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Stein: Derrick Rose Is My MVP


Pooh25
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I have consumed every pro-Dwight Howard argument I could find, soaked in every word of my dear colleague John Hollinger's recent must-read missive on Howard's MVP-worthiness, but still can't co-sign. The MVP to me, after nearly two decades as a voter, is the player of the season. However true it is that there is only one Dwight Howard in this age nearly bereft of dominant big men, Howard did not have a better season than Derrick Rose on this scorecard, once you plug in all the subjective factors along with the statistically tangible ones.

 

The word valuable in MVP is what throws everyone, because value cannot be universally defined, but it's instructive to note that the MVP ballot comes in the same email dispatch from the league office that includes ballots for Coach of the Year, Rookie of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year, etc. The voter's task, in my view, is not measuring how irreplaceable someone is, or how his team would theoretically fare if you fantasy-swapped him with someone else, or trying to determine who would be chosen first in the starriest of NBA pickup games. I've always believed that the voter is tasked with identifying who had the best overall season, as computed by gauging a variety of factors.

 

The stats are obviously paramount. You can't just dismiss the offensive improvements in Howard's game or the titanic impact he has defensively on a team full of non-defenders. But the raps against Rose's statistical efficiency strike me as easily explained, since he's the only Bull who can create his own shot and faced a ridiculous amount of defensive attention all season because his two main sidekicks, Carlos Boozer and Joakim Noah, combined to miss 60 games.

 

Read More @: http://espn.go.com/n...8-10/nba-awards

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