George Mikan vs. Jeff Ruland Season by Season Comparison

Side by side comparison of each NBA season of Jeff Ruland and George Mikan, from their rookie seasons to their last year played, in chronological order with awards, stats, championships and playoff performance of their teams every year.

Who had the better rookie season? Who had best stats in their 10th season? Who won a championship first? These questions and many others, are answered here.

George Mikan played 7 years in the NBA, 1 less than Jeff Ruland, who played 8. George Mikan had the first of his seasons in 1948-49, while Jeff Ruland had his rookie season in 1981-82. With that starting point, here you can take a look at each of their seasons side by side and compare how their careers evolved in achivements, awards and championships won, the stats they recorded both in the Regular Season and the Playoffs and how their teams performed in the postseason.

Comparison Season by Season
Jump to season: 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8
Rookie Season
	George Mikan	Jeff Ruland
Season	1948-49	1981-82
Team	Minneapolis Lakers	Washington Bullets
Honors & Awards	All-NBA First Team	-
	-	All-Rookie First Team
	Scoring Leader	-
Playoffs	NBA Champion	Bullets Lost East Conf Semis

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Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
George Mikan	60	-	28.3	-	-	-	3.6	-	-	-	4.3	9.7	23.4	.416	-	-	-	8.9	11.5	.772
Jeff Ruland	82	27.0	14.4	3.1	6.2	9.3	1.6	0.5	0.7	2.9	3.9	5.1	9.1	.561	0.0	0.0	.333	4.2	5.5	.752
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
George Mikan	10	-	30.3	-	-	-	2.1	-	-	-	4.4	10.3	22.7	.454	-	-	-	9.7	12.1	.802
Jeff Ruland	7	33.9	17.0	4.1	5.3	9.4	0.7	0.4	0.6	3.3	3.4	5.4	11.3	.481	0.0	0.1	.000	6.1	8.0	.768

Season 2
	George Mikan	Jeff Ruland
Season	1949-50	1982-83
Team	Minneapolis Lakers	Washington Bullets
Honors & Awards	All-NBA First Team	-
	Scoring Leader	-
Playoffs	NBA Champion	Did Not Play

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Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
George Mikan	68	-	27.4	-	-	-	2.9	-	-	-	4.4	9.5	23.5	.407	-	-	-	8.3	10.7	.779
Jeff Ruland	79	36.2	19.4	3.7	7.3	11.0	3.0	0.9	1.0	3.8	3.9	7.3	13.3	.552	0.0	0.0	.333	4.7	6.9	.689
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
George Mikan	12	-	31.3	-	-	-	3.0	-	-	-	3.9	10.1	26.3	.383	-	-	-	11.2	14.2	.788
Jeff Ruland	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Season 3
	George Mikan	Jeff Ruland
Season	1950-51	1983-84
Team	Minneapolis Lakers	Washington Bullets
Honors & Awards	All-NBA First Team	-
	Scoring Leader	-
	All-Star Game	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Lakers Lost West Div Finals	Bullets Lost East Conf 1st Rd

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Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
George Mikan	68	-	28.4	-	-	14.1	3.1	-	-	-	4.5	10.0	23.3	.428	-	-	-	8.5	10.5	.803
Jeff Ruland	75	41.1	22.2	3.5	8.8	12.3	3.9	0.9	1.0	4.6	3.8	8.0	13.8	.579	0.0	0.1	.143	6.2	8.5	.733
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
George Mikan	7	-	24.0	-	-	10.6	1.3	-	-	-	3.6	8.9	21.7	.408	-	-	-	6.3	7.9	.800
Jeff Ruland	4	46.8	24.0	4.0	8.8	12.8	7.8	0.5	0.8	4.8	3.8	9.3	17.8	.521	0.0	0.3	.000	5.5	6.8	.815

Season 4
	George Mikan	Jeff Ruland
Season	1951-52	1984-85
Team	Minneapolis Lakers	Washington Bullets
Honors & Awards	All-NBA First Team	-
	All-Star Game	All-Star Game
Playoffs	NBA Champion	Bullets Lost East Conf 1st Rd

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Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
George Mikan	64	40.2	23.8	-	-	13.5	3.0	-	-	-	4.5	8.5	22.1	.385	-	-	-	6.8	8.7	.780
Jeff Ruland	37	38.8	18.9	3.4	7.6	11.1	4.4	0.8	0.7	4.8	3.5	6.8	11.9	.569	0.0	0.1	.000	5.4	7.9	.685
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
George Mikan	13	42.5	23.6	-	-	15.9	2.8	-	-	-	4.8	7.6	20.1	.379	-	-	-	8.4	10.6	.790
Jeff Ruland	4	40.5	17.5	3.0	5.5	8.5	5.3	2.3	1.0	5.8	3.8	7.0	11.8	.596	0.0	0.5	.000	3.5	5.0	.700

Season 5
	George Mikan	Jeff Ruland
Season	1952-53	1985-86
Team	Minneapolis Lakers	Washington Bullets
Honors & Awards	All-NBA First Team	-
	Rebounds Leader	-
	All-Star Game	-
	All-Star Game NVP	-
Playoffs	NBA Champion	Bullets Lost East Conf 1st Rd

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Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
George Mikan	70	37.9	20.6	-	-	14.4	2.9	-	-	-	4.1	7.1	17.9	.399	-	-	-	6.3	8.1	.780
Jeff Ruland	30	37.1	19.0	3.6	7.1	10.7	5.3	0.8	0.8	4.0	3.3	7.1	12.8	.554	0.0	0.1	.000	4.8	6.7	.725
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
George Mikan	12	38.6	19.8	-	-	15.4	1.9	-	-	-	4.7	6.5	17.8	.366	-	-	-	6.8	9.3	.732
Jeff Ruland	2	27.0	14.0	2.5	3.5	6.0	5.0	0.0	1.0	3.0	3.0	3.5	7.0	.500	0.0	0.0	-	7.0	8.5	.824

Season 6
	George Mikan	Jeff Ruland
Season	1953-54	1986-87
Team	Minneapolis Lakers	Philadelphia 76ers
Honors & Awards	All-NBA First Team	-
	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	NBA Champion	Did Not Play

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Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
George Mikan	72	32.8	18.1	-	-	14.3	2.4	-	-	-	3.7	6.1	16.1	.380	-	-	-	5.9	7.6	.777
Jeff Ruland	5	23.2	9.4	2.4	3.2	5.6	2.0	0.0	0.8	2.0	2.6	3.8	5.6	.679	0.0	0.0	-	1.8	2.4	.750
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
George Mikan	13	32.6	19.4	-	-	13.2	1.9	-	-	-	4.3	6.7	14.6	.458	-	-	-	6.0	7.4	.813
Jeff Ruland	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Note: George Mikan didn't play in 1954-55.

Note: Jeff Ruland didn't play in 1987-88, 1988-89, 1989-90 and 1990-91.