I was thinking about the contenders thus far for NBA MVP (prompted by a Bill Simmons article on ESPN.com and this is what I came up with. (no specific order) 1. KG - really, Im just including him on the list for past performance and out fo respect. SO far this season he hasnt merited inclusion on the list. 2. Duncan - Nothing special this year just a typical DUncan year which is good enough for MVP consideration any year. 3. Steve Nash (does this guy have a nickname?) - Has lead the Suns to be one of the Best teams in the NBA so far this year and definetly one of the more surprising. He has been the best PG in the NBA so far this year (sorry Stephon) and has done a great job with the young Suns talent. Only argument agianst him is that he is a serious defensive liability. To borrow Bill Simmons (ESPN.com, the Mag) analogy it would be like voting a DH MVP in baseball. you gotta contibute on both sides of the ball. 4. Dirk Nowitzki - Keeping a disheveled and worsened Dallas team in the top of the Western conference (22-10 4th in the western conference on January 11th). Playing with the same heart he did for the German team at the Olympics. 5. Dwayne Wade - Played amazingly this season and has really stepped it up when Shaq has been injured. Plus no one has been better at the end of games this year than Wade. 6. Amare Stoudamire - He riminds me of Moses Malone. Jumped from High School and is close to having a monster season like Moses had 30/15. 7. LeBron James - My personal choice for MVP is leading a Cavs team with 2 other decent player and two players that should be starting in the NBA towards a 54, 55 win season albeit in the East. Stat-wise only 4 other player have ever averaged 24,7,7 in a season: Havlichek, Bird, MJ (2) and Oscar Robertson (6). http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story...=simmons/050111
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Jwohl:</div><div class="quote_post">I was thinking about the contenders thus far for NBA MVP (prompted by a Bill Simmons article on ESPN.com and this is what I came up with. (no specific order) 1. KG - really, Im just including him on the list for past performance and out fo respect. SO far this season he hasnt merited inclusion on the list. 2. Duncan - Nothing special this year just a typical DUncan year which is good enough for MVP consideration any year. 3. Steve Nash (does this guy have a nickname?) - Has lead the Suns to be one of the Best teams in the NBA so far this year and definetly one of the more surprising. He has been the best PG in the NBA so far this year (sorry Stephon) and has done a great job with the young Suns talent. Only argument agianst him is that he is a serious defensive liability. To borrow Bill Simmons (ESPN.com, the Mag) analogy it would be like voting a DH MVP in baseball. you gotta contibute on both sides of the ball. 4. Dirk Nowitzki - Keeping a disheveled and worsened Dallas team in the top of the Western conference (22-10 4th in the western conference on January 11th). Playing with the same heart he did for the German team at the Olympics. 5. Dwayne Wade - Played amazingly this season and has really stepped it up when Shaq has been injured. Plus no one has been better at the end of games this year than Wade. 6. Amare Stoudamire - He riminds me of Moses Malone. Jumped from High School and is close to having a monster season like Moses had 30/15. 7. LeBron James - My personal choice for MVP is leading a Cavs team with 2 other decent player and two players that should be starting in the NBA towards a 54, 55 win season albeit in the East. Stat-wise only 4 other player have ever averaged 24,7,7 in a season: Havlichek, Bird, MJ (2) and Oscar Robertson (6). http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story...=simmons/050111</div> to say that Dallas is worse and disheveled is a bit harsh, so they lost nash, but now we have some defence in dampier, harris is proven to be a good rookie. Nowitzki is on fire in the scoring department, and howard is showing he is one of the biggest steals in the draft last year.
Not a bad list, all of those guys are in contention somewhat. But the voting is usually going to be between one to three players. Here are my three as of right now. Steve Nash- He is leading the League leader in win Suns to victory after victory. His passing skills are amazing, and without him that tean would be at about .500 record. They have so much talent, and now they have found a guy that will always dish it before shooting; although, he has a wicked three. Kevin Garnett- I don't think any of us expected for the Wolves to be so bad this year, but Kevin Garnett is the same old star. He is leading the League in rebounds, and is the only player that is giving the Wolves any hope right now. LeBron James- Why don't we just look at the Cavaliers last year record to this year. James is the obvious reason for Cleveland's success. He puts up close to triple-doubles every night. This kid will just keep getting better and better.
