NOSEBLEED SPORTS MEDIA
MJ Mondays
NO DEBATE. JUST RECEIPTS.
VOL. 1, NO. 6 · APRIL 6, 2026 · EVERY MONDAY
THE STAT THAT SHOULDN'T EXIST 01
ONE PLAYER. ONE SEASON. BEST SCORER. BEST DEFENDER. IT HAPPENED ONCE.
Defensive Player of the Year + Scoring Champion
— Same Season
1988 0 Closest
MICHAEL JORDAN EVERY OTHER PLAYER GIANNIS ANTETOKOUNMPO
In 1987-88, Michael Jordan won the NBA's Defensive Player of the Year award. He also won the scoring
title, averaging 35.0 points per game. These two things happened simultaneously. Winning the scoring
title means you're the most prolific offensive player in the league. Winning DPOY means you're the best
defender. Nobody has combined these two awards in the same season — before or since. Jordan did it
once, never talked about it much, and moved on.
THE GAME YOU FORGOT 02
Chicago Bulls vs Boston Celtics 1988-04-24
6 6 16/25 W
POINTS REBOUNDS ASSISTS FG RESULT
Two Jobs. One Man.
THE NIGHT BOTH SIDES OF THE BALL SHOWED UP
April 24, 1988. Bulls vs Celtics in the first round of the playoffs. Jordan had won DPOY and the scoring title in
the regular season — the most dominant two-way individual performance any player had posted since the
statistics were tracked. Against Boston in the playoffs, he scored 46 points and played the defense that had
earned him Defensive Player of the Year all season. Boston had Bird, McHale, Parish. Jordan treated both
ends of the floor as his personal domain.
MJ VS TODAY 03
The Greatest Two-Way Season In NBA History
JORDAN — 1987-88 BEST MODERN COMPARISON
PPG GIANNIS PPG
35.0 ~30
SPG VS GIANNIS DPOY
3.16 2x winner
AWARDS SCORING TITLE?
DPOY + Scoring Title Never
Giannis Antetokounmpo has won DPOY twice and comes closest to replicating Jordan's two-way dominance.
But Giannis has never won a scoring title — his points come from efficiency and usage, not lead-the-league
volume. Jordan averaged 35 PPG in the same season he won DPOY. The gap between those two things is
wider than any stat comparison can show.
Who's the best two-way player since Jordan?
GIANNIS KAWHI LEONARD SCOTTIE PIPPEN NOBODY IS CLOSE
THE COLDEST MJ MOMENT 04
BOTH ENDS. EVERY NIGHT.
He Won DPOY Averaging 35 Points The Same
Season.
The conventional wisdom in basketball is that elite scorers sacrifice defense. You can't go
all-out offensively and all-out defensively — the body doesn't have enough. Jordan ran
this theory through a shredder. He averaged 35 points per game — spending enormous
energy creating, dribbling, shooting — and still had enough defensive intensity left to be
voted the best defender in the league. His steal rate that season (3.16 per game) led the
NBA. He was everywhere, both ways, every night.
He could've not tried on defense and averaged 40. He tried on defense. That's who
he was.
— WIDELY ATTRIBUTED TO PHIL JACKSON
THE MJ STAT VAULT 05
PPG — 1987-88 SEASON STEALS PER GAME — 1987-88
Led the NBA in scoring. Same year he Led the NBA. Best defender AND best
won Defensive Player of the Year. scorer. One season. One man.
TIMES JORDAN LED THE NBA IN STEALS
OTHER PLAYERS TO WIN DPOY + SCORING
He was a 3x All-Defensive First Team
0 TITLE IN SAME SEASON 5
selection and led the league in steals
It has happened exactly once in NBA
multiple times while also dominating
history. The stat line above is the proof.
offensively.
200 CAREER STEALS RANKING — JORDAN ALL-TIME
For a player known as a scorer, Jordan retired in the top 15 all-time in steals. The defensive legacy is real.
THE FORGOTTEN MAN 06
OVERLOOKED · UNDERRATED · DESERVES MORE
BJ Armstrong
CHICAGO BULLS · 1989–2000
14.3 PPG IN THE 1992-93 SEASON — FIRST THREE-PEAT PG
The Starting PG Of Three Championships Nobody Remembers
BJ Armstrong ran the point for all three of the Bulls' first championships. In the 1993 Finals — Jordan's 41-
PPG series — Armstrong started every game and averaged double figures. He was left unprotected in the
1994 expansion draft and the Charlotte Hornets took him. The starting point guard of three consecutive NBA
championships is remembered by almost nobody. That's the Forgotten Man.
The Jordan Connection: Armstrong's job was to get Jordan the ball in the right spots and get out of the way.
He did it at the highest level for three straight titles. Jordan once said: 'BJ always made the right play. Always.'
Who's Your Forgotten Man?
Reply with a player who deserves more credit. Best answer gets featured next Monday.
MJ MONDAYS The Jordan Era · 1984–2003
Every Monday. No exceptions.