Friday, April 30th, 2010 at 12:35 pm  |  132 responses

LeBron James Wins Second MVP

by Marcel Mutoni / @marcel_mutoni

The least competitive MVP race, perhaps ever, comes to an official conclusion this Sunday. LeBron will be awarded with his second consecutive Maurice Podoloff trophy.

He should’ve won it unanimously, but that would’ve made far too much sense for some of the voting media.

The Plain Dealer has the details:

At age 25, James becomes the second-youngest to win back-to-back MVPs. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was a couple of months younger when he won his back-to-back award in 1972. The others two win back-to-back are Steve Nash, Tim Duncan, Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Moses Malone, Wilt Chamberlain, Bill Russell and Abdul-Jabbar. Only Bird, Chamberlain and Russell ever won the award three years in a row.

Last year James won in a landslide, getting 109 of the first-place 121 votes given out to sportswriters and broadcasters who cover the league. This year, James is expected to approach winning the award unanimously. However, several voters have said they did not plan to vote for James. This year the NBA also allowed fans to vote, with their preference to make up the 122nd vote. The results of the voting will be announced Sunday by the league.

James averaged 29.7 points, 7.3 rebounds and 8.6 assists per game in leading the Cavs to a second consecutive 60-win season. He was named Eastern Conference Player of the Month four times during the season.

Congratulations to LBJ on the much-deserved award.

All he needs for his trophy case now, is an NBA Finals MVP.

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  • The Philosopher

    @letsmotor: don’t worry about people who have less knowledge and insight than you do. You know you have some of the more insightful posts on these threads. I don’t know, I’m having trouble posting comments lately, so, this might not even come up.

  • The Philosopher

    @letsmotor: don’t worry about people who have less knowledge and insight than you do. You know you have some of the more insightful posts on these threads. I don’t know, I’m having trouble posting comments lately, so, this might not even come up.

  • The Philosopher

    Masses: sorry about the double post. Now I see it.

  • The Philosopher

    Reign Man: The game hasn’t evolved. It has devolved. Guys aren’t as skilled as they used to be. This is an obvious fact.

  • Fabian

    kobe is not the real mvp
    for all you dumb people thinking that, its the king’s time now. kobe is no longer the best

  • http://thetroyblog.com Teddy-the-Bear

    letsmotor: Kobe IS more skilled than LeBron. That’s not a very controversial statement at all. Kobe Bryant has remained this good for this long because his fundamentals are sublime. Kobe has better handles, better shooting form, better post moves, better… pretty much everything to do with scoring, and his passing is pretty solid too (but not better than LeBron’s).

  • http://thetroyblog.com Teddy-the-Bear

    aw fack, I just started comparing Kobe to LeBron again…

  • http://springbored.net letsmotor

    @Philosopher and Teddy-the-Bear: Thanks. In terms of considering how the game’s changed, I agree with you when say it’s devolved, Philosopher. Still, I guess whether you enjoy the high-flying game or the game of highly refined fundamentals (and I’m not saying those two types of ball are mutually exclusive) is a matter of personal taste.

  • big_ticket

    lebron needs a ring now,kobe aint the best no more

  • Justin

    Just once I would like to see a thread about Lebron or Kobe and not have the other’s name brought up as a “who’s better” debate. OK, where to begin. One person said that Kobe is a better player because he has more rings. Wrong. He’s played on better TEAMS and had better teammates. Anyone who thinks the Lakers won those titles because of Kobe instead of Shaq is delusional. Also, anyone who thinks the real MVP is the Finals MVP is an idiot. How is someone who played well for 7 games more valuable than someone who played well over 82? Just a weak ass excuse to say Kobe is better than Lebron. I don’t understand why people just can’t enjoy the fact that we are watching greatness every time we watch EITHER of them play. Oh, and to the guy that doesn’t think Nash should have won two MVP’s…obviously you don’t know sh*t about the game either. In those two years, look at his team’s record without him vs. when he was on the floor. He actually should have won a third in a row because his stats were better than the previous two years and if I’m not mistaken, his team actually got better as well. The problem was that the writers just couldn’t fathom putting the little Canadian white kid in the same category as Chamberlain, Russell, and Bird so they gave it to Nowitzki. Teddy, shooting form has nothing to do with how good a player is. All that matters is if it goes in. Would you go back in time and change Larry Bird’s shooting form? Reggie Miller’s maybe? Exactly.

