Sometimes, Canadians are plain smarter than Americans. The NHL hands out both a regular season MVP and a playoffs MVP plus the obvious Finals MVP. It silences a lot of pointless arguments about if a player was truly deserving of the MVP distinction after a playoff meltdown. All meaningless arguments would be resolved with the simple addition of an award, plus it’s not like sports has ever been against more awards. Look at college football, they have a freaking best punter award (look it up: it’s the Ray Guy Award). Would any professional basketball fan, player, or executive question the addition of a trophy that has been deserved since the inception of the league? It’s so simple. And then we wouldn’t have to spend a week debating if Derrick Rose deserved the MVP recognition this year; because the answer is yes. And yes. And yes.
MVP voting has always been a fickle matter. There is no rubric for how a voter should cast their vote, which results in a lot of mixed views. Let’s start with “Most Valuable” or which player had the greatest impact on their team, who drives their team to more wins by their overall play and leadership. Realistically, there were three candidates for voting this year: Derrick Rose, Dwight Howard, and Lebron James (with Dirk Nowitzki receiving an honorable mention). If replaced with an average player at their position which team would falter the most? Not the Miami Heat. Although Lebron accounts for their playoff success, Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh could have carried that team to a four or three seed in the regular season considering how Wade lifted the Heat to a five seed last year by himself. Dwight Howard has a reasonable case because the Magic’s offense is based upon his play. However, it’s hard to gauge the Orlando team holistically because of their mid season trade and how much that boosted the team versus how much the previous players were hurting the team. That being said, the Magic would falter without Howard but former Magic backup Marcin Gortat proved himself to be an adequate replacement when Howard was out of the game. A Gortat-Magic could stumble into a mid seed depending on all the different trades the team would make.
However, Derrick Rose gets the nod because without him, the Chicago Bulls would struggle to even make it into the playoffs, let alone have regular season success. The Bulls would still have a staunch defense because of head coach Tom Thibodeau’s philosophies but would be an offensive joke without Rose. Who would create the offense, Luol Deng? Not if last night’s performance was any indication as the Bulls desperately needed any shot to fly through the net, Deng could only be found in the corner hoping Derrick Rose made something happened. Carlos Boozer didn’t even play at the end of the game because the head coach has such a lack of trust in him. In terms of value, there was no better player in the regular season this year than Derrick Rose.
Others think MVP means best player in the regular season, and if that’s the definition, then Lebron James should be the MVP. But it should not be the sole basis for a media member’s vote, just like the pure value of a player shouldn’t be the decision for a member vote either (although it should be the foundation of their vote). Another factor to consider would be the media story of the year or looking back, what stands out the most in the regular season. Derrick Rose and the charging Chicago Bulls surmounting the number one seed was the story all year. (Pre season goes to “The Decision” and Miami’s shenanigans and post season goes to young teams collapsing and Dirk’s surge.) Derrick Rose was the MVP of the 2010-11 regular season because of his value and memorable rise to greatness as a point guard, even if he wasn’t the best player on the court at all times. Maybe he wasn’t your MVP and that’s ok, but at least you should understand my argument as to why Rose was mine.
Everyone seems to drop the regular season before the MVP title, even the bitter Lebron James who mentioned Rose by “MVP” in his on court interview with Craig Sager following their Game 4 win. The irony is that Lebron signed with Miami to win championships—which they are on the verge of completing that mission—but James thought he could still hold on to his individual titles. Michael Jordan didn’t receive the MVP award several times because voters became bored with voting for the same player multiple times in a row, a distinct possibility with Lebron this year as he won the last two MVPs. No one question Lebron’s greatness, but the recent comparisons to Jordan are absurd.
Scottie Pippen trumped all when he uttered the blasphemous “"Michael Jordan is probably the greatest scorer to ever play in the game, but I may go as far as to say that LeBron James may be the greatest player to ever play the game because he's so potent offensively that not only can he score at will, but he keeps everybody involved and you have to be on your P's and Q's on defense because no guy on the basketball court is not a threat to score when LeBron James is out there. Not only that, but he's also doing it on the defensive end."
It’s hard to truly compare Jordan to James because Lebron’s career isn’t over but even if we limit it to the first eight years (James is in his eighth year), Jordan is still a better player even though he didn’t play the majority of his second year due to a foot injury But can we stop with the Lebron is suddenly great on defense stance, especially when comparing him to Jordan? Jordan has been on the NBA All-Defense 1st team since his fourth year (1987-88) and remaining on the team from that point on (remember we’re acting as if MJ’s career ended after his eighth year), Jordan also won NBA Defensive Player of the Year in his fourth year as well. Lebron has only recently entered NBA All-Defense 1st team in his sixth year and hasn’t touched an NBA Defensive Player of the Year. Jordan had been a great defender earlier than James and stayed that way throughout. However, since Lebron’s impressive shut down of the regular season MVP Derrick Rose is so recent, people forget how good Michael was.
Offensively, Jordan was always better, look at the awards. MJ has been on the All Star team since his rookie year and James started his consecutive All Star streak in his second year. Jordan was the league’s scoring champion since his second year and James has only received the award once in 2008 (his fifth year). Jordan has three MVPs, James two, but maybe that’s why Bron Bron was so upset that he didn’t receive the award this year? Then there is the obvious: championships. Michael has two with the third around the corner and James must win one this year to keep pace.
In every way Michael Jordan has been better than Lebron James up to this point: credentials, championships, even pure eye test, MJ beats Lebron. Now, because LBJ is our modern star and MJ’s former teammate who has been jealous of his prowess and greatness since they began playing with each other, we want to crown Lebron King? Admittedly, Lebron is a better passer than Michael (James- 7.0 assists per game Jordan- 5.6 assists per game) and a slightly better rebounder (James- 7.1 boards per game Jordan -6.0 boards per game) but MJ was better defensively, offensively and was purely a better winner than Lebron. Hell, Jordan’s HOF speech was filled with digs or gripes against various players because he cared that much. Jordan has so many career defining moments that they made a video game about his top ten, if the game was made about Lebron it would be answering the interview questions from Jim Gray correctly at “The Decision” (You’re taking your talents to: A) Cleveland B) South Beach C) Pluto or D) Metropolis) and his epic comeback against the Detroit Pistons and that’s it.
So, please shut your jealous mouth Scottie Pippen and everyone else who believes LBJ is better than MJ, at least for now. Maybe Lebron can transcend Michael like so many desperately want him to do, but I doubt it. And if Lebron is ever crowned the King, I’m moving to Canada.
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