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Authored by Brandon Hoffman - 19th April, 2008 - 12:08 am
The Most Valuable Player is presented to the NBA player who receives the highest point total from a panel of chosen sportswriters. These sportswriters cast a vote for their first, second, and third place selections. First place votes receive five points, second place is worth three points, and third place is worth one point. The player who receives the highest point total is then awarded the distinction of Most Valuable Player.
The MVP has historically gone to the best player on one of the teams with the top record in the NBA. No player whose team has won less than 50 games has won the award in the past 25 years.
The Most Valuable Player Award is one of the greatest honors in basketball. It should be regarded with distinction. It shouldn't be a popularity contest controlled by PR much like the ridiculousness that has become the NBA All-Star Game.
The distinction of MVP should not blindly award the best player on the best team. The voting panel needs to do their job or a new committee or criteria should be developed in order to guarantee that the NBA player who is of the most value to his team receives the credit that he rightly deserves.
Team success should not be the barometer by which an individual player is considered to be of most value to his team. Rather than award the title of Most Valuable Player to the best player on the top team, it should go to the NBA player who is of most value to his particular team, with less significance placed upon that team’s win-loss record. Basketball is a team sport. No one player can win consistently without the luxury of a quality-supporting cast.
The value of a great player encompasses a myriad of basketball intangibles that sadly, are not always guarantors of victories.
Nowhere is this more evident than the Most Valuable Player Award tallies of Wilt Chamberlain and Bill Russell. Bill Russell won the MVP award in 1958, 1961, 1962, 1963, and 1965. The Celtics won the NBA championship in every one of those seasons but 1958.
Wilt Chamberlain didn’t enter the NBA until the year after Russell won his first MVP. Chamberlain was MVP in 1960, his rookie season, and again in 1966, 1967, 1968. Wilt was 1st team All-NBA every season he was MVP.
Not surprisingly, Russell was 2nd team All-NBA in three of his five MVP seasons.
Every year that Russell won MVP and Wilt was in the league, Chamberlain led the NBA in scoring, rebounding, and was at or near the top in field goal percentage. Wilt averaged 50 points and 25 rebounds in 1962 and the MVP went to Bill Russell!
So why did Bill Russell rack up all of those MVP’s?
Because Russell was surrounded by seven-future Hall of Famers during his eleven-year career: forwards Frank Ramsay, Tom Heinsohn, Jim Loscutoff, and guards Bill Sharman, K.C. Jones, John Havlicek, and Bob Cousy and the Celtics won eleven NBA championships during Russell’s thirteen year career.
Chamberlain’s teams were never as adept from top to bottom as Russell’s. Despite the lack of talent surrounding him, Wilt managed to lead his team to six NBA Finals appearances. Four of those appearances ended in defeat at the hands of Bill Russell and the Celtics.
Russell was the defensive anchor of those championship Celtic teams and was probably the most important element to their success but Wilt Chamberlain was always of more value to his team than Russell was to Boston. Russell had the luxury of proven playmakers and scorers to shoulder the burden. Red Aurbach surrounded Russell with players who knew their role and complimented one another perfectly.
Wilt was never afforded the same benefit. Chamberlain was forced to assume practically all of the scoring, rebounding, and defensive workloads in order for his teams to attempt to compete at Boston’s championship level. His teams were never as good as Russell’s but they were always championship contenders because of Wilt.
The MVP award should have gone to Chamberlain each year that he was able to lift his team to excellence. Wilt deserved the MVP that Russell won in 1961 and 1962, the years he was 1st team All-NBA and dominated the NBA.
Chamberlain’s basketball mastery was such that he could have gone to any NBA team and made them a title contender due to his complete offensive and defensive dominance. Hypothetically, if he had been afforded a spot on Boston’s championship roster there is little doubt that he would have been capable of meeting and more than likely exceeding Russell’s production. Furthermore, if Chamberlain and Russell were subtracted from their respective teams, Wilt’s would have languished in obscurity while Russell’s Hall of Fame teammates would have undoubtedly continued to compete for NBA titles.
The awarding of Most Valuable Player has always been flawed due to the voting panel’s total lack of naivety concerning one player’s impact upon their team’s success. Michael Jordan is the almost consensus pick for greatest player ever but even he failed to win the award consistently until he was surrounded by a championship caliber supporting cast and the Bulls begun to win championships. Jordan was recipient of the MVP fives times but only one of those honors came in a season in which the Bulls failed to win the title.
