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James Quarter Point MVP
By: Jason Fleming Last Updated: 12/7/07 10:28 PM ET | 301 times read
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The Cleveland Cavaliers have been absolutely horrid since LeBron James went down with his finger injury - and no, that probably doesn't surprise anyone. James hasn't played since November 28th when he left the game against the Detroit Pistons. Including that game the Cavs have lost five straight without their star.
Again, no surprise - but can one player really make that much of a difference? James is a great player who contributes all over the court with scoring, passing, rebounding and defense, but he's still just one man. Shouldn't his teammates be able to pick up some of the slack?
Let's break down some numbers to see how much of an impact a healthy James makes on the Cavs. The record we already mentioned a little:
With James: 9-6
Without James: 0-5
That probably seems simple enough, but let's look at the scoring differences as well. Keep in mind, James scores 30.7 a night, tops in the league; that's not easy to replace. Here's what the Cavaliers' scoring averages look like with and without their star:
With James: 102.1
Without James: 78.2
That's a difference of -23.9 points a game! Theoretically that would mean the players who get more time with James' 39.8 minutes a game available are only producing just under seven points a game - right?
Shannon Brown is the player who seems to be getting the biggest minutes boost with James out, with a few more minutes each for Devin Brown, Eric Snow and Ira Newble. Let's focus on Shannon for a second, who has started a couple games:
With James: 2 games, 11.0 minutes, 6.0 points, 0.5 rebounds
Without James: 4 games, 20.5 minutes, 10.5 points, 2.0 rebounds, 2.3 assists
That's not a huge jump, but that's 10 points a night the Cavaliers really weren't seeing at all with James in the lineup. How about Devin Brown?
With James: 20.1 minutes, 6.3 points, 3.1 rebounds, 1.8 assists
Without James: 22.0 minutes, 6.4 points, 1.0 rebound, 1.6 assists
It should be noted Brown started very early in the season until Sasha Pavlovic was ready to come back from his holdout. Still, without James Brown really hasn't made much of an impact.
What about the other top scorers? Let's look at Sasha Pavlovic:
Season Average: 8.6 points, 2.4 rebounds, 1.9 assists
Without James: 8.8 points, 2.2 rebounds, 1.2 assists
And Daniel Gibson:
Season Average: 12.7 points, 2.8 rebounds, 3.3 assists, 50.5 3FG%
Without James: 13.4 points, 2.6 rebounds, 5.4 assists, 48.1 3FG%
So what are we seeing? It seems the players discussed here have made little or no change to their games - at least to their statistical contributions - with their superstar teammate sitting and watching in street clothes. Drew Gooden and Zydrunas Ilgauskas are two players who actually have seen slips in their stats.
While Brown has stepped up a bit to provide scoring in the absence of the star, it hasn't been nearly enough because the rest of the team is no more than moderately raising their games. Now, that is not an indictment on these players - no one can doubt they are giving their all every night.
The reason is simply James himself. With James on the floor he demands all the attention of the defense. When he can penetrate in the lane, he can kick the ball out to players like Pavlovic, Gibson and even Big Z for short or long jumpers. When the defense collapses on him he can dump the ball off to Ilgauskas and Gooden for easy baskets.
The Cavaliers seem to still be getting a similar number of points, but they have to work much harder for those points without James and his 8.1 assists a game to help them out. Realistically, they have stepped up their games because of this - it's the presence of James which makes these contributions easier and the team stronger.
Given this, should there really be much of a discussion of who is MVP at the quarter point in the season? Kevin Garnett has been very good in Boston and Dwight Howard an absolute stud in Orlando, but no player is more valuable to his team being successful than LeBron James.
Just posting this to show how valuable LeBron is. I posted before "How is LeBron NOT MVP" and got roasted but this article doesnt hurt my argument.
By: Jason Fleming Last Updated: 12/7/07 10:28 PM ET | 301 times read
Adjust font size:
The Cleveland Cavaliers have been absolutely horrid since LeBron James went down with his finger injury - and no, that probably doesn't surprise anyone. James hasn't played since November 28th when he left the game against the Detroit Pistons. Including that game the Cavs have lost five straight without their star.
Again, no surprise - but can one player really make that much of a difference? James is a great player who contributes all over the court with scoring, passing, rebounding and defense, but he's still just one man. Shouldn't his teammates be able to pick up some of the slack?
Let's break down some numbers to see how much of an impact a healthy James makes on the Cavs. The record we already mentioned a little:
With James: 9-6
Without James: 0-5
That probably seems simple enough, but let's look at the scoring differences as well. Keep in mind, James scores 30.7 a night, tops in the league; that's not easy to replace. Here's what the Cavaliers' scoring averages look like with and without their star:
With James: 102.1
Without James: 78.2
That's a difference of -23.9 points a game! Theoretically that would mean the players who get more time with James' 39.8 minutes a game available are only producing just under seven points a game - right?
Shannon Brown is the player who seems to be getting the biggest minutes boost with James out, with a few more minutes each for Devin Brown, Eric Snow and Ira Newble. Let's focus on Shannon for a second, who has started a couple games:
With James: 2 games, 11.0 minutes, 6.0 points, 0.5 rebounds
Without James: 4 games, 20.5 minutes, 10.5 points, 2.0 rebounds, 2.3 assists
That's not a huge jump, but that's 10 points a night the Cavaliers really weren't seeing at all with James in the lineup. How about Devin Brown?
With James: 20.1 minutes, 6.3 points, 3.1 rebounds, 1.8 assists
Without James: 22.0 minutes, 6.4 points, 1.0 rebound, 1.6 assists
It should be noted Brown started very early in the season until Sasha Pavlovic was ready to come back from his holdout. Still, without James Brown really hasn't made much of an impact.
What about the other top scorers? Let's look at Sasha Pavlovic:
Season Average: 8.6 points, 2.4 rebounds, 1.9 assists
Without James: 8.8 points, 2.2 rebounds, 1.2 assists
And Daniel Gibson:
Season Average: 12.7 points, 2.8 rebounds, 3.3 assists, 50.5 3FG%
Without James: 13.4 points, 2.6 rebounds, 5.4 assists, 48.1 3FG%
So what are we seeing? It seems the players discussed here have made little or no change to their games - at least to their statistical contributions - with their superstar teammate sitting and watching in street clothes. Drew Gooden and Zydrunas Ilgauskas are two players who actually have seen slips in their stats.
While Brown has stepped up a bit to provide scoring in the absence of the star, it hasn't been nearly enough because the rest of the team is no more than moderately raising their games. Now, that is not an indictment on these players - no one can doubt they are giving their all every night.
The reason is simply James himself. With James on the floor he demands all the attention of the defense. When he can penetrate in the lane, he can kick the ball out to players like Pavlovic, Gibson and even Big Z for short or long jumpers. When the defense collapses on him he can dump the ball off to Ilgauskas and Gooden for easy baskets.
The Cavaliers seem to still be getting a similar number of points, but they have to work much harder for those points without James and his 8.1 assists a game to help them out. Realistically, they have stepped up their games because of this - it's the presence of James which makes these contributions easier and the team stronger.
Given this, should there really be much of a discussion of who is MVP at the quarter point in the season? Kevin Garnett has been very good in Boston and Dwight Howard an absolute stud in Orlando, but no player is more valuable to his team being successful than LeBron James.
Just posting this to show how valuable LeBron is. I posted before "How is LeBron NOT MVP" and got roasted but this article doesnt hurt my argument.
