BDL Weighs in on the 2009 NBA MVP

When it comes to crowning the MVP of a given sport, everyone tends to have their own units of measure.  Is it the best player on the best team?  Is it the player with the best numbers?  Is it the player whose team would struggle the most if he was removed? 

Whatever your choice may be, it seems that the MVP award is discussed the most in the NBA when compared to the other major sports.  When Steve Nash won the award back in 2004-05, he averaged 15 points and 12 assists.  His team won 62 games, placing them atop the NBA.  LeBron James, for comparison purposes, put up 27 points, seven rebounds, seven assists and two steals.  But the Cavaliers finished two games over .500. 

Since 2004-05, James has had two seasons where he averaged at least 30 points per game with the same elvated totals in rebounds, assists and steals.  Just last season, he also took his block totals to one per game.  But the Lakers’ Kobe Bryant took home the MVP award; the Lakers won a dozen more games than the Cavaliers.

But now we turn to 2008-09.  With a little help from Yahoo!’s Kelly Dwyer:

[We currently have] six players with a PER of 25 or higher, playing for top teams, right now. 1988, that halcyon year that saw the Lakers repeat as champions in a seven game series win over Detroit, saw three players vault past that number.

Again … special, special time. Throw in however many arguments about hand-checking rules, that’s fine. Half the teams in the NBA back then couldn’t even be bothered to hand-check, much less defend. The defense is much more sophisticated in 2009. And with LeBron, and CP, and Wade, and Duncan and Kobe and others just knocking on that door (Kevin Durant averaged about eight more points per game in January than he has years to his name), things are only going to get better.

And LeBron is the best of that better. 28.5 points per game, seven assists, and 7.5 rebounds per game. All numbers that are even down from last year when he was supposedly playing second fiddle to the 2008 MVP. Apparently the addition of an orthodox NBA offense and Mo Williams moves you up in the fiddle row, but that’s not the point. At the threshold of what is easily the most talented time this league has ever seen, James is the best.

And “best” wins the MVP. Or, it usually should, anyway. This year, I think they’ll get it right.

Individual statistics aside, one cannot ignore the fact that the Cavaliers finally have one of the best records in the NBA – something that we haven’t seen since the early 1990s.  The statistics have always been there.  Now, we have wins to show that it is not all for naught.

There is no denying that Kobe Bryant is, once again, putting up incredible numbers.  But while he has been on the raw end of the MVP stick for the past four years, it is relieving to see that it is finally looking to be his time.  In 2004-05, a lot of the argument was “he has his entire career to win awards.”  As long as this team keeps winning, it appears that this “career” starts now. 

And it’s happening in Cleveland.  I truly feel bad for those that are not making the most out of these historic years.

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Most Valuable Player…So Far? [Kelly Dwyer/Ball Don’t Lie]