  • http://alimartin07@yahoo.com Ali

    If I was a beting man, I’d bet it all and say that all MY TOP players in The Association (Dirk, Nash, Amare, Kobe, Pau, Melo, LeBron, Rose, Granger, Wade, Howard, Durant, Roy, J. Johnson, Duncan, Paul, KG, Pierce, D. Will, Bosh, and my new addition B. Jennings) would say it’s great, really great to win indivdual awards, but the OVERALL goal of every player, every year is get in the playoffs and to win a championship. The Kobe vs. Lebron best player/MVP debate will go on forever.

  • Ronald

    @Philosopher: Kobe didn’t mark Arenas during the 60 point game.

  • The Philosopher

    @Ronald: It doesn’t matter who was guarding Arenas that night.

  • The Philosopher

    @Justin: Do you think everything is based on race?

  • Ronald

    So, somehow Arenas dropping 60 points on Smush Parker is Kobe’s fault?

  • The Philosopher

    @Ronald: It was Kobe’s fault.

  • Chazz Michael Michaels

    Psh this is a joke, the only award LeBron couldn’t have won this year was sixth man and rookie of the year, sh*t I wouldn’t be suprised if he didnt go for sixth man one year just to say he did it…

  • The Philosopher

    Big lol @Chazz Michael Michaels!!!

  • http://www.slamonline.com/ niQ

    Man, Durant was 2nd in voting.

  • http://www.slamonline.com Allenp

    Justin
    Go back and compare Lebron’s team record with him and without during Nash’s second MVP.
    And the truth is that in Nash’s first MVP year he had the least impressive statistics of any MVP in history. He beat out Shaquille O’Neall despite Shaq putting up 22 and 10, simply because Nash’s “turned Phoenix around.”
    This logic ignored the fact that the year before Nash came the Suns starting point guard for much of hte year was Howard Eisely. Or that Amare and Joe Johnson both missed chunks of the season.
    It also ignores the fact the Stephon Marbury took that same Phoenix team to the playoffs, with Amare as a rookie, and with Frank Johnson as the head coach only two seasons before Nash came.
    Contrary to the media pushed meme, that Suns team was not “weak” before Nash. It was talented and up and coming. The only reason the team had a horrible year was because of injuries.
    It’s truly funny that Nash was considered an MVP for turning around a Suns team with that level of talent on the roster, when neither Ray Allen or Rashard Lewis were considered for MVP despite how much they turned around the Sonics in that same year. Funny how that works.

  • http://slamonline.com nbk

    just want to point out that as soon as Allenp expressed his thoughts with some semblance of logic all the Kobe Lovers disappeared

  • http://www.twitter.com/dfrance21 dfrance21

    I just wish some of you guys weren’t so passionate about this “debate.” You guys can argue and counter all day, and its great. makes for great conversation, but the name-calling and other garbage is unnecessary.

  • AussieKnicks

    You know why Jordan was the best ever, because no one playing at the time was anywhere near as good. Lebron is so much better then anyone to ever play the game, but because Kobe is so good himself, you get idiots trying to compare the 2, and in a couple years when Kobe retires then you’ll find Kevin Durant will be compared to Lebron. No one can argue with me in saying if Lebron wanted 100 point games Lebron would get 100 point games, if he wanted 30 assists a game he would, NO ONE ELSE CAN PLAY BOTH WAYS LIKE KANG, he’ll dunk it on you then chase down the fast break and swat you then pull up from half court CAUSE HE CAN, Jordan was a scoring machine no doubt but wheres the D, you play them one on one, Jordan would get a shot off and he’d have to pull the ball out of his skull after lebron stuffs it on him. Forget lebron and kobe, KOBE IS GREAT but is no comparison, Jordan comes close but Lebron is a freak of nature, and we should all be bowing to the greatness.

