Why Voting Carmelo Over LeBron Makes No Sense

By now you have all heard that Heat F LeBron James won his 4th NBA MVP Award over the weekend.  He received 120/121 1st place votes.  Today we learned that Celtics beat writer Gary Washburn, of the Boston Globe was the lone outlier.  He voted instead for Knicks All-Star Carmelo Anthony, preventing LeBron from being the first unanimous winner.  He wrote why he voted the way he did and has been making the rounds on local and national radio all day. 

He was wrong.  Here's why.  

No matter what your rhetoric is for MVP, LeBron James was the only choice.  Let's take a look.  

Carmelo led the league in scoring  (28.7 points per game), LeBron was 4th, less than 2 points back (26.8).  But LeBron shot a significantly better percentage from the floor (56.5 to 44.9) and from 3 (40.6 to 37.9).

One of Washburn's big reasons for voting for Carmelo was that he led the league in scoring.  Tracy McGrady led the league in scoring twice.  He finished 4th in MVP one of those years and didn't receive a SINGLE VOTE in the other.  

LeBron averaged more rebounds, assists, steals, blocks, and minutes as compared to Carmelo.  The assist number was particularly lopsided (7.3 to 2.6).  Who makes their teammates better?  If you want to add the assist-points onto their scoring you get (41.4 for LeBron and 33.9 for Carmelo, and that's calculating just 2 points per assist.)

LeBron had 36 double-doubles, Carmelo had 10.

LeBron missed 6 games all season (in the final month of the year for rest), Carmelo missed 15.

LeBron finished 2nd in the Defensive Player of the Year voting, Carmelo finished 2nd to last (can't confirm this.)

If you like PER (Player Efficiency Rating) that's also in favor of LeBron: 31.67 (1st); Carmelo: 24.83 (4th)  

If you vote based on statistics, it's obvious.  If you vote on simply best player, it's obvious.  If you want to come up with some off the wall/ I'm sick of voting for LeBron theory, then you find a way to vote for someone else.

But if your argument is, "He led the Knicks to their first division title in 19 years.  That's a long time."  What about Chris Paul?  

Chris Paul led the Clippers to their first division title in.... EVER.  First title in franchise history.  Seems more historically significant to me.  

Another "reason" to vote for Carmelo was the theory that without him the Knicks don't make the playoffs and without LeBron the Heat are still a top team.  Well it's a small sample size, but New York went 7-8 this year without Anthony.  That pace would have beat out the Bucks for the 8 spot.  

The Knicks won the division in large part because the Celtics were far worse than expected/ old/ just getting through the regular season.  Deron Williams played hurt for most of the season.  The 76ers got 0 minutes from Andrew Bynum after trading for him, and the Raptors are awful.  Now, the Heat didn't play in a world-beating division either, but to say Melo gets your vote cause he scored a lot of points and the Knicks won the division seems weak.  

LeBron has better teammates.  Fact.  They did win 12 more games and have the best record in the NBA.  The Knicks finished with the 6th most wins in the league.  

If you really want to use the, "Without him where is his team reasoning?"  Then I assume Gary had James Harden, Stephen Curry, and Zach Randolph high on his ballot.  

Fact is LeBron has already been penalized for choosing to join forces with Wade and Bosh.  He should have been the MVP in 2011 (when Derrick Rose won), and everyone knew it, except not voting for him was the only way to say they disagreed with him leaving Cleveland, "The Decision," and the perception that he was taking the easy way out to win titles.  That lasted one year and he has since won back-to-back MVPs in Miami, and 4 out of 5 overall.  

Look, I'm not a LeBron apologist.  In the words of Manti Te'o, "Far from it.  Faaarrrrr from it."  I actually like Carmelo more, but to think he was the MVP over LeBron is crazy.  Michael Jordan missed out on some MVPs simply because writers were sick of voting for him.  LeBron has raised the bar for this generation and is without question the best player in the game.  To vote for someone else when he continues to put up insane numbers, because a guy made a team relevant again, or because he was the scoring champ?  Makes no sense.  

Yes I understand that LeBron still won it this year.  But I don't understand how an NBA writer doesn't agree with that.  This wasn't a Duncan or Kidd, Duncan or KG, Dirk or Nash or Kobe type of year.  This was clear cut.  Maybe what LeBron is doing is being taken for granted... by one Boston writer anyway.

-Keefe

Who's the NBA MVP Right Now?

We are not even at the halfway point of the season, but let’s talk MVP anyway. Two of the league’s stars made recent comments about the award so why can’t we? LeBron James basically said as soon as he and Dwyane Wade joined company they could kiss any MVP consideration goodbye. Meanwhile Bulls PG Derrick Rose said it’s his goal to win the award this season and he thinks he can as long as the team continues to win. (Chicago is currently 3^rd in the East).

So, who is your MVP? Here is a look at some of the top candidates thru 30+ games.

Amare Stoudemire, Knicks: 26.4 points, 9 rebounds, 2.3 blocks.

