Most "Valuable" Player

The NBA's Most Valuable Player award has had some push-back from people who feel as I do: it doesn't mean the same thing as "best player." To be fair, I'm all in favor of changing it to it's rightful syntax. I'd go with the "Player of the Year" award as they do in college football. I'd even give that award to Steph Curry this year, just so everyone knows I'm not anti-Curry. He's a tremendous player. But when we talk about a player being most valuable, that doesn't limit the award to statistics and clutch shots.

I recently made a list of players who I feel are more deserving of the MVP award:

• LeBron James
• Damian Lillard
• Chris Paul
• Kyle Lowry
• Paul George
• Dwayne Wade
• Jimmy Butler
• James Harden
• Anthony Davis

Then I also included a list of players who are in the conversation with Steph for MVP. These players include:

• Kevin Durant
• Russell Westbrook
• Andre Drummond
• Draymond Green
• Dirk Nowitzki

If just one of these players below were put above Curry, which I think you could make arguments for, then Steph Curry isn't even in the top ten of MVP voting. But he's flashy, he shoots the 3-ball better than anybody, and he's well-liked in the court of public opinion. That's why he was unanimously voted MVP this year.

I get it, but Curry isn't as valuable to his team as people think. He's a great 3-point shooter, right? In the Portland series, his team set a playoff-record number for most 3's....WITHOUT HIM! His team is going to win the first two rounds of the playoffs, basically WITHOUT HIM! In the WEST! Chris Paul, whose on my list, went down and the Clippers didn't win another game. LeBron was out six games this year as part of his new annual-rest program. The Cavs went 1-5.

If you took any of these players off their teams, most of them wouldn't even make the playoffs. The Pelicans without Davis would be worse than the Lakers. Indiana would be rebuilding without Paul George, especially now that their coach has been fired. If you took Curry off of the Warriors, they're still a playoff team, probably top five in the West. They're beating Houston and Portland without him. They're setting 3-point shooting records without him. The fact is Draymond Green and Klay Thompson are both really good players, and they have a really deep team. Iguodala used to be "the" guy for Philly before they decided to tank it. Livingston was a highly-touted recruit, who I'm sad about because the Cavs used to have him. The Warriors are loaded. If Steph was replaced by Damian Lillard, Vegas drops them a point...that's it, which in basketball isn't very much. An NBA scout verified that the sentiment around the league is that the Warriors could replace Steph with a not-so-great version and still be the best team in the league. Those aren't my opinions, those are the words of an active NBA scout.

If you can take Steph off the Warriors and they barely miss a beat, if at all, then that means he's not extremely valuable to them. Again, take LeBron off the Cavs? They may not be a playoff team in the EAST! Every year, even when he went to Miami and I wouldn't have voluntarily admitted this, LeBron is the MVP. As long as he's still in his prime, which he's going to be leaving any minute now, he's the MVP every year. It's not even close.

This brings me to my next point. Being the most valuable player actually has more to do with the nominees' teammates than it does that player himself. For Curry, his team is fine without him. He has great teammates. LeBron's team wouldn't be fine. In fact, when LeBron went to Miami, the Cavs went from 60 wins to 19 wins. Granted, there were some injuries, but that's quite a fall. Kyrie and most of the Cavs couldn't even make the playoffs in the EAST until LeBron came back. Even when Jordan, the greatest player of all time, left the Bulls, they went from 57 to 55 wins. Jordan had a solid team when he left. Chris Paul's team goes from a top 4 team in the West to possibly not even a playoff team. Damian Lillard is keeping the Blazers alive almost by himself.

Does that mean you get punished a little by having a great team? Not necessarily, but you can't get the bonus points of LeBron leading a Cavs team to the finals in 2007 with Larry Hughes as his best teammate. Peyton Manning carried the Colts for years, including to multiple super bowls, and when he left they won two games. Two! That's an MVP. Same with Andrew Luck. The Colts WERE a two-win team when they drafted him and he's taken them to the playoffs one step further every year. He's an MVP. In the 2014 World Series, Madison Bumgarner basically won three of the four games for the Giants, including the pivotal 7th game. He's an MVP and on a great team.

So most valuable player has more to do with your team, circumstances, and the MVP-nominees contribution than it does just based on that players accomplishments. Steph deserves most outstanding player or player of the year, but he's far from deserving the MVP award.