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Denton Defends MVP Vote
By John Denton
May 3, 2010
Note: The contents of this page have not been reviewed or endorsed by the Orlando Magic. All opinions expressed by John Denton are solely his own and do not reflect the opinions of the Orlando Magic or their Basketball Operations staff, partners or sponsors. His sources are not known to the Magic and he has no special access to information beyond the access and privileges that go along with being an NBA accredited member of the media.
ORLANDO – I am here today to defend the Defensive Player of the Year, highlight the player usually left off SportsCenter’s highlights and say what those at ABC with their Cavs-Lakers pompons in the way won’t say:
It’s no slam dunk that LeBron James, as great of a player as he is, is absolutely, positively the best basketball player in the NBA.
I had a vote for the Most Valuable Player award this year and I cast my vote for Orlando Magic star center Dwight Howard. As in the Howard, the wrecking ball of a center in the regular season and not the frustrated, foul-prone one in the first-round of the playoffs. The rest of my MVP ballot read like this: 2. James; 3. Kobe Bryant; 4. Kevin Durant; 5. Dwyane Wade.
While I admit that there is some conflict of interest there with my work as a writer for orlandomagic.com, I just don’t think it’s that egregious to think that Howard – and not James – could actually be the best player in the world.
After all, Howard did something this season – lead the NBA in rebounds, blocked shots and field goal percentage – that no NBA player has done in the past 36 years. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Bill Walton, Moses Malone, Hakeem Olajuwon, Patrick Ewing, David Robinson, Alonzo Mourning, Shaquille O’Neal or Kevin Garnett didn’t do that and all of those players are either in the Hall of Fame or headed in that direction.
Only five players have ever led in rebounding and blocked shots in the same season, and Howard’s done it twice now. He is easily without peer when it comes to defense in the NBA, not that you would ever know that by watching the highlight shows because blocked shots nor rebounds ever make it onto SportsCenter. Scratch that, the world-wide leader did recently do an on-air feature about James’ chase-down blocks … as if he actually was the first player ever to block a shot on the fastbreak.
When you look at how the actual voting went – James, Durant, Bryant and then Howard – it’s easy to see that scoring is thought to be the most important category in the NBA. Defense might win championships, but it won’t win you a trophy case full of MVP trophies. Durant, James and Bryant finished first, second and fourth in the league in scoring this season.
The NBA’s MVP is quickly becoming the Heisman Trophy of individual awards. In college football, quarterbacks and running backs are basically the only ones up for the award. And in the NBA, if you aren’t a high scoring wing player, you apparently have no shot at winning the top individual honor. Clearly, it’s defense by damned.
James was absolutely spectacular this season, averaging 29.7 points, 8.6 assists and 7.3 rebounds for a 61-win Cleveland team. I’ve always made the contention that he’s closer to being Magic Johnson than Michael Jordan because of his ability to make others around him better with his court vision and willingness to pass the ball.
But you can make the case that no one – not even LeBron – affected more possessions on both ends of the court than Howard.
The Magic were first in the league in defensive field goal percentage primarily because Howard is back there to protect the rim. They led in rebound percentage because Howard gobbles up boards on both ends of the floor like no one since Dennis Rodman. And while Howard’s scoring average dipped to 26th in the league this season (18.3 ppg.), the Magic still set a NBA record for 3-pointers made (841) because so much defensive focus was paid to the big man in the middle.
And unlike James, who took six games off down the stretch, Howard played all 82 games for a fifth time in his six-year career. Night-in, night-out he was an anchor for a 59-win Magic team that lost Rashard Lewis to a 10-game suspension early in the season, was without Jameer Nelson because of knee surgery early on and had to endure a horrid January from Vince Carter.
So I don’t think it’s that big of a stretch to think that Howard might be the league’s Most Valuable Player. And I know the award is based on this past season alone, but I do think it’s worth noting that it was Howard’s Magic -- and not James’ Cavs -- who emerged from the Eastern Conference last spring. Not that you’d know that by listening to the talking heads on ABC or TNT.
There are no losers when picking between James and Howard, two of the game’s greatest players. Personally, I’m more shocked that Kobe Bryant – the NBA’s equivalent of Mariano Rivera what with the way he closes our games and cuts out the hearts of foes – didn’t get one first-place vote. And I also have a big problem with the 12 voters who left Howard off the ballot completely, the eight who didn’t deem Durant worthy of the top five and the four who excluded Bryant all together. Those are the arguments that are completely laughable.
But as for me picking between James and Howard, I think it’s at least up for debate. When you really delve into the numbers and weigh defense with offense, James isn’t nearly the slam dunk pick that most might think. At least not here with my ballot.
John Denton writes for Orlandomagic.com. His Magic ``Behind the Scenes’’ segment can be heard each week on ESPN 1080 AM. E-mail John at jd41898@aol.com.
