Lebron James vs. Michael Redd: Who Should Be an All-Star?

By: Tom Alexander

Look, at a certain point, we have to remember for a moment that sports are a business, and you have to do what is most entertaining, not necessarily what is most right.Which is why it’s such an unbelievably tremendous travesty that Lebron James was not selected to the NBA’s All-Star team and that other players—in particular, Michael Redd—were taken in his stead. In the case of James, not only is he much more of a hero than Redd, and not only would he be a better story than Redd, but he’s having a significantly better season than Redd, and deserves acknowledgement as such.

Let’s start here. Lebron James is having a good season, if not a great one. He is averaging over 20 points a game, over 5 rebounds and 5 assists per game, and he has the Cavaliers in playoff contention. So we’ll go from there. Now, let me explain the three reasons why it’s absolutely ridiculous that Redd was selected over Lebron James.

The All-Star Game is an Exhibition
The most important thing to note is that the All-Star game is an exhibition, not an awards show. Michael Redd’s reward for his performance is that someday he’ll be a big star and get a big contract and that he’ll get endorsements, because he has good fantasy numbers. But the guy that everyone wants to see is James, and the coaches made a failure on that front, forgetting that the NBA is a business but also consuming themselves with statistics, which plague the game (and sports) already and are only getting worse.

Lebron James is one of the 10 biggest figures in all of sports right now, let alone basketball. Michael Redd is barely one of the 10 biggest figures in the Eastern Conference. Yet he’s on the team. Do you know anyone outside of Milwaukee who is going to watch the NBA All-Star Game to see Michael Redd? Do you know anyone who is going to watch the rookie game to see Lebron? Of course you don’t (to question one), and of course you do (to question two). Lebron is a figurehead for basketball, and he should be in the All-Star Game.

Numbers are Meaningless
Fans who are fans only because of fantasy sports and are consumed with numbers and the distinction between 22.1 and 20.6 points is not just 1.5 points a game, or less than one basket, but something so tremendously inconsequential that the fact that it’s seen as a barometer of value is inane. Say, the difference between 5.9 assists and 2.3 assists per game … that’s significant. That’s three and a half baskets, at least seven points, which is the difference of about every game in the NBA. But, still, I’m not talking about numbers. Looking at it in terms of numbers is ridiculous.

Lebron is averaging less than two points less per game than Redd, and he’s averaging three more assists. He beats or ties him in every other category except turnovers and field goal percentage. But it shouldn’t matter, because Lebron is about more than his stats. Lebron is a cultural icon, and we have to stop comparing him to the rest of the league, or to Jordan, or to whatever. He must only be compared against himself. He is arguably the greatest thing to happen to the NBA since Jordan (at the very least, since Shaq) and he must be regarded as such. Looking at his numbers and saying, “He scores 20.6 points per game” does not scratch the surface of what is going on with him.

Lebron Should Have Been Voted in By the Fans
People who say that if Lebron was so popular, he should have been voted in by the fans—those people are absolutely correct. He should have been voted in by the fans. But instead, fans, who are very loyal, chose guys like Tracy McGrady and Allen Iverson, because they score, and Vince Carter, because he can dunk really well. In short, the fans in the Eastern Conference, and the fans who vote for the Eastern Conference teams, they are consumed with numbers and more numbers. There is an obsession with numbers, and dunking. Lebron will be voted in for years and years, and as the Cavs get more and more popular nationally, he’ll get voted in over chumps like Vince Carter. But, the most important thing to note is that the coaches are there to fix the oversights of the fans, and they failed in this situation.

The fans lacked foresight, because they didn’t think about how fifteen years from now, they might want to do anything they can think of to see Lebron play in one more All-Star Game. They just weren’t thinking about it historically. But the coaches around the league who have seen him, and understand how historical this guy can be … well, they just plain messed up.

All of this Aside, His Numbers are Better than Redd’s

This is what we know about Michael Redd. He’s a scorer, and he scored 40 points in a game twice last month, and he was the NBA’s Eastern Conference player of the month. He’s averaging 22.1 points per game and having a wonderful year. This is what you did not know about Michael Redd.

In one of the two games that he scored 40, his team lost. In fact, he’s gone over 30 five times this year, and his team has won only three of those games, a winning percentage of 40 percent. (His team is winning at a 54.2 percent clip.) By contrast, Lebron has gone over 30 eight times this year, with a 4-4 record (the most recent being the loss to the Lake-show on Feb. 4, when he went for 32, including 4-of-4 from three, and the Cavs lost in OT.) Basically, when Lebron has a big game, the Cavs are at .500 (they are at .388 for the season). Since both teams have at least a shot at the playoffs, each of these guys have been getting a lot of credit for the successes of their squads. But, in looking at the numbers, Redd’s big games seem to hurt the team, while Lebron’s seem to help his.

So I decided to look further. Here’s my thought: each guy could be given a score for each game. Points, Blocks, and Steals would be worth 1, rebounds 1.5, assists 2, and turnovers minus-2. We’ll figure out what the average “productivity score” is for each player in their wins, and in their losses, and try and figure out how well these guys play when they win versus when they lose. The results are amazing.

Lebron has an average score of 39.8 in his team’s wins, against 33.75 in his team’s losses—a ratio of 1.18. Meaning, basically, that James plays 1/5th better when his team wins (or, conversely, that his team wins because he plays 1/5th better in certain games).

Redd, however, actually plays better in losses (32.84) than in wins (31.60). And, it should be noted that both of his scores failed to compete with even Lebron’s lower score. But, basically, Redd plays a little bit better, and his team loses, while when Lebron plays big, his team wins.

The bottom line is this: No matter how you slice it, Lebron is the guy who should be playing for the Eastern Conference in the NBA All-Star game this weekend. Michael Redd is having a great season, and he’s making a lot of people very happy, but Lebron James is doing something special.

It’s too bad we’ll have to tune in on Friday night to catch it, instead of seeing him on display against the league’s best.

 

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Tom Alexander founded the Chicago Sports Review in 2003, and currently serves the publication as its co-publisher. Alexander's media career has spanned a variety of interests, including newspaper reporting with the Times of Northwest Indiana, online reporting with ePrairie.com, and a two-plus year stint as a professor in Columbia College Chicago's journalism department. Outside of journalism, Alexander works to redevelop communities that have been struck by natural disasters. Alexander, a 2000 graduate of the University of Chicago, currently lives with his wife Tiffany and their black lab mix, Johnny Cash, in Arlington, Va.

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