LeBron James for MVP

@th3 flash You are using the fact that Jordan didn't win the MVP every year he was eligible as a way to say that we shouldn't look at stats? Jordan certainly should have won it every year the Bulls won championships. That Karl Malone beat him the two years he did was absolutely ridiculous and was displayed in the finals as Jordan undressed the Jazz. Is there any year during say the 10 years of Jordan's prime that you would have preferred to have any other player in the league than Jordan? He should have won at least 10 MVPs and that he didn't shows the inherent flaws in the system. MVP votes are designed to be flawed in every sport. Who wins is not nearly as important as getting people up in arms. I'll say this, the NBA does a much better job picking their MVPs than MLB does theirs.

When you watch the Mercury play I think that holds true however she only seems to play the role of the facilitator in spurts partially because of the uptempo style of play that is predicated on taking quick shots on the break.

Great article! I'm putting the finishing touches on an article about how Wilt Chamberlain was the best player of all time, and I'm looking for a couple of zingers to express how anybody who incorporates a framework other than statistical dominance is a mouthbreathing idiot. Do you mind if I just borrow yours? Cheers.

I just don't understand the logic people are using. The Heat were a playoff team last year without Lebron. Now they're in the 3rd seed after Wade and Bosh have lowered their numbers to play better with Lebron. For more than half the season Wade was a significantly better player when Lebron was off the court. How is he the best MVP candidate? Howard I understand the reasoning for and I have different reasons for why I think Rose is the better choice. But I really don't understand how Lebron is even in the argument.

Huge Laker fan here and I can't agree more. Homerism, sentimentality and politics have shafted more deserving players in the past. No reason it won't happen again this year and in the future.

I, Dwayne wade, am the MVP! if it was about stats Kobe would have like 3 or 4 mvps and mj would have had it almost every year he played

i honestly think wade is the most skilled player on the team, lebron is the most physically impressive, that's basically it... if wade was 6'8 and was as big and strong as lebron, he'd be 10x better stop calling him king too, the man hasn't won one ring yet, despite having the best record like two years in row rose for MVP, then I got wade in 2nd! why don't you guys stop worrying about the MVP and type a report about how the heat will "try" and win a championship

as someone who graduated with D. Wade in '03, I will be the first to say that 'Bron has carried the Heat this season. And I truly believe that.

Dwight or Dirk. Both their teams are contenders, and both teams would be lottery-bound without them. I don't think there's another contender that depends upon one player as much Orlando & Dallas do. Hence, Dwight & Dirk are the most valuable players in the league.

I'm a diehard Bulls fan - was horrified when they dealt LaMarcus Aldridge, you know, when they were two players away from the D-League. And it's great to finally see a fantastic third-place MVP candidate like Derrick Rose on the Bulls. I think it's Howard's, then LeBron's - been touting Howard since I saw his brand-new bunch of post moves. The man can seriously ball now - looking forward to him hitting that 60% plateau in free throws, of course, but he's a monster everywhere else.

Its as simple as this...Rose only played a combined three games without BOOZER AND NOAH together in the lineup so lets lose that reasoning for "GIVING" him MVP...Lebron plays next to Wade and Bosh and his stats pratically remained the same...HINT HINT...it doesnt matter he just that good..and you cant put three number one options on a team and expect automatic chemistry(especially Wade and LBJ) so of course records would be different...and final..when its a huge debate on whose really the MVP the only FACT in the whole debate would be what?...THE DAMN STATS!!! LETS GO KING JAMES!!!

Well said, well said.

Great responses by Brian Tung and Matt Johnson. It seems that the author of the article would rather write something Lebron's fans find humerous instead of actually debating the issue. If you are writing an article promoting Lebron as MVP how about you actually talk about WHY he should be MVP! The reason that you hardly read or hear these arguments is because it comes down to 1 thing: stats! Since there is only 1 logical argument for Lebron to be MVP the rest of these articles are filled with why someone else is less deserving!

also, if we're really going to give PER so much consideration why isn't anyone championing Kevin Love?

best is different than most valuable... the voters have consistently asserted that. It's not about Lebron's penance, as the article frames it.

Oh wow. Love the site, love your work generally Ethan, but I do believe that you haven't thought enough about this. Not the picking LeBron over Rose, but this: "When I hear, “Look, BEST is different from MOST VALUABLE,” it sounds a lot like, 'Look, I think the tone of my voice can render basic words irrelevant.'" Best is different from most valuable, this isn't anything really that hard to grasp if you are being 'sentient'. Look, LeBron went from Cleveland to Miami. He has WAY more talent to work with in Miami than he did in Cleveland, and the team's won less. That 50 game dropoff Cleveland had without LeBron? Miami would go through nothing remotely like that. In short: LeBron's just as good as he was last season (which happens to make the best player in the league) but he's quite clearly less valuable than he's been the last two seasons. I really don't know how intelligent people such as yourself don't see this, but I know you're intelligent, and I know you are far from alone, so this prayer for nuance needs to be preached again and again. And to be clear again: I'm not saying LeBron can't be your guy - he should be on everyone's short list - just that if you don't see him as a significantly weaker candidate than last year, then you aren't really thinking at all about what "value" means. I hate to be the shill for my stuff elsewhere, but if you'd like to see a significantly more detailed piece along these lines, here was my letter to John Hollinger (another smart guy not thinking with enough nuance) when he said something similar last month. http://asubstituteforwar.com/2011/02/09/hollering-hollinger-about-lebron-james-and-mvp-philosophy/

