LeBron James, NBA MVP
MIAMI (CBS4) - When LeBron James made his decision to bring his talents to South Beach, the public and media venom was quick and brutal. Still, James has played at one of the highest levels in the NBA this season and in any normal year, he would be a leader for the NBA's Most Valuable Player.
For the season, LeBron is averaging 26.7 points, 7.5 rebounds, 7 assists and 1.6 steals per game. The current projected MVP is Chicago Bulls guard Derrick Rose. The Bulls star is averaging 26.8 points, 3 rebounds and 7.2 assists per game.
From a purely statistical standpoint, it's easy to see that LeBron has had a superior season to Rose. Plus, LeBron has done it with the biggest target in the league on his back the whole season.
But, there's more than just those baseline numbers between LeBron and Rose.
LeBron ranks number two in the league in points per game, number one in triple-doubles, 33rd in rebounds per game, number one in field goals made, number 15 in rebounds per game, number six in minutes played, and number 13 in the league in double-doubles.
Rose on the other hand ranks number seven in the league in points per game, number six in triple-doubles, isn't ranked in rebounds per game, is seventh in the league for field goals made, eighth in minutes played, and number thirty for double-doubles.
Going even deeper in the numbers, LeBron far exceeds Rose in win shares. A win share is an estimate of the number of wins contributed by a player. LeBron is number one at 15.5 while Rose comes in at number five, according to basketball-reference.com.
Looking at win shares per 48 minutes, which is an estimate of the number of wins contributed by a player per 48 minutes, and the difference is even greater. The league average is roughly .10, LeBron is ranked number one at 0.243 and Rose is ranked number nine at 0.209, according to basketball-reference.com.
One area that Rose scored higher than LeBron in was usage percentage, according to basketball-reference.com. Usage percentage is an estimate of the percentage of team plays used by a player while he was on the floor. Rose scored 32.3 percent while LeBron checked in at 31.5 percent.
Rose also had roughly .8 more assists per game than LeBron did for the season, according to basketball-refernce.com. Plus, LeBron has done all of this while taking 81 fewer shots this season than Rose did and playing 105 minutes more for the season than Rose.
Rose's supporters point to the Bulls' record this season and their number one seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs. But, the expectations placed on the Heat before the season made anything less than an NBA title a disappointment.
In the end, even though LeBron has put on a far superior statistical season to Derrick Rose, LBJ doesn't have a chance to win MVP because of the media's hate of him and sudden infatuation with Rose.
