Fans don’t ever hear the words “fraudulent” and “inflated” used to describe Michael Jordan’s legendary career.
But FS1 personality Nick Wright unexpectedly went there Thursday on his What’s Wright? With Nick Wright podcast, following an interesting report earlier in the day that some of Jordan’s defensive stats might have been artificially inflated during arguably his greatest season.
Yahoo Sports’ Tom Haberstroh did a statistical analysis of Jordan’s 1987-88 season, when the Chicago Bulls star led the league in scoring and also won Defensive Player of the Year honors. The report found that Jordan’s defensive stats in home games were inflated versus his road performance, and a review of game tapes found evidence he got credited for steals and blocks he did not make.
Wright dug right into the report on his podcast.
“Michael Jordan’s 1988 Defensive Player of the Year award? Fugazi! Fraudulent! Inflated stats!” Wright said. “How about this from Yahoo Sports … Michael Jordan recorded the largest home-road splits in Defensive Player of the Year history.
“So what does that mean? So, Michael Jordan that year that he was chasing the Defensive Player of the Year award, on the road, when there was seemingly a neutral scorekeeper, he averaged three steals and blocks (stocks) per 36 minutes. … But at home, those numbers jumped to five-and-a-half! Now, was he just better at home than on the road? Is that common? I don’t know, it’s a difference of 182%.
The report also found that in some Chicago home games, Jordan had been credited with more steals than the opposing team had turnovers.
Wright went a step further is assessing fallout from the report.
“Might put a little different hue on the old GOAT conversation,” Wright said. “Everyone should read it.”
Such “home cooking” scoring is common in sports. And while the report highlights a big disparity in Jordan’s defensive stats from that season, surely Wright is not arguing that an extra couple of steals per game that season is enough to change the GOAT debate involving Jordan and other challengers. But the report made for some nice sound bites.
About Arthur Weinstein
Arthur spends his free time traveling around the U.S. to sporting events, state and national parks, and in search of great restaurants off the beaten path.