Intro

Ratings! What do they mean? Why do we always hear about them as sports fans? In my opinion, I think they are some of the most crucial / interesting / and honest topic in sports business. If you follow the media industry or are any sort of sports fan or just frankly haven’t been living under a rock in the past month, you’ve probably heard that NFL ratings have declined 10%-15% YOY for the first time in a very long time. But what do they mean? How is it measured? How do networks, advertisers, and leagues monetize them? Is it effective and representative? Is it the truth serum for how Americans actually consume sports? In a world where Netflix, HBOGo, Hulu etc. dominate many people’s viewing habits where you can watch TV shows a la carte on your own time, sports consumption is one of the final television products that is viewed in real time since the nature of the content has little meaning when the result is known beforehand.

“Fly the W”

So, last Wednesday night, the Chicago Cubs, won their 1st World Series since 1908. That’s a mind-blowing 108 years, making up the longest drought between championships in the history of the 4 U.S. major sports. It all began with the “Curse of the Billy Goat” in their last World Series appearance in 1945, where a disgruntled fan with a billy goat was forced out of Wrigley Field and declared the Cubs will never win again (whether referring to a NL pennant or a World Series is unclear). As ESPN’s critically acclaimed 30 for 30 series chronicled in “Catching Hell”, the curse was never more relevant than when Cubs fan, Steve Bartman, reached over the railing in foul territory and prevented left fielder, Moises Alou, from making the catch in the 8th inning of Game 6 of the 2003 NLCS against the eventual champion, Florida (Miami) Marlins. The Cubs were leading the series 3–2 and were winning the game 3–0. Subsequently, the Marlins proceeded to score 8 runs in the 8th inning and win the game as well as the series.

Fast forward to 2016, Major League Baseball’s best and youngest team with one of the best general managers in baseball history (Theo Epstein who was also the GM of the Boston Red Sox when they broke their 86-year curse) and best managers in baseball (Joe Maddon) were on the cusp of winning a championship and conquering the curse, just as the Boston Red Sox did in 2004. The Cubs overcame their first hurdle by winning the National Leag pennant which hadn’t been done since 1945. The World Series match up just happened to be against the Cleveland Indians. The Indians are a small market team without much of a national following and no true star players. However, the coincidental phenomenon is that they were the only other MLB franchise with the longest drought without winning a World Series besides the Cubs. Also, just 4 months ago, 1.2 million people lined the streets of Cleveland for a championship parade hosted by their fellow basketball neighbors, the Cleveland Cavaliers, who had just brought the city of Cleveland, its first title since the 1964 Browns. Thus, saying the World Series was going to be unprecedented no matter who won is an understatement. Fast-forward to Game 7 of the World Series where the Cubs had tied the series up after being down 3 games to 1, something Cleveland fans knew very well as the Cavs had also just become the first team in NBA Finals History to win a championship after being down 3 games to 1. This was the recipe for arguably the best storyline that Rob Manfred (the new commissioner of baseball), Fox TV executives, and baseball fans across the country could only have dreamt of.

Game 7

The Postseason is largely about pitching, so this game 7 was expected to be a low scoring pitching duel between the Cubs’ regular season ERA league leader, Kyle Hendricks and unhittable 2014 Cy Young winner Corey Kluber who was on 3 days’ rest. The game started off with a bang, thanks to leadoff batter, Dexter Fowler’s solo homerun in the top of the first inning. With offensive fireworks mainly from the Cubs and the exit of the two starting pitchers much earlier than predicted, it was the 8th inning and the Cubs were leading 6–4 and were 4 outs away from finally defeating the curse. Aroldis Chapman, a closer who throws north of 100 mph with almost every fastball and had thrown and uncharacteristic 62 pitches in the 3 days prior, was on the mound. With 2 outs, he gave up a double to right center from Brandon Guyer. The next batter, 35-year-old journeyman Rajai Davis, had two strikes on him and choked up on the bat just like you were taught to do in little league. A 100 mph fastball that zipped by Rajai Davis for strike 3 seemed fairly plausible, however, the unthinkable occurred. He took a low and outside fastball and drove it right above the right field wall for a 2 run game-tying home run. Just like that, the game was tied, the curse looked like it would again inflict’ its will on the Cubs, and the momentum had shifted. After another single from another journeyman, CoCo Crisp, Chapman finally got out of the inning. No runs were scored in the 9th inning and just as the first pitch in extra innings was about to be thrown, torrential rains, enveloped Cleveland and the Indians’ grounds crew rolled the tarp out for an ensuing 17 min. rain delay. The drama, anticipation, nervousness, anxiousness had reached a peak level felt by most everyone watching as well as the players. The top of the 10th inning was led off with a single from spark plug, Kyle Schwarber. Pinch runner Albert Almora, Jr. ran for Schwarber and had a crucial, heads-up play where he tagged up from first base and took second off of Kris Bryant’s deep fly to right field; something which happens fairly infrequently. This forced the Indians to intentionally walk Anthony Rizzo to put a force on every base except home. With 2 strikes, the next batter and eventual MVP, Ben Zobrist, (who had just a World Series with the Royals just 1 year ago) slapped a double down the 3rd base line scoring Almora Jr. There were now men on second and third with 1 out, so the 22-year-old RBI Wizard, Addison Russell was intentionally walked to load the bases. The Cubs’ 3rd catcher of the game, Miguel Montero came up to bat and continued the big inning with a single to left scoring Rizzo. After two more subsequent outs, the Cubs had an 8–6 lead in the bottom of the 10th inning and were 3 outs away from an extremely hard fought win. Reliever Carl Edwards Jr. came in for the Cubs and got 2 quick outs and were 1 more out and an arm’s length away from ending 108 years of misery. But, of course, with the dramatic, storybook game, it couldn’t end that seamlessly. Edwards Jr. proceeded to walk Guyer and Mike Montgomery entered the game to replace him. After a steal, Cleveland hero, Rajai Davis, continued his magical game from the plate and hit an RBI single, making it a 1-run game. The Cubs giving up the lead and losing the game in such dramatic and unthinkable fashion seemed almost inevitable. BUT, the curse was broken as a short chopper to a smiling 24-year-old 3rd baseman, Kris Bryant, ended the 108-year drought and the city of Chicago erupted with insurmountable joy.

