This edition of the NBA MVP Power Rankings will mix things up. We shall present the top five MVP candidates at the midpoint of the season in list form with brief comment, but then look at the top five most valuable players from losing teams. That’s a bit weird, right? How can a player be valuable if he plays for a crummy team? If he were valuable, wouldn’t his team be good?
NBA MVP Power Rankings: If Only Kevin Love Played For A Decent Team
You know the names at the top of the MVP ballot: LeBron, CP3, Dwight. But what about the would-be candidates from losing teams? Aren’t Kevin Love or Blake Griffin pretty valuable?
The world isn’t that lovely, however. Great men win bad lots, and great basketball players suffer the indignity of playing for awful teams sometime. So we’ll give these men the respect they deserve ... after we take a look at the top five MVP contenders.
1. Chris Paul, Hornets. New Orleans is on a five-game winning streak, and CP3 is still the central pillar holding the rickshaw that it the Hornets offense together. Without him, the N.O. offense could very well be New Jersey bad.
2. LeBron James, Heat. Miami's two losses without LeBron indicate his value to the team; in other words, a team with Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh and roleplayers almost certainly would not be among the top two in the conference. A loss to the Hawks on Tuesday shows that even with James the team can fail, but LeBron was still the best player on the court. As he almost always is.
3. Dirk Nowitzki, Mavericks. It has become apparent that Dirk's injury not only killed the Mavericks in the immediate, but showed the world that the team behind him is a bit of a house of cards. Perhaps that's overwrought. But it's worth noting that Jason Terry has, of late, looked more like he did last year rather than how he looked earlier this season.
4. Dwight Howard, Magic. The Magic had a few really tough losses. But Howard is beasting through it, averaging 22 points and 13.3 rebounds on the season.
5. Dwyane Wade, Heat. Wade had a vintage performance against the Bulls, and would be in the top three if he didn't have to defer to James so much. To wit: Wade took zero shots in overtime against the Hawks on Tuesday. LeBron took six.
And now, the MVP If They Played For a Decent Team Power Rankings.
1. Kevin Love, Timberwolves. Love has the No. 7 PER in the entire league, above guys like Amar'e Stoudemire, Russell Westbrook, Kevin Durant and Deron Williams. Something often forgotten (or never learned) about Love's game is that he's a darned good three-point shooter, hitting 44 percent on more than three attempts per game. Only 32 players in the league who take at least three treys a game shoot so much as 40 percent from downtown, and none of them double as the best rebounder since Ben Wallace. Love is still over 20-15 on the season, and can you believe this kid basically had to sulk his way into the crunch time rotation a couple months ago?
2. Blake Griffin, Clippers. Griffin is the runaway winner of the Rookie of the Year award, but Lord is he so much more. He's officially the first winner of the League Pass Alert award, a player that single-handedly makes every game a bad team plays worth watching via League Pass. (And League Pass it is, because you're not finding the Clippers on mundane television.) Griffin and Love are fighting for an All-Star spot out West; if they had better supporting casts, they'd be in the MVP discussion.
3. Steve Nash, Suns. Phoenix has been a massive disappointment in the post-Amar'e world, but the Suns' offense is still pretty lovely (if not epic, as it had been). Nash is the driver of that bus, and he's having maybe his greatest individual season ever. Nash is shooting 52 percent from the floor, 39 percent on threes and 91 percent from the line, and he's spent the season fighting with Mark Price for the honor of best free throw shooter ever. He also happens to be averaging more than 10 assists a game for the sixth time. Free Steve Nash!
4. Kevin Martin, Rockets. Martin is averaging 26 points per 36 minutes on a True Shooting percentage of .620. A list of other players who have done this in NBA history: Amar'e Stoudemire, Charles Barkley, Karl Malone and Adrian Dantley. Kevin Martin is really good at scoring the ball efficiently!
5. Monta Ellis, Warriors. Ellis isn't nearly as efficient as Martin, and when you adjust for minutes (Monta plays a ton), Martin is actually more prolific. But Ellis has a second facet to his game: He's a pretty solid passer, averaging a career high 5.6 assists per game. He's hitting his threes this year (39 percent), which is a nice change, and like Martin, Dwyane Wade and the league's best guards, gets to the line plenty. Most of all, like Love and Griffin, he's just an absolute joy to watch. Keith Smart should earn Coach of the Year votes simply for giving us our Monta Ellis back.
Next week: Defensive Player of the Year Rankings.
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