@Ethan: Even if we stipulate that MVP = the best player, there are still many different ideas of what "best" means. So all the confusion created in your English-loving brain is still there; you've at best deferred it by defining it as "best" (which is of course not a well-defined term). @Co Co and others: There are no criteria. The award is fairly open-ended. Personally, I think it is good that the award does not state any specific criteria, because it allows us to account for changing perceptions without having to reword the darned thing sixteen times. The upshot is that all the voters may have slightly different (or rather different) ways of interpreting MVP. So what? This year, if 30 percent vote on the basis of statistics, 40 percent based on some notion of best player on a top three team, and 30 percent on the basis of entertainment value, then that's what MVP means; it means 30 percent statistics, 40 percent best player etc, 30 percent entertainment. Next year, if the voter mix is different, the award mix is different. I don't see that as a problem, especially as I don't think you can have an unambiguous definition that won't tick off at least two-thirds of the interested public.

It's not that he has two more wins and that's that. It's that he has two more wins missing one of the two best players on his team for 53 games. If James had 53 wins with Wade out 23 games and Bosh out 30 we'd have a discussion, but if Boozer and Noah are both only miss three or four games each, we're talking about the difference between six or seven wins. Of course why mention that right? I mean the actual argument people make for Rose isn't that the Bulls have won 53 games, but that they've missed 53 games in spite of the injuries on them, but we can't actually have a debate any more where people actually discuss the other side's argument as it actually is.

Nice article, and you're somewhat correct on the MVP being a thing of narrative. I think the MVP lost its overall legitimacy when Shaq only won a single MVP... something that I still shake my head over today. Funny because as it turned out James was the narrative MVP and the legitimate MVP over the last 2 seasons as well

If the debate is clearly about stats then Lebron is the winner and there should be no need for voting; simply look at the stats. The problem with stats is that they don't take into consideration the intangables! Where is it shown in those stats that Lebron plays with 2 other All-Stars who demand almost as much attention when it comes to double-teams as Lebon? Where is it shown in those stats that Rose is the SOLE focus of the defense and he still is able to score at will, particularly in the clutch moments? Where is it shown in those stats that Rose has played a CONSIDERABLE amount of time without 2 of the best players on his team? Where is it shown in those stats that when it comes to elite teams that Lebron often fails to show up when his team needs him?

The award for years has never been about the best player. I'm not even on the Rose is the clear cut MVP thing. But this is hardly the worst travesty of a potential MVP award.

If the MVP award was solely about statistics, Steve Nash would not be a two-time MVP. I agree that the MVP award selection is beyond flawed, but it's been that way for a long time. This is not a new revelation.

The ideas about language and meaning in this article are wrong by about a century. The MVP debate is not statistical, it is definitional. In fact, in asserting that stats are what matters, you are engaging in the self same definitional debate you state you are trying to transcend. This is not an intellectually credible effort.

Wow, a case for LeBron over D-Rose based solely on their stat lines! This is new, original, and exciting!

This is what i've been waiting for. This media propaganda has gotten out of hand. I don't know if anyone remembers but after winning the Gold medal this summer the media selected Kevin Durant as the frontrunner for MVP in order to punish James for putting himself above the game, with his "Decision". After KD proved to not be MVP material and LeBron was putting up incredible numbers across the board and the heat's incredible run before the All-Star break. The NBA, ESPN have SHOVED Derrick Rose down the throats of the fans. Drose highlights every night, Youtube, NBA.com, ESPN, you name it. It needs to end. LeBron James for MVP.

Respect, Ethan Strauss. You will undoubtedly get slammed by some half-witted numb-nut with an ax to grind (and to be fair, I won't pretend not to be a fan of LBJ, but you get my point), but it's really nice to read a short, intelligent post that doesn't mistake inferences drawn on the basis of two data points for real analysis...

So the Bulls are great...mainly because they are a MONSTER defensive team. Many have noted that the team is better defensively with Rose on the bench. They struggle offensively....Rose is a fantastic offensive player. I don't know where I am going with this. LeBron or Dwight for MVP. Why? Because we haven't really seen the Bulls without Derrick Rose, but something tells me they'd still be a 4th/5th seed with this roster and their defense. No Dwight and Orlando becomes 12-14 seed. Even Miami struggled greatly without LeBron. This award is just too inconsistent every year. Almost as inconsistent as this post.

The criteria for the MVP award changes every season. Sometimes it's "does he make his teammates better." then it's "best player on the best team" then it's "best player in the league" then it's "well, he's one of the all time greats and he's overdue" and etc. It's an ever changing list of requirements. But, that's what happens when you have fans voting. And yes, I'm referring to the media as fans.

Yep- good stuff.

I am leaving this comment before actually reading the article. Given the premise (with which I agree) and the usual quality of writing on this site, I'm looking forward to this.