The sad thing is that Stevie has more talent in his middle finger than Shaq has total. Not that this topic hasn't already been hashed and rehashed, but Shaq is only "good" because he's big, tall, and can shuffle along faster than most big men. Take away his physical stature, and he wouldn't have a prayer in the NBA. BUT ALL THIS IS MOOT, since the reality is he's one BIG dude. I just hate it when that guy gets props for being "good". I know MVP stands for Most Valuable Player, but a modicum of talent should be a prerequisite. P.S. Not a slam on 4Chuckie for calling Shaq good...I didn't even see that post when I wrote this.
i think the key of making the MVP is FAILURE not only the good stats and turn around for the team but.. what the player has failed over the past years, and learning by their mistakes.
if it were as simple as being BIG, every nba team would hire a sumo wrestler to play center. give shaq his props...he's damn good.
There is so much competition for this that many factors that don't necessarily point to the player come into play. Politics for one: Robinson over Hakeem? Robinson was a better spokesperson and more "popular", it was a politically correct to select him. Then Hakeem destroyed him and made the league's selection look silly... That in mind, Steve probably needs to become more popular. More TV ads, more national press. The Rockets organization has to step up and push this around the league and in the press. If they can win early, they may get more national TV exposure.
I think that Kobe and Steve are very close talent wise, and if either one is better than the other, it's very marginal. Of course, the NBA has been known to give out the MVP award to a less deserving individual (see Robinson, David), but you must also remember that Kobe is the NBA's media darling right now. If the two were neck at neck, the NBA would probably give it to Kobe just because he plays in LA.
If by "popular" you mean being flashy, media savvy and so forth, I don't think so. Jason Kidd was a lot more "popular" in that sense than Tim Duncan, yet Duncan won last year. If by "popular" you mean being nice/classy, then that may have some truth in it. Allen Iverson, for example, being the bad boy image that he is, will be very difficult to get the award unless his on court performance is clearly head and shoulder above everybody else.
Sumo wrestlers are too short and can't shuffle fast enough. Have you seen how vertically challenged some of those guys are? Me no like-a Shaq never...
I think some of Kidd's past problems may have haunted him. If he pulls it off again this year, I think he has a better chance of the "politics" against him not being as big a factor. Duncan does have that "golden boy" image, and you have to give him credit for being a true MVP on his team. Without Duncan, the Spurs are close to the lottery...
