Awards: By royal decree, King James ends MVP debate
It's the argument that never ends. What does MVP mean? It's time to stop it. It's not that hard.
Stop trying to dissect, redefine, interpret and reinterpret what should be the simplest award in any sport. Don't get caught up in trivial matters such as the meaning of words. The ultimate team award in any sport is the championship trophy. It goes to whichever team wins the championship -- the team that had the best season. And so the greatest individual honor in any sport should be decided the same way. It should go to the player who had the best season.
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| The Cavs faithful think LeBron's competition should just throw in the towel. (Getty Images) |
You can try to parse the meaning of the award by offering whatever spin you like on the meaning of the word "valuable." But that is the ultimate subjective judgment. Year-end awards are always subjective by nature, but that doesn't mean I have to decide them based on hypotheticals. How do we know how good Cleveland would be without LeBron as compared to, say, how good the Heat would be without Dwyane Wade, the Magic would be without Dwight Howard, or the Thunder would be without Kevin Durant, for crying out loud? That's not the point. The point is, how good were these teams with their best player?
So, enough. The MVP trophy is the greatest individual honor, and it goes to the individual player who had the best season.
Pretty simple. That's why the MVP ballot I'm submitting to the NBA by 3 p.m. ET Thursday looks like this:
1. LeBron James
2. Dwyane Wade
3. Kobe Bryant
4. Chris Paul
5. Dwight Howard
LeBron was the most dominant force in the game by any measure -- individual statistics, team success and how those two were related. He imposed his will more than any other player on all aspects of the game -– halfcourt offense, halfcourt defense and transition. His team had the best record in the league, largely because of him.
You can carve up the statistics of my top three -- James, Wade and Bryant -- any way you like. They're comparable in most significant areas and divergent in every way you'd expect. (James, a small forward, was a better rebounder. Bryant, the perimeter assassin, was the best 3-point shooter. Wade, a great off-ball defender, was second only to Paul in steals.) Among them, the Big Three accounted for seven of the 10 50-point games in the league this season –- three apiece for James and Wade, one for Kobe. And Kobe's was the most memorable, the Roger Maris (61) he dropped at Madison Square Garden in February.
So with such closely matched statistical accomplishments, what should the tipping point be? It's a question I posed to all three of my finalists -- or was present when someone else posed it -- at one point or another this season. LeBron had the best answer.
"No idea," he said. "I'm glad I'm not on the board of selecting the MVP. There's a lot of MVP candidates out there -- myself and Kobe and Dwyane and Dwight and Chris Paul. There's a lot of guys. For me as an individual, I just try to put our team in position to win ballgames every time we go out there. And that's all I can do."
And that's what he did, better than anyone else in the NBA. He did it with his offense, his passing, his defense -- both on and off the ball -- and with his leadership, charisma, speed and brute force. I don't know how else to explain it, other than to say he was the best player in the league this season, and I defy anyone to tell me otherwise.
Here's the rest of my awards ballot for 2008-09:
Rookie of the Year
1. Derrick Rose, Bulls
2. O.J. Mayo, Grizzlies
3. Brook Lopez, Nets
Rose had the biggest impact of any rookie, starting at point guard from Day 1 and leading his team to the playoffs. Not only that, he kept the Bulls on course after a deadline trade that changed the offensive and locker room dynamics.
Russell Westbrook came on around midseason, but Mayo had the more consistent year, shot a higher percentage (overall and on threes), and toiled in just as much obscurity. I gave Lopez the slight edge over Minnesota's Kevin Love because he started more games, shot a higher percentage, and blocked more shots.
Coach of the Year
1. Rick Adelman, Rockets
2. Stan Van Gundy, Magic
3. George Karl, Nuggets
The Rockets started the season without Shane Battier, finished it without Tracy McGrady and made the whole Ron Artest thing work. If that doesn't earn you Coach of the Year honors, tell me what does.
Van Gundy got a talented, sometimes nonchalant group to focus on the details -- and didn't panic when Jameer Nelson went down. The Spurs' Gregg Popovich deserves plenty of consideration, especially considering the injuries to Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili and the way the coach seamlessly integrated Matt Bonner, Roger Mason, Ime Udoka and rookie George Hill into the most startlingly efficient -- if banged-up -- operation in the league. But my third vote goes to Karl, who had his hands full with Carmelo Anthony and J.R. Smith and who provided the most important part of the following equation: great point guard + great coach = team success.
Defensive Player of the Year
1. Dwight Howard, Magic
2. LeBron James, Cavaliers
3. Dwyane Wade, Heat
When you lead the league in rebounds and blocks, as Howard did, you have pretty much staked your claim to this award.
Battier should be on this list every year except this one; he missed too many games. Same for Kevin Garnett. So that opened my mind to some out-of-the-box thinking. For an award usually dominated by specialists, I'm going with great all-around players for my other two picks. According to 82games.com, LeBron led all the top contenders in defensive efficiency; when he was on the floor, the Cavs gave up 7.3 fewer points per 100 possessions than when he wasn't. Wade was the only player in the league with at least 100 blocks and 100 steals and became the first player 6-4 or shorter to record 100 blocks in a season.
Sixth Man Award
1. Jason Terry, Mavericks
2. Travis Outlaw, Trail Blazers
3. J.R. Smith, Nuggets
It's hard to average 20 points a game in the NBA; even harder when you come off the bench. Thus Terry (19.5 ppg) gets the nod.
You can't leave a member of the most productive bench in the league off your sixth-man ballot; thus, Portland's Outlaw slides into the two hole. Smith doesn't like coming off the bench in Denver, but there's no debating he's good at it. Smith had 18 20-point games, and sealed his status as a top sixth man with 45 Tuesday night against Sacramento. His play has been one of the biggest reasons the Chauncey Billups trade paid such lofty dividends.
Most Improved
1. Devin Harris, Nets
2. Danny Granger, Pacers
3. Paul Millsap, Jazz
If I'd been deciding this at the All-Star break, my first vote would've gone to Chris Duhon, who went from being a pariah in Chicago to a capable floor general in New York. But Duhon's nagging injuries and the dramatic drop in his production knocked him out of my top three.
The change of scenery and increased role in New Jersey certainly agreed with Harris, who increased his averages in all the major categories and earned his first All-Star nod. It's scary to contemplate where the Mavericks would be if they hadn't traded him.
Granger became the first player in NBA history to increase his scoring average by five or more points in three successive seasons. Without Millsap, the Jazz would've been dead in the water when Carlos Boozer went down.
One caveat: Nene deserves a nod here, considering he came back from testicular cancer and increased his scoring average (5.3 to 14.6) and rebounding average (5.4 to 7.8). But those numbers aren't dramatically higher than his averages two years ago (12.2 ppg and 7.0 rpg), so it's hard to justify a most-improved vote. If the NBA still awarded Comeback Player of the Year, Nene would've gotten my vote.
