LeBron, Kobe, LeBron, LeBron, LeBron.
There's something missing from serious discussions about the NBA MVP award, and that something is our very own Dwyane Wade. Sure, his name is bandied about in terms of a third or a sneak second place finish, but since voters usually award the honor to the best player on the best team -- or at very least, a team near the top of their conference -- he's not likely to get it.
Fans who wore "MV3" shirts to Sunday's home game against the Knicks disagree, and so should voters.
Statistically, it's a near-dead heat: Wade has 30.2 points per game, LeBron James is averaging 28.3. Wade's field goal percentage is two one-hundredths of a point higher. James has a slight edge in three point and field goal percentages. They are neck-and-neck in assists, blocks per game, and efficiency. Wade has 37 more steals. And so on and so on.
But the MVPing experts say traditional stats don't matter. In that case, is there even a question? It depends on how sportswriters vote, and unfortunately, fortune favors the better team's player.
Two reasons this shouldn't be the case, and Wade should be beaming his way into the off-season:
One, no player has done more with less. Kobe's no longer making up for sub-par teammates (we call this progress "passing"), and LeBron's not carrying a team with 6 players who have 2 or less years of NBA experience. Dwyane Wade is single-handedly taking care of business for the Heat, an everyman who hit 55 against the Knicks on Saturday as if to remind voters he could. It's not just scoring: he's assisting, blocking, stealing, rebounding, leading -- because, at this point, he is the team. Few players step up in such a way, or do it without making the effort to make those around them better (coughKobecough). That's Wade.
Two, no player in the current running has accomplished so much after so much adversity. Sure, Kobe had that pesky rape thing, but that was years ago, and LeBron is probably having trouble juggling his NBA career with dusting all 11 bedrooms in his 35,000 square-foot house. But Wade's suffered through both shoulder and knee surgery, and battled through his rehab with a subpar season last year that had media -- and fans -- questioning whether or not he'd ever be the same. And to be so dominant after all that...well, if this were hockey, they'd slap Wade with both the Masterton Trophy and the MVP.
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But it's not. And voters will look at how similar James' and Wade's accomplishments are this season, see that the Cavs have won the East in a franchise record-setting season -- while the Heat needed another super-human effort from Wade just to come in at a 5th seed -- and give the award to James.
Hmmph.
