MVPs: 0. Finals MVPs: 1. All-NBA 1st Team: 3. 2nd Team: 2. All Star: 12. MVP: 2.
Defensive POY: 0. All-Defense Teams: 0.
Assists Champ: 1.
Career Averages: 19 PPG/ 4 RPG/ 9 APG/ 1.9 SPG/ .3 BPG/ .465 eFG%/ .759 FT%.
Best Season: 21/ 4/ 14/ 2.3/ .3/ .468/ .809 (1984-85).
Postseason Averages: 20 PPG/ 5 RPG/ 9 APG/ 2.1 SPG/ .3 BPG/ .463 eFG%/ .769 FT%.
Best Postseason: 20/ 5/ 8/ 2.2/ .4/ .513/ .794 (1990).
Championships: 2 (#1 player on both). Runner-ups: 1 (#1 player).
Why he's below Dirk Nowitski: Isiah was not a good shooter. That's not uncommon for the leading scorer on a defense-first team, but it's not great when a point guard is hurting his team by taking too many shots. His shots per game did go down as the Pistons gained offensive talent, but someone who once led the league in assists could have taken even fewer shots and still contributed offensively. Advanced stats are very unkind to him, probably because of his low shooting percentages.
Why he's above the rest: I'm willing to overlook his advanced stats in favor of the rest of his resume. He never averaged below 17 points, 7 assists, and 1.5 steals per game (the key point guard stats) until his final season. He led a team that went head-to-head with Jordan, Magic, and Bird, and beat all of them. He was the best player on 3 consecutive Finals teams, winning Finals MVP once and nearly winning it in 1988 as well if the Pistons hadn't lost game 6 by 1 point. He was all star MVP twice in the strongest era of the league when all star games were more competitive than they are today. Whenever Isiah was on the court with the best players in the league, he was as good as any of them. Advanced stats can't capture that.
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