In his first season in the Big Apple, Stoudemire has New York in 6^th place in the Eastern Conference while ranking 2^nd in the NBA in points-per-game. The Knicks are looking like a playoff team early thanks to stellar combination of Stoudemire and Felton. It will be tough for him to win the award if New York finishes around .500, which I expect.

Kevin Durant, Thunder: 27.9 points, 6.3 rebounds, 3 assists.

The NBA’s leading scorer has his team in 5^th place in the West but only a half game out of 3^rd and 3 games back of 2^nd. He was clearly the MVP of the Gold Medal winning World Championship team, and he has sort of carried that over into the NBA season. I thought he would be a little more dominating; after all he did crack the 30 points per game mark last year.

Derrick Rose, Bulls: 24 points, 8.6 assists, 4.7 rebounds.

The guy thinks he’s the MVP, wants to be the MVP, and could very well win the MVP. He’s 8^th in scoring, 7^th in assists, and his team sits in 3^rd place in a conference that is more top heavy than Dolly Parton. Rose has been a complete player leadings a team that has never been a full strength with the injuries to Boozer (early) and Noah (present/future).

Dwight Howard, Magic: 21.1 points, 13 rebounds, 2.5 blocks.

He’s the best center in the game (Duncan is a PF, naturally so is Amare, and Yao is in 7’6 suits the rest of the way), and because of this he will always get some consideration. His team made a major shake up but he remains the vocal point. The Magic will only go as far as Dwight takes them. If he is really going to win the MVP he might have to catch Love for the rebounding title and Bogut for blocks and win another Defensive Player of the Year Award.

Kobe Bryant, Lakers: 25.4 points, 4.9 rebounds, 4.4 assists.

MVP talk must involve Kobe Bryant even though he has taken home the award just once in his Hall of Fame career. Kobe has not been torching teams with the same regularity yet he still ranks 3^rd in the league in scoring, but the Lakers find themselves tied for 3^rd place in the West. As long as Bryant is healthy his name will be mentioned on the MVP ballet at the end of the year.

Dirk Nowitzki, Mavericks: 24.1 points, 7.4 rebounds, 54.5% FG.

The 2007 MVP is once again putting up impressive numbers and doing it for a team that is piling up wins. The recent injury to Caron Butler will likely hurt the team, however with inspired performance it could help Dirk’s MVP case.

Deron Williams, Jazz: 22.2 points, 9.3 assists, 3.9 rebounds.

In my opinion he is the best point guard in a very deep group in the NBA. The Jazz are tied for 3^rd place while adjusting too many new faces. Boozer, Mathews, Korver, Miles are all gone and Okur has been out, yet Williams and the Jazz are still one of the best teams in the league. It also helps that he ranks 12^th in points and 4^th in assists. He won’t win it this year but an All-NBA 1^st team should be in the cards.

LeBron James, Heat: 24.4 points, 6.7 rebounds, 7.3 assists.

The back-to-back reigning winner of the MVP trophy says he won’t win it this year. Is this a random moment of self deprecation? It doesn’t matter what he says, he will be considered. The Heat have a great chance to pass the Celtics (only .5 game back right now) for 1^st place in the East because of Boston’s injuries coupled with Miami’s recent performance. Also I am pretty sure Michael Jordan still won the award a few times with Scottie Pippen on the team. Monster numbers on a winning team = MVP.

Dwyane Wade, Heat: 24.5 points, 6.5 rebounds, 4.3 assists.

Same rules apply for LeBron. Perhaps these guys would split votes if they has similar numbers (like they do now) and were the #1 seed in the playoffs. Even still I think each one has a chance at the award. Wade has caught fire as of late and now leads LeBron by .1 in points; they rank 5^th and 6^th in the league respectively. Another trip to the All-Defensive team for both will also help their consideration.

Rajon Rondo, Celtics: 10.8 points, 13.5 assists, 2.3 steals.

Given he’s missed 11 of the team’s 32 games, which would make winning the award a huge uphill climb, you have to wonder. What if Rondo put up these kinds of numbers for a full season and the C’s had the best record? Steve Nash won 2 (should have been 3) MVP awards and never averaged 13.5 assists in a season. Yes, Nash did score more points and we really shouldn’t even compare their shooting skills. But I wonder, in a year where LeBron and Wade are playing together, and Kobe isn’t dominating (as much), would Rondo have received many votes? Maybe he still can. The last time a player missed 11 games (so we would be assuming Rondo played in every game the rest of the way) and won the MVP award was Allen Iverson back in the 2000-01 season. AI played in 71 games but dropped a ridiculous 31.1 ppg.

It is really difficult to pick just one player as the MVP at this point in the year. If I had to choose I think I might take Kevin Durant, (he was my preseason pick). The Thunder will need to be a Top 4 seed in the West; Durant must defend his scoring title, and improve his rebounding to win it. LeBron and Wade will make a run for this thing too whether they think so or not. Who would you vote for?

-Keefe