Ratings Explanation

Now, where to ratings come into play? This series had arguably the most edge-of-your-seat moments with extreme highs and lows for both fan bases. It contained one of the all-time storylines that you could ever have in sports and one has to question whether or not it could ever be topped. Sports are all about storylines and urgency, moments, pain, misery, joy, hope and fellowship. The more a game can capture a smattering of these qualities, the more likely people (especially casual fans) are willing to watch. Other factors that can cause an uptick in ratings are whether or not a game is broadcast on cable (e.g. ESPN, FS1) or on network television (e.g. CBS, NBC, FOX). Whether or not there are competing shows on other networks occurring at similar time periods. Whether or not there is a show with a large following like Game of Thrones or Scandal occurring at the same time or an unprecedented Presidential debate that is occurring at the same time (this happened to both ESPN’s Monday Night Football and NBC’s Sunday Night Football games this past season). Whether a team with a large Designated Market Area [DMA] playing like the New York Knicks or the Los Angeles Dodgers? Whether a team with popular or transcendent player playing like Peyton Manning, LeBron James, or Steph Curry playing. All these factors can contribute to a large rating. The actual definition to interpret a ratings number according TVbytheNumbers.Zap2it.com is the estimated percentage of the universe of TV households (or other specified group) tuned to a program in the average minute expressed as a percent.

Last Wednesday night’s World Series game had a 25.2 rating which means that on average 25.2% of households in the 56 largest markets were tuned in to World Series Game 7. Ok, 25.2 sounds like a cool number, but what does it mean? Let’s just say it means it is the 3RD HIGHEST RATED BASEBALL GAME EVER since Nielsen has measured audience viewership. In terms of total viewership, on average, 40.015 million people watched the memorable game. The rest of the World Series games averaged around a 12.9 rating. The American League Championship Series averaged a 2.8 rating. An average nationally televised baseball game on ESPN or Fox gets around a 1.5 rating. Therefore, to say this World Series game outperformed, is definitely an understatement. For more context, below are 20 of the most watched events thus far in 2016. (Many NFL Playoff games, not listed here in order to show diversity, make up the top 20 watched events of the year)

As you can see above, the Cubs-Indians Game 7 had the 7th highest rating of the year. If you remove the 3 presidential debates and the Super Bowl related events, only the AFC Championship game that featured two of the best quarterbacks (Tom Brady and Peyton Manning) of all time had a better rating. But how does that make sense considering baseball has been sharply declining in recent years by many measures? If you talk to a millennial, baseball is too boring or slow and the games last forever. Young kids are choosing to play soccer or basketball over baseball especially in urban areas. Baseball is often seen as a sport that doesn’t span racial and generational lines, the way that basketball and football does. Many sports pundits as well as fans will tell you that football is king when it comes to popularity, consumption, and revenue. Basketball’s growth over the past 20 years has been quite tremendous as revenues have grown to $8 billion. The NBA has also garnered the most social media followers out of all 4 major US sports proving its growing popularity amongst the younger generations.

NBA Finals Ratings

The NBA Finals also had an unprecedented storyline that made the series ultra-intriguing that had sports fans at the edge of their seats. One team, the Golden State Warriors was quite popular especially amongst millennial and casual fans. This team had the best regular season record in NBA history of 73–9 eclipsing the 1997–98 Michael Jordan led Chicago Bulls who some say is the best team of all time. The team also featured, by far, the best shooter of all time statistically who was also the first unanimous MVP in NBA history whose game and playing style was irresistible to watch. The other team, the Cleveland Cavaliers, featured arguably the second best player in NBA history behind Michael Jordan who was trying to deliver on his promise of bringing the city of Cleveland a championship for the first time in over 52 years and improve his legacy, something which NBA fans can’t go an hour without debating. The Finals was also a rematch of the prior year’s NBA Finals where the undermanned Cavs lost to the Warriors in 6 games. One other thing to note, in terms of storylines: ESPN’s critically acclaimed 30 for 30 series had just released their latest installment entitled “Believeland” profiling the plight of Cleveland sports fans, making anyone who watched the 90-minute masterpiece a Cleveland supporter. To add to the drama, the Warriors amassed a quick 3 games to 1 lead (sound familiar?) entering Game 5. Three epic performances from LeBron James later led to a Game 7 for the ages where Kyrie Irving hit a deep, contested go-ahead 3-pointer with less than a minute left to clinch the series and bring Cleveland its first championship since the 1964 Cleveland Browns’ NFL Championship. All the drama and narratives led to quite an impeccable storyline that resulted in a 15.8 rating and 31.02 million viewers for Game 7. These numbers had not been seen since Michael Jordan’s Bulls in 1998. But wait, am I reading that correctly? The NBA, a superstar driven league with seemingly ubiquitous endorsements, along with a young, growing fan base not quite seen in any of the 4 major US Sports had 10 million less viewers in its largest most dramatic game in 20 years than the boring sport of baseball’s most dramatic game? Yes, that is correct.

Obviously, it is quite likely that the Cubs storyline and eventual success was a once in a generation feel-good story in sports that we may never come close to experiencing ever again. However, in my humble opinion, it proves that baseball can still be America’s past time and with the right formula, inputs, and storylines it could be just as popular, if not more popular than any of the other major US sports as proved by the ratings.

Extras

To put baseball ratings in context of other sports’ ratings, please see table below.

The NFL, by far, is the most popular and the most viewed sport in the regular season as well as the championship. An average NFL regular season game’s rating trumps all 4 major sports regular season ratings combined. Some NFL REGULAR SEASON games have higher viewership numbers than championship games of other sports. NFL Playoff games become some of the most watched events of the year beating out events like the Academy Awards or popular TV show finales. Despite, the very recent drop in ratings, it is quite clear that the NFL, on average, is the most watched TV show on 5 different networks. Something, Fox Sports talk radio host, Colin Cowherd, boasts quite frequently.

Sources: ESPN.com, Forbes.com, SportsBusinessJournal.com, WallStreetJournal.com, SportsMediaWatch.com, SportsTVRatings.com, TVbytheNumbers.Zap2it.com, Wikipedia.com, AwfulAnnouncing.com, NBA.com, MLB.com, NFL.com



NASCAR. English Premiership League. WNBA. La Liga. What do these 4 sports leagues have in common? If you guessed that all 4 sports take some sort of supreme athletic ability and talent, then you are correct (NASCAR drivers’ athletic ability is debatable). However, you are also correct if you mentioned jersey / uniform advertisements. What comes to mind when you think about the car of NASCAR great, Jeff Gordon, or the jersey of soccer superstar Cristiano Ronaldo? At least for me, the first thing that comes to mind is DuPont Chemicals or Fly Emirates. One of the primary revenue streams that La Liga and NASCAR have developed come from jersey sponsorships from large multinational companies who have the marketing spend to invest in sports. This is something that NFL, MLB, NHL, and NBA fans are not quite used to…YET. The keyword is ‘yet’ since the NBA has broken ground for the 4 most popular American sports by selling ad space on jerseys.

