(All week long, leading up to the playoffs I’ll be filling out my own season-ending awards. We start with the big one, the MVP)
Brandon Roy, hands down.
Sike.
I don’t know about you but I am more than pleased with the fact that we can actually have a legit discussion about the MVP this year. After the Dirk Debacle last year, where we essentially had to hand it to him and convince ourselves he was deserving, it is refreshing to have engaged in a year-long debate.
The MVP is the ultimate achievement an individual can get in the NBA. After 82 games, someone gets rewarded and forever will be etched in stone as the best player for that year. Everyone has their different interpretations on the award, and it tends to vary on the year. Some look at the best player on the best team, others look at the guy who has just made everyone around him better, others look at he best
Now I don’t know about you but I am more than pleased with that we can actually have a legit discussion about the MVP this year. At the beginning of the year, the MVP was going to be Kevin Garnett. About a month ago the discussion involved up to 6 players (depending on who you ask). And today it is a two-person race.
But here we stand with under a week until the playoffs start and no one is the clear-cut, unanimous MVP. Generally speaking when it comes to the MVP, people tend to want to give a look to the best player on the best team. Unfortunately what is working against KG are his two superstar teammates and the fact that it is almost impossible to win the MVP and have been hurt during the year. Especially if you consider the fact that the Celtics kept winning without him. He has to get props for breathing life into Boston and convincing people on his team to play defense. Also, if you’re one of those people who argues that the MVP is the guy who makes everyone around him better…you’d probably still pencil KG in. Look at how he’s got all of those bench guys playing.
So then you want to look at who is having the best year statistically. That would be Mr. LeBron James. What works for him is also what works against him: his teammates. It can be argued that he has done a tremendous job getting 30, 7 and 7 and carrying a sorry Cleveland team to the #4 seed. But then again it could be argued that they are the #4 seed in the East for a reason. Consider this stat if you want to puncture the LBJ argument: the last 25+ years the MVP has gone to a player on a 50+ win team. Plus the Cavs have lost to the Bulls twice in a week or so which is pretty unacceptable for an MVP. Especially when you have the kind of monster first quarter that LBJ had in Chicago.
If you’re like me and you take the definition literally, you talk about who is actually the most valuable to their team. This is the argument I always made with my dad when I kept picking Allen Iverson when he was with the Sixers and T-Mac when he was with the Magic. I got laughed at repeatedly. Again, this can be used to argue in T-Mac’s favor. We all know he is not going to win, but the facts are out there. Give Adelman and the role players their due, but T-Mac is a big reason why the Rockets not only did not die but actually improved once Yao went down.
All of that does not matter. The MVP is going to either Chris Paul or Kobe Bryant. Case closed. For years now people have been clamoring for Kobe to be the MVP, the only problem is that the Lakers have not been winning enough. And when they were Shaq was the alpha male. Well the Lakers are finally winning. Kirk Snyder essentially was quoted as saying that Kobe was ‘perfect’. His talent is just ridiculous. Add to that, Kobe himself is playing the most selfless basketball of his career. Not only that but he has played so well that everyone forgets he’s essentially playing with 3 fingers on his right hand. To gut through an injury that requires surgery and to still play at such a high-level is quite mindblowing when you think about it. He’s long been considered the best player in the league, not only by writers but by coaches and even his peers. Since the Lakers are one of the best teams in the West, there is no longer a reason to not give Kobe the MVP.
Easy there cowboy, not so fast. Here is my argument against Kobe winning the MVP.
If we’re going to finally give it to Kobe because the Lakers are finally winning…we have to look a little deeper. First off why are they winning? Is it because of Kobe magically sharing the ball more? No. As of today, Kobe is averaging 5.4 assists a game or exactly just as many as he averaged last season. And last season no one could have given the MVP to the Kobe because of their record. The Lakers are not just winning because of Kobe and his newfound passion for being a team player. They are winning because other guys stepped up. Early in the year it was the emergence of Andrew Bynum and the strong play from the bench that had the Lakers succeeding. When LA really took off was the robbery, I mean acquisition of Pau Gasol. Here are some stats:
- When Bynum initially went down on January 13th, the Lakers were 25-11.
- Without Bynum in the lineup the Lakers went 4-5.
