http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=2866994 By Marc Stein ESPN.com Dallas Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki, whose coronation as the first European-born Most Valuable Player in NBA history has been expected for weeks, is scheduled to officially receive the MVP trophy at a Tuesday news conference in Dallas, ESPN.com has learned. The NBA has handed out its past three MVPs -- two straight to Phoenix's Steve Nash after Minnesota's Kevin Garnett won in 2004 -- at the start of the second round. But it's believed the league opted to put some distance between Nowitzki's ceremony and the Mavericks' stunning first-round exit against Golden State. By the time Nowitzki collects his award, nearly two weeks will have elapsed since the 67-win Mavs became the just the third No. 1 seed in NBA history to lose to a No. 8 seed. The previous two No. 1 seeds to lose so quickly, however, suffered five-game exits as opposed to losing a seven-game series: Seattle in 1994 to Denver and Miami in 1999 to New York. Said Nowitzki, reached by phone Thursday night: "Nobody's told me anything. You [media] guys have been talking about it for a while, so let's see what happens. "[But] it's hard to even think about that stuff right now. Everything [from the Golden State series] is still pretty fresh. It's been some tough days since we lost. "I thought this was such an incredible year. We won 67 games and then to lose in the first round, it just feels so empty right now." Asked to imagine what an MVP ceremony would be like after such a disappointment, Nowitzki said: "If I do get it, it's an incredible honor. I'm sure 20 years from now or whatever, to see that in the [record] books, it's an amazing achievement. But right now, it's hard. Obviously, you can't feel good about the way our season ended." Nowitzki averaged 24.6 points, 8.9 rebounds and a career-best 3.4 assists during the regular season and was the only player in the league to shoot at least 50 percent from the field (.502), 40 percent from 3-point range (.416) and 90 percent from the free-throw line (.904). His percentages in each of those categories were career highs, helping Nowitzki secure his third successive berth on the All-NBA first team, which was announced earlier Thursday. But it all changed in the playoffs against longtime mentor Don Nelson, who crafted a defensive strategy -- which included constant double-teaming, largely by fronting Nowitzki and then sending over help defenders on his catches -- that the 7-footer and Mavs coach Avery Johnson never solved. Nowitzki scored just eight points on 2-for-13 shooting in Dallas' Game 6 elimination and wound up averaging a mere 19.7 points for the series on 38.3-percent shooting and just 21.1 percent on 3s.
I hope this leads to some changes in how MVP voting is done. It shouldn't be either a hype award, nor should the candidates consist of only the best players on the best teams. Maybe they could have a couple of rounds of ballots that do take into account post-season play. Hell, they're only including candidates on the best (playoff) teams anyways, so why not let their playoff play factor into the decision? If its truly just a regular season award, Michael Jordan would have gotten it every year... and Kobe Bryant likely gets it the last 3 years.
Didnt some country singer give one of his music awards to Hootie and The Blowfish once? Dirk better give it to Nash. If he has a soul.
But MLB has no problem giving it to simply the best player any given year... its why Sosa won it when he was merely on a wild card team, and how A-Rod won it when he was on an awful Rangers team. The NBA has been different... its become an award that only a member of an elite team can win.
I'm so happy Dirk won it, and now has to accept his MVP award in a suit in the back of the American Airlines Center.
Based on the regular season, he deserves it. But what a hollow feeling he and his teammates must have. 67 wins meant absolutely nothing because Shirk was psyched out in the playoffs.
I have not much problem with Dirk being the MVP of the regular season, although I think Nash deserves more. The problem I have is why don't they announce all these regular-season awards at the same time and much earlier, i.e., right after regular season ended or playoff just started? Talk about awkward timing right now.
Give him some water i think he's choking.. wait he did choke.... Yeah he really deserves that award for all he's done in the regular season because the regular season > playoffs right? Here's to a deeper run in the playoffs next season for our Houston Rockets!!
I still don't think he had an MVP season. His team had a great year but I think Nash or Lebron or even Kobe deserved it more. The only thing is people were looking for reasons not to give it to these guys: didn't want to give it to Nash 3 years in a row, don't want to crown Lebron too early, and Kobe's team barely made the playoffs.
Being in Dallas and being force fed a lot of mavericks games on slow TV days, Dirk has to be the most underwhelming MVP ever. I know he shoots a high % but I just never saw him as the Most Vaulable Player of the League
