Cleveland Cavaliers megastar LeBron James won Player of the Month honors for the month of February. When the regular season ends, James should also win the NBA MVP Award.
Yesterday, LeBron James was named the Eastern Conference Player of the Month for February after posting averages of 25.9 points, 10.6 assists, 7.2 rebounds, 1.0 steal and 0.9 blocks per game. In that month, James shot 63.7 percent from the field and 56.8 percent from three-point range. James had an offensive rating of 129 and a defensive rating of 111 while having a plus/minus of +14.0. The Cleveland Cavaliers went 9-2 in that time.
James, who has won six straight Player of the Month awards for the month of February, has a unique stranglehold on the Eastern Conference. In the fourteen seasons he’s played (including this season), he’s won an NBA-record 34 of 80 possible player of the month awards (not including five rookie of the month awards).
That essentially means that, James has been the most dominant player in the Eastern Conference since he was a rookie. There’s a maximum of 225 players who can win the award every month (fifteen teams in the East, fifteen players allowed on NBA rosters), yet James has won 42.5 percent of all Player of the Month awards for the East.
To put that dominance in perspective, Michael Jordan, who many consider to be the greatest player in NBA history, only won 16 Player of the Month awards in fifteen NBA seasons. James has more than doubled that number in less than two seasons.
How’s that for dominance?
James, who won his second Player of the Month award this season (the other came in November), is already on pace to win the award again for March. In his lone game this month, James recorded a triple-double with 28 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists against the Boston Celtics.
While Player of the Month awards, and frankly, any accolade is nice notch on James’ overcrowded belt of NBA achievements, James is a big picture type of guy.
He wants rings but not just another ring this season but enough rings to catapult him past the legend of Jordan. He didn’t ask for help because he doubted that they could make it to the NBA Finals or be competitive in them, he asked for more help so that he could hoist the Larry O’Brien trophy in triumph in another parade this summer.
In the big picture, James would rather be the NBA’s Most Valuable Player rather than the Eastern Conference’s Player of the Month. He’s already discussed that he feels worthy of the MVP, stating that looking at his winning percentage and the team’s winning percentage without him would show you that he’s the most valuable player in the league.
Frankly, he’s right. The Cleveland Cavaliers go from championship contenders to one of the worst teams in the league without him even without two All-Stars beside him. The fact is that James elevates the games of his teammates more than any other player. Since returning to the Cavs, the team has a 147-52 record with James and a 4-19 record without him. That’s a difference of winning 73.9 percent of your games and losing 82.6 percent of your games.
The Cavs score 107.0 points per game with a shooting percentage of 46.8 in this time and hold opponents to 100.0 points per game with James on the court. Without James, the Cavs score 94.0 points per game with a shooting percentage of 40.6 and opponents scorer 104.4 points per game. That’s a net difference of 17.4 points per game, all due to James’ absence.
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While players like Russell Westbrook and James Harden are well-deserving candidates, both average above 5.5 turnovers per game while Westbrook only shoots 42.0 percent from the field and Harden shoots 43.7 percent from the field.
James operates as the team’s point guard himself but averages 4.3 turnovers per game, which isn’t great but it’s nearly 2 less turnovers per game. If a guy is averaging 2 turnovers per game and the other is averaging 0, who would be considered the more careful or cerebral floor general, just looking at the stats.
With the eye test, it’s obvious that James plays with the game with generational intelligence and passing ability. Harden is an outstanding floor general but he’s still no James. James is also a more dynamic defender than either Westbrook or Harden, still able to guard 1-5 at 32-years-old.
Back to the conversation about elevating their teammates games, Westbrook may be averaging a triple-double but his teammates aren’t playing any better than they had in years past. Only one player, Steven Adams, has a higher PER this season than he had last season while others have lower PERs. Only one player for the Rockets, Clint Capela (who also benefits from Dwight Howard’s departure) has performed better this season than last. The truth about Eric Gordon is that he performed this well last year. The truth about Ryan Anderson is that he performed better last year.
For the Cavs, Kyrie Irving, Channing Frye, Kevin Love, Kyle Korver and Derrick Williams have higher PERs than last season.
The difference in their play is borne out in their plus/minus differences as well (stats recorded trough February 28, 2017). James is a +7.2 when he’s on the court, Harden is a +6.1 and Westbrook is a +3.0. The Cavs are a -1.5 when James is off the court, the Rockets are a +0.9 when Harden is off the court and the Thunder are a -2.7 with Westbrook off the court. Essentially, James is the most valuable player on the court with a net plus/minus of +8.7, Westbrook has a net plus/minus of +5.7, Harden has a net plus/minus of +5.2.
The NBA MVP award should be James’ to lose this season and that takes nothing away from the seasons Westbrook and Harden have had. At this point, NBA fans just have to acknowledge the greatness of James has led him to quietly have a better season than two of the most sensational seasons we’ve seen other players have.
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What do you think of LeBron James winning Player of the Month for the month of February? Do you think he should win the NBA MVP award? Let us know in the comments section or Twitter @KJG_NBA.
*Unlinked stats referenced from www.basketball-reference.com