I have an issue with the NBA MVP voting.
Don’t worry, it’s not an issue with who won. It’s next to impossible to argue with the idea of Kevin Durant and LeBron James deserved to finish one and two in the NBA’s MVP voting, respectively. Even if they had switched the order, you would have a tough time finding a legitimate issue with it.
It’s not even an issue with who finished in third or fourth.
This is an entire an argument about who deserved to finish fifth.
Yes, it’s crazy. No one ever grows up thinking they want to be the fifth best at something. If you got a foam hand with all five fingers sticking up you’d probably think it was an awful defect that occurred at the factory. If 18,000 screaming NBA started a ‘we’re number five’ chant you’d think it was a taunt or there were a lot of people in that particular city who needed to seek some psychological help.
Call me crazy -- the comment section below is for that -- but Goran Dragic deserved to finish in the Top 5 of the NBA’s MVP voting.
Luckily the NBA didn’t bestow upon me the honor of a vote for the league’s postseason awards. That’s because I’d be met with acquisitions of being a homer when the votes were revealed. (Just ask Al McCoy and Tim Kempton about that.)
The term Most Valuable Player can be interpreted in many ways. That’s half the fun with these awards, the debate that ensues after they’ve been awarded due to their ambiguity. Some will say MVP is for the guy who dominates in the scoring column. Others would argue it’s meant for the guy who is the best player on the best team in the league. Still others, like myself, view it in a different light.
The MVP is someone irreplaceable for his winning team. A guy whose absence from the roster would result in a catastrophic fall in the standings. The type of leader that is necessary to success.
Dragic was just that for the Suns. As was Durant for the Thunder, LeBron for the Heat.
Want a stat to hammer that home? Since 1994 only Durant, LeBron, Nowitzki and, you guessed it, Dragic this season, have averaged 20 or more points, shot 50-percent or better from the field and better than 40-percent from three point range in a season.
If you take Dragic off of the Suns roster, and factor in Eric Bledsoe’s injury, this season likely goes from magical to closer to what the experts expected. He was the engine that kept the Suns high paced offense going and his aggressive play along with his reckless abandon inspired his teammates. He was the embodiment of what made the Suns the surprising darlings of the NBA.
Only three voters agreed with that stance when it came to Dragic. The aforementioned Kempton, Sports Illustrated’s Chris Mannix and Pacers’ broadcaster Mark Boyle. Those three fifth-place votes placed him 16th overall in the MVP chase.
Sure, 16th is nice but Dragic deserved better. He didn’t make the All-Star game, which was such a robbery it made the heist in The Town look small. Even the MVP thought he should have made it. He just used it as motivation to get even better, so much so that he blew right past proving he should have been there and straight into the MVP discussion.
Goran is No. 5 in my books and I’m not ashamed to say it. Call me a homer, but his value to his team was beyond that of anyone in the league not named Durant, LeBron, Griffin or Noah. Without him the Suns wouldn’t have risen in the West and the experts just might have been right with their predictions.
Did you think Goran Dragic deserved to finish higher in the MVP race? Share your thoughts below.