I better give you a warning before I go much further, but I'm about to delve into some controversial stuff. If you know a lot about the NBA, you might not agree with me. The MVP was given to the wrong guy. Now, bare with me here. Forget about the preseason drama and the formation of the Galactic Empire in South Beach. Forget about any biases you might have towards one player or another, favorable or unfavorable. It would seem difficult but since I don't cheer for an NBA team and I just recently got re-interested in the game, I think I am the perfect candidate to unleash an unbiased account of how the MVP Award went down.
First, let me preface the discussion by eliminating a player many thought to be a contender but I believed did not have nearly the same kind of season as the other candidates. That player is Kobe Bryant. Though the Lakers had a successful season and Bryant is obviously a majority factor of that success, I don't believe that Kobe was consistent enough throughout the season to be considered an MVP candidate.
Therefore, I believe the race should have been narrowed to five individual who all were very successful and significantly contributed to teams with a winning record and a Top-4 spot in their respective conferences. Those players are Derrick Rose, LeBron James, Dirk Nowitzki, Dwight Howard, and Kevin Durant. For a quick comparison of some superficial and not-so-superficial statistics for the previously mentioned players, see the chart below.
The chart gives us an idea of how well the MVP candidates stacked up next to each other. The colors indicate where they finished in that given statistical category in comparison to the other four players being considered. Ties were not dropped to the next place, hence, for example, in blocks, there are three 3rd place finishers, all tied with 0.6 blocks per game. Let me first explain some of the last few columns. PER is a player efficiency rating created by John Holliger of ESPN.com that incorporates most normal statistics into a massive formula that assesses how valuable and efficient a player is. It not only tracks points but field goal percentage, free throw percentage, and defensive statisitics. Furthermore, it subtracts for things like turnovers, missed shots, and personal fouls. Its not a perfect statistic by any means, but its something to think about in analyzing these players. With this in mind, the second column of PER numbers is the average of the given player's top 10 teammates (teammates with the 10 highest PER values which played at least 41 games). Basically, a stat that states how good their teammates were.
There are several things we can take away from this chart. One of which is the only player in the top three in all categories is James. The only category he was lower than second in was blocks. The player with the top PER is also James. And speaking of PER, the teammate PER analysis brings about some intriguing results. While Lebron still had the best individual teammate in Dwyane Wade, his team still had the second-lowest average PER. Rose and Durant both had pretty solid supporting casts throughout their season, although it would be fair to acknowledge that there were times when injuries had decimated the Bulls and Rose was playing with either Joakim Noah or Carlos Boozer (or on the rare occasion, both).
Also interesting to note is that Dwight Howard had the most statistical first place finishes within the chart. His defensive prowess cannot be ignored and it shows through his lead in blocks and rebounds. Possibly the most telling statistic in the case for Howard is the miserable average PER for his team (12.66). The Magic have been known, as a whole, as laughable on the defensive side of the ball. However, Dwight actually single-handily makes them respectable in many team oriented statistical categories. The Magic would have been no where near the 4-seed in the East without the massive contributions of Dwight.
But let's get past the statistics for a bit and comment on what one could see just by watching these guys play every night.
Derrick Rose is obviously a athletic freak with movements so violent and astonishing that he might be considered a once-in-a-lifetime talent. We should all consider ourselves lucky we get to watch this guy for probably the next 14-15 years. He would, at times, carrying the Bulls and will them to victory by himself late in games. He did lead a team that was an 8-seed to become the team with the best record in the league. And this is why he was voted by the press (almost unanimously) as the MVP. However, I don't really agree with that assessment. Rose was great this year. And there were times when he was playing almost by himself due to injury. And there's no question that the Bulls would probably be no where without him, but he wasn't doing it completely alone. Carlos Boozer and Joakim Noah were both every good players this year and Luol Deng is certainly no slouch. And while he got 113 of the possible 120 first place votes, he wouldn't get mine.
Dirk Nowitzki reflects a type of player we may never again see in this league. The mobility and incredible shooting touch of this 7-footer is fun to watch and continues to become history as the Mavs march through the playoffs. The oldest team in the league, the Mavs are full of experienced players who have been around the block a time or two and who know how to handle a NBA regular season. But Dirk doesn't really have that second scorer on his team. He is the person every scouting report is keying on night in and night out and he still delivers the goods every time. He's an efficient scorer without hogging the ball. He gets to the free throw line and makes them at around a 90% clip consistently. He knows his game, where his spots on the floor are, how his teammates work, and is always looking for ways to win at the end of a game. However, he didn't quite have the statistical resume as some of the other candidates and while stats aren't the only thing to consider, they still matter. Leading this "too" veteran team to 57 wins was very impressive, but considering a large portion of this roster has been there before, it is hard to consider Dirk the most valuable player.
