Thursday, March 31st, 2011 at 9:00 am  |  59 responses

LeBron James’ MVP Pick: Derrick Rose


by Marcel Mutoni / @marcel_mutoni

Plenty of people have Derrick Rose as their MVP pick — many of the voting media, rival coaches, NBA fans, and Hall of Fame former players.

It’s not everyday, though, that you hear an endorsement from someone who’s in the race for the MVP trophy themselves.

LeBron James, the defending two-time Most Valuable Player, thinks the award is Rose’s this season.

From the Sun-Sentinel:

Earlier this season, James backed New York Knicks center Amar’e Stoudemire for league MVP. With a few weeks left before the playoffs, things have changed. James said Chicago Bulls guard Derrick Rose is his choice. Rose is generally regarded as the top candidate, with the Bulls on pace to earn the top seed in the Eastern Conference. Rose has kept the Bulls afloat despite injuries to Carlos Boozer and Joakim Noah.

“I think Derrick Rose,” James said. “What he’s done for that team, with all the injuries they have and them being first in the Eastern Conference. They’re playing some really good basketball.” James said he was leaning toward Dallas Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki until he was injured. Now, he’s in full support of Rose. “You’ve got some guys here that have done their job also,” James said. “But Derrick Rose definitely has gotten a lot of the exposure and a lot of the media attention because of the work he’s done. He’s playing some unbelievable basketball.” James maintained his stance of the Heat not having a serious candidate because he and Wade have canceled each other out.

As always, the MVP debate has been contentious. It will be nice once Rose gets it and we can finally stop talking about it. Oh wait, that’s clearly impossible. Never mind.

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

    Sometimes a player’s personality carries onto the court. Other times a player’s on-court personality stays on the court and the player himself is actually a very different person away from basketball. Case in point: Derrick Fisher.

  • ai come back

    THe guy has dominated all his life and he still does he was “the king” in highschool and hes basically the king now……….LeBron’s most arrogant thing was the “Descision” obviously but the thing about it is that his guys maverick and everybody esle set it up for him obviously hes is reponsible for it going through but people are influenced by other things im not vindicating him for his stupidity but pointing out that you shouldnt hate people for being human………

  • Dagger

    When talking about a player’s personality, the difference is not just between who they are on and off-court. A player might interact very differently with teammates, colleagues, hell even friends than he does with the media, through whom our impression of him is mediated. By accounts Lebron is a great teammate and a huge help to young players just entering the league. He never complained to his organization directly or indirectly while in Cleveland, and he’s represented USA basketball in 3 overseas tournaments. It also appears as though he’s been a good father, stayed out of trouble with the law and done what he could to empower his friends. To me that carries a lot of weight; that and his on-court performances allow me to look past a lot of his faults.

  • http://twitter.com/BeezKneezy LA Huey

    Dudes be hating like they get commission for it. LeBron just took himself out of the MVP race and endorsed his conference rival. He just expressed some humility, give him a break.

  • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWlCB8mVmWw Desert Storm

    You know at this point Bron probably wouldn’t wanna say anything…but

  • http://www.theresastatforthat.blogspot.com Deron

    I don’t know if Lebron believes it, but he may be right. Wade is the most valuable player on the Heat. When he plays well,(good shot selection, limits turnovers) the Heat Win.

    http://theresastatforthat.blogspot.com/2011/03/miami-heat-who-is-most-important-player.html

  • Jasmine

    Its gotta be one of these three for sure! Rose, Wade or James! Derrick has just played amazing this year bt while your at it so have Wade & James.

  • Justin

    Of course Rose is the MVP. I like the line at the end. “It will be nice once Rose gets it and we can finally stop talking about it. Oh wait, that’s clearly impossible. Never mind” Of course it’s impossible because you people at SLAM won’t stop writing about it every time someone says something about it. Tomorrow’s headline… “Nets 12th man thinks Rose is MVP”

  • http://slamonline.com Michael

    I absolutely hate the ignorant people who say Lebron is a good regular season player. Have you watched him in playoffs? 38, 8, 8 for a series and guys still hated on him cos he couldnt carry a side with no real depth. IGNORANCE will forever frustrate

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