LeBron James vs. Kobe–I mean Dwyane Wade
April 2, 2009 by Staff
Filed under All Sports
If you know me, you know that I have been a firm supporter of the fact that LeBron James is the best player in the NBA. I don’t want to hear about Kobe Bryant anymore. He had his time to shine in last year’s NBA Finals, and he didn’t do it. He lost, tragically, to the Boston Celtics, the same team LeBron James took to the brink of elimination with a much worse cast of teammates on his Cleveland Cavaliers squad. Now, if you want to make the argument for Dwyane Wade, you might actually have a case.
Once again, I’m not saying Wade is better than LeBron James, but if you look at this season, the argument can be made. Of course, there are those who will point to the fact that Miami is in 6th place and Cleveland is in 1st, but LeBron has a better team than Cleveland, while Miami is essentially rebuilding and just recently found their stride.
So with Eastern Conference standings aside, let’s analyze the numbers before we get all “subjective” on this issue.
Scoring
Now it would be easy to look at Dwyane Wade’s scoring average of 29.8 and James’ average of 28.3 points per game and say that Wade has been the better scorer this year. But just take a look at the standings and the Cavs’ average margin of victory, and you’ll realize that one factor is significantly skewering those results…minutes played. While James is averaging only 0.6 minutes less than Wade, the issue is when the minutes are being played. Because Wade is in situations where his team is trying to win more often than LeBron, he has to be a scorer in the waning moments and that skewers their scoring average comparison. That said, there are two measurements we can look at to compare their scoring abilities this season.
First, you have their points per 36 minutes. This measurement still doesn’t account for the skewed points at ends of games, but it lessens it a bit. Per 36 minutes played, Wade averages 27.9 PPG, while LeBron averages 26.8. Advantage Wade.
However, when you look at each players true shooting percentage and effective shooting percentage, you’ll see that LeBron’s TS% is 58.5% vs. Wade’s 56.9%, and James’ eFG% is 52.5% vs. Wade’s 51.2%. Both stats try to measure a players’ efficiency in terms of shooting. Their number of shots is not accounted for, and since we know they both are the dominant scorers for their teams, these measurements are a justifiable way to determine who the better scorer is. Thus, advantage: LeBron James.
Offensive Production
While scoring is important, ultimately, it’s not about how many points you personally score, but about how many points your team scores. Thus in my mind, it is the player who contributes to the most baskets that should be considered the best player in the NBA.
Offensive Rating is a metric used to determine just that. It gives the number of points produced by a player per 100 possessions. In using the term points produced, it uses field goals, free throws, assists and offensive rebounds. James’ rating is 121, while Wade’s rating is 114 points produced per 100 possessions. Advantage: LeBron James.
Passing
There are a number of factors to look at when discussing how good a passer a basketball player is, but the only one we really can measure is one’s proficiency in getting assists.
While many consider LeBron James to be the better passer, I wouldn’t be so sure of that. First of all, Wade averages 7.0 assists per 36 minutes, and LeBron only averages 6.9. Negligible, right? However, Wade accounts for 40.3% of his teammates’ field goals when he is on the floor, while LeBron only accounts for 38.2%–and did I mention that LeBron James has far better teammates to pass the ball to? Advantage: Dwyane Wade.
Rebounding
This is an area where James wins as expected. James averages 7.7 rebounds per game, while Wade only pulls down 5.0 RPG. James also accounts for 12.1% of the rebounds available to him, while Wade only gets 7.8% of rebounds available to him. Advantage: LeBron James.
Defense
It’s almost impossible to measure defense, at least objectively, especially since certain players guard certain players that could gravely effect their defensive stats one way or the other. That said, there is a defense rating metric, that I wont’ go into detail with, but you can check it out at Basketball-Reference.com. But just to put it out there, it basically measures what a players’ team does when he is on the court. In this case, James’ team gives ups 98 points per 100 possessions with James on the floor, while the Heat gives up 105 points per 100 possessions when Wade is on the court. Now once again, that stat can be skewed because of the players each player is on the court with. So I won’t give an advantage to either player in this category.
Clutchness
Don’t think you can measure being clutch? Wrong. We can actually look at what players would average if they played an entire 48 minutes in which the game had a 5-point margin and there was less than 5 minutes left in the game. Well, in such a scenario, LeBron James would average 55.9 PPG, while Wade would average just 51.2. Also, in that same scenario, James would pull down twice as many rebounds, shoot 7% better from the field and hit 13% more of his free throws. In Wade’s credit, he turns the ball over less in clutch situations and gets significantly more blocks. But all and all, you have to give the Clutch Advantage to LeBron James.
Subjectively Speaking
As the numbers suggest, LeBron James is the better player. However, in looking at the numbers, you will see that it is a lot closer than many people might think, and if Wade had a better team around him, who knows whose numbers would come out on top. That being said, just looking at the two players’ performances, you have to give it to LeBron. He has been dominate for stretches that make other teams look defenseless. He has been the ultimate difference maker in the NBA this year, and his highlight reel proves that.
Conclusion
To leave you with just one more factoid, in the infamous Player Efficiency Ratings, LeBron James is not only leading Wade, but he is leading the entire NBA. However, while Wade remains in 2nd place, he is light years away. LeBron’s current PER of 31.59 would be the 3rd highest of all time, only behind Michael Jordan’s PER seasons of 31.89 and 31.79 in ’88 and ’91. So as much as I love Wade, when LeBron is flirting with the greatness of his Airness, you can’t help but give LeBron James the overall advantage in this argument.
