Computer Gives Its NBA MVP Vote to Michael Jordan

For Michael Jordan, it was the cold consolation that only a computer could provide. But it was consolation, nonetheless.

Jordan was at the Hall of Fame Club in Madison Square Garden here the other day to receive the Seagram Award as the National Basketball Assn.’s player of the year, an award determined by a computerized statistical analysis of players, based on their positions.

Jordan, whose 37.1-point average was the third-highest in league history, outdistanced the Lakers’ Magic Johnson to win the award for the second time in his three NBA seasons. Larry Bird, who has won the Seagram award three times, was third.

A week ago, Jordan finished second to Johnson in the balloting for the NBA’s most valuable player--which is voted upon by the national media and recognized as the league’s true MVP.

So, while the computer acknowledges him as the league’s most valuable player, Jordan realizes he was a distant second to Johnson by human calculation. And it leaves him wondering what he has to do to win the real MVP award.

“I’m not saying they (the media) don’t know how to decide,” Jordan said, “but I don’t think anyone knows what credentials should be used. I wish I knew what they were. I guess it goes back to history. The MVP has always gone to the winning team.”

It was pointed out to Jordan that Wilt Chamberlain didn’t win MVP when he averaged 50.4 points a game in the 1961-62 season, or in his other two 3,000-point seasons. Bill Russell of the champion Celtics won it in each of those years.

“The scoring title makes you proud,” Jordan said, “but it also brings you what it brought me--a stereotype as an offensive player. I don’t want to be remembered as just a scorer.