The Ball Does Lie: Kelly Dwyer, Kobe Bryant, and the NBA’s MVP Award
By David Neiman | Kobe Bryant, Los Angeles Lakers
Earlier Monday, I wrote about a blog post by Kelly Dwyer of Yahoo! Sports’ “Ball Don’t Lie,” entitled “Why … Kobe Bryant is not your MVP.”
Based on the tone of what I posted here, how it was interpreted, and in the interest of promoting meaningful debate on this web site, I have deleted that post and all associated comments. I apologize to anyone who took the time to respond to my original post, but this strikes me as the right thing to do.
Essentially, I took issue with the logic of Dwyer’s post. He contended that LeBron James — not Kobe — was deserving of the MVP award. As he wrote:
My issue is in the incessant (in El Lay and on the national airwaves) proclamations of Kobe Bryant as the NBA’s best player.
He isn’t. Sorry, but he isn’t. He’s awesome, but he’s not the game’s best player. He has the best chance of any NBA talent at dropping 75 points on your ass, and that’s impressive, but Allen Iverson, Carmelo Anthony and Wade (when he’s healthy) aren’t far behind. And “best scorer” doesn’t always mean “best player.”
And, while we’re at it, Kobe’s not even the best scorer any more. James is.
And, in this case, “best scorer” means “best player.”
And, to anyone who takes the game seriously, “best player” should mean “M-V-P!”
While I can see someone arguing that LeBron should be the MVP, and appreciate that Dwyer attempted to make the case, I think he fell short. The statistics that formed the basis of his argument can easily be interpreted in ways other than how he interpreted them. True, LeBron has more rebounds; he’s also a guard in a forward’s body. He’s got more assists than No. 24; LBJ also handles the ball more. And so on.
Kobe is great, LeBron is great, but this season, as I wrote recently, Kobe is deserving for doing a lot more than just making clutch, jaw-dropping shots.
Read Dwyer’s article, and let us know where you stand.
Discuss:
14 Responses to “The Ball Does Lie: Kelly Dwyer, Kobe Bryant, and the NBA's MVP Award”
- 1 Pingback on Mar 4th, 2008 at 7:54 am
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kobe….no question
Here’s something to consider: Put the Cavs in the west today and they’d be the number 10 seed with virtually no chance of making the playoffs. Put the Cavs in the west at the start of the season and they’d probably be entering Clipper territory.
So what KD is saying is that despite the fact that the Cavs would be completely irrelevant as a team if it weren’t for their historically weak conference, that Lebron deserves the MVP because he’s putting up good numbers on a mediocre team where he’s the only option?
Don’t get me wrong, KD’s a respectable writer but when anyone uses stats to justify their ENTIRE argument without giving “due diligence” to context, I have to call bullshit.
Kudos David. I understand why you revised your blog. Some readers would have no doubt taken the writing as ammunition to voice opinions that really are just attacks on writers. Though I believe Kobe is the MVP this season, the argument regarding Kobe v. Lebron can and will never be settled because people are far too engulfed in their beliefs regarding each player. Both players are great…their situations are different…let’s just see who’s hoisting the championship trophy at the end because that is truly what only matters.
Kelly Dwyer seems to be a text book hater in my mind, which to me means “one who fails to give credit, when credit is due.”
He’s the type that most probably down played KB24’s prior high scoring seasons as ball hogging or having no choice but to shoot due to lack of quality team mates. Before people didnt want to give the MVP award to a top scorer (who happened to be Kobe), but now people like Dwyer say that it should go to that top scorer? Hypocritical is an understatement.
So now, when credit is due to Kobe, he fails to give it up. Kobe is having an outstanding season - still a top scorer in the league, more assists, less shots, working with and inspiring his team mates. Kelly Dwyer is in fact penalizing Kobe for having more help in his surrounding team. So what is his opinion really? Kobe is undeserving when he carries the team, and he is also undeserving when he shares the ball and wins even more games. lose-lose situation obviously…but what haters like Kelly Dwyer don’t seem to grasp is that Kobe Bryant thrives under the media’s criticism. It acts only as ammunition to increase his drive to win, despite the unwarranted illogical hate.