MJ’s first MVP honor came in the 1987-1988 season. The Bulls were a mediocre team that season but their mediocrity had nothing to do with MJ’s value. Not only did he capture the NBA’s Most Valuable Player Award but he snagged the Defensive Player of the Year Award as well. Despite the championship success of Magic Johnson’s Los Angeles Lakers and the great teams led by the likes of Larry Bird and Isiah Thomas, MJ was awarded for being of more value to his team than those players were to theirs.
Lamentably, this season was a rarity in the history of the MVP.
Recent award winners are glorified mainly for their team’s win-loss record with little to no attention paid to that player’s defensive ability, offensive system, or the talent surrounding him.
Steve Nash has played brilliantly since he signed with Phoenix. He was crowned the MVP in 2005 and 2006 and statistically improved upon those campaigns in 2007.
Despite Phoenix’s recent success, I don’t think Steve Nash was deserving of the title of Most Valuable Player in each of his MVP seasons. Nash was without a doubt very valuable to his team but Shaq and Kobe were far more valuable to theirs in 2005 and 2006. They were swindled in much the same fashion Chamberlain was.
The trade of Shaquille O’Neal to the Miami Heat before the start of the 2004 season had a tidal wave effect in the Eastern Conference. The pairing of Shaq and Dwyane Wade surpassed early expectations as they quickly claimed the best record in the Eastern Conference. Miami marched to the Eastern Conference Finals where they were defeated by the Pistons in a tightly contested Game 7. Shaquille resurrected that franchise. The Heat won 17 more games in 2004 than they did in 2003. O’Neal made them winners and for that he should have been the Most Valuable Player. If Shaq had not been traded, Miami likely would have been a 7 or 8 playoff seed that season and certainly wouldn’t have won the championship the following year.
The 2005-2006 season was highlighted by some of the greatest individual performances the NBA has ever seen. Kobe Bryant won the league's scoring title, averaging 35.4 points, the most since Michael Jordan’s 37.1 average in the 1986-1987 season. Bryant was spectacular. He tallied 62 points in only three quarters of play against what would be the NBA Finals runner up Dallas Mavericks , outscoring the entire Mavs team by himself, 62-61. Kobe also scored 81 vs. Toronto on January 22nd, 2006.
Bryant carried his team to an eleven-game improvement over the previous season and a 7th seed playoff birth in a very competitive Western Conference – without the support of a championship caliber supporting cast.
Unfortunately, it was Kobe’s much maligned reputation which kept him from being awarded MVP that season. He finished fourth-place in the voting for MVP but received 22 first place votes, second only to winner Steve Nash.
Amazingly enough, Steve Nash would be robbed of the MVP in the season he deserved it most. Despite leading the Suns to another stellar season and improving his shooting percentage and assists averages, Dirk Nowitzki was awarded the MVP in 2007. Dirk had a fabulous season but Nash deserved that MVP. Both Nash and Dirk were instrumental in their team’s success and were surrounded by quality supporting casts but it was Nash that provided the spokes that made the wheels on that run n’ gun attack go round.
Why didn’t he receive it?
Because it would have been his third straight, placing him alongside three straight MVP award winners Larry Bird and Bill Russell, a place in history in which the voters knew he didn’t belong.
Kevin Garnett, Chris Paul, and LeBron James are worthy candidates this season but Kobe Bryant deserves the 2008 Most Valuable Player Award.
Why?
Let’s start with why not.
- Kevin Garnett
KG resurrected the Boston Celtics franchise. The Celtics won 42 more games this season than they did the season prior. He completely changed the culture of his team, especially on the defensive end. For that, he deserves Defensive Player of the Year but not MVP.
Garnett doesn’t play with seven future Hall of Famers like Bill Russell did but he does play with two PERENNIAL All-Stars in Paul Pierce and Ray Allen. While he deserves more credit than those two for Boston’s success, I would argue that those two combined are equally or more valuable to his team’s success as he his. I don’t think the same argument can be made for Kobe, LeBron, or Chris Paul’s teams.
