Race to the MVP: Teaming up to make MVP runs

In yesterday's Race to the MVP mailbag, we explored the question of whether a team could be too good for one player to be named MVP. While the team may be excellent, there is no one player that stands out above the others. After all, that P in MVP is singular, not plural. There's a flip-side to that argument, however. Instead of saying that not one player stands above the rest, one could make the case that a team has multiple players playing at an MVP level.

It's not unprecedented. As a matter of fact, it's common.

In the last 20 MVP votes (1988-89), there have only been three seasons where no sets teammates appeared in the top 10: 1999, 2000 and 2007. Every other season, there has been at least one set of teammates in the top 10 and as many as three sets of teammates in league's 10 best.

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In the Bulls' glorious 1995-96 season, Michael Jordan won the award, while Scottie Pippen finished fifth. That same season, the Sonics' (remember them?) Gary Payton finished sixth in the voting while Shawn Kemp finished eighth. Then, the Magic's Penny Hardaway (remember him?) finished third as Shaquille O'Neal finished ninth.

Just two seasons later (1997-98), another three sets of teammates occupied the top 10: Jordan won his fifth and final MVP while Pippen finished ninth. Payton earned enough votes for third place while teammate Vin Baker finished eighth. The Spurs' double post presence of Duncan and Robinson finished fifth and seventh respectively.

While there are no teammates in this season's top 10, it wouldn't be inconceivable to see a set of teammates settle in as the season grows longer. Let's take a quick hop around the league to check teams that may have multiple MVP candidates.

BOSTON: Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen have all made noise in MVP voting. KG won in 2004, Allen finished ninth in MVP voting in 2005 and Pierce has been flirting with the top 10 this season and last. The Boston Globe's Marc Spears made the case for Ray-Ray, while even Rajon Rondo has been getting media love lately.

CLEVELAND: The Cavs have The Man in LeBron and I could see either Mo Williams or Zydrunas Ilgauskas move into the outskirts of the top 10. We'll see how valuable Z is now that he may miss two games with a sprained ankle.

DENVER: Chauncey Billups has changed the tenor and tone of the Nuggets, making them legit threats to win the Northwest Division. And everyone knows how talented Carmelo Anthony is. How's 33 points in a quarter for you?

L.A. LAKERS: Of course, Kobe's been an MVP candidate most of this decade, but Pau Gasol has also thrived in Forum Blue and Gold since his arrival in the middle of last season. If the Lakers continue to play as well as they have, we may need to consider Gasol as well.

NEW JERSEY: You know about my proclivity for point guards, so Devin Harris has been in the R2MVP top 10 the past two weeks. Teammate Vince Carter has also benefitted from coach Lawrence Frank's dribble-drive offense.

PHOENIX: Steve Nash has won the award twice already and Stoudemire finished ninth in the voting the same year Nash won his first Maurice Podoloff trophy in 2004-05. It doesn't stretch one's imagination to see something like that happening again (finishing in the top 10, not Nash winning MVP. Sorry, I think the window's closed on that one for now.)

SAN ANTONIO: Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker all have MVP chops. Duncan's won two regular season MVPs and Ginobili and Parker have both earned enough votes to make their way into the top 10. Ginobili was 10th last season and Parker was ninth in 2006.

UTAH: Carlos Boozer and Deron Williams are the 21st Century version of Malone and Stockton, who worked their way into the top 10 as teammates twice, in 1989-90 and 1994-95.

If you have another set of teammates you think are worthy of sharing space in Race to the MVP, let us know at RacetotheMVP@gmail.com.

Now, on to the rankings.

Hoops Line of the Week: Carmelo Anthony, Wednesday, Dec. 10: 45 points, 3 assists and 11 boards OK, we've seen 45 points before, but it's how Carmelo got those 45. Melo had 33 in the third quarter alone, tying George Gervin's 29-year-old record. As ESPN.com's John Hollinger noted in his PER Diem on Dec. 11, Melo scored 25 points on 13 of the Nuggets' trips down the floor. Amazing.

Drop of the week: Paul Pierce (out of the Top 10)
Rise of the week: Dirk Nowitzki (into the top Top 10)

1. LeBron James, Cleveland Cavaliers | Team Record: 19-3 PPG RPG APG SPG BPG FG% FT% 26.8 6.8 6.3 2.0 1.1 .489 .797 Last Week's Rank - 1 How good has LeBron been this season? Even one of his stinkers nearly resulted in a triple-double when he went 4-for-12 from the field and finished with a season-low 11 points against Indiana on Dec. 5. He offset his poor scoring performance with 11 assists and eight rebounds. Ho-hum. That, and he actually played more than 30 minutes in a game twice this week. One quibble: Bron's shooting .281 from three. Ugh.

2. Dwyane Wade, Miami Heat | Team Record: 12-9 PPG RPG APG SPG BPG FG% FT% 29.5 5.0 7.5 2.3 1.7 .499 .759 Last Week's Rank - 5 For a few moments this week, I had been toying with moving Wade into the top spot, but LeBron had a good late-push this week. That, and it just didn't feel right yet. Yet. The Heat have only played two games since the last R2MVP, but Wade tallied 38 in the first and 41 in the second. Also, look at that field goal percentage: .499. Wade went 26-for-46 from the field this week. May I drool? Thanks. Pass me a napkin.

