Monday, April 12th, 2010 at 9:00 am  |  75 responses

Stan Van Gundy: LeBron’s Going to Win MVP Every Year

by Marcel Mutoni / @marcel_mutoni

It’s not something that SVG is necessarily happy about, but there’s a chance that LeBron James will win the MVP award for the next several years. According to the Orlando Magic head coach, this is largely due to how the voting media (and myopic fans) view what makes an MVP.

SVG doesn’t believe that defensive-minded players — say, Dwight Howard — ever really get seriously considered for the award. In Cleveland for the Magic/Cavs game yesterday, and dripping with sarcasm, Van Gundy explained his rationale to the assembled press.

The Orlando Sentinel has the quotes:

“You know how the vote’s going to go. LeBron (James) will win the MVP every year until he retires,” Van Gundy said. Van Gundy was likely playing to the Cleveland media. But there’s part of him that feels that the MVP — decided by the media — will be James’ award to lose for a long time. “LeBron has to go into the year and basically lose the MVP. You guys have decided he’s the MVP,” Van Gundy said.

“I don’t even know if Michael Jordan was as hyped as he is, and then [James] goes out and exceeds it.” Van Gundy says that fans and media “view players primarily as scorers … and view most everything else as secondary,” meaning they overlook Van Gundy’s guy, Dwight Howard, the favorite to repeat as defensive player of the year.

“[Defense] doesn’t translate into MVP voting. People look at it as it’s not as important … I don’t understand that.”

There’s no doubt that scorers have the advantage when it comes to gaining votes during awards season, but that has nothing to do with LeBron winning his second consecutive Maurice Podoloff trophy. He unquestionably deserves it, and perhaps will deserve to win the next couple of them, too.

Van Gundy’s gripes will do little to change the MVP voting, but will add some added fuel to the Magic/Cavs rivalry. And should the two teams meet this postseason, both LBJ and Dwight will be given ample opportunity to prove which of the two is most valuable.

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  • Jackie Moon

    The criteria for MVP should be : have you ever scored more than 80 points in a regular season? No? Then you can not be MVP.

  • Jackie Moon

    The criteria for MVP should be : have you ever scored more than 80 points in a regular season game? No? Then you can not be MVP.

  • http://myspace.com/weezyleezy337 GametimeWeezy

    alonzo mourning > dwight howard…..not convinced he’ll EVER win an MVP as long as Lebron, Durant, DWade, Melo, CP3 are around. SVG is right, u cant win MVP on defense alone. I DO see D-12 winning like 10 Defensive Player of Year awards though. And that in itself is n accomplisment!

  • http://myspace.com/weezyleezy337 GametimeWeezy

    alonzo mourning > dwight howard…..not convinced he’ll EVER win an MVP as long as Lebron, Durant, DWade, Melo, CP3 are around. SVG is right, u cant win MVP on defense alone. I DO see D-12 winning like 10 Defensive Player of Year awards though. And that in itself is n accomplisment!

  • robbed.

    Chris Paul was robbed by Kobe.

  • LA Huey

    @Shem,
    1. Bad call on the stats. You need to look at all of them.
    2. You can claim CHECK MY $TATS having a better supporting cast than KD but are you ignoring that he led that team to clinch the league’s best record two weeks before the playoffs?
    3. Cleveland is a deep team but that bench is overrated. A great deal of their players are specialists with glaring weaknesses that will be exploited by rival coaches.

  • http://www.slamonline.com Pardeep

    Whats going to happened to Durant this year pisses me off. James has a way better supporting cast than Durants. KD is the MVP because if you take him off the Thunder they are the Nets. If you take LeBron off the Cavs they are ATLEAST a 7th seed. It reminds me of what happened in 2000 the year Allen Iverson should have been MVP but Shaq got picked. Take Shaq off the Lakeshow in 2000 and they are still a great team, take AI off the Sixers and they are the worst team in the league that year. Its going to happened again this year because people just don’t seem to understand the term VALUE. sh!t! Durant will get his though.

  • http://www.slamonline.com Pardeep

    and yes Van Gundy is right and James does worship the Devil.

  • Michael Scorn

    Too bad for LeBron, you don’t win the championship by votes.

