Without Question, LeBron Is League's Best Player

Basketball

By JOHN HOLLINGER
March 7, 2008

All hail the King.

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Al Bello / Getty

After scoring 50 at MSG on Wednesday, LeBron James had 39 points in Cleveland’s loss to Chicago last night.

Any doubt about the identity of the game's best player was laid to rest on Wednesday night, at least in the eyes of most New Yorkers. Cleveland's LeBron James came to Madison Square Garden on Wednesday night and put on a show for the ages, as his 50 points, 10 assists, and eight rebounds led the Cavs to victory against the hapless Knicks.

While local residents may now be in agreement, it appears the rest of the country is still confused on this point. So let me settle it once and for all: LeBron James is the best player in the league, period, and is likely to hold that honor for at least the next half-decade. The items in his favor are too voluminous to detail in just one corner of one page of one newspaper, but allow me to briefly hit on the highlights.

We can start with the basics, like how he's leading the league in scoring at 30.6 points per game. Or how, in addition to his scoring, he averages more assists than any other player in the top 12. Or, we can talk about his 8.1 rebounds per game, tops in the league among perimeter players.

One can take it a step further and look at his near-triple-double averages. Nobody has averaged more than 30 points, eight rebounds, and seven assists per game since Michael Jordan in 1988–89, and that was the only time even the exalted Jordan came close to that accomplishment.

Yet it's the more complex stats that really underscore just how dominant James has been.

Take his passing skill, for instance. Even though James leads the league in scoring, one in five of the possessions he uses results in an assist — the fourth-best rate among the league's 63 small forwards. In other words, not only is he the best scorer of the bunch, he's found time to nearly be the best distributor too.

When he's not doing that, he's the fourth-best rebounder among small forwards, pulling down 18.4% of missed shots when he's on the court. An average rate is 10.0%; Josh Boone gets 19.9%. But LeBron, playing on the perimeter all game, still gets back to the glass often enough to board like a power forward … a good power forward.

Even though he's creating all these shots — far more than any other player in the league — and even though he has a fairly harmless supporting cast, James has managed to be remarkably mistake-free. He turns it over on only 8.9% of the possessions he uses. Not only is this one of the better rates at his position, but it is also far better than that of other high-volume scorers like Kobe Bryant (10.1), Dwyane Wade (13.2), and Carmelo Anthony (11.6).

In fact, once you combine his solid shooting percentage, only two of the league's top 20 shot creators have been more efficient — Manu Ginobili and Dirk Nowitzki. And those two don't create nearly as many shots as James.

So by this point, it probably doesn't surprise you that James is first in the league Player Efficiency Rating, my per-possession rating of a player's statistical effectiveness. If he maintains his 30.47 mark, it will be the league's highest mark since Shaquille O'Neal hung a 30.73 on the board in 1999–2000.

James's mark is far better than that of the other oft-mentioned MVP candidate, Kobe Bryant, who ranks seventh at 24.89. While Bryant has been outstanding in his own right and is deserving of discussion for the runner-up spot in the ballot, his performance pales beside that of King James.

To see James's importance to the Cavs, look at what happens when he leaves the court. Basically, Cleveland goes from an Eastern contender to a Big East also-ran. With James on the court the Cavs outscore opponents by 3.4 points per 48 minutes; when he departs, it turns into a jaw-dropping 13.7-point disadvantage — which would make the Cavs the worst team in history if they sustained it for a full season.

Which takes us back to Wednesday night, and yet another awe-inspiring effort from LeBron. So spellbound were Knicks fans that they were openly cheering for James by the end, chanting "MVP!" and giving him a standing ovation.

Rarely has applause been more deserved. James became the first player in 33 years to have as many as 50 points, 10 assists, and eight rebounds in a game — Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was the last, on January 19, 1975 — and he did it while committing just two turnovers.

I normally don't get too worked up over a single-game performance, but most single-game performances aren't on par with this one. For a player to score 50 points in a game and still have time to dish out 10 assists is almost impossible. To do it after a two-point first quarter? Unthinkable.

And yet it happened. Between his scoring and passing, James accounted for 26 of the Cavs' 40 baskets, and 74 of Cleveland's 119 points (four of the assists led to 3-pointers). That's right — 74 points, by himself, with only two turnovers.

What's really scary is that he can still improve. James is unguardable when he's nailing long jumpers like on Wednesday, but for the year he's only making 31.2% of his 3-pointers. He's also at only 70.8% from the line, which is unfortunate since he's fouled so often.

But even with his flaws, James is having an unbelievable season. While his fellow Cavs may not be up to the challenge of repeating as conference champs, folks shouldn't allow that to influence their perspective on how amazingly good LeBron has been individually.

Whether one goes by the statistical standards above or by the "Rocky IV"-like ending on Wednesday, the answer is the same: The King is the only logical choice for 2007–08 MVP. Let's hope the voters acknowledge what the 18,760 fans who were at MSG on Wednesday already know.

jhollinger@nysun.com

Without Question, LeBron Is League's Best Player

Basketball

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