Hey LeBron, What Was Michael Jordan's "Value" If They Were a 55-Win Team Without Him?
By Jason McIntyre
LeBron took a backhanded shot at Stephen Curry winning the MVP this week, questioning the word ‘valuable.’ LeBron heaped praise on Curry’s incredible season, but felt compelled to slide in “but when you talk about most ‘valuable’ then you can have a different conversation.”
Here’s one for you, LeBron: Yes, we know when you left the Cavs, they hit rock bottom. Went from the penthouse to broke and homeless in record time. And then your returned, and it was back to the Finals.
But let’s take a look at Michael Jordan and the 90s Bulls.
Chicago beat the Lakers for the Title in 1991, and with Magic, Bird and Isiah Thomas retired, the Bulls rolled to Titles in 1992 and 1993.
Then, Jordan stepped away from the NBA to (try and) play baseball.
1992: 67 wins, NBA Title
1993: 57 wins, NBA Title
1994: 55 wins, 2nd round of the playoffs [No Jordan]
1995: 47 wins, 2nd round of the playoffs [Jordan played 17 games late and the playoffs]
1996: 72 wins, NBA Title [with Jordan and addition of Dennis Rodman]
Huh.
In addition, of the five biggest single-season turnarounds in NBA history … none involved Michael Jordan (or LeBron). Nobody’s questioning either of their greatness; it’s more a question of where LeBron’s going with value. If you’re wondering about the biggest turnarounds in NBA history:
* The Nets added Jason Kidd in 2001, and went from being a 26-56 team to 52-30.
* The Suns added Steve Nash in 2004 and went from being 29-53 to an astonishing 62-20. They got jobbed in the playoffs against the Spurs because of a fight.
* The Spurs added David Robinson in the draft and went from 21-61 to 56-26 after his monster rookie season
* The Spurs added Tim Duncan in the draft and went from 20-62 to 56-26, but it should be noted that Robinson missed 76 games the year prior, so this one deserves an asterisk.
* The Celtics added … Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett and went from 24-58 to 66-16 in 2007. This one is multiple players, so it also deserves an asterisk.
If you’re wondering where the Cavs were before LeBron returned in 2014 – they were a 33-win team with Kyrie Irving and Dion Waiters leading the way.
The theme here, LeBron?
Point guards matter. [Single Season Turnaround H/T]