In 1975 back when players voted for MVP...a guy named Mike Bantom....

[Kblaze8855]

Got a first place vote. Mike Bantom was the 4th leading scorer on a 32 win Suns team. Sam Lacey and Sidney wicks also got #1 votes.

I noticed this when looking into the idea that media voting is the wrong way to do it.

Im not sure it can be done in a way that wipes out or even greatly reduces issues like voters getting sick of one guy, getting swept up in stories, and all the other things we complain about.

Something from a while back:

The same questionable shit happened when the players voted. Wes Unseld won MVP over Wilt/Reed...while being factually worse....due to a team turnaround when he wasnt his teams best player. Reported to the playoffs to get swiftly swept and outplayed by Reed. hes not even an all star the following year.

Not hating on Wes...just saying. The players get swept up in the same hype the media does. The old US basketball writers MVP had the exact same results as the players every year but one...when they gave it to Wilt not Oscar. The sporting News MVP was the same as the player voted MVP all but 2 years from the 50s to the 80s...once they gave it to Nate Archibald(Led the league in scoring and assists) instead of Dave Cowens. neither gave it to Kareem...who did 30/16/5 on a 60 win team. The other year they had it different was giving it to Bernard King instead of Bird and Bernard was second in the NBA vote.

It would be the same no matter who votes damn near ever year.

If its left up to you...how do you determine it?

A formula of some kind would wipe out the emotion but.....**** a formula.

Is there any group of people you would accept as good voters?

Not like the coaches have shown great talent in picking all D teams. Phil once said some of them hand it off to staffers because they dont even care. I suspect that wouldnt change were it for MVP.

I know you could never please everyone....but what would you try to make it better in your eyes?

[Real Men Wear Green]

There is no flawless formula but the best group to go to would be the coaches and GMs, with the restriction that they can't vote for their own guys. The coaches know who they have to gameplan for the hardest, who causes them the most problems on both sides of the floor, while GMs know who they want on their team the most and whose trade value is truly the highest.

[9erempiree]

Best player on the best team is the best way to go about it with less complaints. Also, by doing that it really diminishes the award. You can't have it both ways.

[K Xerxes]

All the coaches and GMs determine who is the best player in the league that year (can't vote for player on own team). Not 'who has the best story line' or 'who has dragged a bad team close to the top' or 'best player on team with best record. Just who is the best player, period. It would reduce the inconsistency in voting year in year out and at least we'd have an established criteria.

[Flash31]

They should do it by stats

best all around stats,along with top 2 team in conference and good record.

Base their stats on 5 things

all around
efficency,ts
rebounding
assist,turnover rate
points,defense against opposition

and there you go

top4 teams this year
MIA,SA,OKC,NY
Best players
LeBron,Parker,Durant,Melo

all around-LeBron
efficency-LeBron,ts-Durant
rebounding-Howard
assist-cp3,turnover rate cp3
points-Melo,Opposition-LeBron

look at the MVP Candidates,good record and some form of those 5
LeBron,Durant,Melo,pARKER,CP3

LEBRON WAS TOP 10 IN ASSISTS,very low turnover rate,top 5 in pts,57%fg
avg 7.5 rebounds,and had the best record in the NBA with his team the Heat having 27 straight and being 66-16

so he won

[Sarcastic]

If you base it only on stats, guys will stat whore even more than they do now. It's not good for the team concept. Players will end up playing more minutes than they should trying to boost their numbers.

[Orlando Magic]

I would like to see a combination of GMs, coaches and media.

And the votes of the coaches and GMs should be calculated in a formula to carry more weight than the vote of a media member. Perhaps something like 60% coaches and GMs vs 40% of the vote coming from the media. Maybe not that exactly, but some type of weighted system favoring GMs and coaches.

I don't know. There's no easy answer because people are just stupid.

[MavsSuperFan]

Its an unpopular opinion, but I am glad they let the sports writers decide. I think the results overall have been great. There have been only a handful of questionable decisions over the decades, and 0 decisions that have made you go wtf.

Players, coaches and GMs have all sorts of biases. Eg. Isiah thomas hated Jordan and got the other all stars not to pass him the ball. i doubt he would have been voting for him for mvp, no matter how deserving.

Between the options of players, coaches, GMs, fans or sportswriters, they made the right decision.

Also the more voters the better. It will help dilute the effect of stupid voters with an agenda.

[MavsSuperFan]

I would like to see a combination of GMs, coaches and media.