The Pistons-Pacers brawl has a had a big impact on the Cavs seeding this year though. Cavs are defenitely not a #2 seed in the East, but they are taking advantage. MVP = Steve Nash Pure and simple. Not only is he putting up pretty good numbers, he makes everyone around him better, and if you really want to use records, Phoenix should be the team to look at.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Bobcats:</div><div class="quote_post">MVP = Steve Nash Pure and simple. Not only is he putting up pretty good numbers, he makes everyone around him better, and if you really want to use records, Phoenix should be the team to look at.</div> Thats very true, Nash is making scrubs look like decent players (ex: Steven Hunter has had some good games). KG is having a good season personally, but his team is struggling. Thats always a huge factor to consider, and usually team success determines a lot when coming to deciding upon an MVP. Kobe is having a pretty good season as well, but he's not mentioned because his Lakers are struggling. (Same applies for KG, and because of that I don't think either player deserves to be on the list for MVP. Team success should outweigh personal stats) Lebron has elevated his game, and he has the Cavs leading their division. Without him, they just look like a JV basketball team. (Gooden was a nice addition and Lebron has an average supporting cast, but he plays like an MVP every single night. No love for Amare? (Should be ranked higher..) He's turned into a beast - plain and simple.
what about Kobe? he's averaging the same as lebron in assists and rebouns but kobe leads in points per game. plus he also leads the league in triple doubles.
He's also breaking records in terms of turnovers and shooting a very average 40%. His team also isn't good enough for him to be even considered for MVP. It's not that hard to get loads of assists when you dominate the ball as much as Kobe does. Steve Nash has the Suns 31-4 so he would be the obvious pick, he is the engine that drives that team. 11 assists per game, can't get much better than that.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting The_Game46:</div><div class="quote_post">Man duncan deserve that MVP more than nash Nash got betta record but duncan has better numbers!</div> If you're going by numbers, then what about Allen Iverson? He's putting up about 28 points per game along with 7 assists. Then theres Kobe and others averaging good numbers. What about Tracy McGrady of last year? He put up great numbers too (28 points, 5.5 assists, 6 rebounds). Team success has more to do with MVP than 'better numbers.' Allnet said it best: <div class="quote_poster">Quoting Allnet:</div><div class="quote_post">Steve Nash has the Suns 31-4 so he would be the obvious pick, he is the engine that drives that team.</div>
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting yanix:</div><div class="quote_post">what about Kobe? he's averaging the same as lebron in assists and rebouns but kobe leads in points per game. plus he also leads the league in triple doubles.</div> Yanix, Just in case you didnt know MVP stands for Most Valuable Player. How valuable can a player be when he forces out the most dominant player in the game one of the best coaches and then his team ends up with a 18-14 record. Last year when they had 18 wins they had 3 losses!! Plus Kobe has way more around him than Lebron and the Cavs are still better!!
MVP Voting(no-order) 1.Tim Duncan 2. Steve Nash 3. Dwyane Wade 4. Shaquille O Neal 5. LeBron James I highly doubt that they will give it to Steve NAsh or Dwyane Wade even though they are a canditate in a lot of peoples eyes. Just too many people underrate NAsh and overrate Amare, it isnt happenening. If any one on the Heat gets it it will be Shaq, and if Duncans team has the best in the league and he will get and LEBRon getting rthe award will attract a lot of publicity. Amare in my mind is just gettign most of his points from Nash. Amare ISNT even averaging a doulbe double. HE should, it's because NAsh doesn't help his rebounding, NAsh helps his scoring off the fast breaks and such. Nash is more deserving than Amare, but if anyone on the Suns get it, it will be Amare. These votes are never right.
