Chicago Bulls: 3 least efficient Michael Jordan seasons ever

3. 1984-85

During his rookie season in the NBA, MJ was already starting to become a sensation around the league. But it was going to take some time inherently for Jordan to reach his peak level of efficiency with the Bulls. Very few players are going to come out of the gates with the most efficient season of their career.

It was good that the Bulls didn’t get the most efficient season out of MJ when he was a rookie in 1984-85. But he was still very good at his age. During his rookie season, Jordan was still an All-Star selection (like he was in every single full season he played in the NBA). He also took the Rookie of the Year honors back to the Windy City.

To add to that mark, Jordan was a All-NBA Second Team selection and finished sixth in the MVP Award Shares voting for his rookie season. He did get All-Rookie First-Team honors too. To get all of those accolades, Jordan averaged 28.2 points per game, 6.5 rebounds, 5.9 assists, 2.4 steals, and 0.8 blocks. He shot 51.5 percent from the field, just 17.3 percent from beyond the arc, and 84.5 percent from the free-throw line.

During the regular season, Jordan registered a 7.3 box plus/minus rating, 7.4 value over replacement player rating, .213 win shares per 48 minutes, and a 59.2 true shooting percentage. Most of those stat categories were good for the bottom four in his career.

Although he played in just four playoff games in this season, Jordan did lead the NBA in box plus/minus rating (9.5). He also led in player efficiency rating among eligible players in the playoffs (24.7). But that still paled in comparison to some of the playoff stats he posted later in his career. That box plus/minus rating was actually one of the five lowest in the playoffs of his career.