According to the most recent PWC Sports Outlook that analyzes and forecasts the North American Sports Market, revenue from media rights is projected to overtake gate receipts at $21.3 B and $20.8 B respectively. While media rights growth is projected to stabilize in the next few years, it still has the highest CAGR out of the 4 major revenue segments (Media Rights, Gate Receipts, Sponsorship, Merchandising) at 5.5%. The most interesting segment is Sponsorship with the 3rd highest revenue in 2020 at $18.7 B but the 2nd highest CAGR of 3.9% by 2020. Sponsorship is a very interesting revenue segment since the relative ease and comfortability to consume basketball games through your television, laptop, or mobile device will only continue to grow (NBA is now showing 1 game per week with VR capabilities) which will slightly lower the demand of fans attending games in person. The enhanced in-home viewing experience and dynamic ticket pricing will continue to slowly price some customers out of the ticket market, in aggregate, and ticket sales may slightly drop. This, combined with the fact that the most recent TV rights deal will not expire until 2026, it makes sense that the huge spike in TV rights revenue will stabilize over the next 5 years. Therefore, NBA teams may have to work slightly harder to make up revenue with increased sponsorship dollars.

Since the Great Recession in 2008, the economy has improved by many measures. Therefore, it would make sense that companies’ marketing / advertising budgets have either stabilized or grown in the past 8 years. The NBA is excellent at garnering top level sponsorships from companies like Tissot and BBVA Compass, but in order to atone for slowing revenue segments, a new revenue stream could make NBA teams even more profitable. It all began with the NBA’s official outfitter deal with Adidas back in 2006. Adam’s Silver rise and eventual appointment as Commissioner in 2014 provided a fresh mind and perspective to grow the business of the NBA. Thus, the idea of jersey ads was first introduced as Adidas simultaneously created sleeved jerseys with one of the main purposes likely being that it provided optionality for a 2.5 x 2.5 in. logo that could appear on the top right hand corner of the jersey. With much speculation over the next few years, in 2016, the NBA Board of Governors, finally announced that each team will be allowed to negotiate jersey ads beginning in the 2016–17 season for a 3-year pilot program beginning in the 2017–18 season. Not only will it provide an additional revenue stream, but it will allow 30 companies to associate exclusively in prime real estate with NBA teams. Each NBA team will split each sponsorship deal 50/50 with the NBA’s league revenue sharing program. The Sixers were the first team to form a partnership with StubHub Inc. valued at $15 M for 3 years or $5 M per year. The Kings were the second team this past week to partner with Blue Diamond Growers’ Blue Diamond Almonds brand also valued at $15 M or $5 M per year. The Warriors are expected to be seeking anywhere north of $15 M per year for their jersey sponsorship. Of the 4 major American professional sports leagues, the NBA is the first to test the waters with jersey ads, so there is not much history or data to evaluate the effects of this newfound revenue stream. So how much should various NBA teams be valuing these sponsorship deals, and how much added value do these jersey sponsorships bring to the NBA in aggregate? Let’s look at a couple examples.

First, here are some metrics that make sense when valuing a jersey sponsorship.

National Viewership

o Calculated by multiplying average viewership of ESPN, TNT, and NBATV in 2016 by the number of nationally televised games for each team [2]

o Converted to a dollar value by using Cost per 1,000 Impressions (CPM) [1]

Local Viewership

o Calculated by multiplying average viewership of a team’s games on the local regional sports network [RSN] in 2016 by the number of locally televised games [3]

o Converted to a dollar value by using Cost per 1,000 Impressions (CPM) [1]

Attendance

o Calculated by multiplying average attendance for each game by 82 games in a season

o Converted to a dollar value by using Cost per 1,000 Impressions (CPM) [1]

Jersey sales

o Calculated using assumption that 10% of fans who attend home games will buy jerseys [4]

o Converted to a dollar value by using assumption that 1 jersey ad bought by a fan is worth $20

Highlights

o Calculated by multiplying the average viewership for SportCenter[5] shows by the frequency of team’s games on national television times three [6]

o Converted to a dollar value by using Cost per 1,000 Impressions (CPM) [1]

Multipliers

o Brand Value Multiplier — Assigned value using Brand Value schedule (shown at end of page) citing team value attributed to a team’s brand according to Forbes

o Star Player Multiplier [9] — Assigned value by giving .1 for each All Star level player and grows YoY if team has an emerging rookie or young player

o DMA Multiplier — Assigned value using Designated Market Area [DMA] schedule (shown at end of page) citing each city’s ranking by how large their respective DMA is according to Nielsen

o Playoff Multiplier — Assigned value using Playoff schedule (shown at end of page) using assumption of reasonable projected playoff appearances

Once I gathered all of the necessary data and metrics, I came up with the Net Present Deal Value per year for the two teams that have already inked deals as well as another team to add some context.

First, let’s look at the Sacramento Kings.

According to this valuation model (for Kings’ assumptions and growth rates, see below), the Kings jersey sponsorship is worth just under $5 M per year. This is relatively accurate to the deal they signed with Blue Diamond Almonds that is worth $5 M per year. With my valuation framework, they even received a slight premium over their Net Present Deal Value per year.

According to the same framework (for Sixers’ assumptions and growth rates, see below), the Sixers jersey sponsorship is worth just over $5.4 M per year. Again, this is relatively accurate to the deal they signed with StubHub Inc. that is worth $5 M per year. Unlike Blue Diamond Almonds, StubHub paid a discount to the Sixers’ Net Present Deal Value per year.

Using the same valuation framework as above, let’s look at what the New York Knicks jersey sponsorship would be worth to a potential advertiser. The Knicks are a large market NBA team with the largest DMA out of all NBA cities according to Nielsen.

WOAH! The Knicks jersey sponsorship is worth over 5x that of the Sixers and Kings at just around $28 M per year. While, they are likely not to receive a number this large, they can at least begin the negotiation commanding around $28 M. With this analysis, one can surmise that the number of times a team plays nationally, the value of a team’s brand, and the size of a team’s DMA has a significant impact as to how much a jersey ad could be worth to an advertiser due to the total number of eyeballs that would see the ad.

