In addition to being the best forward in the NBA for a decade, Michael Jordan was also a fierce defender. No one can dispute that. There is even a justice of the peace, a strong argument: the Bulls fullback was crowned best defender in 1987/88. He was therefore the best scorer (35 points on average) and the best defender in the league for a season. An unrivaled performance to date.
“It was one of my goals. I wanted to show people that I am more than a scorer, that I am a complete player”will say the Bulls guard when winning this trophy, which is added to that of MVP of the regular season, also won in 1988.
Michael Jordan thus dethrones Michael Cooper, whom he considered to have already dominated in defense during the 1986/87 season. But according to him, “the league gives the trophy according to reputation and that annoys me”he confided at the time in the columns of Sports Illustrated.
Interceptions and counterattacks, the competition is crushed
The 1987/88 season, “MJ” made everyone agree with impressive stats: 259 stolen balls and 131 rejected shots, i.e. 3.2 interceptions and 1.6 blocks on average. And Chicago is the team that concedes the fewest points per game. Therefore, seeing him crush the votes ahead of Mark Eaton and Hakeem Olajuwon is not surprising.
“There was no debate”remembers journalist Bob Ryan of the Boston Globe. “No one dwelled on it much. We are in a time where the Internet does not exist, TV shows do not dominate like today. Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't remember anyone being concerned about this. Person. »
However, a long article by Tom Haberstroh, for Yahoo! Sports now comes to qualify the legacy of this trophy, relying on a well-known “truth”: playing with statistics, even inflating them, to help a player appear stronger and more influential than he actually is. It's a subject that has come up for decades, notably with John Stockton.
The Jazz playmaker was then accused of having astronomical assist averages because they were inflated. A meeting between a young statistician and NBA scorer professionals in 1995 seems to confirm this. During a training session, an image showed an action where the member of the 1992 “Dream Team” did not participate in a Karl Malone basket. However, generally speaking, we tell him that it is a pass… Why then?
“It became clear to me that, yes, we are supposed to define the most accurate representation possible, but the NBA is also an entertainment business. And it's up to us as statisticians to support or enhance the stars, the excitement and the fun. And this message was reinforced internally within the Grizzlies”says this young statistician of the time, Alex Rucker, employee of the franchise at the time of Vancouver in 1995/96, who has since admitted to have swollen itself Grizzlies stats.
Much higher numbers in Chicago
Shareef Abdur-Rahim, a young Vancouver star, took advantage of it at the time. His statistics were indeed very different between home and away matches. An observation which reappeared in the NBA debate during the 2022/23 season, with Jaren Jackson Jr. in Memphis, crowned best defender that season, and which already existed in the 1960s with Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain, whose best rebounding performances are all achieved at home.
Now let's get to Michael Jordan. Is the difference between his performances in Chicago and away (that) striking? Yes, and not just a little. If we add the player's interceptions and blocks (we call this “stocks”, a mixture of “steal” and “block”) and put them over 36 minutes, to better compare the two situations, we notice that the MVP 1988 displays 5.5 “stocks” at Chicago Stadium, and 3 away. That’s a difference of 182%! No winner of the best defender trophy displays such a disparity, none even exceeds 160%. Jaren Jackson Jr, for example, was 150% different…
In detail, Michael Jordan stole 165 balls and blocked 84 shots at home, compared to 94 and 47 away. Thus, if we judge that our away statistics are more reliable than at home, we must therefore remove 30% of the total interceptions and counterattacks from our season.
To check if this discrepancy can be explained by the generosity of local statisticians, it would obviously be necessary to review the 41 matches at Chicago Stadium, at a time when League Pass did not exist and the diffusion of the NBA in Europe was embryonic. So without a person with a VCR and VHS in the 1980s (preserved since), it is now impossible to find these encounters on the Internet. However, one person looked into the matter and did a small part of the work.
