THE ASSOCIATIONLIVESEASON X
THE ASSOCIATIONLIVE
Point Forward — 5.7 rebounds a night, shooting a shade above the league's 82.0% True Shooting, and his teams win — 50–22 across 72 games. He takes a normal share of the offense and shoots most of what he touches, and the live grade sits at A+.
The Season X Key Contributor, and it was not close — 28.9 on the measure with the field at 25.1 — plus First Team All-Association AND First Team All-Defense, one of only three men on both, and the shooting guard on the Dream Team. For a man with 72 games that is not a résumé, that is a coronation. Winning follows him around like a rumor: 33–18 at the lock, the best winning percentage of the fourteen men on the ballot, and the scoreboard moves +8.6 a game with him on it — 1st of 32 — and he has never once sat in the Hot Seat in 72 games. That last part is not luck. He does the connective work: 5.7 boards (1st in the league), 5.2 assists, 1.5 turnovers, 68.5% from the floor, and his teammates shoot 70.4% beside him against 68.1% without him, 1st in the league. Then every so often he goes off — 32 points, 12 assists and six threes in Game 154 for a 59 PRF; 16 rebounds in Game 042. Nitpicks: 61.4% from three is a shrug, and when he's under 70% from the floor his teams are 16–14, so the shot selection matters. Point forward, glue guy, closer's temperament — you win with him and you don't need to explain why. He came back in Game 200 after twenty-one games away; the defense of that title is on.
The men he has played beside longest, the one he wins with, the one who has his number — and the one he keeps losing with.
RickJames32349630–12 · 71% TOGETHER42 GAMES
TJ0926–10 · 72% TOGETHER36 GAMES
xMrCluTcHx80121–8 · 72% TOGETHER29 GAMES
AKAall5tarS15–2 · 88% TOGETHERBEST WITH
RiqueSavedUs4–3 AGAINST HIM · 7 MEETINGSHIS OPPLeague-wide, among the 32 qualified players. Top ten only — nothing here is a participation ribbon.
Everything he has done across 72 games. The Current Form tab carries the last 10.
Around 42% of his shots are threes, and nearly half his makes are dunks — he lives at the rim and behind the arc with little in between. He keeps 65% of what he touches, about the middle of the league.
Points per game says how much. These say how — and they are the whole difference between two men with identical scoring lines.