http://proxy.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?page=MVP09 LeBron is nearly the unanimous pick (Jon Barry is the only one to not put LeBron first -- he chose Wade instead and had LeBron second). [rquoter] The tally LeBron James: 89 points (17 first-place votes, 1 second) Dwyane Wade: 62 points (1 first-place vote, 8 second, 7 third, 2 fourth) Kobe Bryant: 53 points (8 second-place votes, 5 third, 1 fourth, 4 fifth) Dwight Howard: 31 points (1 second-place vote, 2 third,10 fourth, 1 fifth) Chris Paul: 22 points (3 third-place votes, 3 fourth, 7 fifth) Chauncey Billups: 8 points (1 third-place vote, 1 fourth, 3 fifth) Paul Pierce: 3 points (1 fourth-place vote, 1 fifth) Tony Parker: 2 points (2 fifth-place votes) Five points awarded for first-place votes, four points for second place, and so on.[/rquoter] I think we've known this for a number of months, but I'd say its pretty safe to say that LeBron James will be the 08/09 MVP.
He's had his best season, Ginobili has been out for most of the year, Duncan has been hobbled for the last month or so, a lot of new players, and the Spurs are still going to win 50 something games. As a 5th place vote, I think he's a fair pick. If the ballot was to list the top 10 MVP candidates, Yao may have accumulated more points.
i wouldn't say that over Billups. Chauncey has single-handedly turned that team's attitude around.. losing culture to winning culture with 1 player? Means a lot, I think..
He has made them better since they are the 2nd seed right now but they were not a losing team the last few years until they got into the playoffs.
Alright. In my opinion, the difference in wins (3-5 games, probably) isn't enough to say that Billups and Yao have had better seasons. Paul has just been too good. BTW, Feigen gave his vote in his chat today: James, Wade, Bryant, and Paul/Parker (or Parker/Paul).
I'm not quite sure how much better they are than last year, if at all. Their small increase in wins could easily be caused by them being one of the few teams to not have a disappointing season. The Suns, Jazz, Hornets, and Spurs' seasons were all hurt alot by injury. Also, getting Nene back healthy and getting Chris Anderson has really made Camby being traded a non-factor...so i wouldn't say Billups has changed much on his own. Their point differentials are similar as well. So, if this Nuggets team were playing last year, i would expect similar results.
Perhaps the reason why they didn't have a dissapointing season was because of Billups. Melo only played 64 games this season meaning he missed 22% of the games this season. Pretty impressive what Billups and the Nuggets were able to achieve without their number 1 option for a almost a 1/4 of a season. I'd say most importantly Billups has given that team an identity and stability something they definitely didn't have last year.
Nice list although Howard shouldn't be 4th and probably not even in the top 5. If Miami was a 50 win team I might chose Wade over Lebron simply because Wade is a better clutch player.