This analysis looked at just 3 teams, however, it’s clear that this added revenue stream will not only enrichen teams a little further, but the NBA as an entity will become more profitable as a result with potential annual revenue increases, north of $100 M. While this is just a pilot program and not permanent as of yet, the possibilities seem very enticing as the NBA continues to expand internationally. For example, in China, there are over 400 million basketball fans; that’s more than the population of the US. Imagine if they were able to see advertisements on jerseys.

Team Assumptions

Multiplier Schedules

1-$27.60 CPM was calculated by the average amount an advertiser spent on two 30 second ad spots ($560,000 per ad) during 2016 NBA Finals game divided by average viewership (20.28M avg. viewers) for each Finals game

2–2016 Value from average viewership of ESPN, TNT, and NBATV games

3–2016 Value from average viewership of local games on local RSN (Regional Sports Network)

4-Since Jersey ads will only appear on jerseys sold in team arena store, calculated by multiplying avg. attendance per game with 41 home games multiplied by the assumption that 10% of fans will buy jerseys at arena team store

5–2016 average viewership for all ESPN Sportscenter shows throughout the day

6-Using assumption that the number of times a team plays on national television is correlated to how frequently highlights are shown on SportsCenter

7-From 2016 PWC Sports Report

8-Calculated using average change in team value for all 30 teams in 2016

9-.1 for each All Star Level Player

10-.01 for each rookie or young player who will either resurrect career or whose star projection will increase with time

11-Current U.S. Prime Rate

Sources: ESPN.com/NBA, Forbes.com/BusinessofBasketball, RealGM.com, PWC.com/2016-Sports-Outlook, BusinessInsider.com

What if I told you that your current monthly income was going to increase 35%? You might be thinking of all the new clothes you may show up to work in or that dream vacation you had been putting off or even that expensive restaurant you had been meaning to go to. That is what the NBA’s current owners and GMs are experiencing as we speak. In 2014, the NBA signed a momentous TV rights deal with ESPN and Turner Sports worth $24 Billion over 9 years ($2.6 Billion Average Annual Value) that kicks in this year. That deal along with other increased BRI (Basketball Related Income of which ~50% is paid out to players negotiated in the most recent Collective Bargaining Agreement) swells this season’s salary cap to $94 million per team, up from $70 million last season. That is a mind-boggling 34% increase…talk about a raise. In fact, as a parent, it may even be time to put a basketball court in your back yard and have your 5-year-old shoot 100 threes per day. These contracts in the NBA are significantly different than their fellow NFL players whose contracts are not fully guaranteed especially when they are a tackle away from a career ending injury every single week.

The salary cap increase has translated into an unprecedented free agency period where GMs and owners can be less frugal and more aggressive when signing free agents. Six days into free agency and over $3 Billion dollars have been transacted which is larger than the GDP of some countries. This has and will continue to allow for an overpayment of players whose contracts expired after this past season like a $64 million contract for Timofey Mozgov or a $150 million contract for Mike Conley (who is the highest paid player in NBA history thus far). However, is it really overpayment and even if it is overpayment, is overpayment necessary to increase return on investment or win an NBA championship? One question one may ask themselves is does spending more on players contribute to more success or a better return on investment? This question is especially relevant when news just came out that the Cleveland Cavaliers, the reigning NBA Champions, owe a hefty $54 million in luxury taxes (the fee calculated for player expenses above the tax level). Let’s take a look to see whether higher player expenses lead to more success and a better return on investment.

Ways to measure success and return on investment (All data comes from each of the 30 teams in the past 6 seasons)

• Improved win percentage
• Playoff appearances
• Finals championships
• Increased team value
• Higher revenue through season ticket sales, luxury seating sales, merchandise / jersey sales, arena naming rights, etc.

First, let’s take a look at the average player expense for NBA teams alongside the average player expense for playoff teams, conference finals teams, and NBA Champions in the past 6 seasons.

It is clear that teams who have made the playoffs or the NBA finals have opened their checkbooks a little bit more than the average team. The 6 NBA Finals Champions have spent $81M on average which is almost $13M more than the league average of $69M.

Next, let’s look at player expense in 6 different spending tiers to see if teams in the higher tiers have higher winning percentages, made the playoffs more often, or won the NBA Finals more frequently in the past 6 seasons.

While the data is not as strong for teams that spent over $100M on players since it has only occurred twice, higher tiered teams have made the playoffs or won a championship more often than teams in lower tiers. It is also interesting to see that the correlation between teams in higher spending tiers and teams with higher winning percentages is fairly strong.

Lastly, it is important to take a look and assess whether spending more on players leads to a higher return on investment. Return on Investment can be measured by average revenue growth and average growth in team value above the league average.

While average revenue growth isn’t as strong, teams in the top two spending tiers experienced much higher revenue growth than teams in the lower spending tiers. One thing to note is that it is important to look at revenue growth over a period of time and not just average revenue since player spending in one season may lead to revenue growth in subsequent years through higher season ticket sales or higher merchandise sales for example. Every season, teams grow in value due to league-wide popularity, league-wide revenues, or simply the larger market. Thus, growth in value of a team above the league average is an important metric. As you can see above, teams in the higher spending tiers grew at a faster rate above the league average than teams in the lower spending tiers.

This is by no means a justification for over spending or signing an overvalued player to a max contract. Team player expense is just one of the millions of variables into why a team may be more successful than others. Winning or higher team valuations could be attributed to the LeBron factor or the fact that a team is in a large market or a team with a player that shoots 44% from beyond the arc. However, this does put the NBA player expense landscape into perspective. More successful teams in the past 6 seasons have opened the checkbook a little bit more on average than teams who haven’t. Those teams are also seeing a better return on investment on average. So, the next time your favorite team’s owner spends a little bit more than you would like on a player, try not to call your local beat writer rambling on about how dumb the owner is.

All revenue and valuation data was found in Forbes’ annual NBA ‘Business of Basketball’ list. Other player expense info was found in HoopsHype.com, TheHoopDoctors.com, and Eskimo.com. Other facts and figures were found using ESPN.com/NBA and Basketball-Reference.com.

