Dear Mr. Simmons,
Alright Simmons. You sports talk guys are killing me. Why do we have to do this every four
months? A regular season ends and we
have to hash through the same MVP debate every time.
“What is the award?
What does it mean? What is the right criteria?”
Who’s the best player?
That’s all it is.
“But wait the award name is M-V-p.”
Stop.
“I don’t know though, it might be M-v-P. What
does valuable ACTUALLY mean?”
Stop. Stop.
Stop.
“It’s not player
of the year. It’s most VALUABLE player. But maybe it should just be called player of
the year. Should we change the name?”
WHO CARES
WHAT THEY CALL IT? Who is the best
player? That’s what the award is. What possible reason would it be anything
else? All of the leagues call it MVP
because 50 or 100 years ago someone decided that it sounded cool and it
stuck. It doesn’t matter. We don’t have to change the name. That’s just what we call it. The point of the award is to document the
best player for the season. It’s no
different than All-pro or 1st team All NBA. They are historical references for who was
the best player at each position for the year.
Selecting an MVP is taking the next step and anointing one of those guys
the best for that year.
“Ok, but you
have to factor in team performance. If
the team isn’t gyood, the player isn’t gyood”
Ah yes, we
can’t have the stereotypical inane reoccurring nightmare MVP discussion without
someone insisting that team success is essential to a MVP candidacy. Yes, each player contributes to overall team
performance. On the flip side of that,
EACH PLAYER contributes to overall team performance. Using wins as an automatic qualifier assumes
100% of the success or failure is on the shoulders of one player. What are we saying then, you have to have
good teammates/coaches to win MVP? But
if you have all good teammates then you aren’t as “valuable” because the team
wouldn’t be as bad if they lost their MVP candidate. So you have to have some bad teammates but
not all bad teammates. ??$**$&#!!
Who cares? Just decide who the best basketball player is and be done with it.
“But basketball is just 5 players. Anyone who is good enough to be MVP should be
good enough to drag their team to a winning record.”
When trying
to understand stuff like this, it always helps me to think about the
extremes. What if Lebron James in his
absolute prime played on a team where all of his teammates were fourth
graders? Would he have a winning record? Maybe that’s a bad example. James kind of did that on his first go around
in Cleveland. But actually, that’s the
point here. Isn’t that really what “the
decision” was all about? Not to mention,
has anyone else besides James ever actually self-propelled their team to a
top-five record in the league (because let’s be honest, it isn’t just a winning
record that is your qualifier. If anyone
went 42-40, the “but where’s the team success??” zealots are going to eliminate
him from contention). Debate about it.
That’s fine. Make your case. But don’t get too wrapped around the
axle. Who is the best player? That’s all
you are trying to figure out.
“But if you actually
did that, Lebron James would win every year.”
Would he? Here
is my criteria. Who would you draft? You’re in charge. The league is redrafting. You have the number
one pick. You know nothing other than what happened during the regular season.
Contracts don’t matter. You don’t know
what happened last year. You don’t have
to worry about what will happen next year.
It doesn’t matter. The world is
going to end (See, trump is doing his best to put you in the right frame of
mind to make this decision). All you
care about is drafting the best basketball team for a theoretical season where
you are guaranteed the exact same health and skill level as the season that
just happened for each player. You don’t know that Lebron James is Lebron
James. You only know whatever he showed
us this season. If he rested five games
this year you only get him for 77 games in the fake season. His defensive and
offensive capabilities are exactly what you saw during the 82 game season. It isn’t about what he is capable of or how he
might elevate his all-round game in the playoffs. It’s about what he did. If he slacked off on defense then that is who
he is for this discussion. Is he still the MVP?
Maybe, maybe not. But we have to
stop hashing through the same talking points season after season after season
about what the name of the award means and how that relates to how we are
allowed to pick the player that wins the award.
Seriously, you are going to literally kill me if you keep doing it. My blood pressure goes up every time I hear
it.
Who is the
best player? That’s all we need. You have the number 1 pick. Cast your vote. Who do you take?
Long Live Bill Simmons.
Later,
-a fan