Kevin was injured in 10 games this season and the Celtics managed a 7-3 record without him. With one of those victories coming against the defending champion San Antonio Spurs .
While the Celtics have played extremely well this season and own the NBA’s best record, they also play in the inferior Eastern Conference. Yes, the Celtics have played very well against the West this season, 25-5 to be exact, that is a very small sample size and they went 2-3 in their longest Western road trip of the season, with all three of those losses coming in succession and against Western powers the Nuggets, Warriors, and Suns.
Forty-one of Boston’s NBA best 66 victories came against the Eastern Conference which like it or not, takes away from the impressiveness of their season.
- LeBron James
James had the most statistically dominating season of this year’s MVP candidates. LeBron averaged 30 points, 8 rebounds, and 7 assists this season. Evoking memories of Michael Jordan’s 1989 season in which ‘His Airness’ averaged 33 points, 8 rebounds, and 8 assists. Jordan didn’t win the MVP that year and LeBron won’t win it this year.
Unfortunately for LeBron, his team’s success is eerily similar to the Jordan’s Bulls that season. The Bulls were 47-35 that season and ended up the 5th seed in their own division. The Cavs finished this year 45-37. I know what you’re thinking, but Kobe’s 2005 Laker team only won 45 games and you said he deserved the MVP that year. True, but that Laker team played in a much tougher conference and while the Cavs lack talent they don’t start Smush Parker or Kwame Brown – two players who can’t get off the bench for the NBA’s doormat teams this season.
LeBron has the numbers to justify MVP but I think he has taken a step backwards in terms of making the players around him better. He is dominating the basketball more than ever and more often than not, his teammates are forced to sit and watch him.
- Chris Paul
Chris Paul has played fantastic for the New Orleans Hornets . Paul became the first player in NBA history to average 20 points, 10 assists, and 3 steals this season.
But the notion that he plays with no one worth mentioning is false. Yes, David West made the All-Star team for the first time this year but he only averaged 3 more points and 1 more rebound than he did last year. Peja Stojakovic is a 3-time NBA All-Star and probably the second best shooter in the NBA. Tyson Chandler is in the top five in rebounds and while Paul is a great passer, it doesn’t hurt to have a player like Tyson who can go up and grab anything in the vicinity of the basket.
New Orleans has a thin bench but all five of their starters have played at least 76 games.
Kobe and Paul were neck and neck down to the wire. I believe they were equally valuable to their teams. Each was blessed with a quality supporting cast and both led their teams to successful seasons. The only thing that separated the two, in my opinion, was record.
The Los Angeles Lakers have the better record, so Kobe gets the nod.
- Kobe Bryant
There’s no clear cut criteria for the MVP award and the voters have historically been wrong more than they’ve been right.
Is it the best all-around player in the NBA? Is it the best player on one of the top team’s in the league? Is it the player who is most valuable to his team’s success?
Kobe fits all of the above and then some.
Bryant made his teammates better and led them offensively and defensively the entire season. While he was rewarded with a better supporting cast, he didn’t play with two All-Star caliber players like Garnett and his team was anything but injury free like Chris Paul’s Hornets.
Bryant has had better statistical seasons but he’s never played this well within a team concept. The Pau Gasol trade was crucial in the Lakers success this season but Los Angeles was 25-11 before Andrew Bynum went down on January 13th. The Lakers acquired Pau on February 1st and went 12-3 over their next 15 and Kobe Bryant should receive credit for meshing his skills with Pau Gasol’s.
Yes, Pau Gasol was a very good player before coming to the Lakers but he has only been an All-Star once in his 7 year career. Kobe made Pau a better player.
Yes, Andrew Bynum has loads of potential but none of that was realized until this season. Kobe Bryant made Andrew Bynum a better player.
Derek Fisher is a veteran but he’s never been an All-Star. Neither has Lamar Odom.
Kobe Bryant made all of those guys better. He instilled confidence in the Lakers bench.
His numbers weren’t as impressive as LeBron’s, and he didn’t average 35 like he did two seasons ago. Kobe sacrificed some of his individual talent for the better of his team.
The Los Angeles Lakers ’ record wasn’t as good as Boston’s but he led the Lakers to the #1 seed in the most competitive conference in NBA history.
Bryant has been the best player in the NBA for the past five seasons but he is this year’s Most Valuable Player. |
