasons before "slumping" to 27.2 ppg, 7.9 rpg, and 7.0 apg last season (during which he adjusted to playing for a new team while also suffering various injuries and overcoming a bout with COVID-19).

This season, Westbrook is averaging 21.8 ppg, 10.9 apg, and 10.9 rpg. He is on the verge of averaging a triple double for the fourth season in a five season span. Robertson averaged an aggregate triple double over a five season span, but he had just one season in which he averaged a triple double. No other player has come close to averaging a triple double for a season. Triple doubles are often used as a benchmark to praise the versatility of players ranging from LeBron James to Nikola Jokic, but somehow Westbrook--whose 172 career triple doubles are just nine short of Robertson's record of 181--is now ignored when the subject of the league's best all-around player is discussed. Westbrook did not make the All-Star team this season (snapping a streak of six straight selections), and it seems unlikely that he will receive much consideration for the All-NBA Team or the MVP. Westbrook's Washington Wizards, who have endured a staggering number of injuries and games missed due to health/safety protocols, are currently tied for 10th place in the Eastern Conference; the seventh through 10th place teams will participate in play-in games to determine the seventh and eighth playoff seeds. The Wizards have a losing record, but they have won five games in a row and seven of their last eight. During that eight game span, Westbrook has posted these numbers:

• 23 points, 14 rebounds, 15 assists
• 19 points, 14 rebounds, 14 assists
• 17 points, 11 rebounds, 14 assists
• 25 points, 14 rebounds, 14 assists
• 25 points, 15 rebounds, 11 assists
• 36 points, 15 rebounds,   9 assists
• 15 points, 14 rebounds, 11 assists
• 13 points, 11 rebounds, 17 assists
  

Westbrook had a positive plus/minus number in all seven wins, and his plus/minus number in the loss (-21) was less than the margin of defeat (28). In 11 games during April, Westbrook is averaging 21.6 ppg, 13.4 rpg, and 12.1 apg.

Westbrook has participated in 50 out of the Wizards' 57 games, so he is on pace to play in more than 85% of the schedule. The only possible reason that he is not touted as an MVP candidate is the Wizards' record. However, Stephen Curry is receiving endless praise for his recent scoring feats and three point shooting barrage. Curry is without question a great player and a great shooter. He has played in 50 of the Warriors' 58 games, so he is on track to meet the unwritten participation requirement for MVP candidates. Curry's Golden State Warriors are in ninth place in the Western Conference, but their .500 record places them in a virtual tie with the 10th place team that has played two fewer games so far. 

In other words, for all of the talk about Curry's value, impact, and "gravity," he is the best player on a .500 team that is fighting to get into the play-in games.

Why is Westbrook's unprecedented all-around dominance not being as highly praised and prominently recognized as Curry's scoring and shooting feats? Westbrook's team is essentially at the same place in the East that Curry's team is in the West. The Wizards have not been a playoff team since 2018, so Westbrook is trying to turn around a losing team with a losing culture; in contrast, the Warriors have two starters (Curry and Draymond Green) from their teams that won three titles while making five straight Finals appearances, plus they have the same coach, and they have two other rotation players (Kevon Looney, Damion Lee) from their 2019 squad that reached the NBA Finals. Kelly Oubre is a proven scorer (18.7 ppg last season prior to joining Golden State), Andrew Wiggins is a former number one overall draft pick with a 19.5 ppg career scoring average, and James Wiseman is the second overall pick in the 2020 draft. The Warriors have more talent than the Wizards, but the popular narrative is that Curry is some kind of miracle worker while Westbrook is supposedly having a disappointing season.

For historical context, it is worth noting that the Warriors have way more talent than the Lakers had when Kobe Bryant carried the Lakers to the sixth best record in the West in 2006. The play-in format did not exist in 2006, but Bryant's Lakers did not need any help to qualify for postseason play. Bryant led the league in scoring (35.4 ppg, the highest scoring average since Michael Jordan averaged 37.1 ppg in 1986-87). The Lakers' second best player in 2006, Lamar Odom, never made an All-Star team, and would not have started for at least six of the other seven Western Conference playoff team that season (the other seven starting forwards for Western Conference playoff teams in 2006 were Dirk Nowitzki, Tim Duncan, Shawn Marion, Pau Gasol, Elton Brand, Kenyon Martin, and Kenny Thomas/Shareef Abdur-Rahim for the Kings, with the eighth place Kings being the only other West playoff team for which Odom would have started). After Bryant and Odom, the 2006 Lakers who played the most minutes were Smush Parker, Kwame Brown, and Chris Mihm. I am not convinced that Michael Jordan could carry that squad to a playoff berth (and you can forget about Curry or Westbrook doing so); Jordan's sub-.500 1987 Bulls included Charles Oakley, John Paxson, Gene Banks, Dave Corzine, and Earl Cureton in the main rotation, and each of those players had long and solid careers. Bryant is the only 2006 Laker who would have started for the 1987 Bulls, and not many of the 2006 Lakers would have made that squad as backups (Smush Parker is not beating out Sedale Threatt or Steve Colter, to cite just one example).

Bryant finished fourth in the 2006 MVP voting; he received the second most first place votes, but many voters left him entirely off of their ballots (i.e., they did not consider him a top five player that season). Jordan finished second in the 1987 MVP voting; his Chicago Bulls finished 40-42, while 1987 MVP winner Magic Johnson led the L.A. Lakers to a 65-17 record (Johnson later won the Finals MVP after the Lakers captured the NBA title). 

It is interesting that Jordan in 1987 and Curry in 2021 are talked about as legitimate MVP candidates, while Bryant in 2006 and Westbrook in 2021 are criticized for their supposed shortcomings as opposed to being praised for leading their teams to at least the same level of success as Jordan and Curry. I agree with the unwritten rule that an MVP candidate must play in the vast majority of his team's games--a player who missed too many games is of limited value no matter how well he played when he was available--but the inconsistent standards regarding outstanding players on mediocre teams is puzzling.

Labels: Giannis Antetokounmpo, Kobe Bryant, Michael Jordan, Moses Malone, Nikola Jokic, Russell Westbrook, Stephen Curry

posted by David Friedman @ 5:48 PM

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