Save the arguments. You absolutely can't tell me any legitimate reason why King James should NOT have been the MVP. So, please don't try. But, if you would like to argue, here are the justifications.
Stats:
LeBron: 28.4 ppg, 7.6 rpg, 7.2 apg, 48.9 FG%, 34.4 3Pt%, 78.0 FT%, 1.7 spg, 1.1 bpg, 2.9 topg
DWade: 30.2 ppg, 5.0 rpg, 7.5 apg, 49.1 FG%, 31.7 3Pt%, 76.5 FT%, 2.2 spg, 1.3 bpg, 3.4 topg
Kobe: 26.4 ppg, 5.2 rpg, 4.9 apg, 46.7 FG%, 35.1 3Pt%, 85.6 FT%, 1.5 spg, 0.4 bpg, 2.6 topg
What do the stats tell us? First of all, any MVP consideration based strictly off of statistics automatically can take Kobe off of the list. Kobe was outplayed (based on stats) by both LeBron and Wade. Here is another little nugget. DWade may have led the league in PPG, but he also led the league in shot attempts as well. And how about this. LeBron led his team in points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks. ALL FIVE CATEGORIES! Only three players have done this before: KG, Pippen, and Dave Cowens.
Team Improvement:
Cavs in 07-08: 45-37
Cavs in 08-09: 66-16
Cavs improve: 21 games
Heat in 07-08: 15-67
Heat in 08-09: 43-39
Heat improve: 28 games
Lakers in 07-08: 57-25
Lakers in 08-09: 65-17
Lakers improve: 12 games
As you can see the Heat improved the most of any of the three teams. However, they traded Shaq during mid-season and Wade only played in 51 games. Can you say tanked season? They changed more pieces between seasons than either the Cavs or Lakers and you knew they were tanking down the stretch to get either Rose or Beasley. The Lakers had Pau Gasol for an entire season this year and were coming off a finals loss. Do you really think the Cavs won 21 more games than last year because of Mo Williams? The Cavs and the Lakers finished with the league's best records while the Heat ended up getting the number five seed in the Eastern Conference. As many people say, "The MVP comes from the best player on the best team". So, that would eliminate DWade from their votes.
Let's put something else into perspective here. The Cavs had the second best home record in NBA history. They could have tied it, but rested their starters in the finale. The team that has the record is the 85-86 Boston Celtics, who had four hall of fame players on their team! The Cavs? Mo Williams was an all-star replacement....and that is about it!
LeBron CLEARLY was the best player in the league this year and he is only 24 years old and this is his sixth year in the league. You want something else to think about? Remember LeBron's stats from this year? Well, how about Kobe's stats from his sixth NBA year?
LeBron: 28.4 ppg, 7.6 rpg, 7.2 apg, 48.9 FG%, 34.4 3Pt%, 78.0 FT%, 1.7 spg, 1.1 bpg, 2.9 topg
Kobe: 25.2 ppg, 5.5 rpg, 5.5 apg, 46.9 FG%, 25.0% 3Pt%, 82.9 FT%, 1.5 spg, 0.4 bpg, 2.8 topg
And even though I shouldn't do it...when somebody else was 24 years old, they had:
35.0 ppg, 5.5 rpg, 5.9 apg, 53.5 FG%, 13.2 3Pt%, 84.1 FT%, 3.2 spg, 1.6 bpg, 3.1 topg
You will notice the points per game. The NBA has changed in the past 20 years. Scoring used to be way up and this guy played on one of the LEAST scoring teams in the league (they averaged 105 points per game...which was 19th out of 23 teams). That guy I am referring to is someone you may heard of. His name is Michael Jordan.
Look, there is no way I am comparing LeBron to MJ. It's not possible. Different leagues. I say to compare Jordan to anyone else is a joke. But that was just to put LeBron up against somebody else. However, I will compare LeBron to Kobe. And what do Kobe lovers always say? Look at the rings. Well, I say look at what Kobe did during those years. The last year the Lakers won the title was the 01-02 season. That was Kobe's sixth season. Kobe supposedly has been the best player since that time. And how many NBA titles has he had in that time? As many as LeBron does.
In his sixth year, LeBron has proven that he is the top player in the NBA. There are no questions about it. The scary part is that his ceiling has NOT been reached yet! If you think he is great now, just wait about four more years to see what he is like.
And if you still doubt him now, come back and see me in June after LeBron holds up the NBA trophy for the first time....
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