Hollinger: Wade for MVP

[Alan]

http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/insider/columns/story?columnist=hollinger_john&id=2370778

I love the "He's the only MVP candidate who is both putting up monstrous numbers and playing on a contender," comment.

 

[Sundance]

How he selects Wade ,as opposed to someone from the other 4 teams ahead of his, the very same teams that are 8-1 against his Heat and seem to win in fairly lop-sided victories, is beyond me. Sure Wade is a terrific player and probably the the MVP of that team, but c'mon... up until 3 weeks ago, the Heat have been largely a disappointment this season.

 

[elindholm]

I wouldn't take Wade for MVP, but I do think he's the best player in the league right now.

 

[boisesuns]

If any player on the east coast is doing even remotley good, they will get a huge advantage in MVP considerations. It's like College Football. Florida state can lose 5 games and still make it to the BCS

Wade has been a great player, but maybe not MVP. I think he will be one someday, though.

 

[greensborohill]

There are only two true MVP candidates. . . one plays for your team and one plays for mine. . .

 

[green machine]

There are only two true MVP candidates. . . one plays for your team and one plays for mine. . .

Erick Dampier and Pat Burke? I would hardly call them true MVP candidates...

 

[Sundance]

Simmons and Hollinger were lying in bed together post-coitus and brain-stormed their Dwayne Wade for MVP campaign, all the while curling each other's chest hairs.

Bill Simmons' gush:

2. Miami
What's to like: The Heat are getting better as the season goes along ... no NBA team has anything even remotely approaching the Shaq-Mourning combo at center ... Riley knows what he's doing ... for the most part, Jason Williams has been surprisingly effective for them ... from a team chemistry standpoint, they're an A-plus ... they've shown a knack for battling back from big deficits (like last night against the Celts) ... and they have the best player in the league (more on this in a second).

What's not to like: I've seen them play too many games already that came down to Shaq shooting free throws, and/or either GP, Walker, Haslem or Posey trying to make a wide-open 3. (It's scary to think that their entire season could come down to one of those aforementioned four guys being forced to make a 25-foot shot.) And their home crowd is awful. Just abysmal. They're better off playing a Game 7 on the road.

Mitigating factor: John Hollinger stole my thunder here. Originally I wrote a longer section in this spot about how Dwyane Wade was the 2006 MVP -- how it wasn't even really that close, how he's the best two-way player in the league; how he's been scoring 33 a game and shooting 56 percent from the field for the past two months; how he's the one star in the league who can completely turn a game around in about 90 seconds; how he got over an early season funk of taking bad shots and makes the right decisions nearly all the time; how he's probably the toughest two-guard since the late-'90s MJ; how he's the most efficient superstar since the early-'90s MJ; how he's been on a mission since he didn't win the MVP at the All-Star Game; how he has a knack for raising his game when it matters -- and then Hollinger blew this same premise into an entire column. Beat me by one day. If it happens again, I'm going to have him killed.

Here's the point: Miami is 20-4 over its past 24 games, mainly because of Dwyane Wade. I see them continuing to get better and better. Why? Because he keeps getting better and better. After MJ retired, did you ever think you would see another guard average 30-35 points a night, rack up another six rebounds and six assists per game, play world-class defense and shoot 55 percent from the field? Well, it's happening.

 

[scotsman13]

the only way wade is the MVP is if you kill nash, dirk and billups.

 

[CaptainInsano]

Erick Dampier and Pat Burke? I would hardly call them true MVP candidates...

Nonono he obviously wasn't talking about those 2..











Skitta and Mbenga?

 

[boisesuns]

Simmons and Hollinger were lying in bed together post-coitus and brain-stormed their Dwayne Wade for MVP campaign, all the while curling each other's chest hairs.

Bill Simmons' gush:

 

[elindholm]

The interesting thing about a Wade-for-MVP campaign is that it makes no sense unless you acknowledge that O'Neal just isn't that good anymore. Think about it: When O'Neal was on the block two summers ago, would anyone have thought that a teammate of his would be an MVP candidate in the near future? The big guy himself was runner-up just last year, after all.

