Who do you think will win the MVP award this season. I know who I would choose but I want to hear what you guys think first.
LeBron. With all these injuries at beginning of season for Lakers, the Lakers will be slow out of gate and with a tougher West, likely not make playoffs. With Kobe saying he will be passing more, his stats will be down.LeBron will still be a 32/7/7/2 guy who shoots a great percentage, and will lead team to a 1st-5th seed. To me that is just too much to screw him again.And for a darkhorse look at T-Mac. If the Rockets are a 50+ win team, and T-Mac is averaging around 30/7/6, and all of this after last year....I think he'd be a favorite.
If Kobe can lead his team to more than 50 wins, which they are capable of, he should win because he is the better player. If the Cavs overachieve and get a top 3 seed then I think LeBron should get it. If both things happen then it's going to be a VERY close vote and LeBron will probably win on popularity alone.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Nitro1118 @ Oct 23 2006, 11:19 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>LeBron. With all these injuries at beginning of season for Lakers, the Lakers will be slow out of gate and with a tougher West, likely not make playoffs. With Kobe saying he will be passing more, his stats will be down.LeBron will still be a 32/7/7/2 guy who shoots a great percentage, and will lead team to a 1st-5th seed. To me that is just too much to screw him again.And for a darkhorse look at T-Mac. If the Rockets are a 50+ win team, and T-Mac is averaging around 30/7/6, and all of this after last year....I think he'd be a favorite.</div>What are the chances that McGrady has that great of a season coming off of a year were he barley played? He will likely miss alot of time this season and I dont see his numbers being that good what so ever. I expect about 27/6/5 when he is healthy. Yao is becoming a great player and he is going to get a great deal of touches. Sure, Tracy will benefit from doubles on Yao, but I dont think Yao will be passing the ball out too much when he has it downlow. He is just too strong and dominant. I have to go with Lebron James as well. Due to the fact that Kobe just came off of a surgery, it scares me a little bit. I dont think his scoring will be nearly as high. Although, if he can lead the Lakers to a 50+ win season averaging over 30 a game, I could see him getting it just for the fact that Lebron will get several IMO in the future. If Kobe doesn't get one this season, its never going to happen. Not with all of the young talent the NBA has these days.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (ballerman2112 @ Oct 24 2006, 12:23 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>What are the chances that McGrady has that great of a season coming off of a year were he barley played? He will likely miss alot of time this season and I dont see his numbers being that good what so ever. I expect about 27/6/5 when he is healthy. Yao is becoming a great player and he is going to get a great deal of touches. Sure, Tracy will benefit from doubles on Yao, but I dont think Yao will be passing the ball out too much when he has it downlow. He is just too strong and dominant. I have to go with Lebron James as well. Due to the fact that Kobe just came off of a surgery, it scares me a little bit. I dont think his scoring will be nearly as high. Although, if he can lead the Lakers to a 50+ win season averaging over 30 a game, I could see him getting it just for the fact that Lebron will get several IMO in the future. If Kobe doesn't get one this season, its never going to happen. Not with all of the young talent the NBA has these days.</div>He will likely miss a lot of time? Like 4 out of the past 6 seasons he has played over 75 games, and in 2003-2004 he just quit at end of year and didn't play the last month. With Yao down low and more scoring options, he will either: A) Get doubled and get more assists, or, Get single covered and get around 30PPG on a good-very good shooting %.I agree, I don't think he will have nearly as much of a great scoring season this year. And again, with the injuries to him, Cook, Brown, etc.., they are really going to struggle for the first few weeks (which, in the West, will kill them).
