Why regular season MVPs are the most coveted award in NBA history

[TheCorporation]

Rings are nice but each year 15 guys on a team all get one. Only 1 person wins an MVP.

FMVPs are nice too, but you wont ever see guys lile Cedric Maxwell, Andre Igoudola, Chauncy Billups, or Kawhi Leonard win an MVP.

FMVP = Get hot for 4-7 games amongst 2 teams
MVP = Get hot for 70-82 games amongst 30 teams

It's not close

[8Ball]

Rings are nice but each year 15 guys on a team all get one. Only 1 person wins an MVP.

FMVPs are nice too, but you wont ever see guys lile Cedric Maxwell, Andre Igoudola, Chauncy Billups, or Kawhi Leonard win an MVP.

FMVP = Get hot for 4-7 games amongst 2 teams
MVP = Get hot for 70-82 games amongst 30 teams

It's not close

Truth.

This is why Shaq and Kobe only won 1 each in 19 and 20 years of playing.

Being excellent for 82 games is a very difficult accomplishment.

[Shogon]

Shaq only having 1 is proof positive that the award is a joke.

[HBK_Kliq_2]

Jerry West, Wade, Kawhi

All the best players of their era never won an mvp. Pointless award that is purely a popularity contest in order to gain more popularity on the league. Finals MVP is the only one that counts because they just watched 1 series and tell you who was the best player without any bs narrative.

[FultzNationRISE]

I think the caveat here is that when awarded PROPERLY* it is the most esteemed of all distinctions.

By my calculations it has been awarded properly about four times in the last 20 years or so.

[8Ball]

Shaq only having 1 is proof positive that the award is a joke.

You don't win regular season mvps by being out of shape during regular season like Shaq admitted he was.

[Axe]

I think the caveat here is that when awarded PROPERLY* it is the most esteemed of all distinctions.

By my calculations it has been awarded properly about four times in the last 20 years or so.
Wish they can also hand out awards for those who'd retire more than twice as well.

[kawhileonard2]

Kareem won one when he didn't make the playoffs. So if the media votes at that time then it is possible that MJ, Russell have the most.

[tanibanana]

I would NOT say its the most coveted nor the most prestigious, as most if not all players will select Championship over MVP award.
But for the sake of how great a players is, MVP award has the most weight over any award, in basketball and other sports as well. Many players are multiple champion, but no player with multiple MVP gets snub in HOF induction, ever.

[Phoenix]

Let's be real, over the last 30-40 years or so nobody batted an eye when Magic, Bird, MJ, Hakeem, Robinson, Shaq, Malone, Duncan, Lebron etc won it. It was Nash winning it in 05 and 06 that made people question exactly what the MVP award represents.

[GimmeThat]

it's salary versus stakes in the company

[HunterSThompson]

Let's be real, over the last 30-40 years or so nobody batted an eye when Magic, Bird, MJ, Hakeem, Robinson, Shaq, Malone, Duncan, Lebron etc won it. It was Nash winning it in 05 and 06 that made people question exactly what the MVP award represents.

the media changed the criteria specifically to keep it out of kobes hands. remember the "it's not the best player award or the best individual season. it's if they just make others better and nash is the best at that. stats don't matter"


the media tried soooo hard to rewrite history cause they hated kobes guts


and there's been plenty of other mistakes made

[Phoenix]

the media changed the criteria specifically to keep it out of kobes hands. remember the "it's not the best player award or the best individual season. it's if they just make others better and nash is the best at that. stats don't matter"


the media tried soooo hard to rewrite history cause they hated kobes guts


and there's been plenty of other mistakes made

You're saying the media specifically targeted the award to keep it away from Kobe.....then backtracked and voted him in 3 years after the fact? Take that as rhetorical question, I don't give a shit about your reply. Watching you type post after post of the absurd shit you do is its own reward.

You thinking the entire basketball world( including this forum) does anything to specifically shut out Kobe is a sickness, but you're the same guy impersonating his spirit last month.

[HunterSThompson]

You're saying the media specifically targeted the award to keep it away from Kobe.....then backtracked and voted him in 3 years after the fact? Take that as rhetorical question, I don't give a shit about your reply. Watching you type post after post of the absurd shit you do is its own reward.

