Joe Soriano
O.J. Lewis2010 PSW NBA MVP
June 12th 2011 10:18
I told you that I would announce my MVP winner during the NBA Finals. Derrick Rose won the official award, but he was only fourth on my ballot. Dwight Howard, LeBron James, and Chris Paul were my top three picks. For those of you who have been reading this blog, you can tell who my pick is going to be.
SF Miami Heat LeBron James
Derrick Rose and LeBron James were the two players who received the most recognition for this award, and I picked the guy who was the better player in the 2010-2011 season. This is no knock on Rose, he's a great player, but LeBron is the best in the NBA. He has been the best for the past couple of years, whether or not you want to openly admit that is your choice. The fact is, James turned in another great season. This time, in Miami.
I really don't want to tack about the background stuff with James, and "The Decision" isn't something I want to revisit any time soon. I do want to look into the advanced statistics and talk more about James's accomplishments this year. Even if the Heat lose to the Mavs, James was still the best player during the regular season.
PER is one of the main things I look at when conducting my MVP ballot. In years past, the MVP usually has a PER of 30. LeBron had the highest PER in the NBA at 27.37. There was a lot of parity on most people's MVP ballots because there wasn't much of a difference between the level of play among the top ten players in the NBA last year.
LeBron James had the highest Win Score in the NBA- a Basketball Reference stat- which further underlines his value to the Heat. When a team is as top-heavy as the Heat are, they desperately need a very good year from their major contributors (the Big Three) in order for them to get to the stage that they are now. The MVP is a combination of importance to your team as well as overall play.
I want to go on a minor tangent for a paragraph- or two- about how people misinterpret the meaning of "MVP". When we say "Game MVP" or something like that, we are talking about the best player on the court for that particular game. People have distorted the meaning of the phrase when it describes a season because of the word "value".
Most Valuable Player is simply referring to the player whose season-long performance provided the most value. Therefore, the MVP award should be given to the guy who was the best. We should boost players who have lesser teammates around them and are expected to carry much of the load, but the players who are perennially in the MVP discussion already do this.
Not only was LeBron scoring like crazy, he was also passing it around a lot as well further entrenching him as the most versatile player in the NBA. His insane athleticism has allowed him to become one of the best defensive players in the game. LeBron was always this good at D, even before his much-talked about performance against the NBA's MVP in the Eastern Conference Finals.
LeBron James's Defensive Wins Score was the third best in the league behind only Dwight Howard and Kevin Garnett. That's pretty good for a guy who also boasts the highest PER in the league. Picking LeBron as the 2010 PSW MVP wasn't a difficult choice for me. Although there were some good and intriguing candidates, James was the player who stood out the most in my eye. Disagreements? I bet there's a lot of them. Let's hear it in the comment section.
SF Miami Heat LeBron James
Derrick Rose and LeBron James were the two players who received the most recognition for this award, and I picked the guy who was the better player in the 2010-2011 season. This is no knock on Rose, he's a great player, but LeBron is the best in the NBA. He has been the best for the past couple of years, whether or not you want to openly admit that is your choice. The fact is, James turned in another great season. This time, in Miami.
I really don't want to tack about the background stuff with James, and "The Decision" isn't something I want to revisit any time soon. I do want to look into the advanced statistics and talk more about James's accomplishments this year. Even if the Heat lose to the Mavs, James was still the best player during the regular season.
PER is one of the main things I look at when conducting my MVP ballot. In years past, the MVP usually has a PER of 30. LeBron had the highest PER in the NBA at 27.37. There was a lot of parity on most people's MVP ballots because there wasn't much of a difference between the level of play among the top ten players in the NBA last year.
LeBron James had the highest Win Score in the NBA- a Basketball Reference stat- which further underlines his value to the Heat. When a team is as top-heavy as the Heat are, they desperately need a very good year from their major contributors (the Big Three) in order for them to get to the stage that they are now. The MVP is a combination of importance to your team as well as overall play.
I want to go on a minor tangent for a paragraph- or two- about how people misinterpret the meaning of "MVP". When we say "Game MVP" or something like that, we are talking about the best player on the court for that particular game. People have distorted the meaning of the phrase when it describes a season because of the word "value".
Most Valuable Player is simply referring to the player whose season-long performance provided the most value. Therefore, the MVP award should be given to the guy who was the best. We should boost players who have lesser teammates around them and are expected to carry much of the load, but the players who are perennially in the MVP discussion already do this.
Not only was LeBron scoring like crazy, he was also passing it around a lot as well further entrenching him as the most versatile player in the NBA. His insane athleticism has allowed him to become one of the best defensive players in the game. LeBron was always this good at D, even before his much-talked about performance against the NBA's MVP in the Eastern Conference Finals.
LeBron James's Defensive Wins Score was the third best in the league behind only Dwight Howard and Kevin Garnett. That's pretty good for a guy who also boasts the highest PER in the league. Picking LeBron as the 2010 PSW MVP wasn't a difficult choice for me. Although there were some good and intriguing candidates, James was the player who stood out the most in my eye. Disagreements? I bet there's a lot of them. Let's hear it in the comment section.
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