BuzzerBeater Forums

Durant probably wins MVP this season.

I say Kobe, how can you let him have fewer MVP awards than Steve Nash its just an embarrassment to the award.

It's not Most Talented Player...

It's not Best Player...

It's not Biggest Douche...

Any of those awards, Kobe and LeBron would battle for each year and Nash wouldn't stand a chance.

However, MVP does stand for Most Valuable Player.

The Phoenix Suns went from a 20-win team to a perennial playoff team with the simple addition of Steve Nash. Sure, if you take Kobe away from the Lakers, they are not as good...but if you take Nash away from the Suns in any of his years on the team, they instantly go down like 25-30 wins. The implication that he didn't deserve his MVP awards illustrates a failure to understand the meaning of the award.

I think another way to look at instead of talking about how bad Phoenix would be without Nash, check out what Nash has done for every free agent that has joined the team...With the exception of Marcus Banks, who just sucks, every free agent who came to Phoenix with Nash, ended up having a career year for themselves in one way or another. Watch what happens to Amare now that he doesnt have Nash....Check out Tim Thomas, Raja Bell (so far) Diaw, when they left Phoenix, not near the same results. Even Eddie House who has had his moments in Boston, wasn't nearly as consistent as he was with Nash and the Suns. Q Richardson? Same thing. Nash makes everyone around him better. Thats what makes him so valueable. Shaq was probably the best player in Phoenix when he played here, but ironically he stiffled Nash's game and made him less effective. That was an interesting situation. Everyone points to Marions age as a reason for his decline, but for a guy who averaged 14 points a game, he was spoon fed 10 of them each and ever game from Nash. That said, while Kobe doesn't make many guys around him better, he does spoon feed them Championships...so thats valuable too ;-)

Hey Reddaddy32...While I agree that these ratings show that Lebron has indeed contributed to many victories, you have to question the value of those wins though. What did those wins do for Cleveland? Lebron has yet to win a real meaningful playoff series, and really hasn't won a single series that they weren't expected to win. Lebron leads the players in la-di-da victoriers. You can put me on a Middle school team, and I can lead them and help them win all kinds of games, but I dont show up for the playoffs, then how meaningful were the victories? That example is a bit of a stretch, but what Cleveland has done over the last few seasons that few teams do, is show up EVERY single night...as a result they always beat the teams they should beat...Whereas teams like the Lakers, Spurs, Celtics take nights off, and pretty much just win when they really want to. Lebron needs to win something meaningful before he is deemed MVP. I think Kevin Durant is much more valuable because at his age, and the youth on that team, he led them places they had NO business being. Cleveland sucks without Lebron, but they could still make the playoffs without him in the East. OKC had zero chance without Durants efforts. I am not saying that Durant should be MVP, but you can make cases like this where players justifiy MVP consideration more than others.

Bottom line though, is the way I value the MVP, and the way you do, and the next guy, and one voter compared to another is different. So until they come up with a difinitive definition of what they MVP award is actually supposed to reward, we will always have these kinds of debates.

My MVP criteria leans more towards who was the "best player" that season, now that includes a ton of factors that i dont feel like listing, but I felt like steve nash was not the number one choice under my own criteria during the seasons he won it. Yeah he improved his team by a lot, but there are multiple players that do that. Not saying it isnt special, because it is hes a hall of famer, but I felt like there were better players out there like Kobe. Not being as good as Kobe isnt saying you are bad by any means though

Before alot of recent info about Lebron had emerged I was more supportive of him, particularly reasoning that his team failed him not the other way around. His character has taken a big hit, not just for how he handled the Boston series and free agency either. He apparently was considered a team cancer to the USA national team in 2008 and was almost cut from the team. Information like that on top of his recent actions have me questioning the assertion that his team completely failed him.

Great player, incredible skillset, but I'd definitely have to consider other players in the best player/MVP category now.

Last edited by brian at 7/22/2010 1:04:42 PM