the exact numbers are 50.2%fg, 41.6%3p and 90.4%ft. It's special because it's so rare that besides Dirk and Bird I don't know who else has done it. Drazen came very close. There's a reason he's a hall of famer. but his team didn't have a season Mavs have had. Dirk may not be Larry Bird but sure as hell is the closest thing to Larry Bird in today's NBA.
nash's numbers are better ACROSS THE BOARD. his team has a BETTER record than previous years. if they are going by the same criteria as the previous 2 years, why would nash NOT win it again?
Another example: Peja Stojakovic. 48%, 43%, 92%, 20+ pts. Again I don't think just because he reached whole numbers across the board makes it more special. What are they in common ? European players. They can shoot lights out, we know that already. Dirk is nothing special. It so happens he's a couple of inch taller and is on a good team with a great coach. What's special and scary about Larry Bird ? Not his shooting. Choke Noringski is not the closest thing to Larry Bird, period.
Stop comparing Dirk to Larry Bird. He ain't even close to Bird's level. Dirk deserves to win the MVP this year mainly because of his team record. I'm all for giving the MVP award to the best player on the best team, even if he's not the best player in the league.
if dirk wins the mvp they need to rename it to 'player who scores the most points on the team with the best record', because that's the only thing he does for that team. then they need to create another award called 'greatest impact player' and give that to the player in the league who increases his team's number of wins the most. dirk is a great player, but does anyone in the world fear him? he's a terrific and deadly jumpshooter, but what more does he bring to his team? he only helps his team in one category, that's shooting. he's a solid rebounder, but his defense sucks, he isn't a playmaker, and he doesn't will his teams to victory. jason terry and jerry stackhouse hit the clutch shots on that team. they bring the toughness that keeps the mavs mentally strong. dirk can go invisible (like he did last night) and the mavs still win. if steve nash, kobe, or tmac don't make their presence felt in a game, they aren't winning that ballgame.
If you want to do that why even vote for the mvp? Just have the coach on the best team choose the mvp.
that's stupid. I agree he doesn't bring the toughness to his team. but hey, neither does tmac...which is why we all want sura back...so to me, that's not a requirement of an MVP. i also agree that the mavs can win with him having an off game...which speaks to their talent. Which means you define MVP as who is most needed for his team's success. Some people don't define it that way. His defense has improved, though. Team and straight up. He has gained a lot on his post game. and his passing has improved a lot from the elbow post. Give the guy some credit.. I also think that Nash would win the MVP if he didn't win the last 2. But Dirk would still be 2nd. 25 ppg...but his team has won so much. So the argument can easily be that he COULD have scored more, but didn't have to cause his team's talent allowed them to win with him scoring 25. And the efficiency with which he did it should not be underestimated..
66 win team. Best player on that team Dirk deserves it. I don't hate the Mavs at all (Houstonian living in D) and have watched about 30 of their games this year, and some of you have no idea what you are talking about and don't realize what Dirk means to that franchise. If we won 66 games you would all be pissing and moaning about how TMac deserved the award
so maybe it's the Most valuable piece-of-team now.. b/c he's not the most valuable player in the NBA.. in fact, he's far from. to name a few that are more valuable to their respective teams: t-mac, yao, kobe, duncan, KG (They'd be nothign without him), nash, arenas, lebron. but whatever.. yeah dirk the tall, flopping, "admittingly" unclutch german is the mvp. that makes PERFECT sense..
TMac goes cold in quite some games, and his fg percentage lags... Yao still often plays under his potential, is foul prone (not as much as he used to) and is often close to invisible in the 4th Minnesota is nothing without KG, yet they really are nothing with him as well Kobe is the best player in the league, but he isn`t helping his team winning as much as showing that he is the best Duncan got a little older and a little slower, he aint putting up the numbers he used to Nash puts up big numbers offensively because his team is designed to put up big numbers, his defense is worse than Dirks Arenas is a pure Scorer Lebron should be close to MVP, but he aint doing all he could to help his team winning! These are all very good players that should be in the top 10, but you are a little unfair with Dirk! He puts up good numbers regularly, while always having the best defender on him, and while he often gets double teamed. He also grabs quite some rebounds and his defense is decent. His number one goal is helping his team win, he doesn`t care that much about his own numbers (he could easily average close to 30 ppg). I`m a Houston fan, but some of you seem to be a little blinded, because he is playing for your rival...
No they aren't. Nash is the more efficient scorer, but Dirk scores more. Dirk also rebounds and blocks shots more (obviously). Some would say "yeah, but that's because he plays PF," but that can be turned right back against Nash. Part of the reason he gets lots of assists is because he plays PG. Dirk also has a very low rate of turnovers (8.3% of his used possessions) while Nash turns the ball over a lot more (12.8%). In 2004-2005 Nash got it on the reasoning that he was the most vital player on the team with the best record. In 2005-2006 Nash got it because many of the best players in the league were either having off-years due to injury (Duncan) or were on teams that didn't have dominating records (Lebron, Kobe, Wade). Nash got it even though his team wasn't monstrously dominating either (54-28, good but not on the level of the Pistons, Spurs, and Mavs) because he supposedly carried the team in Amare's absence. There wasn't a consistent logic over these years. And there won't be one if Nash wins it again this year, because a) the Suns don't have the best record b) Amare is back and playing very well c) there are other perennial MVP candidates on teams with good records (differences in record smaller than that between Nash's 2006 team and the top teams in the league), who happen to be playing at a high individual level such as Duncan and Nowitzki
For everyone who keeps saying that Dirk isn't putting up big numbers this season, did you even take into consideration his efficiency and the pace of his team? His PER (which adjusts for team pace) this season is 27.85, second ONLY to Dwyane Wade (who many would dismiss from the MVP discussion due to injuries). For all the talk about how the Rockets play slow, grind-it-out basketball, the Mavs play FAR slower. The Mavs have an average of 88.2 possessions in there game, compared to 89.3 for the Rockets. So the difference between the Mavs and Rockets in game pace is about the same as the difference between the Rockets and the league's 15th fastest team (Jazz, at 90.3).
Who takes into account a players PER or the teams pace when considerring MVP. PER only came out a couple of years ago. All I'm saying is he'll have one of the least impressive MVP seasons.
Obviously the voters in the media won't be using PER. But people on this forum know about it, and besides, the logic behind PER (that you should adjust raw stats for a variety of factors) is sound. There is no reason for people to use inconsistent and unjustified methods (one year it's the perceived best player, another year it's the best player on the best team, some years players get rewarded or shafted based on whether or not they won the MVP already) just because it's the way things have been done in the past.
I agree with you. But such is the case for most of the recent MVPs. There havn't been any slam dunk MVPs of late, Nash and Dirk splitting the last 3 is pretty reasonable. You can make some cases for other players (Kobe, Lebron), but each has its own set of flaws. We don't have a Jordan, Shaq, or Hakeem type dominant figure on a dominant team. We don't even have a Duncan in his prime, or a KG in his prime on an upper tier playoff team, who would win it in landslides if they could duplicate their best individual and team seasons, but they havn't.
They will probably give Dirk the MVP just cause they don't want to give nash the trophy 3 times in a row, just how it works.
