My first favorite player growing up was Julius Erving. The
first NBA game I saw on TV was when Dr. J’s 76ers beat Bill Walton’s Portland
Trailblazers either in Game 1 or Game 2 of the 1977 NBA Finals.
My second favorite player was Moses Malone. I remember
reading an article about how he was the greatest offensive rebounder in NBA
history and then watching his Rockets upset the Magic Johnson-Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Lakers in the first round of the 1981 playoffs.
So I was one of the millions of Dr. J fans who was psyched
when the 76ers got Malone in a trade for Caldwell Jones and a No. 1 pick for
the 1982-1983 season. Then Malone and the 76ers laid waste to the NBA. Going
65-17 in the regular season and 12-1 in the playoffs. Doc finally had his NBA
title to go along with his two ABA championships.
The Malone I remembered just dominated Abdul-Jabbar.
That’s the tricky thing about memories. They can paint a
picture that isn’t quite true.
When I started this project I just assumed Moses would be
top 10. He played forever. He won multiple MVPs. He was an NBA champion. He was
a scoring and rebounding machine. He dominated Kareem.
Malone definitely was a rebounding marvel. He led the NBA six times in seven seasons. He could score. He averaged over 20 points per game 11 straight seasons, including three over 25 and one (1981-1982) where he averaged 31.1. He was a 13-time All-Star and MVP three times in a stretch of five seasons. But the advanced stats aren’t as kind.
Malone definitely was a rebounding marvel. He led the NBA six times in seven seasons. He could score. He averaged over 20 points per game 11 straight seasons, including three over 25 and one (1981-1982) where he averaged 31.1. He was a 13-time All-Star and MVP three times in a stretch of five seasons. But the advanced stats aren’t as kind.
His PERs are solid. He was above 20.0 for 13 straight years
and had two years (1981-1982 and 1982-1983) where he led the league. He had
eight seasons of 10.0 win shares or more, including topping the league twice
(also 1981-1982 and 1982-1983). His Box +/- scores were pedestrian. He only
finished in the top 10 once and that was seventh in 1981-1982. He finished in
the top 10 of VORP five times, never higher than third though.
That makes sense when you look at Moses’ limitations. He was
a bigger black hole than Kevin McHale. If the ball went into Moses, he was
putting it up, so he added little in terms of assists. He also wasn’t much of a
leaper and only had two seasons where he averaged 2.0 blocked shots a game or
more. In fact, Moses wasn’t much of a defender at all. He had a negative
defensive Box +/- in 17 of his 21 seasons.
He also had a very short peak. He had three straight years
above 300 in my system (1980-1981, 1981-1982 and 1982-1983). He had a couple of
others where he got close to 300 (1978-1979 and 1984-1985) and then a lot of
seasons where he was just an above average center.
That peak, though, included that 1982-1983 season where he
was nearly the unanimous regular season MVP and also the NBA Finals MVP in a
year where his team went 76-16 (combined regular season and playoffs) when he
took the floor. That added up to a 471.95 in my system. Only six players have
had better seasons. That great year and a career of work on the boards pushed him
ahead of players such as Charles Barkley, Jerry West and Oscar Robertson.
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Moses
Malone bio info
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Career
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1974-1995
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Games
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1,455
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Points
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20.3
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Rebounds
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12.3
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Assists
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1.3
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FG Pct.
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49.5%
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All-Star games
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13
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NBA MVPs
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3
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NBA titles
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1
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Playoff seasons
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13
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Playoff games
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100
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Points
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22.1
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Rebounds
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14.0
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Assists
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1.5
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FG Pct.
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48.7%
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Hall of Fame
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2001
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Top 100
rankings
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Points
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Top 100 ranking
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1-year
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471.95
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7th
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5-year
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1,700.32
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19th
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10-year
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2,875.40
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25th
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Career
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4,029.14
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21st
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Moses
Malone at his peak
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1982-1983
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Malone
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Top 5
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Points
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PER
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25.1
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24.00
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Win Shares
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15.1
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13.22
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Box +/-
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3.4
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6.36
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VORP
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4.0
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5.90
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Total Advanced Stats
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47.6
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49.49
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96.19
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Playoff PER
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25.7
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24.10
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Win Shares
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2.8
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2.16
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Box +/-
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5.8
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6.57
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VORP
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1.0
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0.98
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Total Advanced Stats
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35.3
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33.81
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104.40
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Reg. Season Win %
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82.05
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82.05
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Playoff Win %
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92.31
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92.31
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MVP Voting (75 points)
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720/750
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72.00
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Playoff MVP (25 points)
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25
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25.00
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Total Score
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471.95
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Malone’s 10 greatest seasons
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1982-1983
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471.95
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1981-1982
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342.03
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1980-1981
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305.04
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1984-1985
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294.90
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1978-1979
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286.41
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1979-1980
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247.06
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1988-1989
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246.60
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1976-1977
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240.01
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1983-1984
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223.75
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1974-1975
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217.66
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Career
winning percentage
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W
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L
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Pct.
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Regular Season
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780
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675
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53.61%
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Playoffs
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51
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49
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51.00%
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See, Alex, you and I are more alike than you think. I switched from a Celtics fan (Havlicek and Cowens) to the 76ers the instant Dr. J joined the league and Moses was my second-favorite player back then. ... Unfair to call Kevin McHale a black hole, though. Yes, he only averaged 1.7 assists, but also only took 12.7 shots a game and shot 55.4 percent. He shot because he had a good shot to take.
ReplyDeleteLarry Bird called McHale a black hole. I'll go with Larry.
ReplyDelete