Can someone tell me why Dirk....(concerning the MVP)

Theory: He's just a shooter that can't play D and doesn't really improve his teammates.

I don't really agree with this, but I imagine that is what holds back Dirk from being mentioned with McGrady/Duncan/Shaq/Kobe/Iverson.

 

He's the most versatile offensive player in the NBA.

He is 7 feet tall.
He can shoot like a shorty.
He can play inside.
He can dribble.
He can crossover..lol Turkoglu.
He cannot pass.
He can post up.
He can do almost everything.
He is usually automatic.

Hmm...it's funny...Milwaukee traded Nowitzki for Robert Traylor...who is now on the Hornets. Pretty sad and funny.

MVP? Well I like Michael Finley better. lol.....Bill Walton said Steve Nash should have been MVP...earlier in the season.

 

Aside from Shaq, Dirk might be the most difficult player in the league to guard. KG is a better overall player, but Dirk wins on the offensive end. He plays inside, he plays outside, he hits 3s. You can't guard guard him with a 3, cause hell just shoot over them (and in their face). You can't guard him with a 4 cause hell blow right by them.

However, I agree with Band Geek. He does not really make his teamates better. That team runs on Nash gas. Nash's helter/skelter style of play is what breaks down the opponents defense and allows his teamates to get so many touches.

I think Nash, even though he is an all-star, is still a lil underated.

 

DAL style and last year's playoffs hurt Dirk. DAL getting off hot and finishing not so hot did not help either. Getting by SA and maybe coming back with some quality post moves and post D next year..... well, who knows. I like Dirk, but right now I have him behind TD and KG at the forward position(yeah, ahead of Webber). I can see Dirk passing KG, but I have TD half way to the all-time all-NBA first team.

 

So basically all he does is get rebounds and score, and therefore he deserves the MVP award. Defense is part of the MVP award, value isnt only on the offensive end. The Defensive POY and MVP aren't like the Cy Young Award and MVP Award in baseball.

 

Lynus,
I love Dirk. I'd probably trade just about any combination of players on the Rockets except for Yao for him, and I might even be willing to include Yao in a deal for Dirk. After saying that, the MVP award historically goes to the player that has made the biggest impact on his team. It's basically turned into the "Take X player off of this team, how much worse off are they?" award.

I agree about KG, but it's not like he's better in the clutch than Duncan is...KG still has no "go-to" move to take in the final minutes of a game. I still think KG should have won the MVP, but if you hold Duncan's inability to hit a FT against him, then you should also hold KG's lack of a go to move against him in the crucial minutes of the 4th quarter.

I think Dirk is a victim of being surrounded by very good players. I think if he switched spots with McGrady, then he would be getting some MVP recognition. The truth is that the Mavs would still probably be a playoff team without him. You can't say that about any of the other MVP candidates. (Kobe, McGrady, Duncan, KG) Of course, you could also argue that if you put the Magic in the West, they wouldn't even be a playoff team with McGrady.

Like I said, I like Dirk a lot, but the arguments I've stated are probably the reasons why he didn't get any MVP run...

 

Dirk had more than a steal and a block this season on average and, as has been pointed out here before, was # 4 in defensive rebounds in the league this year. Is that not part of playing defense?

Also, he raised his assist average to three and only missed a triple double in the playoffs recently because he went back to the bench with several minutes still to play.

 

The only weakness of Dirk's game is man defense. That's it.

Offensively, he's the total package with a little room for improvement at the post department.

Defensively, he's a great rebounder and decent in shot-blocking and stealing.

As to not making teammates better, you can say the same thing about Shaq, Dream, McGrady, Iverson, etc. I agree that Dirk is not a great passer or playmaker. He's not supposed to. The thing is, great scorers like that automatically make their teammates better by taking opponent's defensive attention away from the teammates.

MVP (and ROY) awards have a lot to do with perceptions. The Mavs aren't being perceived as a great team yet, despite their records. They are kinda like the Run-n-Shoot Oilers led by Warren Moon. They didn't get any respect simply because their style was perceived to be not championship-worthy by conventionalists. That's a major reason why I hope the Mavs win this year (and only this year!). I like to see conventional wisdom fail.

 

Dirk is a good player, one of the top PFs in the league, but he just isn't an MVP, atleast not at this point in his career.

Defense isn't all about steals, rebounds, and blocks. He doesn't have the lateral movement to really be a good defender. Steals and blocks prevent points, but they don't prevent points as much as shut down defense does.

 

As if Larry Bird was a defensive stud.

I agree with what BGM said. It's about the talent level of the team.

 

The great thing about Bird though, was the fact that he made up for hit with his smarts. Bird was a GREAT, possibly the all time greatest, anticipators. Do you realize that, for his career, Bird averaged fairly close to 2 steals per game? If you take into consideration the fact that Larry had very lil athletic ability (i.e. not quick), that stat is absolutely amazing.

Larry Bird did more with less than any other player in NBA history.

 

Bird was amazing. So he was MVP material. Dirk is less amazing, so he should at least be considered as a candidate. As we said, being surrounded with a lot of talent doesn't make one shine.

 

Dallas peaked early, and plus he has the same problem that Webber has, surrounded by many stars, and his D isn't all that.

 

So why is there no Offensive Player of the Year award?

 

If Dal had beaten good teams in the regular season, he would ahve had more consideration. They had a below .500 record against the 2-7 seeds I believe.

 

How would the rest of the game have gone if he wasn't part of the team? Would they even be in it at all?

MVP means most valuable player! Take away Mcgrady and you'll find out how valuable he was to his team. Same with AI.

And I disagree about the mavs being nowhere without Dirk. It would have just meant that Nash, Finley and NVE would have put up bigger numbers. Like everyone knows, Dirk only helps you on offense. NVE/Finley/Nash can easily cover the loss of Dirk's points without a sweat. It's not like they're dependent on Dirk in order to get theirs. That's why Dirk got zero consideration...as he should have.

 

Yeah Bird wasn't surrounded by that much talent.

Don't even mention Bird and Nowitski in the same sentence, Bird's game was as complete as it got and he always came up big in clutch situations. Dirk can shoot lights out and gets rebounds. That's it. He plays absolutely no defense, and he doesn't make his teamates better as someone else said. A more realistic comparison is Tom Chambers. For a while he was one of the most unguardable players in the NBA, but I don't think anyone ever gave him much MVP consideration either.

 

I agree that Dirk is no Larry Bird, but I think that Bird was surrounded by a lot of talent. I would rather Parish and McHale than Finely and Nash.

Also Magic won the MVP with Jabbar and Worthy as teammates.