3. Dwight Howard, Orlando Magic | Team Record: 17-5 PPG RPG APG SPG BPG FG% FT% 21.2 14.5 1.5 0.9 4.0 .567 .562 Last Week's Rank - 4 No one clears space like Howard. He had two, count 'em two, 20-20 games this week: a 21-point, 23-board, six-block game against the Thunder on Dec. 5 and a 23-point, 22-board, six-block performance against the Clippers in L.A. on Dec. 8. While Dwight doesn't rack up assists (only five in three games this week), he more than makes up for it with blocked shots (12 this week). By denying the opposition two points, Howard's blocks have nearly the same impact as an assist. Still, I can't help but think the Magic are the third candidate in the Eastern Conference's two-party system.

4. Kobe Bryant, L.A. Lakers | Team Record: 18-3 PPG RPG APG SPG BPG FG% FT% 24.5 5.3 4.3 1.5 0.5 .458 .876 Last Week's Rank - 2 I don't know, so I'm asking (aloud): is there something physically wrong with Kobe? I ask because I see these numbers from the field since the last R2MVP: 5-for-17, 6-for-13, 9-for-25 and 6-for-16. How's the mangled pinky these days? I know Kobe's a warrior and wouldn't admit to a physical weakness, but those are ugly numbers from the field. Maybe it was just one of those weeks. Maybe he's just distracted. The Celtics seem to be on his mind. T-minus 13 days 'til they meet at STAPLES.

5. Chris Paul, New Orleans Hornets | Team Record: 12-6 PPG RPG APG SPG BPG FG% FT% 20.3 5.5 11.9 2.8 0.2 .536 .878 Last Week's Rank - 3 The Hornets have had a weird schedule with only four games since Nov. 28. While that probably makes coach Byron Scott happy (more practice time!), it's tough for Paul in terms of Race to the MVP. That changes starting tonight as the Hornets have four games in six days, including a weird three-game roadie: to Boston, to Toronto, to Memphis. Still, he's been stellar as usual dishing assists (13.7 in his last three) and keeping alive that stellar steals streak of 102 straight games, three shy of tying Alvin Robertson's NBA record of 105 games.

6. Tim Duncan, San Antonio Spurs | Team Record: 13-8 PPG RPG APG SPG BPG FG% FT% 21.3 10.6 3.3 0.4 1.7 .527 .704 Last Week's Rank - 6 Three wins for the Spurs, three double-doubles for Duncan. And with every consistent performance, Duncan adds to his considerable legacy. Duncan needs 30 boards to reach 10,000 for his career. He already has 18,000-plus points and 2,000-plus blocks on his ledger, so when he grabs those 30 boards he'll join Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Hakeem Olajuwon, Shaquille O'Neal, Patrick Ewing, Robert Parish and Robinson in the exclusive 18K-10K-2K club. With four games 'til the next R2MVP, Duncan will probably get there this week.

7. Chauncey Billups, Denver Nuggets | Team Record: 15-7 PPG RPG APG SPG BPG FG% FT% 18.5 2.5 6.9 1.4 0.3 .431 .902 Last Week's Rank - 7 Denver has had only two games since the last R2MVP, but as usual, Billups has been his steady, confident self. He's had 24 points in each of the last two games and 10 assists combined. The most important numbers: 14-4, or Denver's record since Billups took over the point guard duties. That, and Melo's beginning to learn to play with Chauncey. Watch out.

8. Devin Harris, New Jersey Nets | Team Record: 11-9 PPG RPG APG SPG BPG FG% FT% 24.8 3.2 6.2 1.3 0.1 .490 .827 Last Week's Rank - 8 Simply put: the Nets' offense is designed with Harris in mind. Now that's valuable. He's made the most of the opportunity as his 24.8 point per game average is 10 points better than his previous best. He completely dominated the Knicks on Wednesday, scoring 14 of the Nets' 22 points, and dishing three assists that led to the other eight. He's been dynamic, but he needs to watch his shot selection late in games. Against the Knicks, he got to the free throw line only six times, nearly five below his 10.8 per game average. When he gets doubled as he did against the Knicks, he's going to need to rely on his teammates.

9. Brandon Roy, Portland Trail Blazers | Team Record: 15-9 PPG RPG APG SPG BPG FG% FT% 21.3 4.7 5.0 1.0 0.3 .462 .818 Last Week's Rank - 10 How cruel has the Blazers' schedule been? Don't answer, it's a rhetorical question. After a five-game trek East, the Blazers returned home to play Orlando (losing on a wild banked-in three from Hedo Turkoglu), only to go on the road to face Utah. Portland lost despite Roy's 33 points and eight rebounds. Roy also turned in the weirdest statistical anomaly of the week in Utah: after recording at least three dimes in each of the last eight games, Roy didn't have one assist against the Jazz & strange.

10. Dirk Nowitzki, Dallas Mavericks | Team Record: 12-9 PPG RPG APG SPG BPG FG% FT% 25.4 9.2 2.5 0.7 0.8 .457 .911 Last Week's Rank - OLI It was between Dirk and Joe Johnson for this spot in the top 10, and Dirk won out for three reasons: Dirk has averaged 27.3 points and 11.3 boards per game in the last week, the Mavs have won five of their last six (Johnson's Hawks have lost three straight) and Dirk has been named Western Conference Player of the Week twice already. Plus, I'm trying to make a country of basketball fans one European country at a time.

Dropping out: Paul Pierce

Outside looking in, for now, in alphabetical order: The Boston Three Party (Ray Allen, Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce), Carmelo Anthony, Chris Bosh, Vince Carter, Pau Gasol, Danny Granger, Joe Johnson, Steve Nash

Other readers' favorites: Yao Ming.