I don't think voters will be ready to sign off on O'Neal's demise yet, so I can't see Wade winning. But I've been wrong before.

 

[dreamcastrocks]

If any player on the east coast is doing even remotley good, they will get a huge advantage in MVP considerations. It's like College Football. Florida state can lose 5 games and still make it to the BCS

That didn't have anything to do with Florida State losing 5 games, but rather that the team that won the ACC championship won 5 games, and winning the ACC championship gives an automatic bid to a BCS game.

 

[boisesuns]

That didn't have anything to do with Florida State losing 5 games, but rather that the team that won the ACC championship won 5 games, and winning the ACC championship gives an automatic bid to a BCS game.

But they weren't one of the best teams in the country.

 

[Gaddabout]

Let's put this bluntly: NBA reporters east of the Rockies are tired of being irrelevant, have run out of things to say about Detroit, and are even more tired of trying to turn the Knicks into an interesting melodrama. They're moving on. Congrats to them. At least this argument is both relevant and bears something resembling the truth.

It's no disrespect to Nash to cast a vote for Wade. It's probably not the right vote for an award given for an entire season, but at least the argumentation is plausible.

 

[rm13]

The interesting thing about a Wade-for-MVP campaign is that it makes no sense unless you acknowledge that O'Neal just isn't that good anymore. Think about it: When O'Neal was on the block two summers ago, would anyone have thought that a teammate of his would be an MVP candidate in the near future? The big guy himself was runner-up just last year, after all.

I don't think voters will be ready to sign off on O'Neal's demise yet, so I can't see Wade winning. But I've been wrong before.

How I look at it is that the Heat were around .500 when Shaq was out for like 20 games at the beggining of the season. That could just be chemistry issues-but they did start to do a lot better once he came back. I dont think Shaq gets enough credit for the Heat's success. Also I was watching the Heat-Cavs game today and when Shaq was out for most of the third quarter they were tied and as soon as he came back they pulled ahead. I havnt watched enough Heat games to know if that is regular thing. I dont think till the last week the Heats sucess has even been anything special-but I dont think Shaq does get enough credit(and I really dont like the guy that much)

 

[baltimorer]

the only way wade is the MVP is if you kill nash, dirk and billups.

I'd say that Wade is more deserving of the MVP than Billups, but you would probably have to kill Dirk and Nash.

Although, it's pretty difficult to tell. Who watches Mavs games? I sure as hell don't. I did, however, watch the Heat game today, and I can tell you, he's not more deserving of the MVP than Steve Nash. He just isn't that good. All he does is score; he really doesn't make his teamates better. I think the reason the Heat have been so great is due largely in part to Wade, largely in part to Shaq, but also, and certainly most overlooked, largely in part to Jason Williams. Without him, most of the up-tempo game that they are able to play would be nonexistant. He is a great passer, is up around 3:1 assist:TO ratio, and he takes (and makes) shots that absolutely kill the other team's momentum or boosts Miami's.

The only reason not to vote for Nash for the MVP is because he won it last season. Kind of like when they used to not want to give it to Jordan again so they just decided that Karl Malone would be the default guy, and hence Malone got it a few times even though Jordan was obviously the more valuable player.

 

[George O'Brien]

MVP is so subjective that it is almost impossible to compare the various contenders. At least it isn't like Yao being the starter on the All Star team, the contenders for MVP are all top players.

In any case, I'd bet that the MVP will be from the East. More voters.

 

[Tank]

But they weren't one of the best teams in the country.

BCS isn't about selecting the best teams in the country...

It's about selecting the best 2 teams, and giving big money to the big conferences after that.

It served its purpose.

 

[jibikao]

Wade is an alright choice I guess.... his team isn't doing all that well when Shaq was injured. They were close to 50% team. Wade's team record isn't even better than ours (yet). Not sure if I would choose him over Lebron.

 

[George O'Brien]

Wade is an alright choice I guess.... his team isn't doing all that well when Shaq was injured. They were close to 50% team. Wade's team record isn't even better than ours (yet). Not sure if I would choose him over Lebron.

Wade is great, but Nash is having an amazing year.