- Then they acquired Pau Gasol and went 16-4 over their next 20 games.
- Pau went down with a sprained ankle and the Lakers went 5-5.
Now is the Lakers success all Kobe or is it because they have finally had a big man to help out. I don’t know about you, but looking at the those numbers above and just common sense, I truly believe the Lakers success this year can be attributed to Phil Jackson’s coaching, the emergence of the bench and Bynum/Gasol playing great. That’s not to say Kobe is not playing great basketball, just that he may not be the complete reason as to why the Lakers have jumped into the Elite teams in the West.
The argument against Chris Paul has been…well basically he isn’t Kobe. He hasn’t been in the league 12 years like Kobe. Seriously, in every MVP article or piece I have read about these two…I have yet to see anyone say Chris Paul is not having an MVP-type season. Instead they say Kobe ‘should’ win it or that he has to face ‘tougher defenses’ or that Paul will have plenty of years to win the MVP because he is so young. All of which strike me as pretty ridiculous. It also makes me laugh because I’m pretty sure everyone hated Kobe at least a couple years ago. I could be wrong.
Anyways, I’m not sure people are appreciating just how special what Chris Paul has done this year truly is. He is currently averaging 21.1 points and 11.6 assists, the latter leads the league. In the history of the NBA here are people who have had 20 point, 10+ assists seasons:
Oscar Robertson, Tiny Archibald, Magic Johnson, Isiah Thomas.
All four of those men are in the Hall of Fame. That’s right people, Chris Paul is having a HOF year. To have 20/10 would put him in some very elite company. It has to be pointed out that he is the main reason why the Hornets went from 39-43 last year, on the outside looking in and 4th in the Southwest Division to nearl
y 55 wins and as of right now the #1 spot in not only the toughest division in the L, but the #1 spot in the Western Conference. And even if that does not hold up (which in the Wild, Wild West is very possible) he still has to get credit for getting this team to 55+ victories in the toughest conference we’ve seen since the early 90s.
Many will point to the health of Peja, David West and Tyson Chandler as the reason why the Hornets are winning. That could very well be a valid point. However, despite their health Paul is making them better but also making the rest of his supporting cast better. Let’s face it, Paul has done much more with much less than what Kobe is working with. Say what you want but the Lakers are deep. Surrounding Kobe this year has been Gasol, Bynum, Odom, Luke Walton, Radmonovic, Vujacic, Derek Fisher and Jordan Farmar. That right there is a team that can go 9 or 10 deep with ease. New Orleans on the other hand relies on major minutes from Morris Petereson, Bonzi Wells, Jannero Pargo, Melvin Ely, Ryan Bowen and Hilton Armstrong. Need I say more?
Paul has made his teammates better and the statistics do not lie. David West has seen his numbers go from 18.3 points and 8.1 rebounds to 20.4 points and 9 rebounds this year. Tyson Chandler went from DOA in Chicago to showing life last year and is now averaging 11.8 points and rebounds, up from last year’s 9.5 points per game. Unbelievably, no one points out to the fact that Peja is shooting a career-high 44.6% from behind the arc. And this a Peja that people enjoy calling ‘past his prime’. How about the fact that Morris Peterson’s three point percentage is up from 35.9% last year to 39.1% this year, .004 percentage points from his career high? Anyone want to thank Chris Paul?
The same could be said that Kobe is really getting the most out guys like Vujacic and Farmar and has really boosted Bynum. However a guy like Luke Walton has actively gotten worse. And is it Kobe or the Triangle that is getting it to work? Just something to think about. People have never really called Byron Scott an offensive genius like they have Phil Jackson.
With all that being said….the winner is…. Chris Paul. I think he has just been absolutely magnificent from the beginning of the season till the end. Statistically he is having the type of season reserved for HOFers. The precedent is there. When Magic won his MVP in 87 he averaged 23.9 points and 12 assists. To me he is doing more than Kobe with less to work with. I just find those two facts, combined with the complete turnaround in New Orleans to be too much for me to just give it to Kobe. I find it shocking that people actually would need the Hornets to have the best record in the West for them to give it to Paul over Kobe. At the end of the day, no one remember who was second place. And I don’t believe that a year as great as CP3 has had deserves to simply be forgotten in the annals of time.