Dr. Naismith, or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love LeBron

I hope someone in the Committee (is at least friends with someone who) reads FreeDarko, because in said column Senor Brickowski has tooted the conch of reason in regard to the singularly egregious error it would be to dub Steve Nash the MVP for the second consecutive season. Here’s the Dwayne Johnson-solid case to exclude Nashty, along with two-bits worth of analogy/projection:

Historical (Brick’s point): The only back-to-back (and, coincidentally, back-to-the-basket) Mo-Pod People are Russell, Chamberlain, Kareem, Moses, Larry, Magic, Michael and Duncan -- 1rst ballot Hall-of-Famers who have won an average of 5 championships apiece. The Mailman is the only two-timer who remains ringless, and he didn’t win consecutively. And he’s been to the finals thrice; St. Steven has yet to be. Last year’s crowning signaled the anti-Artest era and the dawning of the No-Perimeter-Contact rule change appropriately, but a repeat would be over the top. The one-MVP echelon (inhabited by Sir Charles, the Dream, the Admiral, the Answer, and the Big Ticket) is plenty high-esteem for the Canadian.



Philosophical: Best Team vs Best Performer – ideally you have a Venn Diagram that limits your choices for the league’s top honor. This year, Little Stevie is subsetless. Neither are the Suns the best team nor is Steve the most impressive player. The pundits have two standard counters to this—A) Nash is having a better year than last when he won the award, and B) Nash has done it again with a weaker/totally different supporting cast. Allow me to illuminate the obvious—last year’s choice was political (see below), and this year’s Suns are deeper and better. Attribute this to excellent coaching/GMing. Stevo is performing better, and he should be. That still doesn’t change the fact that he’s not the best performer in the league, that he’s not on the best team, and (as some contest) that he’s not even the best player on his team. According to the general thinking, these are strikes against the former striker (he played soccer in highschool, eh).



Political: The “Denzel wins Best Actor for Training Day” theory may have worked for Malone in the 90’s, but the NBA doesn’t buy the “body of work gone unrecognized for too long” argument any more. Instead, D-Stern’s cronies thought it best to reward the opposite of hip-hopified, Pacers-Pistons Palace Prostration, me-first play. This not only effectively snubbed Shaquille “MDE” O’Neal, but Jason Kidd and John Stockton as well. Their careers include dozens of seasons better than Nash’s past two, yet THEY WERE NOT THE BEST PLAYER IN THE LEAGUE AND THUS COULD NOT WIN MVP despite great team success. If the league wants to be political again and reward the concept of the team, give it to Billups and his 19-3-8 year. If you have to.



Pragmatic: You have to give the MVP to somebody. Unfortunately, there are no clear-cut choices—your ideal MVP is the following:

1. Undebatably All NBA First Team
2. By Far the Best Player on His Team
3. On the Best Team of the Regular Season
4. Leading/Elevating His Team to a Championship Run
5. Not a 3rd Year Player
6. Not an International Player
7. Not a Sociopath

Kobe “La Mamba” Bryant beats Nash on 2 and 6 (though Nash talks pretty good ‘merican, and KB did grow up in Italy), but loses on 3 and probably 4—plus some people still spite him with a touch of 7 (usually reserved for TruWarrier). Billups and Parker are having career years on the two top teams, but clearly aren’t more integral than their teammates (2) and unlikely to pass Nash for All NBA honors (1). Keep the Elton Brand talk to yourself, Tom Tolbert. D-Wade and Dirk Diggler have played at traditional MVP levels for championship contention caliber teams—odds are one of them comes away with the hardware if the voters can get over Flash’s youth and Nowitzki’s work visa. But my horse is a darker color…



With nine games left, LeBron James has the Cleveland Cavalliers at 44 wins. They could easily see 50. Every vote for Brand (ie. Leading a Long-Lost Lottery Team to the Promised Land) goes to Bron. He puts more points on the board than all but two players, he’s more efficient than La Mamba and has a better record than AI. He’s singlehandedly put the smack down on both Miami and Dallas and their leading candidates. He plays 43 minutes per because he has to. He has the best parts of Kobe’s, Dwyane’s, and Steve’s games combined. Nash has Diaw to create and everyone else to finish. Nowitzki has defenders and sparkplugs a plenty. Wade has this big guy I heard about.

And here’s the thing: LB23 has a team of tweeners. There is not one player on his team that would start for Dallas, Phoenix, San Antonio, Detroit, or Miami. I like Danny Ferry and all, but they assembled the wrong team – a center that can’t run. Shooters that can’t shoot. Guards that can’t penetrate. Star sidekicks who are ALWAYS INJURED, even in their contract year. More than any team – even the Lakers, and especially the Suns – the success of this team depends on one 21-year-old man. The Man.



Don't look back, Sire. The only possible concern is that your team isn’t good enough or you're too young. But Nash’s squad is third in his conference and nobody faults him. He has no Stoudemire, yes; but you have no Marion, no Diaw, no Bell, etc. Switch the King and the Weasel and see if the Cavs can get 50. And can we just take a moment to imagine LeBron working under the offensive brilliance of Magic Mike?

Dear NBA: Learn to stop worrying that if you give LeBron the MVP now, he’ll take the next ten trophies home. He should. And we would love it.


Consolation prizes include Coach of the Year for D’Antoni, Executive for Colangelo, MIP for Boris, championship for Dwyane, and more to gripe about for Chauncey. Everybody’s happy.