And the votes of the coaches and GMs should be calculated in a formula to carry more weight than the vote of a media member. Perhaps something like 60% coaches and GMs vs 40% of the vote coming from the media. Maybe not that exactly, but some type of weighted system favoring GMs and coaches.

I don't know. There's no easy answer because people are just stupid.

problem with coaches and GMs, imo is that they would be overly biased towards their guys. they watch their guys all the time and see all the hard work the put in.

Pop would be biased towards duncan and parker
Doc towards KG and Pierce
mitch kupchak towards Kobe.

[Orlando Magic]

Best player on the best team is the best way to go about it with less complaints. Also, by doing that it really diminishes the award. You can't have it both ways.

So you're saying your boy Kobe should have 0 MVP awards?

Let's base this on your criteria and do some revisionist history...

2013 actual winner... James... your system... James
2012 actual... James yours... Rose or Duncan
2011 actual... Rose... yours... Rose
2010 actual... James... yours... James
2009 actual... James... yours... James
2008 actual... Bryant... yours... Garnett
2007 actual... Nowitzki... yours... Nowitzki
2006 actual... Nash... yours... Wallace or Billups
2005 actual... Nash... yours... Nash
2004 actual... Garnett... yours... Jermaine O'Neal
2003 actual... Duncan... yours... Duncan or Nowitzki
2002 actual... Duncan... yours... Webber
2001 actual... Iverson... yours... Duncan
2000 actual... O'Neal... yours... O'Neal

So let's review... your system gets it right in... 2000, 2009, 2010, 2013. I think... your system is just flat out wrong. Thanks for playing.

[Orlando Magic]

problem with coaches and GMs, imo is that they would be overly biased towards their guys. they watch their guys all the time and see all the hard work the put in.

Pop would be biased towards duncan and parker
Doc towards KG and Pierce
mitch kupchak towards Kobe.

I agree but so are the broadcasters... make it so that you can't vote for the guy on your own franchise.

[Orlando Magic]

Its an unpopular opinion, but I am glad they let the sports writers decide. I think the results overall have been great. There have been only a handful of questionable decisions over the decades, and 0 decisions that have made you go wtf.

0 decisions that make me go wtf?

Shaquille O'Neal has 1 MVP award. Just since the year 2000... I go WTF over the following years... 2001, 2002, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2011.

[TheMarkMadsen]

So you're saying your boy Kobe should have 0 MVP awards?

Let's base this on your criteria and do some revisionist history...

2013 actual winner... James... your system... James
2012 actual... James yours... Rose or Duncan
2011 actual... Rose... yours... Rose
2010 actual... James... yours... James
2009 actual... James... yours... James
2008 actual... Bryant... yours... Garnett
2007 actual... Nowitzki... yours... Nowitzki
2006 actual... Nash... yours... Wallace or Billups
2005 actual... Nash... yours... Nash
2004 actual... Garnett... yours... Jermaine O'Neal
2003 actual... Duncan... yours... Duncan or Nowitzki
2002 actual... Duncan... yours... Webber
2001 actual... Iverson... yours... Duncan
2000 actual... O'Neal... yours... O'Neal

So let's review... your system gets it right in... 2000, 2009, 2010, 2013. I think... your system is just flat out wrong. Thanks for playing.

So you're saying Lebron failed to win a title in 09 & 10 when he had the best team? And Kobe won 2 FMVPS without having the best team in the league?

Never thought of it like that

[K Xerxes]

Following the 'best player' quota... MVPs since '90, IMO:

90: Jordan
91: Jordan
92: Jordan
93: Jordan
94: Hakeem
95: Hakeem
96: Jordan
97: Jordan
98: Jordan/Shaq
99: Shaq
00: Shaq
01: Shaq
02: Shaq
03: Duncan
04: Garnett
05: Duncan
06: Kobe
07: Kobe/Duncan
08: Kobe
09: LeBron
10: LeBron
11: LeBron
12: LeBron
13: LeBron

[Orlando Magic]

So you're saying Lebron failed to win a title in 09 & 10 when he had the best team? And Kobe won 2 FMVPS without having the best team in the league?

Never thought of it like that

I went on regular season records. The reason that I did that is simple.

Define "best team", if you would, please.

If you're not going on records, you're getting into the same exact debate that we have with MVP now and basically throwing it all to judgement.

I was trying to make a point. Guess you missed it.