  • Teddy-the-Bear

    Defense doesn’t matter? DEFINITELY not true. Tim Duncan won back-to-back MVPs in part because his defense is incredible.

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

    If the MVP is a joke, the All-NBA Defensive Selections are a f*cking shamockery.
    Last year, All-NBA 1st Defense: Chris Paul, Dwyane Wade, Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, and Dwight Howard.
    Are you f*cking kidding me?! The All-NBA Defensive 1st Team is basically a mirror image of the All-NBA teams, catering to the biggest superstars. LeBron James is NOT that good of a defender, and neither is Wade or even KOBE.
    Kobe is seen as this f*cking lockdown defender when he doesn’t even guard the best players of the opposing team. F*ck that sh!t, the whole NBA Awards system NOW is bullsh!t and designed to cater to superstars and hyping up the people who are already hyped beyond reason.

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

    Tell me, what kind of “professional” sports league is designed so that its BEST players are given preferential treatment by the referees–who, by the way, are supposed to be impartial–over players they are ALREADY better than?
    Back when Wilt Chamberlain played, they changed the rules to make basketball HARDER for him, to LIMIT his advantage over other players. So how is it at all logical in today’s game for the BEST players–who are already given a talent advantage over other players–to get an even further advantage from the referees?
    Oh yeah, I know: $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ It’s all a stupid business.
    I love the game, but I hate the GAME.

  • The Philosopher

    @CB34: Did you find what I was asking you for for like… 50 years???!!!

  • The Philosopher

    @CB34: Anyways, it’s still good to hear you on these threads, man. And, I’m really being serious.

  • ai come back

    yo man shut the hell up u ppl talking about kd’s supporting cast ok rite here ppl keep tlkin bull about shaq after being the most dominatn center ever so u can cross him out mo vs russell thats mo but just barely, jeff green over antawn?? again u can barely make that statement ….james harden is defintley more solid than any of the shooting guards ont he cavs lebrons bettern durant live with it his supporting cast is better cuz hes been around longer so the team had more time to help him out in probably 3 years durants gonna have a fellow allstar in either trade or simply his bros shining as well lebrons mvp this year no ifs and or w/e s oh ad the seoncd best season of all time would have to be mjs 32.5 8 and 8 first bnest is oscar’s triple double how the hell does 50 pts compare iwth that and 20+ rebounds against all averaged sized guys who no offesne are barely anything athletic-wise compared to todays players

  • http://Yahoo.com 3233569658

    Why are all of you fighting just give it to KObe then watch when the playoff start he’s unstoppable. Remember last years finals he killed the Magic. If he doesn’t get it then he’ll get Finals MVP.

  • The Ghost of Wilt Chamberlain

    Finals MVP is much more noteworthy than regular season MVP anyway. Just look at Jordans career and the years Barkley etc won the MVP over him. Guess who had the last laugh during those seasons?

  • Roc

    I don’t know, I think Durant is going to blow up in the next couple of years. He is poised to surpass LeBron on all levels. The offense, rebounding, and defense are already right there with ‘Bron. He has already surpassed Melo and Wade, IMO. Kevin Durant is the next NBA and Nike superstar.

  • Toni Kukoc

    KD35 is the Next Clyde Drexler/Bernard King as long as LBJ is playing

  • Coney Islander

    My measure for a true MVP is how their team would fare without them. Lakers sans Kobe, 4th seed playoff team, Cavs sans LeBron, 8th seed playoff tops!

  • Fizzbuzz

    I don’t understand how people are handing him the MVP for the next decade if the dude can’t even average a double-double.Everyone stools over his “almost” averaging a triple-double, let’s see him put up 10 boards or assists per night before we get carried away. I’m not saying that he couldn’t, but given his ability he should be able to. After all, the MVP is very obviously all about stats.

  • Ronald

    @Coney Islander: I agree that LBJ deserves the MVP but Lakers without Kobe 4th in the west? Really?

  • clos1881

    Melo never really gets mentioned in these discussions imo dude was the best player in the playoffs last year

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  • jone

    SVG is crazy… howard will never ba an MVP coa he will never be a go to guy PERIOD… if defence is his criteria well rodman should have been multiple MVPs… truth to be told… who would u pick 1st is ur building a team? howard or james? im sure even SVG will pick james.

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