Kenny Smith tells one of my favorite NBA stories. It was May 1995 and San Antonio Spurs center David Robinson had just been awarded his first and only regular season MVP. Later that evening, in Game Two of the Western Conference Finals, the top-seeded Spurs were slated to play the sixth-seeded Houston Rockets, led by the previous year’s MVP Hakeem Olajuwon. Olajuwon was, by most accounts, the better of the two centers yet Robinson was that year’s consensus MVP, garnering 73 first place votes. Shaquille O’Neal, only 22 years old at that point, finished second in that year’s voting, Olajuwon finished fifth. Carry on at: http://sportschump.net/2020/09/19/discrediting-the-nba-mvp-award/22230/
Yeah, I remember that. Olajuwon's revenge tour was epic in the 95 playoffs. Then it happened again in 97. They gave the MVP to Karl Malone, and Michael Jordan (SAY IT WITH ME!!!!) took it personally. The rest is history.
Teej... Can't help but wonder, if they keep doing this, does it ultimately diminish the award... or at least does it come with the dreaded asterisk?
Voters need to realize it's not about them. It's about the players. So what if Jordan won every MVP in the 90s? "Voter fatigue" is a lame excuse, IMO.
Fair point, sir. One of my readers said LeBron didn't get votes because they're over him. Like that's a reason.
A few months ago I was discussing this with a friend...maybe retroactively give the MVP by decade: Jordan in the 90s Kobe in the 00s LeBron in the 10s
That's interesting, Teej... To make it more inclusive, maybe the NBA should come up with an all-decade team. Now you got my brain working. Well, that and the coffee.