It is 2002 and potentially the best, most gifted high school basketball player the nation has ever seen erupted onto the national scene. His name was LeBron James. If I had told you that his infinite expectations of endless MVPs and multiple NBA Championships would become a reality by age 31, you might have rolled your eyes and thought about all the players across sports who were transformative talents but ended up as “busts”. Ryan Leaf? Sam Bowie? Brian Bosworth? Michael Olowakandi?

A psychological behavior known as “anchoring” is something we all do, often subconsciously when thinking of ideas in a group of people or based on our own life experiences since no idea occurs in a vacuum. When making decisions, anchoring bias occurs when an initial piece of information is realized and subsequent judgments and ideas are anchored in that initial piece of information and interpretation of the new ideas come with a bias towards the anchor. When it comes to basketball, too many people are inhibited by this bias since LeBron’s career is too often anchored unfairly to the careers of Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, or even Magic Johnson. In a vacuum, his explosiveness, his ability to carry a team, and his dominance in all aspects of the game, is something that should leave us all in awe.

This may be what we do in barbershop arguments or at your local bar or even in the millions of GroupMe group texts when arguing where LeBron falls on the NBA Mount Rushmore. LeBron has just won his most meaningful NBA championship yet despite the insurmountable odds of being down 3–1 to the winningest team in NBA history and the most prolific 3-point offense in NBA history. His signature performance in these 2016 Finals has silenced some critics and has cemented his legacy right there among the greats with little debate. But where amongst the greats does he fall? Is he the best ever? Does he even belong on the NBA Mount Rushmore? Does he have to win even more NBA Championships and MVP awards? Have millennials really even seen MJ or Magic or Bird play beyond more than a pixelated YouTube video to appreciate their greatness? Let’s take an analytical approach to answer these questions and attempt to determine where he falls as one of the best players the NBA has ever seen.

First, it is important to determine the 12 factors that make up a great player (in order of importance). Then utilizing a ranking system based on these 12 factors, we can determine the best players ever by looking strictly at the numbers. (See ‘methodology’ at the end of page to see how 15 of the best NBA players were ranked)

1) Ability to Win Championships 2) Ability to Win 3) Total Value to Team 4) Offensive Value 5) Clutch Factor 6) Durability 7) Ability to Make Team Better 8) Defensive Value 9) Knocks 10) # of MVP Awards 11) # of NBA Honors 12) Scoring Landmarks 13) Miscellaneous — Ratios and other Measures

15) Moses “Chairman of the Boards” Malone

Avg. Ranking — 13.2

# of Championships — 1, Rank 12 (tied)

Finals Games Win% — .667, Rank 4

Win % w/o Player — .444, Rank 8

Offensive Rating — 112.4, Rank 6

Win % in Playoff Elimination Games — .538, Rank 4

Avg. Games per Season — 69.9, Rank 9

Usage % — 25.1, Rank 9

Rebounds per 100 Poss. — 17.5, Rank 1

Turnovers per Game — 2.8, Rank 5

# of MVP Awards — 4, Rank 11 (tied)

# of Combined All-Star & 1st Team All-NBA Appearances — 16, Rank 14

# of Double-Doubles — 435, Rank 6

14) Hakeem “The Dream” Olajuwon

Avg. Ranking — 10.6

# of Championships — 2, Rank 10 (tied)

Finals Games Win% — .635, Rank 7

Win % w/o Player — .434, Rank 7

FG % — .507, Rank 6

Win % in Playoff Elimination Games — .594, Rank 2

Avg. Games per Season — 68.8, Rank 12

Usage % — 26.4, Rank 8

Blocks per Game — 3.0, Rank 1

Turnovers per Game — 4.1, Rank 5

# of MVP Awards — 3, Rank 13

# of Combined All-Star & 1st Team All-NBA Appearances — 19, Rank 13

# of Double-Doubles — 775, Rank 3

13) Oscar “Big O” Robertson

Avg. Ranking — 10.38

# of Championships — 1, Rank 12 (tied)

Finals Games Win% — .714, Rank 1

Win % w/o Player — .335, Rank 2

Points per Game — 25.5, Rank 5

Points per Game (Playoffs) — 24.1, Rank 5

% of Regular Season Min. Played — 79.6%, Rank 2

Assists per Game — 9.5, Rank 2

Defensive Rating — 98.0, Rank 3 (tied)