By John Denton
May 3, 2010
Note: The contents of this page have not been reviewed or endorsed by the Orlando Magic. All opinions expressed by John Denton are solely his own and do not reflect the opinions of the Orlando Magic or their Basketball Operations staff, partners or sponsors. His sources are not known to the Magic and he has no special access to information beyond the access and privileges that go along with being an NBA accredited member of the media.
ORLANDO – I am here today to defend the Defensive Player of the Year, highlight the player usually left off SportsCenter’s highlights and say what those at ABC with their Cavs-Lakers pompons in the way won’t say:
It’s no slam dunk that LeBron James, as great of a player as he is, is absolutely, positively the best basketball player in the NBA.
I had a vote for the Most Valuable Player award this year and I cast my vote for Orlando Magic star center Dwight Howard. As in the Howard, the wrecking ball of a center in the regular season and not the frustrated, foul-prone one in the first-round of the playoffs. The rest of my MVP ballot read like this: 2. James; 3. Kobe Bryant; 4. Kevin Durant; 5. Dwyane Wade.
While I admit that there is some conflict of interest there with my work as a writer for orlandomagic.com, I just don’t think it’s that egregious to think that Howard – and not James – could actually be the best player in the world.
After all, Howard did something this season – lead the NBA in rebounds, blocked shots and field goal percentage – that no NBA player has done in the past 36 years. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Bill Walton, Moses Malone, Hakeem Olajuwon, Patrick Ewing, David Robinson, Alonzo Mourning, Shaquille O’Neal or Kevin Garnett didn’t do that and all of those players are either in the Hall of Fame or headed in that direction.
Only five players have ever led in rebounding and blocked shots in the same season, and Howard’s done it twice now. He is easily without peer when it comes to defense in the NBA, not that you would ever know that by watching the highlight shows because blocked shots nor rebounds ever make it onto SportsCenter. Scratch that, the world-wide leader did recently do an on-air feature about James’ chase-down blocks … as if he actually was the first player ever to block a shot on the fastbreak.
When you look at how the actual voting went – James, Durant, Bryant and then Howard – it’s easy to see that scoring is thought to be the most important category in the NBA. Defense might win championships, but it won’t win you a trophy case full of MVP trophies. Durant, James and Bryant finished first, second and fourth in the league in scoring this season.
The NBA’s MVP is quickly becoming the Heisman Trophy of individual awards. In college football, quarterbacks and running backs are basically the only ones up for the award. And in the NBA, if you aren’t a high scoring wing player, you apparently have no shot at winning the top individual honor. Clearly, it’s defense by damned.
James was absolutely spectacular this season, averaging 29.7 points, 8.6 assists and 7.3 rebounds for a 61-win Cleveland team. I’ve always made the contention that he’s closer to being Magic Johnson than Michael Jordan because of his ability to make others around him better with his court vision and willingness to pass the ball.
But you can make the case that no one – not even LeBron – affected more possessions on both ends of the court than Howard.
The Magic were first in the league in defensive field goal percentage primarily because Howard is back there to protect the rim. They led in rebound percentage because Howard gobbles up boards on both ends of the floor like no one since Dennis Rodman. And while Howard’s scoring average dipped to 26th in the league this season (18.3 ppg.), the Magic still set a NBA record for 3-pointers made (841) because so much defensive focus was paid to the big man in the middle.
And unlike James, who took six games off down the stretch, Howard played all 82 games for a fifth time in his six-year career. Night-in, night-out he was an anchor for a 59-win Magic team that lost Rashard Lewis to a 10-game suspension early in the season, was without Jameer Nelson because of knee surgery early on and had to endure a horrid January from Vince Carter.
So I don’t think it’s that big of a stretch to think that Howard might be the league’s Most Valuable Player. And I know the award is based on this past season alone, but I do think it’s worth noting that it was Howard’s Magic -- and not James’ Cavs -- who emerged from the Eastern Conference last spring. Not that you’d know that by listening to the talking heads on ABC or TNT.
There are no losers when picking between James and Howard, two of the game’s greatest players. Personally, I’m more shocked that Kobe Bryant – the NBA’s equivalent of Mariano Rivera what with the way he closes our games and cuts out the hearts of foes – didn’t get one first-place vote. And I also have a big problem with the 12 voters who left Howard off the ballot completely, the eight who didn’t deem Durant worthy of the top five and the four who excluded Bryant all together. Those are the arguments that are completely laughable.
But as for me picking between James and Howard, I think it’s at least up for debate. When you really delve into the numbers and weigh defense with offense, James isn’t nearly the slam dunk pick that most might think. At least not here with my ballot.
John Denton writes for Orlandomagic.com. His Magic ``Behind the Scenes’’ segment can be heard each week on ESPN 1080 AM. E-mail John at jd41898@aol.com.
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