When first glancing at Kevin Durant, one wouldn't imagine him being all that good, let alone a deadly shooter. That gangly 6' 9" frame doesn't seem too threatening but you better not give KD space or he will make you pay. His ability to score points in a hurry is certainly a quality that is envied by teams across the league. He was the face of the young gun OKC Thunder. Only his fourth season in the league and he was taking a team full of 25-and-unders to near the top of the Western Conference. While his supporting cast may have been quite young, according to PER, they were the all-around best group of players out of the five teams discussed. I think its fair to say that Durant is incredibly valuable to the Thunder franchise, but I also think there is a lot of young talent that blossoms around the former Longhorn. It is for this reason that I don't believe him to be the MVP of the 2010-2011 season.
The final two candidates I would say are probably equally important to their teams, but since one had overall better statistics and their team ended up being more successful, I would say he is more deserving. The Magic are, as a team, pretty atrocious defensively. However, Dwight Howard's presence actually makes them rank decently in several defensive categories. Without Howard, the court wouldn't open up for all those poor defenders to shoot their open three-pointers either. Some of this is displayed in the extremely sad average PER for Dwight's teammates at 12.66. And Dwight was also the most effective scorer due to his ability to get to the free throw line and his overall lack of missed shots. But some of this can be contributed to the fact that Howard doesn't attempt too many shots from outside about 7 feet. And the Magic did end up being 4th place in the East, and losing in the first round of the playoffs. So the luster on some of Howard's numbers have been recently tarnished.
And it is for this reason (a little hindsight) the statistics, and the overall effect that he has on his team mates and every game he plays in that I believe LeBron James was the 2010-2011 NBA MVP. The Heat are a completely different team this year with the addition of James and Chris Bosh. While people might want to contribute the rise in wins to the fact that the Heat have a "Big Three", think of 40% of the people that are on the court. Along side Wade, James, and Bosh was usually the corpse of Mike Bibby, the hapless Carlos Arroyo, mediocre Mario Chalmers, or the sluggish Zydrunas Ilgauskas. And this team still won 58 games. While Wade had the highest PER of any teammate of the above mentioned players, the top 10 players on the Heat besides James still averaged a lower PER than any other team. James has dominated in every statistical category this season. He scored, he set up his teammates, he rebounded, he played great defense (1st Team All-Defense this year), and he drastically changed the landscape of the Heat's dynamic. Yes, he had one of the top 6 players in the league accompanying him throughout the season, but then explain to me how James still nearly equalled Rose's assist average playing forward or how he out-rebounded all the candidates except the center, Howard. James was efficient with the ball in his hands going for 51% from the field, 76% from the line, and a very respectable 1.95 assist-to-turnover ratio.
While I understand the case for Rose, I can't understand why he received 113 out of the 120 first-place votes. There is no reason the difference should have been that drastic. LeBron had an incredible season, led his team to a very good second-half record, and now has them sitting in the Finals. Obviously, the playoffs have no bearing on any of the regular-season awards, but I think it just goes to show how obviously valuable James is. Last year, the team was losing in the first round to the Celtics 4-1. Now they sit at the precipice of winning a title after winning three straight series 4-1, two of which were against very good teams. I think, looking at the voting, it is fairly obvious that not only do basketball fans resent LeBron for what he did, but so do the voters. And I don't think that should factor into the equation. While they didn't plan it like LeBron and Dwyane apparently did, Jordan was always playing along side Scottie Pippen in each of his MVP seasons. Pippen has been labeled by many around the game as one of the best defenders of all time and he was a more than capable scorer. Why was there outcry against Jordan's candidacy? I don't think LeBron is as good as MJ but I think the two situations are pretty similar.
LeBron may have been wrong for how he went about his "decision" but that doesn't take away from his transcendence amongst the other players in the league. I know he may have been crowned a king way too early, I know he's been given the MJ comparisons way too often, and I know he's playing along side one of the league's best, but I'm sorry. James was not only the best player, he was also the most valuable.