# of Hall of Fame Teammates — 1, Rank 1

# of MVP Awards — 3, Rank 13 (tied)

# of Combined All-Star & 1st Team All-NBA Appearances — 21, Rank 10 (tied)

# of 40 point games — 75, Rank 4

12) Jerry “The Logo” West

Avg. Ranking — 9.2

# of Championships — 1, Rank 12 (tied)

Playoff Game Win% — .506, Rank 9

Win % w/o Player — .424, Rank 6

Points per Game — 26.7, Rank 4

Points per Game (Finals) — 30.5, Rank 2

Avg. Minutes per Game — 38.9, Rank 5

Assists per 100 Poss. — 9.2, Rank 3

Defensive Rating — 95.0, Rank 1

# of Games Scoring < 10 Points — 27, Rank 4

# of MVP Awards — 2, Rank 15

# of Combined All-Star & 1st Team All-NBA Appearances — 24, Rank 6

# of 40 point games — 61, Rank 5

11) Bill Russell

Avg. Ranking — 8.5

# of Championships — 11, Rank 1

Playoff Series Win% — .923, Rank 1

Avg. Win-Shares per Season — 12.6, Rank 6

Points per Game — 15.1, Rank 14

Win% in Elimination Games — .895, Rank 1

Total Min. per Season (Reg. & Postseason) — 3709.5, Rank 2

Assists per Game — 4.2, Rank 9

Avg. Defensive Win-Shares per Season — 10.3, Rank 1

# of All Star Teammates — 7, Rank 11 (tied)

# of MVP Awards — 6, Rank 7 (tied)

# of Combined All-Star & 1st Team All-NBA Appearances — 15, Rank 15

# of 30 point games — 15, Rank 15

10) Kobe “Black Mamba” Bryant

Avg. Ranking — 8.4

# of Championships — 5, Rank 4 (tied)

Finals Game Win% — .644, Rank 6

Value over Replacement Player — 3.6, Rank 10

Points per 100 Poss. — 34.4, Rank 3

Points per Game (Finals) — 26.1, Rank 6

Avg. Minutes per Game — 35.8, Rank 11

Usage% — 31.3, Rank 3

# of All-NBA Team Appearances (Defense) — 12, Rank 2

Turnovers per Game — 3.1, Rank 9

# of MVP Awards — 7, Rank 5 (tied)

# of Combined All-Star & 1st Team All-NBA Appearances — 29, Rank 1 (tied)

# of 50+ point games — 28, Rank 3

9) Shaquille “Shaq” O’Neal

Avg. Ranking — 8.3

# of Championships — 4, Rank 7

Regular Season Win% — .682, Rank 6

PER — 25.5, Rank 4

FG% — .587, Rank 1

Points per Game (Finals) — 28.8, Rank 3

Avg. Minutes per Game — 34.0, Rank 13

Usage% — 29.0, Rank 5

Blocks per Game — 2.2, Rank 3

Turnovers per Game — 2.7, Rank 3

# of MVP Awards — 7, Rank 5 (tied)

# of Combined All-Star & 1st Team All-NBA Appearances — 23, Rank 7

# of Double-Doubles– 727, Rank 4

8) Karl “Mailman” Malone

Avg. Ranking — 7.6

# of Championships — 0, Rank 15

Regular Season Win% — .650, Rank 9

Value Over Replacement Player — 5.4, Rank 5

Points per Game — 24.7, Rank 6

Points per Game (Elimination Games) — 25.3, Rank 4

Avg. Games per Season — 77.7, Rank 2

Usage% — 29.1, Rank 4

Rebounds per 100 Poss. — 13.9, Rank 5

# of All-Star Teammates — 3, Rank 1

# of MVP Awards — 4, Rank 11 (tied)

# of Combined All-Star & 1st Team All-NBA Appearances — 25, Rank 3 (tied)

# of 30 point games — 391, Rank 1

6) (tied) Larry Bird

Avg. Ranking — 7.4

# of Championships — 3, Rank 8 (tied)

Regular Season Win% — .705, Rank 4

Box Plus-Minus — 6.6, Rank 4

3-Point% — .324, Rank 2

Win% in Elimination Games — .565, Rank 3

Avg. Minutes per Game — 37.9, Rank 6

Assists per Game — 6.3, Rank 5

Steals per Game — 1.6, Rank 6

# of Games Scoring < 10 Points — 14, Rank 3

# of MVP Awards — 6, Rank 7 (tied)

# of Combined All-Star & 1st Team All-NBA Appearances — 22, Rank 8 (tied)

# of Triple-Doubles — 46, Rank 2

6) (tied) Earvin “Magic” Johnson

Avg. Ranking — 7.4

# of Championships — 5, Rank 4 (tied)

Regular Season Win% — .735, Rank 1

Value over Replacement Player — 6.0, Rank 4

True Shooting% — .609, Rank 1

Points per Game (Elimination Games) — 22.7, Rank 7

Total Min. per Season (Reg. & Postseason) –3,137, Rank 9

Assists per Game — 10.9, Rank 1

Steals per Game — 1.9, Rank 3

# of Games Scoring < 10 Points — 51, Rank 6 (tied)

# of MVP Awards — 8, Rank 3 (tied)

# of Combined All-Star & 1st Team All-NBA Appearances — 21, Rank 10 (tied)

# of Triple-Doubles — 91, Rank 1

5) Tim “Big Fundamental” Duncan

Avg. Ranking — 7.1

# of Championships — 5, Rank 4 (tied)

Regular Season Win% — .722, Rank 2

Box Plus-Minus — 5.3, Rank 6

FG% — .504, Rank 7

FG% with < 3 minutes in 4th Qtr. — .472, Rank 2

Avg. Games per Season –73.3, Rank 7

Usage % — 26.7, Rank 6

# of All-NBA Team Appearances (Defense) — 15, Rank 1

Turnovers per Game — 2.4, Rank 1

# of MVP Awards — 6, Rank 7 (tied)

# of Combined All-Star & 1st Team All-NBA Appearances — 25, Rank 3

# of Double-Doubles –841, Rank 1

4) Wilt Chamberlain

Avg. Ranking — 6.5

# of Championships — 2, Rank 10 (tied)

Finals Win% — .545, Rank 9

Avg. Win-Shares per Season — 17.7, Rank 1

Points per Game — 30.1, Rank 1

Points per Game (Elimination Games) — 31.1, Rank 3

Avg. Minutes per Game –45.6, Rank 1

Assists per Game — 4.4, Rank 8

Rebounds per Game — 22.7, Rank 1

# of Games Scoring < 10 Points — 75, Rank 9

# of MVP Awards — 6, Rank 7 (tied)

# of Combined All-Star & 1st Team All-NBA Appearances — 21, Rank 10 (tied)

# of 50+ Point Games — 118, Rank 1

3) Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

Avg. Ranking –5.2

# of Championships — 6, Rank 2 (tied)

Playoff Games Win% — .593, Rank 4

Avg. Win-Shares per Season — 13.7, Rank 4

True Shooting % — .592, Rank 2

Points per Game (Postseason) — 25.4, Rank 2

Avg. Games per Season –78.0, Rank 1

Usage% — 24.2, Rank 9

Blocks per Game — 2.6, Rank 2

Turnovers per 100 Poss. — 3.7, Rank 3

# of MVP Awards — 8, Rank 3 (tied)

# of Combined All-Star & 1st Team All-NBA Appearances — 29, Rank 1 (tied)

# of 30 Point Games — 359, Rank 3

2) LeBron “King” James

Avg. Ranking — 4.2

# of Championships — 3, Rank 8 (tied)

Playoff Games Win% — .653, Rank 1

PER — 27.8, Rank 1

3-Point % — .341, Rank 1

Points per Game (Elimination Games) — 31.9, Rank 1

Avg. Games per Season –75.9, Rank 3

Assists per 100 Poss. — 9.4, Rank 2

Steals per Game — 1.7, Rank 5

