Kendrick Perkins is a dumb jock

Kendrick Perkins says, “Only 3 guys since 1990 have won the MVP not placing among the top 10 scorers.”

And that is supposed to prove what? What is so special about the top ten in scoring dummy?

I understand scoring is VERY important, after all, you can’t win a game if you do not score. However, I think (and this is coming from someone who used to love watching sports, but I found something better to waste my time on*) the 1990s Bulls would tell you, along w/ people like Chuck Noll (and yes, I know he is a football coach) – they would say, “Defense wins championships.”

So, let us undercut this mental midget Kendrick Perkins, who would’ve been slicing the lunch meat if he did not have basketball to fall back on.

I wonder why Kendrick picked 1990, what is special about that? Why the Top 10, because it’s a round number or perhaps that as high as this dumb jock can count?

If Kendrick is starting at 1990, Magic Johnson won the MVP that year & he was not in the top 10 in scoring & I knew that off the top of my head. Derp! Did Magic Johnson win the MVP that year because of a bias among the voters for an award that is basically subjective.

If I say “Wilt Chamberlain is the greatest basketball player of all-time” that is a subjective opinion, not an objective truth. If I say, “Wilt Chamberlain is the greatest scorer of all-time” because he had the highest scoring avg. in any season” that might be a bit closer, but basketball aficionados will point out that there was no 3-point line & that likely added to Wilt’s scoring because a 25-foot shot was worth the same as a dunk.

Someone may argue the other way, saying that the lane was narrower for the early years of Wilt’s career & he would not have scored as much with a wider lane & a 3-point line likely would’ve lowered Wilt’s scoring as he would have been able to kick it out to shooters on the perimeter after he was double-teamed. Some would argue Wilt overall would have been better with a good 3-point shooter on his team (like say, Jerry West wink wink) because that would have taken pressure off Wilt. Would Wilt want scoring titles or rings?

Magic Johnson also won the MVP in 1989 & was not among the top 10 in scoring. I think Kendrick deliberately – although that might be giving him credit for having enough intelligence to commit guile – he may have done this on purpose to avoid having one of the NBA’s all-time greats listed in his little rant. That would not have sat well w/ his audience.

Here are all the MVP winners from 1970 to 2022 who were not in the top ten in scoring. Willis Reed (1970), Dave Cowens (1973, white guy), Bill Walton (1978, another white guy who was not even close to the Top 20 in scoring that year), Magic Johnson (1989 & 1990), Dirk Nowitzki (2007), Steve Nash (2005 & 2006) & now Nikola Jokic (2021)

Incidentally, Magic & Steve Nash have some things in common, they both played an up-tempo style of ball & were both assist machines. Nash was the runaway leaders in assists in his two MVP seasons. Reminds me a bit of Magic Johnson.

In addition, Jokic was in the Top 10 in both assists & rebounds both of the previous two seasons, along with averaging over 26 points in both seasons he won the MVP. His all-around stats are right up there w/ Magic Johnson & Oscar Robertson. I am no basketball aficionado, but it seems Kendrick Perkins is a bit dense.

Dirk placed 11th in scoring in 2007 & was the only guy in the top 15 who shot better than 50% from the field. I understand this – if a player averages 8 points a game & shoots 70% from the field, he is less valuable from a scoring standpoint than a guy who shoots 48% from the field & averages 25 pts a game. Just so you know.

Now, let me look at the AVERAGE points per game of every person who placed 10th in scoring from 1970-2022 & see what we find. You could for example have a person who averages a high average like Dirk did & not finish in the top 10 – not because Dirk is mediocre, but because so many other players are lighting it up.

Here is one more thing to consider, Michael Jordan’s 3 highest scoring average seasons, the Bulls did NOT win the title. Jordan was a better player when he scored a bit less & did other things to assist his team.

Magic Johnson could’ve scored a lot more, but that is not his modus operandi. He was at his best pushing the ball up the middle of the floor & finding an open teammate streaking to the basket or spotting-up for an open jumper.

When the late, great Wilt Chamberlain won his two titles, he was scoring a LOT less in the two years he won the title because it was better for him to get teammates involved in the scoring, as well as doing what he always did well, guarding the basket & gobbling up rebounds.

Kendrick Perkins might be a good basketball player, but he doesn’t seem very bright. He’s lucky he had a lot of God-given talent, otherwise he would probably be changing the sheets at the Ramada Inn.

Now, the average points per game for every player finishing tenth in scoring from 1970-2022 was: 23.4, 23, 25.2, 23.8, 22.6, 21.9, 21, 22.3, 24.2, 23.6, 22.2, 23.8, 22.9, 23.7, 22.8, 23.6, 23.4, 23.9, 22.8, 24.8, 24.3, 23.9, 22.3, 22.8, 21.1, 21.9, 22.1, 21.8, 21.6, 21.1, 22.9, 23.9, 22.1, 22.5, 21.7, 23.9, 25.1, 24.6, 22.3, 22.6, 23.1, 23, 20.7, 19.4, 22.7, 21.7, 23.1, 25.3, 23.1, 25.6, 26.1, 26.4, 25.5

The cumulative average for all those years = 23.115 points per game & the Population Standard Deviation = 1.4157 points.

The year Dirk won the MVP but was not in the top 10 in scoring he averaged 24.6 points a game, more than one standard deviation above the average. Jokic averaged 26.4 points per game in 2021, well above the average & one standard deviation above it. Kendrick’s whining about them rings hollow, but I doubt he’s smart enough to figure this out.

