[SI]Daryl Morey: MVP Criteria Is 'Shifting Away From Winning'

There has always been controversy about the winner of the MVP award. It's nothing new. Most of us (assuming most of us are at least of a certain age) remember very well going ballistic when Hakeem "lost" the award to The Admiral the year of the second championship. Dream's epic dismantling and utter humiliation of a truly great center, Mr. Robinson, in San Antonio after Robinson had been given the MVP award in front of understandably adoring fans remains one of the all time great playoff performances in league history.

The award counts for something. Dream thought it did, thought he should have won it, and proved that he should have won it in the best possible way. It's why I have decidedly mixed feelings about moving the announcing of the award until after the season ended. Olajuwon would have carried us to victory against SA and Robinson regardless, in my opinion, but would he have done so in such an awe inspiring, never to be forgotten way? We'll never know. What we do know is that the better player didn't win the MVP that season. Sound familiar?

 

When James won the 14/15 players MVP, people on this board were trying to say that one day the players MVP would be more important than the media MVP.

False. Everybody still cares about the media MVP, nobody gives a crap about the players MVP. Do they still even do a players mvp?

 

If you guys don't think image is important you are fooling yourself.

James having his jersey retired at a strip club is not helping - whether we like it or not.

DD

 

[SI]Daryl Morey: MVP Criteria Is 'Shifting Away From Winning'

 

Player A - 15.5 points per game, 11.5 assists, 3.3 rebounds, 1.0 steals, .502/.431/.887 shooting percentage. 62 wins.

Player B - 22.9 points, 10.4 rebounds, 2.3 blocks, .601 shooting percentage. 59 wins.

Player C - 20.3 points, 11.1 rebounds, 2.6 blocks. 59 wins.

Guess who won MVP? Thats year 2005.

I stopped bothering who the MVP is when I realized MVP is just BSPN darling of the year.

 

At highest level maybe. But players from young age do NOT advance to the next level by "winning". They make a name for themselves by INDIVIDUAL domination with stats and highlights. A young boy/girl is motivated by being selected ALL-STATE, All-American, being individually better than everyone. They're not all of a sudden changing that entire ego DNA to be ALL about winning games at a TOTAL "sacrifice" of individual performance and accolades (and PAY).

So why award those honors to young players if it just encourages selfishness at all levels? Then whats the true standard saying 1st Team Award player is better than 2nd Teamer? Lack of consistent standard and selfish mentality are both detriments, so just get rid of those enabling things for "clean" scores and sportsmanship?

 

https://www.basketball-reference.com/friv/mvp.html

Harden was robbed of MVP according to basketball reference 2x in 2015 and this past year

 

This has always been the dilemma. In a way, rewarding individual achievements in a team sport is counter productive in the spirit of the sport. It's a distraction from the main objective of the sport, which is winning as a TEAM. Not to mention it encourages selfishness to the detriment of the team. That's why I am all for scrapping all the individual awards such as the MVP, the First Team selection, the All Star, etc.

On the other hand, I do see the value of recognizing individual excellence even in a team sport. It adds personalities to the sport. A lot of times, we root for players, not for teams. I know I would rather root for good guys I like on my team more than how much the team wins.