IBM Award

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Head shot of David Robinson
San Antonio Spurs center David Robinson won five IBM Awards.

The IBM Award was an award given out to National Basketball Association players from 1984 to 2002. The award was sponsored and calculated by technology company IBM and was determined by a computer formula, which measured a player's statistical contribution to his team. The player with the best contribution to his team in the league received the award.[1] The first recipient was Magic Johnson of the Los Angeles Lakers, and the final recipient was Tim Duncan of the San Antonio Spurs.

Most of the players who won the award have been forwards or centers; many finished near the top in rebounding the year they won.[2] The award was given out nineteen times, six times to players on the San Antonio Spurs, three times each to players on the Philadelphia 76ers and Los Angeles Lakers, and twice each to players on the Chicago Bulls and Detroit Pistons.[2] David Robinson won five IBM Awards, Charles Barkley won three, and Michael Jordan and Shaquille O'Neal won two each.[2]

As of Tim Duncan's selection to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2020, all IBM Award winners have been inducted.[3][4] Jordan, Robinson, Barkley, Johnson, Duncan, Shaquille O'Neal, Karl Malone, and Hakeem Olajuwon also won NBA Most Valuable Player awards during their career; Robinson, O'Neal and Duncan won both awards in the same season.[5] Jordan, Robinson, Olajuwon, Dennis Rodman and Dikembe Mutombo have won the NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award; Olajuwon is the only player to win both in the same season.[6] Grant Hill is the only winner of the IBM Award who did not win an NBA MVP or Defensive Player of the Year Award sometime in his career.[7] O'Neal is the only player to win an IBM Award and an NBA title in the same season; he did this in both the 1999–00 and 2000–01 NBA seasons.[2] Jordan and Robinson are the only players to win the IBM Award during their respective rookie seasons, both also won the NBA Rookie of the Year Award in those years.[8] Two of the award winners were born outside the United States: Olajuwon (Nigeria) and Mutombo (Zaire).[9][10] Duncan was born in the U.S. Virgin Islands.[10] The award was discontinued in 2002. With Tim Duncan's retirement following the 2015-16 NBA season, there are no more IBM Award winners currently playing in the NBA.

The IBM Award was originally named the Pivotal Player Award and was sponsored by the Schick razor company.[11]

Winners[edit]

Head shot of Charles Barkley
Philadelphia 76ers forward Charles Barkley won three consecutive IBM Awards.
* Inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame
Player (#) Denotes the number of times the player won the IBM Award
Team (#) Denotes the number of times a player from this team has won
List of IBM Award Winners
Season Player Position Nationality Team
1983–84 Magic Johnson* Guard  United States Los Angeles Lakers
1984–85 Michael Jordan* Guard  United States Chicago Bulls
1985–86 Charles Barkley* Forward  United States Philadelphia 76ers
1986–87 Charles Barkley* (2) Forward  United States Philadelphia 76ers (2)
1987–88 Charles Barkley* (3) Forward  United States Philadelphia 76ers (3)
1988–89 Michael Jordan* (2) Guard  United States Chicago Bulls (2)
1989–90 David Robinson* Center  United States San Antonio Spurs
1990–91 David Robinson* (2) Center  United States San Antonio Spurs (2)
1991–92 Dennis Rodman* Forward  United States Detroit Pistons
1992–93 Hakeem Olajuwon*b Center  Nigeria[c] Houston Rockets
1993–94 David Robinson* (3) Center  United States San Antonio Spurs (3)
1994–95 David Robinson* (4)a Center  United States San Antonio Spurs (4)
1995–96 David Robinson* (5) Center  United States San Antonio Spurs (5)
1996–97 Grant Hill* Forward  United States Detroit Pistons (2)
1997–98 Karl Malone* Forward  United States Utah Jazz
1998–99 Dikembe Mutombo* Center  Zaire[d] Atlanta Hawks
1999–00 Shaquille O'Neal* a Center  United States Los Angeles Lakers (2)
2000–01 Shaquille O'Neal* (2) Center  United States Los Angeles Lakers (3)
2001–02 Tim Duncan* a e Forward-center  United States San Antonio Spurs (6)

Formula[edit]

The IBM Award was calculated with the following formula:[12]

IBM Award formula

In the formula, plyr stands for player, PTS stands for points, FGA stands for field goal attempts, REB stands for rebounds, AST stands for assists, STL stands for steals, BLK stands for blocks, PF stands for personal fouls, and TO stands for turnovers. The award was given to the player with the highest total.

The formula bears some resemblance to player efficiency rating, and many winners of the IBM award were calculated to have finished at or near the top in player efficiency rating in their award-winning seasons.[13]

Notes[edit]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

General (for list of winners and their teams)

  1. Rob Reheuser, ed. (2004). 2004–2005 Official NBA Guide. Corrie Anderson. St. Louis: Sporting News Books. p. 150. ISBN 0-89204-717-8.
  2. "Association for Professional Basketball Research FAQ". Association for Professional Basketball Research. November 1, 2001. Retrieved September 6, 2011.

Specific

  1. ^ "Mutombo wins IBM award". Sports Illustrated. Associated Press. May 9, 1999. Archived from the original on October 29, 2013. Retrieved August 26, 2011.
  2. ^ a b c d Rob Reheuser, ed. (2004). 2004–2005 Official NBA Guide. Corrie Anderson. St. Louis: Sporting News Books. ISBN 0-89204-717-8.
  3. ^ Kentucky Basketball [@KentuckyMBB] (April 6, 2015). "The 2015 Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame class" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  4. ^ "Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame". Basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved August 20, 2011.
  5. ^ a b "NBA & ABA Most Valuable Players". Basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved August 20, 2011.
  6. ^ a b "NBA & ABA Defensive Player of the Year Award Winners". Basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved August 20, 2011.
  7. ^ "Grant Hill at Basketball-Reference.com". Basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved August 20, 2011.
  8. ^ "Rookie of the Year Award Winners". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved March 11, 2015.
  9. ^ a b "Hakeem Olajuwon Bio: 1984–2002". NBA.com. Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. Archived from the original on February 18, 2013. Retrieved August 24, 2011.
  10. ^ a b c "NBA Players from around the world: 2005–2006 Season". NBA.com. Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. Retrieved March 13, 2011.
  11. ^ "Schick Special Advertising Section". USA Today. February 7, 1986. p. 8C.
  12. ^ Gerry Brown, ed. (2003). 2003 ESPN Sports Almanac. Hyperion. p. 360. ISBN 0-7868-8715-X.
  13. ^ "NBA & ABA Year-by-Year Top 10 Leaders and Records for Player Efficiency Rating". Basketball-reference.com.
  14. ^ "Democratic Republic of the Congo". The World Factbook. Central Intelligence Agency. Retrieved November 8, 2009.
  15. ^ "Virgin Islands". CIA World Factbook. Retrieved August 12, 2008.