Willis Reed averaged 21.7 points per game [within 1 SD], Dave Cowens averaged 20.5 points per game [not within 1 SD], Bill Walton averaged only 18.9 points [not even close to 1 SD], Magic Johnson averaged 22.5 & 22.3 [both within 1 SD] and Steve Nash averaged 15.5 & 18.8 points respectively, more than one standard deviation below the average.

The average 1980-2022 (starting the year the 3-point goal was put into play) was 23.118, not a statistically significant difference from the 1970-2022 average. The 1980-2022 Standard Deviation was 1.4708.

Kendrick’s whining about Dirk & Jokic winning the MVP do not hold up (especially the latter) under statistical scrutiny.

How about Bill Russell? He won 11 titles & appeared in the NBA finals 12 times. He won 5 MVP awards & is arguably the best team basketball player of all-time. He is the most decorated for sure.

In Bill’s 5 MVP seasons, he never even finished in the top 16 in scoring in any of those. Is there or was there a big conspiracy to shaft someone else in favor of a black man playing center for the Boston Celtics?

Kendrick might try to argue, “The Game has changed since then.”

It certainly has, the lane has been widened twice (most recently prior to the 1964-65 season) & the NBA instituted a 3-point goal in the 79-80 season.

One more thing before we move on: How about Wilt Chamberlain’s season where he averaged 50 points a game, over 12 points a game higher than 2nd place? He also led the league in rebounding, but never won the MVP award? Isn’t that a crock?

One more stat to look at, let us take a gander at en masse field goal percentage by season & see how the guys who never finished in the top 10 in scoring & won the MVP fared vs. the league average & the top 10 scorers per game. https://www.basketball-reference.com/leagues/NBA_stats_per_game.html (1970-2022)

1970 NBA FG% = 46%, Willis Reed FG% = 50.7% * 2 players in the top 10 were below the league avg. in FG%

1973 NBA FG% = 45.6 Dave Cowens = 45.2 * 3 players in the top were below the league FG% avg. IMO, “Tiny” Archibald should’ve won the MVP that year, but what do I know?

1978 NBA FG% avg. = 46.9 Bill Walton = 52.2 * 1 player among the top 10 average scorers was below the league FG % avg.

1989 NBA FG% avg. = 47.7 Magic Johnson = 50.9 * 2 players in the top were below the league FG% avg.

1990 NBA FG% avg. = 47.6% Magic Johnson = 48% * 0 players in the top 10 were below the NBA FG% avg. IMO, Barkley or Jordan should’ve won that MVP, but what do I know?

2005 NBA FG% avg. = 44.7% Steve Nash = 50.2 * 5 players in the top 10 were below the league avg. FG%. Would Kendrick Perkins argue w/ a straight face that Kobe, Iverson or LeBron deserved the MVP over Nash?

Nash was much more efficient in his shooting, he was a lot better from beyond the arc, much better at the line, averaged fewer turnovers per game than those 3 & was the league leader in assists.

Would Perkins want a guy that shoots 42% from the field to get 30 points or a guy who can scored 18 or so a game, shoot better than 50% & get a bunch of his teammates involved. For an NBA player, Perkins is quite dumb.

2006 NBA FG% avg. = 45.4 Steve Nash = 51.2 * 4 players (and one tied) in the top 10 were below the league FG% avg. This season IMO was not as strong as Nash’s previous, but he still led the league in assists, shot better from 3, from the field & from the line than LeBron, Kobe & Iverson.

He was a better all-around player than those guys that year. NOTE: Allen Iverson won the 2001 MVP, but it probably should have been given to Shaq. He shot a much better % from the field, as he gets higher percentage shots. He was less than one assist behind Iverson’s average, got almost 10 more rebounds & was a much bigger factor on team defense.

Were they racist when they failed to give Shaq the MVP or was Iverson just the popular flavor of the month? Moving onto 2007.

2007 NBA FG% avg. = 45.8% Dirk Nowitzki = 50.2% * 5 players in the top 10 were below the
league FG% avg & Dirk had the highest FG% in the top 11. How about that Kendrick Perkins?

2021 NBA FG% avg = 46.6% Nikola Jokic = 56.6% (among the top 12, Nikola was 3rd in FG%) * 2 players in the top 10 were below the league FG% avg. Jokic was 6th in the league in assists, 9th in rebounds & 22nd in steals. A pretty darn good all-around player.

In 1987, Bird averaged 4.2 more pts per game than Magic Johnson. Their FG% was better than 50%, just about the same, but Bird was much better from the line & beyond the arc. Bird had 2.9 more rebounds per game than Magic, but 5.6 fewer assists. Bird had 0.6 fewer turnovers per game. Did the white guy Larry Bird lose his 4th straight MVP to Magic Johnson because racism?

That concludes this detailed slapdown of the vacuous Kendrick Perkins, who would’ve been stuck in a crappy apartment drinking bottom shelf vodka if he did not have basketball to fall back on. Kind of like LeBron or Scottie Pippen. Have a nice day!

*College football was the last domino to fall for me. I quit watching everything else because it bores me to death & I can see how the powers-that-be would keep the idiots entertained w/ Netflix, Amazon & sports, while they destroy the country. I gave up everything but that even before the wokesters invaded. During the genesis of the COVID-19 plandemic, college football became an SJW event & I have not watched it since.

List of NBA MVP winners http://www.espn.com/nba/history/awards/_/id/33

NBA season-by-season scoring leaders or any other stat that trips your trigger https://www.nba.com/stats/leaders