Lastly, the article lacked some logic. If best scorer implies best player, then why doesnt the top scorer win MVP every year? Theres more too it than that obviously. But lets run with that theory: how is it possible that most players in the league acknowledge the fact that Kobe is unstoppable and can score at will, but simultaneously according to Kelly he is not the best scorer? that lacks some logic to me, but its based on opinion. Some facts are that Kobe has hit big shots at the end of games more often than Lebron (granted, Kobe is a vet) But Kobe has NEVER been scared to take those shots. Recall last year’s playoffs to jog your memories. Kobe is a better shooter, on the floor and at the line. He has proved to be the most lethal offensive player in that he has a myriad of weapons. LBJ and KB can both drive to the hoop at will, both are great finishers, both are great play makers, but who shoots better from 17ft out? or the 3? Also, if Lebron is such a good defender as well, why hasnt he been named to the all defense team?
Overall stat comparisons are difficult because they play different positions and in two drastically different conferences. A real comparison could only exist if they played each other more often and in the same conference.
The TRUTH: Lebron is certainly the player of the future. He has the biggest upside the league has ever seen. Kobe is the player of now, with a chip on his shoulder an array of skills and the intensity to win yesterday.
It is all relative. First, it is a joke that Nash almost won 3-consecutive awards and Kobe has none. Meanwhile, LeBron continues to set records. Regardless of the league he is in 30,7,7 is impressive. Only the greats have approached this and Jordan did it only once while LeBron is working on his 2nd. The others accomplishing this is Bird and the Big-O.
Back to relativity, If LeBron played in the West his team would be a running team/uptempo like all of the Western teams, and not the slow stumbling Cavs team. Since he is a one man fast break, put him on any team out West currently outside of the playoffs - LAC, Portland, Sacramento - and I believe they would be in. He can score on the break, rebound, pass and is a superior athlete, tailor-made for the West.
Remember, the Cavs beat the Spurs, Jazz and Mavericks once, Lakers twice and Hornets once. They have beaten Golden State, Sacramento and Portland. They lost in the waning moments to the Jazz and Spurs once, were beaten pretty soundly by the Rockets twice and the Nuggets twice and lost competitive matches to the Suns.
LeBron is deserving of the MVP and the label as the best player, regardless of the fact that he is a poor 3-point shooter and free-thrower.
If NOH finishes above the Lakers, is Kobe more deserving than CP3?
Lebron is NOT deserving of the label of best player. Maybe most effective, but definitely not best. I say effective because strength and size will usually trump skill, and that’s what Lebron uses (just like Shaq). Kobe may be slightly less effective since he’s a guard and depends less on strength and more on finesse, talent, precision, creativity, and improvisation. If Lebron played in the West, one other thing to note is that he would NOT be having the stats he is today- from a more difficult conference and from the fact that on a better team, the team will no longer be running the everything-through-lebron plays. In Cleveland, EVERYTHING runs through Lebron, he dominates the ball 90% of the time, so of course he has more points/assists.
kelly dwyer wrote a new article where he claims that kobe was the best player 2 years ago and should have won the mvp using his logic where the best player should win the mvp. but an article he wrote 2 years ago contradicted his thought process.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/writers/kelly_dwyer/04/18/champs.chumps/index.html
here is the new article by the way.
http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/blog/nba_experts/post/Why-I-believe-LeBron-has-been-better-than-Ko?urn=nba,69942&cp=45#comments
he contradicts himself by saying “That’s it. And, as it was last season when the best player in the NBA (and Dirk was) during the regular season got the award, and as it should have been during 2005-06, when the best player in the NBA (Kobe) should have gotten the award, I think the best player in the NBA should be handed the MVP.” in this newer article for yahoo.”
and wrote, “Most Valuable Player: LeBron James, Cavaliers…..By my estimation, LeBron was the best player in the NBA this season.”
total lebron homer can someone in the media call him out on that?
elbert: yeah, kelly is a damn idiot. it’s so obvious and your link proves that he’s trying to dismiss the ire he’s receiving from the audience by disingenuously “admitting” he thinks kobe deserved the mvp 2 years ago and that kobe is “awesome”. what a fag.
It’s too bad this original post was taken down. I think there was a deeper issue at work. I detail it here:
Prominent NBA Blogger Gets Ripped, Responds
Sharky,
I took the post down because, in my opinion, I set the wrong tone with my original post. The comments were starting to get personal and that isn’t what this web site is really supposed to be about.
That said, I do stand by the substance of my original post, just not the way I chose to frame it.
I addressed Dwyer’s post much more comprehensively today (look on the home page) though in this iteration, I really was using his column as an example of what can go wrong when the dynamic you begin with is flawed.
Thanks for coming back, and I do apologize for taking your comments and others down. Won’t happen again; I won’t make the same mistake again.
David-
I totally understand why took down the original post. No problem at all. I actually took down my original post (linking to your post) on my site as well. The subsequent tone is much better I agree.
Cheers.
Kobe… No question!