  • http://big11mel@yahoo.com Big Mel

    All the guys that won back to back MVP’s are all top 5 at their position Steve Nash isn’t top 10 at his,he is a hall of famer but not a 2 time MVP,and to the dude that said he watched just the 6 games with KD and he would never win any awards wow just wow

  • ai come back

    lol i just wanna say taht reason i dislike kobe at all is because every time i bring up the fact that lebron is my favorite player some one is gonna tell me taht kobes better, they wont shut up about it and will constnaly argue honesty it doesnt matter whos better cuz i doubt lebron or kobe even care as long as they can win. nash deserved one of those mvps but lebron was puttin up 31 6 and 7 the year he got second now u CANT tell me that thats NOT bs…i kno ill be hatin on my own statement but kobe is not an mvp because his team play is not THE MOST VALUABLE……

  • ai come back

    secnd thought i gotta agree wit @dfrance21 insults take out the whole point of basketball its one thing to trash talk but its another to totally diss another dudes opinion……@Allenp thats a really good point u made about lebron taking his team to the finals and kobe takin his team to playoffs…@Ali the debate will only go on until lebron finally wins somethin..but the thing is individual player skill sets lebrons definiley got moren kobe but kobe knows how to win and hes not afraid to do everything necessary lebron knows that he needs to push even harder to get that ring which by the way dosent include dancing on the sidelines…

  • Justin

    I want some of what AussieKnicks is smoking? Did you really say “where’s the D” when talking about Jordan? You mean, the greatest defensive shooting guard in history? Really? hahahaha Obviously you’ve grown up in the age of Lebron and didn’t watch MJ in his prime, the quickness, the leaping ability. Lebron would get crowned just like all the rest of them, and not the kind of crowning that goes with being “King” either.

    AllenP…his first MVP may have had unimpressive individual stats but that doesn’t matter. It’s how valuable he is to his TEAM. And it’s not just the turnaround I’m talking about. He missed 10 games that year and I believe the Suns went 1-9. He is surefire, first ballot Hall of Famer for what he’s done on the court and deserved each MVP. Anyone who thinks otherwise is delusional and/or biased.

    Philosopher…no, I don’t think everything is about race. I think it’s a small part of why he didn’t win a third MVP

    BigMel…this should be good. Give me 10 point guards in history that are better than Nash. This should be good

  • The Philosopher

    Justin, this list is in no particular order on 10 point guards that are better than Nash in the history of the game, if you don’t mind: Magic Johnson, Oscar Robertson, Isiah Thomas, John Stockton, Jason Kidd, Bob Cousy, Tiny Archibald, Pistol Pete, Tim Hardaway, Chris Paul.

  • The Philosopher

    One can make an argument that Penny Hardaway and Kevin Johnson were better too, in their primes. Now, none of the names I’ve mentioned earlier were based off of accolades or accomplishments. They were purely based off of their skill sets and their unique brand of basketball.

  • The Philosopher

    But, Nash is still an all time point guard. I 100% agree with you on that.

  • Justin

    LMFAO @ Tiny Archibald, Isiah, Tim Hardaway, Chris Paul, Penny Hardaway and Kevin Johnson. Chris Paul might be better (barely at best) now but, which is what I’m guessing you’re comparing to.

  • http://big11mel@yahoo.com Big Mel

    Walt Clyde Frazier and Gary Payton was 2. Like I said he is a Hall of Famer. He also may be the worst defender in NBA history.

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