# of Games Scoring < 10 Points — 8, Rank 1

# of MVP Awards — 9, Rank 2

# of Combined All-Star & 1st Team All-NBA Appearances — 22, Rank 8 (tied)

# of Triple-Doubles — 42, Rank 3

1) Michael “Air” Jordan

Avg. Ranking — 3.1

# of Championships — 6, Rank 2 (tied)

Finals Games Win% — .689, Rank 3

Win% without Player — .284, Rank 1

Points per 100 Poss. — 40.1, Rank 1

Points per Game (Finals Games) — 33.6, Rank 1

Avg. Minutes per Game –37.6, Rank 7

Usage% — 33.6, Rank 1

Steals per Game — 2.3, Rank 2

Turnovers per 100 Poss. — 3.7, Rank 1

# of MVP Awards — 14, Rank 1

# of Combined All-Star & 1st Team All-NBA Appearances — 25, Rank 3 (tied)

# of 50+ Point Games — 31, Rank 2

While we are not too surprised about the final results and the crowning of the best NBA player ever, Michael Jordan, it is clear by all measures that LeBron James is the second best player ever with multiple years left in the tank. His averages will only fluctuate marginally, however MVP awards, championships, and NBA honors may only increase. Despite forgoing college, his first 13 years in the NBA trump Michael Jordan’s and make him the best player ever at age 31. His ability to dominate in all aspects of the game makes his value impeccable. Critics cite his NBA Finals record of 3–4, his perception of folding in big moments, and “The Decision”, to downplay his NBA Career. However, when you truly look at the numbers, 6 consecutive Finals appearances and counting is behind only Bill Russell and other Celtics of the ’60s. He has the 3rd highest clutch factor (according to my own methodology) which is behind only Michael Jordan and Wilt Chamberlain. Finally, his perceived lack of loyalty and needing help to win championships is a myth since he has only played with 1 maybe 2 future HOFers (least among the top 15 players) and 5 All-Star players (3rd least among the top 15 players). LeBron may never catch Michael Jordan as the best player ever, but he is a lot closer than many people think. If nothing else, hopefully this analysis will give you the ammo to debate the best NBA players ever the next time you’re at a bar talking hoops.

Below is a list of the best players for each of the 12 factors:

Methodology

First, I determined the 12 categories with their individual metrics which are below. As an aside, players like Wilt Chamberlain, Jerry West, Bill Russell, and Oscar Robertson who played in the ’50s and ’60s are missing data points due to a lack of statistics (e.g. Usage%, Turnovers, any per 100 Poss. statistic, 3 Pt %, and FG % with < 3 min. and in close games) recorded in that time period. While not perfect, average ranking of individual metrics that were recorded should help to smooth out some of the lack of data.

1) Ability to Win Championships

a) As measured by: # of Championships, # of Finals appearances, Finals wins above expectations (calculated using Elo Ratings from ESPN and Vegas odds from Oddshark.com)

2) Ability to Win

a) As measured by: Reg. season win%, Playoff games win%, Finals games win%, Playoff series win%

3) Total Value to Team(s)

a) As measured by: PER (Player Efficiency Rating), Win-Shares, VORP (Value over Replacement Player), Box Plus-Minus, Win% w/o player

4) Offensive Value

a) As measured by: Points (per game & per 100 poss.), Offensive rating, True shooting%, Field goal%, 3-point%, # of seasons leading in points

5) Clutch Factor

a) As measured by: PPG in playoff games, PPG in Finals games, PPG in elimination games, FG % w/ < 3 minutes in 4th qtr., FG % in 4th qtr. in games decided by < 5 pts, Win% in elimination games

6) Durability

a) As measured by: Min. per game, Avg. min. per season, Total min. per season, Games per season, % of reg. season min. played

7) Ability to Make Team Better

a) As measured by: Assists (per game & per 100 poss.), Assist %, Usage %, # of seasons leading in assists

8) Defensive Value

a) As measured by: Defensive Rating, Blocks / Steals / Rebounds (per game & per 100 poss.), Defensive Win-Shares, # of 1st or 2nd Team All Defense appearances, # of Defensive Player of the Year Awards, # of seasons leading in rebounds / blocks / steals

9) Knocks

a) As measured by: Turnovers (per game & per 100 poss.), Turnover %, # of HOF and All-Star teammates played with, # of games with < 10 points

10) # of MVP awards

a) As measured by: Combined # of reg. season, Finals, and All-Star MVP awards

11) # of NBA Honors

a) As measured by: Combined # of 1st Team All-NBA appearances and All-Star appearances

12) Scoring Landmarks

a) As measured by: # of 30 point games, 40 point games, 50+ point games, Double-doubles, and Triple-doubles

13) Miscellaneous — Ratios and other measures

a) Championships per Minutes Played

b) Championships per Final Appearances

c) Championships per Season

d) Championships per Playoff Appearance

e) Finals Appearance per Playoff Appearance

f) Playoffs Appearances per Season

g) Finals Appearance per Season

h) Finals Appearance per Game

i) MVP Awards per Seasons Played

Second, I chose the top 15 players by common consensus from ESPN.com/Bleacher Report/Sports Illustrated. Within each of the 12 factors, I ranked each player by individual metric from 1 to 15. For example, within the ‘Ability to Win Championships’ category, I ranked each player by # of Championships, # of Finals appearances, and Finals wins above expectations. (See below).

Then, I took an average of the 3 individual metrics’ rankings to get a final score for each of the 12 factors. (See below for an example of the ‘Ability to Win Championships’ avg. ranking).

The final ranking was then calculated by taking the average score of the 12 separate factors for each player to come up with a total score per player.

Data was found using Basketball-Reference.com, ESPN.com/Stats, FiveThirtyEight.com, and Complex.com