Kobe as an MVP candidate is a joke. so is Mcgrady. KG shockingly enough isnt much better. This year theres just plenty of guys putting up great numbers theyre going to give it to someone from one of the best teams in the league. Deffinetly Nash or Amare have to be front runners as must Duncan. Dirk is up there and maybe D-wade. I think Ray Allen could be a sleeper here if the Sonics finish with close to the best record in the NBA. Definetly one of the most indespensable players in the west righnow
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Jwohl:</div><div class="quote_post">Yanix, Just in case you didnt know MVP stands for Most Valuable Player. How valuable can a player be when he forces out the most dominant player in the game one of the best coaches and then his team ends up with a 18-14 record. Last year when they had 18 wins they had 3 losses!! Plus Kobe has way more around him than Lebron and the Cavs are still better!!</div> you're arguments about kobe forcing out shaq ang phil makes no sense at all. were talking about game performances here not off-court issues. and the Cav's being better than the Lakers is arguable since the Cavs play in the east.
Right now, the ones who deserve most consideration are Nash, Nowitzki, Duncan, LeBron, Shaq, and Wade. Garnett is putting up the best numbers and produces more than anyone in the league, but his team isn't struggling right now so he's out of the running. I say Nash is more valuable right now to the Suns than Staudamire, and Shaq and Wade are equal partners in Miami. Ultimately, Nash and Staudamire will take away votes from eachother, as will Shaq and Wade, so it will be between Nowitzki, Duncan, and LeBron. I'll go with LeBron. If Lebron does win, would that make him the youngest MVP ever? I'm pretty sure it would. It might even make him the youngest in any professional American sport, which would be quite an accomplishment.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Jwohl:</div><div class="quote_post">Yanix, Just in case you didnt know MVP stands for Most Valuable Player. How valuable can a player be when he forces out the most dominant player in the game one of the best coaches and then his team ends up with a 18-14 record. Last year when they had 18 wins they had 3 losses!! Plus Kobe has way more around him than Lebron and the Cavs are still better!!</div> Well see who's betetr thursday.
Without Nash, the Suns are still a talented team. They are succedding right now by playing well as a team. Lebron is the only reason the Cavs are winning ball games! Without him, the Cavs are garbage. He is undoubtably the MVP this year. IMO, the gap between him and the next best candidate for MVP (Nash) isn't even close.
Ray Allen has definetly more shot to MVP title just now than Iverson, Kobe, McGrady - because individual statistics and flashy play aren't just enough to win MVP award.
Some On-Court/Off-Court numbers (as of 1/12/05) for the candidates, for whatever they're worth. Nash: +14.6 on court, +3.6 off court (+11 net) Staudemire: +13.7 on court, +4.7 off court (+9 net) Garnett: +5.1 on court, -10.9 off court (+16 net) Bryant: +2.5 on court, -13.7 off court (+16.2 net) Duncan: +16.1 on court, -1 off court (+17.1 net) Wade: +7 on court, -2.6 off court (+9.7 net) S. Oneal: +5.1 on court, +4 off court (+1.1 net) Ray Allen: +7.7 on court, -9.9 off court (+17.6 net) Nowitzki: +12.3 on court, -13.5 off court (+25.8 net) L. James: +6.2 on court, -6.4 off court (+12.7 net) Based on that, I'd have to vote for Nowitzki. That's just an amazing point differential. Ray Allen's is also very surprising, and he's not getting very much attention at all as an MVP candidate. Duncan is also doing his thing in San Antonio. Both Garnett and Bryant seem to be carrying their teams right now, and they should get some recognition for that as well.
Suns My problem with voting either Amare or Nash MVP is that they have each other and so much other talent around them. If you took one of them away you still have a playoff caliber team. Without LBJ the cavs are back to where they were two years ago, the worst or second worst in the league. Ira Newble has started the majority of the games for them at SG. Ira Newble wouldnt be in the Suns rotation and definetly not a starter. What LBJ has done with the Cavs is tremendous and thats why he is the MVP thus far this season.