You thinking the entire basketball world( including this forum) does anything to specifically shut out Kobe is a sickness, but you're the same guy impersonating his spirit last month.

na the media just got backed into a corner when kobe filled all their quotas by leading a team to the top seed woth no second allstar and winning a bunch of games without Pau before he even got there. and beating Chris paul in mvp showdowns. plus all other candidates were having down years. and KG had 2 other stars and he was their horse going into the season but it backfired. so they said "oh well give him a potty award"


it wasn't even one of his best 5 seasons

he was better in 2001, 2003, 2006, 2007 and 2013

[Phoenix]

na the media just got backed into a corner when kobe filled all their quotas by leading a team to the top seed woth no second allstar and winning a bunch of games without Pau before he even got there. and beating Chris paul in mvp showdowns. plus all other candidates were having down years. and KG had 2 other stars and he was their horse going into the season but it backfired. so they said "oh well give him a potty award"


it wasn't even one of his best 5 seasons

he was better in 2001, 2003, 2006, 2007 and 2013

That doesn't explain why the media changed the award criteria, either in general or per your argument, to shut Kobe out of the award.

[tpols]

Nash actually deserves his MVPs. He was the engine of a dominant suns team, one of the best offenses of all time. And its not like they flopped in the playoffs. They were one horrible call from winning in 07 and Nash used to lose to Duncan manu parker spurs and Kobe pau Lakers so he was slightly losing to other all time greats.

It was Iverson, rose and Westbrook that diminished its value. Those were media storyline picks.

[HunterSThompson]

That doesn't explain why the media changed the award criteria, either in general or per your argument, to shut Kobe out of the award.


kobes rape trial and shaq break up was still fresh. so was the Phil book. they hated Kobe. by 2008 they wanted lebron to get it but he had a down year. they just didn't have any other options other than Chris paul and kobe beat him in every prerequisite except the make others better thing but I remember even that year the media pushed some phoney bullsh8t story about how kobe suddenly was making others better. like they were forgiving him for all his past shit. because they knew they had been tough on him. but by then it was too late cause lebron was about to take over as the face of the league so they knew it would be kobes last chance to get an award before the end of his prime. so they gave him a pity award to absolve themselves of robbing him in 06 and 07 and possibly 03. and for 2009 and 2013 when he could have been argued for another 2 it was already lebrons league by then.

the media knew if they never gave him at least 1 award then they would lose all credibility

it was to.cover up their bias. period

[Phoenix]

kobes rape trial and shaq break up was still fresh.

Asked that question knowing exactly where you were going, and that's the only part of your post I bothered to seriously read and will quote. First, the rape thing occurred in the summer of 2003, so that has no bearing on Kobe having better seasons in 2001 coupled with the fact that Shaq was there alongside him dropping 28/11. 2003, Duncan is dropping 23/13/4/3, the Spurs win 60 games with his supporting cast being baby Parker/Ginobli and the corpse of David Robinson. Duncan was a legit MVP pick that year, and that was re-enforced in the playoffs.

2006 and 2007, Kobe individually probably was the best player but the media wasn't going to award MVP to the leader of a lower seed team. 2013, Lebron had clearly surpassed Kobe as an individual player AND led the Heat to 66 wins. And by that point in time, any 'media bias' against Kobe lingering from the rape wouldn't have been a thing anyways because he had won the award 5 years earlier.

[Airupthere]

The biggest eyesore for me is westbrook being on the list.

[HunterSThompson]

Asked that question knowing exactly where you were going, and that's the only part of your post I bothered to seriously read and will quote. First, the rape thing occurred in the summer of 2003, so that has no bearing on Kobe having better seasons in 2001 coupled with the fact that Shaq was there alongside him dropping 28/11. 2003, Duncan is dropping 23/13/4/3, the Spurs win 60 games with his supporting cast being baby Parker/Ginobli and the corpse of David Robinson. Duncan was a legit MVP pick that year, and that was re-enforced in the playoffs.

2006 and 2007, Kobe individually probably was the best player but the media wasn't going to award MVP to the leader of a lower seed team. 2013, Lebron had clearly surpassed Kobe as an individual player AND led the Heat to 66 wins. And by that point in time, any 'media bias' against Kobe lingering from the rape wouldn't have been a thing anyways because he had won the award 5 years earlier.

the narrative prior to the rape thing was "kobe has shaq"

but plenty of guys have won mvp while having another all time great player beside them like magic or kareem or bird or malone or lebron


and the "next MJ" thing also rubbed some voters the wrong way too.

the rape trial just sent them into overdrive on the hatred. hence the 8 voters leaving kobe off their ballot all together in 2006

[hateraid]

Awards are subjective. MVP is a popularity contest. I look at eye test and impact.