Her name is Reinis Lacis. He is the assistant GM of the Rigas Zelli club in Latvia. He has been an NBA enthusiast since childhood and he created a site, Lamarmatic. Correcting the statistics, he has already done that. He notably reevaluated Nick Van Exel's 23 passes in 1997 (he counted 15) or Shaquille O'Neal's 15 blocks in 1993 (which would actually be 10).
It's a video from the NBA itself which further highlights the doubt born from reading the statistics. On August 31, 2022, a video is posted online with this title “Michael Jordan steals ten balls in a match”. A four-minute compilation of a game against the Nets where we see the Bulls' back steal… six balls. Where have the other four gone?
Doubt benefits the defense
The Yahoo Sports journalist and Reinis Lacis will watch six entire matches available on YouTube from this 1987/88 season. Each on their own, so as not to influence the other, they will take Michael Jordan's statistics. They will then be compared with the official figures.
The February 15, 1988 game against the Hawks is particularly dissected and interesting. The stat sheet indicates that the Atlanta players lost 10 balls, and the Bulls players stole 10 balls. Clearly, each lost ball was intercepted by a Chicago player: it is therefore impossible to have a walk, a ball out, a violation of the 24 seconds, which are also lost balls.
However, Chris Washburn dribbled on his foot and took the ball out at one point when Dominique Wilkins lost control of the ball. Without forgetting a possession which arrives at the end of 24 seconds. That makes three lost balls forgotten by the statistics, or rather “transformed” into interceptions for the Bulls. Additionally, both men estimated that Michael Jordan only stole two balls in this game. However, according to the box score, he finished with five. The calculation is simple: 2+3 equals 5…
A trend which will be confirmed in the six matches examined with a fine-tooth comb. The two men judge that the Chicago player stole 12 balls, while the figures give him 28. That is 16 more interceptions for Michael Jordan, sometimes when he attempts an interception, the ball goes out and possession does not change team. And the same for counters, with a simple and concrete example: Horace Grant counters a shot but makes a foul, so the counter is not validated in his statistics, whereas for Jordan, in the same situation, the counter appears. A counter won therefore…
As we can see, the technique is quite simple: in certain situations involving interceptions and counterattacks, when in doubt or exaggerating things, we check the statistic and give it to the star concerned. And with 41 home matches, these little boosts here and there end up turning into a significant amount. Doubt benefits the accused, and the defense in this case.
“Being the best interceptor in the league certainly helped”
So, Michael Jordan has the advantage to win this trophy for best defender of the season? Without a doubt. But he would not have been the first, nor the last, to benefit from it. What's interesting is that this trophy has become a totem in Michael Jordan's career, like his immaculate 6-0 record in the Finals. A sort of proof that he is the greatest of all time: he was the best in attack (ten times top scorer in the league) and in defense, with this trophy and his nine appearances in the All-Defensive Teams.
He won all the Finals he played in, he was the best defender, not Kobe Bryant or LeBron James. And it's not entirely a coincidence that, when asked what trophy he would have liked to win, the Lakers player answered that of defender of the year. “It’s the only one I don’t have at home and it pisses me off”blurted out the quadruple champion, in his show “The Shop”who always claimed to chase the ghost of Chicago.
” I am really happy. All season I insisted to everyone that I wanted to be recognized for my defense. Being the best interceptor in the league sure helped.”noted Michael Jordan when he was elected to the first All-Defensive Team of the 1987/88 season.
Interesting and final point: the difference between Michael Jordan's defensive statistics, at home and away, which was classic in previous seasons, will return to a normal level the following season.