Was it fate or was it the will to win? ESPN’s critically acclaimed 30 for 30 Series had just released the documentary “Believeland” in early May which cast a spotlight on the perpetual torment Cleveland sports fans have endured for the past 52 years of no pro sports championships. Maybe it was meant to be as the Cavaliers won their first ever NBA World Championship in franchise history last night led by none other than 3-time Finals MVP and homegrown superstar, LeBron James. The Cavaliers came into the series as fairly heavy underdogs since the team they were pitted against was the defending champion, had the first ever unanimous MVP, had the best regular season record in NBA history, and as a team shot 42% from beyond the arc. Virtually no sane basketball fans outside of Cleveland thought the Cavs had ANY chance of winning the Finals especially after they went down 0–2. In those first 2 games, the Splash Brothers might as well have remained in their hotel rooms due to their atypical lack of offensive dominance. These first two games saw non-traditional scorers like Shaun Livingston and Draymond Green lead the Warriors in points, while winning by margins of 15 and 33 respectively. The consensus was that Steph and Klay had yet to “go off” and the Warriors bench / role players can still beat the Cavs convincingly. The absurd notion that the Warriors could lose 4 out of their next 5 games with two games left at Oracle Arena was just as plausible as Michael Jordan coming back to play for the troubled Chicago Bulls. LeBron looked tentative, with a pass-first mentality and almost a liability shooting beyond the paint. The same Kyrie, who scored 41 points in Game 5 and out played the two-time defending MVP in the Finals scored 10 points in Game 2. Kevin Love had more hours of sleep than he did points in Game 2 with 5. Game 3 was a different Cavs team as they mustered up enough confidence to blow out the Warriors by 30 back in The Land, a whopping 63 point swing in final score margin. With Kevin Love out suffering from a concussion, a reinvigorated LeBron led all scorers with 32 points and Kyrie not too far behind with 30. The Cavs, whose fans provided energy as if the city hadn’t won a championship in 52 years, outshot the greatest 3 point shooting team in NBA history 48% to 27% and outrebounded them 52–32. With an opportunity to tie the series in Game 4, Steph’s 38 points help lead the Warriors to a Finals record 17 three pointers and ultimately an 11 point win to steal a game at The Q despite a valiant 34 point effort from a Kyrie who had suddenly found his touch. On the precipice of Game 5 back in “Roar”acle Arena, a place where the Warriors have only lost a grand total of 4 regular season games in 2 years, let’s just say that even Cleveland fans were already gearing for the 2016–2017 season as NO team in NBA history had done what the Warriors had just done in the Western Conference Finals against OKC and win the Finals after being down 3–1. One glimmer of hope for the beaten down Cavs came as a result of LeBron’s strategic play AFTER the whistle was blown. LeBron had provoked the now infamous Draymond Green who had been in hot water after multiple technical fouls and a few flagrant fouls including the “nut”shot on Steven Adams in the prior series. He stepped over Draymond inciting a negative reaction and a swing to LeBron’s crotch area with an ensuing scuffle reminiscent of his coach Tyron Lue being stepped over by the MVP Allen Iverson in Game 1 of the 2001 NBA Finals. KiKi VanDeWeghe, the NBA’s disciplinarian, decided to suspend Draymond for Game 5, as a result, leaving the Warriors who were 48 minutes from a 2nd NBA Championship significantly undermanned. Proving to be the turning point in the Finals, LeBron and Kyrie capitalized on the opportunity each scoring 41 points and a performance for the ages that led to a double digit victory for the Cavs heading back to The Land. Kyrie shot 71% from the field with an 82% true shooting percentage and was largely unstoppable hitting shots all over the court. Klay Thompson scored 37 with 6 three pointers, but the most important aspect of Game 5 occurred when Golden State’s veteran big man, Andrew Bogut, went down with a gruesome knee injury and had played his last minutes in the 2015–2016 season. The window of opportunity had begun to slowly creak open further for the Cavs as the series ventured back to The Q for Game 6. The absence of Andrew Bogut proved to be a huge advantage for the Cavs as hustle player, Tristan Thompson, controlled the paint with 16 rebounds and 15 points supplementing LeBron’s second straight 41 point game. Despite the wondrous game by the Cavs who dominated the Warriors’ small-ball lineup, the highlight of the game occurred with around 4 minutes left in the 4th when Steph Curry fouled out after a couple 50/50 calls went against him. An infuriated Steph proceeded to hurl his slobber — filled mouthpiece into the crowd which accurately hit Cavs’ minority owner’s son, Andrew Forbes, directly in the face. That, combined with his profanity filled-tirade, highly uncharacteristic of the NBA’s golden boy, resulted in him being kicked out of the game and receiving a $25,000 fine. His wife Ayesha, a very opinionated Twitter user, called out the NBA and accused it of rigging and fixing the NBA Finals in favor of the Cavs one of the more egregious accusations of a professional sports league. This proved to dominate the airwaves on sports talk radio on Friday Morning, not LeBron’s 41 point game or the potential for the Cavs to win the series. The anticipation for Game 7 inundated the lives of sports fans throughout the country as so many story lines were riding on 48 more minutes of basketball. Was LeBron finally going to bring a title to Cleveland he promised just two years ago? Would the Warriors ice the magical 72–9 season with a Game 7 victory? Who would win the Finals MVP after LeBron led every statistical category on both teams? All of these storylines led to a game similar to a boxing match where the Cavs and Warriors traded punch after punch with numerous lead changes and a low scoring 1st half. The only player who had seemed to take the Game into his own hands was Draymond Green who was 5–5 from beyond the arc in the first half and finished the game with a 96% true shooting percentage. Steph and Klay continued to shoot poorly due to Cleveland’s physical defense which forced role players like the troubled Harrison Barnes who had gone 2 for 22 the past 2 games and Andre Iguodala to beat them. LeBron, who had a very quiet 27 point, triple double performance, reverted back to his pass-first, unaggressive tendencies wanting to involve his teammates. All of this led to a tie game at 89–89, with 4:39 left to go in the 4th, and no team could buy a basket until 53 seconds left in the game. At around the 1:50 mark, LeBron had arguably the play of the game on defense when the Warriors were on the verge of an amazing transition layup from Andre Iguodala and LeBron hustled out of nowhere and blocked the layup high off the glass in a superhuman fashion which will be forever noted as “The Block”. Again, more missed shots from both sides until Kyrie Irving decided to take the game into his own hands and knocked down a beautiful, contested 26 foot 3 point shot right over the hand of Steph Curry. Proving to be the closest, most exciting game of the series, a true gift for NBA fans everywhere, Steph Curry had a chance to tie the game with a 3 pointer, but missed and the Cavs maintained their 3 point lead at 92–89. The Cavs got the ball back and after Kyrie got the rebound off his own miss, he passed to a streaking LeBron who looked as if he was going to destroy the rim, steal all the momentum, and ultimately win the championship. However, Draymond got in his way and fouled him on the dunk attempt. After LeBron remained on the floor for a few minutes due to a seemingly horrendous injury, the supremely durable LeBron got up and knocked down 1 of 2 free-throws making it a 2 possession, 93–89 game with 11 seconds left. After a timeout and a foul to give by Tristan Thompson, the Warriors left it up to the first-ever unanimous MVP in NBA history to try to win the game. A guy who hit countless contested 3 pointers in plenty of big moments attempted a decent shot over Iman Shumpert, one in which we’ve seen him make hundreds of times before. This time, however, it hit the rim and bounced away to Mo Speights whose last second heave would prove futile as the Warriors dream season came to a close in such devastating fashion with no points in the last 5 minutes of play. LeBron was victorious and tears of joy filled his eyes as he embraced his teammates and knelt down on the floor. Maybe, the documentary, “Believeland” should add an epilogue highlighting the momentous victory that the Cavs finally brought to Cleveland.