New Research Reveals Michael Jordan’s Defensive Player Of The Year Season Likely Included Home-Biased Stats

NBA icon Michael Jordan won the 1987-88 Defensive Player of the Year Award. He’s one of three players in NBA history to win MVP and Defensive Player of the Year in the same season. Hakeem Olajuwon and Giannis Antetokounmpo are the other two. 

Arguably the best player in NBA history, Jordan is the only player to win the scoring title, the MVP and the DPOY in the same season.

However, new research reveals Jordan’s Defensive Player of the Year season likely included home-biased stats.

“But a closer look at Jordan’s 1987-88 season reveals a substantial discrepancy between his home and road statistics, raising questions about the authenticity of his off-the-charts steals and blocks numbers that season — and shining a light on an era that seemed particularly vulnerable to the hidden hand of homer bias,” Tom Haberstroh of Yahoo Sports wrote. “Considerable evidence — both statistical and corroborating video — suggests that Jordan’s Defensive Player of the Year award may not be as valid as we thought.”

Jordan averaged 35.0 points, 5.5 rebounds, 5.9 assists, 3.2 steals and 1.6 blocks in 1987-88. He recorded 259 steals and 131 blocks.

MJ led the NBA in points per game, steals per game, points and steals in 1987-88. 

“For almost four decades, Jordan’s lone DPOY has stood unquestioned,” Haberstroh wrote. “We took a deeper look after a recent discussion with a man named Alex Rucker, who pulled back the curtain on the complicated role of an NBA home statkeeper. Rucker is currently the CEO of a Boys & Girls Club in Texas and was once a top executive for the Philadelphia 76ers in 2020. Before that, he was a former statkeeper for the Vancouver Grizzlies and was an employee during their inaugural season in 1995-96. In February, Rucker told me he was among a number of home scorekeepers in the 1990s who selectively juiced the numbers for their players. In our interview for Pablo Torre Finds Out, Rucker explained that, in his view, inflating certain box-score statistics for the home team was a common league-wide practice.”

An NBA scorekeeper from the ’90s who gave stats to Jordan even when he didn’t earn them went into the Chicago Bulls room after one game and said, “See MJ, we take care of you.”

Scottie Pippen, who won six NBA titles with Jordan, wrote about it in his book, “Unguarded.”

“Michael was better at getting people to do whatever he wanted,” Pippen wrote. “I saw it over and over, from the first training camp in 1987 to the last victory rally in 1998. Here’s how it worked: Say I deflected the ball and tapped it over to him. I should get credit with the steal, right? Nope. More often than not, the steal went into his column on the stat sheet, and I could do nothing about it.

“One night, a scorekeeper came into the locker room after the game to hand the stat sheets to Phil Jackson and the coaching staff. The sheet breaks down the points, rebounds, assists, steals, blocked shots, turnovers, and so on for everyone who played the game. I couldn’t believe the look the guy gave Michael: ‘See MJ, we take care of you.’ No wonder in the nine full seasons we played together, he averaged more steals than me in every year except two.”