Wednesday, February 29, 2012

MVP talk

The Lakers are absolutely destroying the Timberwolves right now, and it made me think of an interesting question.. who is a better MVP candidate, Kevin Love or Lebron James? Do we reward the (arguably) best player in the league who has two all-star players beside him (Wade and Bosh) and look to be a top team in the east and a finals favorite again, or the best power forward in the league, who has brought his team into playoff contention with a young, inexperienced supporting cast?


It is an interesting question because this discussion is usually held for players on the best teams, but I don't think that is necessarily fair. Kevin Love has been playing ridiculously good this year, and if this Lakers vs Timberwolves game is any indication (Kevin Love isn't playing tonight), he is pretty damn valuable to this team. The final score, which will likely still be a 20 point spread, will not represent how this game felt to those who watched. It felt like 40. It felt like the 'Wolves had no chance in the second half of competing with this team. With Love in the game is that different? I'd have to say yes.


When you think about it, is Lebron James really more valuable to the Miami Heat than Kevin Love is to the Minnesota Timberwolves? Take James off the Heat and they still have Wade and Bosh and a pretty solid supporting cast. I still think they could be a top 5 or 6 team in the east without Lebron. Take Love off the Timberwolves and, like tonights thrashing they are taking against LA, the Wolves suck and don't come anywhere near the playoffs.


This is all pointless of course since, like I said, the MVP discussion is reserved for the players on the best teams and the Timberwolves, with or without Kevin Love, won't be there. But when you actually think about who is more valuable to their teams success, the MVP favorite (Lebron) or the best player on a mediocre team (Love), it seems like the way we go about awarding the MVP is flawed. Or the name of the award. If the MVP was changed to TBPOTBTA (The Best Player On The Best Team Award), I wouldn't have any complaints. Except how long that acronym is.

2 comments:

  1. Kevin Love isnt really even in the top 5 candidates for MVP.

    Dudes a beast, no doubt. But we know how important team records are for this typa thing..

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  2. tony parkers should be MVP, without him his team goes from top 3 to bottom 3 quickly. also check out my blog i got similar posts, newest one about how LIN was going to be traded to the raptors
    http://sportsfromlucas.blogspot.com/

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