We are almost at the halfway point of the NBA season, and I am already hearing the M-V-P chants when watching NBA games. We might as well get started on the MVP discussion.
The way I see it is that the race comes down to 4 players–Lebron James, Kobe Bryant, Chris Paul, Dwayne Wade–and it really only comes down to two of these guys–Lebron and Wade–with King James being crowned.
I know it is early and my “naysayers” will quickly point that it is too soon to have an MVP discussion, but the way these players are playing, it needs to be recognized and discussed.
When I come up with my criteria on who should be the MVP, I think of three questions in this order:
- What is the team’s record?
- What would the team be without this player?
- What are the stats?
What is the team’s record?
At this point in the season, the Lakers hold the best record in the league by a mere 1 game over the Cavaliers. If both of these teams stay on this winning percentage, they will win 68 games or just 2 games shy of the 70 win plateau, which has only been reached once in the history of the NBA by none other than His Airness and the Bulls.
What is a more astonishing fact, is Cleveland’s point differential margin. They are scoring 101.4 ppg but are only giving up 89.0 ppg, meaning they are beating teams by an average of about 12.4 ppg. ]On average, when the Cavs have taken the floor this year, it is an equivalent of a blowout. To compare it to the best record in the league, the Lakers are at about a 9 ppg differential or roughly 30% difference than the Cavs, a relatively large margin.
What would their team be without the MVP?
Terrible. Disgusting. Awful. Horrible. You are starting to get the point.
Checking the table below, you see the supporting cast for the 4 MVP candidates. Far and away, the Heat and Cavs have the worst talent surrounding them, and if I had to choose one between the Heat and Cavs, I would probably rather have the Cavs. Regardless, none of these teams would fare well without their superstars and goes to prove how worthy each of these guys are.
| Cavs | Lakers | Hornets | Heat |
|---|---|---|---|
| Illgauskus | Bynum | Chandler | Marion |
| Wallace | Gasol | West | Beasley |
| West | Odom | Peja | Chalmers |
| Mo Williams | Fisher | Peterson | Haslem |
| Gibson | Radmonovic | Butler | Cook |
| Varejao | Ariza | Posey | Anthony |
What are the stats?
| Candidate | PPG | RPG | APG | STL | BLK | TO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wade | 29.0 | 5.1 | 7.1 | 2.25 | 1.56 | 3.8 |
| James | 27.7 | 6.6 | 6.6 | 1.97 | 1.31 | 2.9 |
| Paul | 20.4 | 5.2 | 11.3 | 2.82 | .15 | 2.8 |
| Bryant | 27.0 | 5.3 | 4.6 | 1.39 | .36 | 2.8 |
Statistically speaking, it is difficult to break down these four great players and come out with a true winner, which is why I deem this category the least significant. Also, I believe stats are blown out of proportion by the media when coming up with these types of awards as I do not believe they evidence direct viewpoint of how good player is playing. Basketball can not be summed up by analyzing statistics like the sport of baseball can, there are too many factors involved (sounds to me like a future blog post).
Obviously, all of these players have great stats across the board, particularly in the position that they each individual plays (ie Paul with 11.3 APG). If I had to pick one that had the best stats, I would have to go with Wade. He leads the league in scoring, has a high number of APG, and is up there with steals and blocks.
All four of these players are having outstanding seasons, but do believe that Wade and James are a slight cut above the rest.
There is still plenty of games left to be played and a lot can happen before the playoffs start in April. If the season continues as it has, Lebron should be the MVP–his team has the 2nd best record in the league (just 1 win shy), they would be nothing without him and his stats are as good as any player out there.
In my book, that is the MVP. Get the crown fitted for the King.
Check out some highlights of Lebron so far this season.
Image Source: Nicekicks.com
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My two cents. Kobe isn’t the best player in the NBA. Chris Paul is. Then Lebron, Then Dwight Howard. Then you discuss everyone else.
Chris Paul is outrebounding Kobe this year when adjusted for pace, is significantly more efficient from the field in terms of ts%, has a steal rate roughly 1.5 times higher, and an assist rate more than double the Mamba’s.
It wasn’t close last year, it isn’t close this year. Chris Paul is much much better than Kobe.
The same is true of Dwight Howard. Yeah, he isn’t the entertainer Kobe is on the court, And he won’t ever have a 60 point game. But in terms of standard deviations from the mean he is probably the best athlete in the world (i.e. in terms of how unusually athletic he is at his height.) The Magic have the third best defense in the league this year and he is leading the league in blocks. Not that blocks matter much, but D-Ho has committed to defense this year and it is showing up big time in the numbers.
Take away Shaq, take away the LA spotlight, and Kobe is revealed as just another high quality NBA swingman with a knack for the spectacular. If he and Paul Pierce had had their roles reversed at the start of their careers, things would a lot different right now. Because in their careers they have posted roughly identical statistics in their career.
Yours,
Bitter Knicks Fan
First of all, two points: 1. I’m a Lakers fan. 2. I think LeBron is the MVP this year (assuming things go as they have).
However…I *don’t* think that statistics are ideal for comparing superstars. They’re good for comparing run-of-the-mill players, or even stars–the kind that each team has one or two of. Those players do not get junk defenses thrown at them, and they are, by and large, interchangeable (with perhaps change in level of performance, but not vast change in *kind*).
But the very top players, the ones that there are only four or five of in the league at any time, they play such different roles for their teams, and face such varied defenses and other tactics that statistics, even moneyball kinds of statistics, are simply on too uneven a platform to use reliably. I’m not sure what the right way to compare them is, but I’m pretty sure that straightforward statistical comparison–even the win-share kind of statistics–isn’t it.
creo que el mvp es para lebron james es el jugador mas completo de la nba y no tan solo eso el mvp se lo deben a se tiempo en el caso de kobe el tiene gente que lo pueden ayudar mejor que a lebron.lebron es un volcan que ahora esta empezando a explotar