Too early to tell.... its preseason....they both might get injured....Kobe might average 50ppg lebron might get a triple doub Yao might get 27 and 22 everygame. I will say once the season has started and they have played some meaningful games. Plus Ray Allen will win it haha
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Nitro1118 @ Oct 23 2006, 11:29 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>He will likely miss a lot of time? Like 4 out of the past 6 seasons he has played over 75 games, and in 2003-2004 he just quit at end of year and didn't play the last month. With Yao down low and more scoring options, he will either: A) Get doubled and get more assists, or, Get single covered and get around 30PPG on a good-very good shooting %.I agree, I don't think he will have nearly as much of a great scoring season this year. And again, with the injuries to him, Cook, Brown, etc.., they are really going to struggle for the first few weeks (which, in the West, will kill them).</div>The big standout to me is last season when he only played 47 games. I know we have been over this, but IMO, his injury is something that is going to be reoccuring. And if he doesn't miss as many games, he will be playing somewhat injured and his productivity will not be as high. The first option that you say is very possible. Yao is going to have a great year and I expect him to score juast as much as Tracy. If both players stay healthy, this will be the highest scoring duo in the NBA...no doubt. 30 PPG for Tracy as of right now just kinda seems out of reach. His highest ppg in a season was 32 a few years ago. Those were great numbers, but this was also a time were he played for Orlando and was the only player on that team to score. He had to do more for them and it reflected when he brought home the scoring title. Since that season, his PPG have gone down every year I do believe. Now, if he is fully healthy this season, I think he is capable of averaging up to around 27 ppg, but im not sure he will be fully healthy. I guess that we will just have to wait and see. For his sake, and the NBA's sake, I sure hope Tracy stays healthy.Totally agreed about the Lakers. Mihm is also out so they are really going to struggle down low. I do however like the trio of Kobe, Odom, and Vlad. I really think that he is going to progress in a Lakers uniform. He is going to get alot of open looks. Not just from Kobe, but from lamar as well. Lamars defenders always seem to have their handful with him because he causes so many problems for the defense with his versatility. Also, Smush should have a decent year. He has more experience and a great deal of athletic ability. His jumpshot is not too shabby as well. Hopefully, Mihm and Brown come back soon before they are in too deep of a hole to come back. The West this year is very strong.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (ballerman2112 @ Oct 24 2006, 12:41 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>The big standout to me is last season when he only played 47 games. I know we have been over this, but IMO, his injury is something that is going to be reoccuring. And if he doesn't miss as many games, he will be playing somewhat injured and his productivity will not be as high. The first option that you say is very possible. Yao is going to have a great year and I expect him to score juast as much as Tracy. If both players stay healthy, this will be the highest scoring duo in the NBA...no doubt. 30 PPG for Tracy as of right now just kinda seems out of reach. His highest ppg in a season was 32 a few years ago. Those were great numbers, but this was also a time were he played for Orlando and was the only player on that team to score. He had to do more for them and it reflected when he brought home the scoring title. Since that season, his PPG have gone down every year I do believe. Now, if he is fully healthy this season, I think he is capable of averaging up to around 27 ppg, but im not sure he will be fully healthy. I guess that we will just have to wait and see. For his sake, and the NBA's sake, I sure hope Tracy stays healthy.Totally agreed about the Lakers. Mihm is also out so they are really going to struggle down low. I do however like the trio of Kobe, Odom, and Vlad. I really think that he is going to progress in a Lakers uniform. He is going to get alot of open looks. Not just from Kobe, but from lamar as well. Lamars defenders always seem to have their handful with him because he causes so many problems for the defense with his versatility. Also, Smush should have a decent year. He has more experience and a great deal of athletic ability. His jumpshot is not too shabby as well. Hopefully, Mihm and Brown come back soon before they are in too deep of a hole to come back. The West this year is very strong.</div>Yeah, I'm not getting into that again, but I do agree I want Tracy healthy as he is a top 5 caliber player when healthy. We will all have to wait and see.Agreed, but even if healthy, they will have to deal with the Jazz, Hornets and Rockets, 3 teams they didn't need to really deal with much last year. And Kings, with a full season of Artest, will be better.
The Jazz also have alot of question marks in my opinion. They have alot of talent but 2 of their best players are injured quite a bit in AK47 and Boozer. Boozer missed the majority of last year and AK missed over 20 games at least(im pretty sure anyways). Deron Williams should be getting better and if I remember correctly, they had a pretty decent draft as well. If healthy, I think this Jazz team could do some real damage in the regular season. I would put them and the kings on the same level. If the Rockets are healthy for the entire season, they are a top 5 seed for me no doubt.
I am sticking with Duncan on this one. The myth that the Spurs have all of a sudden become too old to compete with the elite combined with the nagging injuries TD played through last season will IMO in the end benefit him in this race when he will "surprise" quite a few voters by returning to his typical performance and leading the Spurs to another 60 win season. Nash: The improvement on the bench will allow the team to rest him more often for the postseason which means he won't be required to carry the team as much/often.Kobe: injuries + period of adjustment will take away one of their biggest strengths going into the season in early home favored schedule which will force the Lakers to make a late run at the playoffs with a more road heavy schedule.Lebron: Though it is hard to pick against Bron for numerous reason (specially how the media drools over the guy) but I see them finishing 3rd in their division behind Detroit and Chicago and I can't honestly justify picking someone for MVP whose team finishes 3rd in their own division.top 5 voting1. TD2. Lebron3. Dirk 4. Nash5. Kobe
definitely an odd way to look at things but I sure as hell hope you are right. You are probably going to get alot of critsizm on this one but now that I think about it, Duncan is a sleeper. When Duncan won the MVP awards before, it wasnt because of his amazingly great statistics, but more from the fact that he led his team to a great season. I think that if the Spurs take the first seed in the West(which is doubtful), I could see him having a chance I supposse. Although, he is going to have to be 100 percent healthy, and play like he did agaisnt Dallas in the playoffs. Not necessarilly the same stats....but with the same hunger and determination.
He won't get MVP. Not with Parker averaging 18PPG on 50%+ shooting, Ginobli with his play, and of course all the role players.