| Michael Jordan | Percentage | Rebounds | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Team | MJ | Min | Shots | 3pts | L.F. | Off | Def | Early | Pd | Party | Int | Bp | Ct | Pts |
| 1984-85 | CHI | 82 | 38 | 51.5 | 17.3 | 84.5 | 2.0 | 4.5 | 6.5 | 5.9 | 3.5 | 2.4 | 3.6 | 0.8 | 28.2 |
| 1985-86 | CHI | 18 | 25 | 45.7 | 16.7 | 84.0 | 1.3 | 2.3 | 3.6 | 2.9 | 2.6 | 2.1 | 2.5 | 1.2 | 22.7 |
| 1986-87 | CHI | 82 | 40 | 48.2 | 18.2 | 85.7 | 2.0 | 3.2 | 5.2 | 4.6 | 2.9 | 2.9 | 3.3 | 1.5 | 37.1 |
| 1987-88 ★ | CHI | 82 | 40 | 53.5 | 13.2 | 84.1 | 1.7 | 3.8 | 5.5 | 5.9 | 3.3 | 3.2 | 3.1 | 1.6 | 35.0 |
| 1988-89 | CHI | 81 | 40 | 53.8 | 27.6 | 85.0 | 1.8 | 6.2 | 8.1 | 8.0 | 3.1 | 2.9 | 3.6 | 0.8 | 32.5 |
| 1989-90 | CHI | 82 | 39 | 52.6 | 37.6 | 84.8 | 1.7 | 5.2 | 6.9 | 6.3 | 2.9 | 2.8 | 3.0 | 0.7 | 33.6 |
| 1990-91 ★ | CHI | 82 | 37 | 53.9 | 31.2 | 85.1 | 1.4 | 4.6 | 6.0 | 5.5 | 2.8 | 2.7 | 2.5 | 1.0 | 31.5 |
| 1991-92 ★ | CHI | 80 | 39 | 51.9 | 27.0 | 83.2 | 1.1 | 5.3 | 6.4 | 6.1 | 2.5 | 2.3 | 2.5 | 0.9 | 30.1 |
| 1992-93 | CHI | 78 | 39 | 49.5 | 35.2 | 83.7 | 1.7 | 5.0 | 6.7 | 5.5 | 2.4 | 2.8 | 2.7 | 0.8 | 32.6 |
| 1994-95 | CHI | 17 | 39 | 41.1 | 50.0 | 80.1 | 1.5 | 5.4 | 6.9 | 5.3 | 2.8 | 1.8 | 2.1 | 0.8 | 26.9 |
| 1995-96 ★ | CHI | 82 | 38 | 49.5 | 42.7 | 83.4 | 1.8 | 4.8 | 6.6 | 4.3 | 2.4 | 2.2 | 2.4 | 0.5 | 30.4 |
| 1996-97 | CHI | 82 | 38 | 48.6 | 37.4 | 83.3 | 1.4 | 4.5 | 5.9 | 4.3 | 1.9 | 1.7 | 2.0 | 0.5 | 29.7 |
| 1997-98 ★ | CHI | 82 | 39 | 46.5 | 23.8 | 78.4 | 1.6 | 4.2 | 5.8 | 3.5 | 1.8 | 1.7 | 2.3 | 0.6 | 28.7 |
| 2001-02 | W.A.S. | 60 | 35 | 41.6 | 18.9 | 79.0 | 0.8 | 4.8 | 5.7 | 5.2 | 2.0 | 1.4 | 2.7 | 0.4 | 22.9 |
| 2002-03 | W.A.S. | 82 | 37 | 44.5 | 29.1 | 82.1 | 0.9 | 5.2 | 6.1 | 3.8 | 2.1 | 1.5 | 2.1 | 0.5 | 20.0 |
| Total | 1072 | 38 | 49.7 | 32.7 | 83.5 | 1.6 | 4.7 | 6.2 | 5.3 | 2.6 | 2.4 | 2.7 | 0.8 | 30.1 | |
How to read the stats? MJ = matches played; Min = Minutes; Shots = Successful shots / Attempted shots; 3pts = 3-points / 3-points attempted; LF = free throws made / free throws attempted; Off = offensive rebound; Def=defensive rebound; Tot = Total rebounds; Pd = assists; Fte: Personal fouls; Int = Intercepts; Bp = Lost balls; Ct: Against; Pts = Points.
