MVP-DS Part 2 of 14

First things first, I refuse to comment or blog on the dismal performance of my Raptors against the New Jersey Nets a couple of days ago. Hurts too much! Way too much!!!

Lebron James is not getting a vote in this installment of my Most Valuable Player-Decider System. I know his numbers are great. His numbers will always be great and his team has a 10-3 record but as I stated in the first installment of the MVP-DS, team record will not be a factor until the end of the season.
I'll briefly revisit it for you. If a players team does not make the playoffs or has an horrendous team record close to the end of the season, then he loses his votes. Obviously if a player has astronomical numbers but his team goes 0-6 during a voting stretch, then the result is no votes. What I am using as a main criteria for getting votes is the players stats and also the amount of supporting cast that the player has. LBJ is averaging 29ppg, 8rpg, 7asg and 1spg. Yeah, I know those are great numbers but the reason he gets no votes is that fact that his team can survive a bad game from him. Also important to getting left off this list is the fact that he is not filling the stats sheet in the blocks department. At 6'8, I guess I expect more from him in that department. You will see as you read this blog that a close friend of LBJ whom is way shorter is filling up the stats in the blocks department.

I think I have spent enough time on someone that's not getting a vote. On to the candidates.........

Is there anyone at this junction into the 08/09 NBA season that's more valuable to his team that Dwayne Wade. The simple answer is no!!! The Miami Heat should not be 7-6 and sitting in third place in the southeast standings. After seeing D-Wades performance in the Olympics, I was convinced that he would be unstoppable this season. I figured he would score a ton of points but the fact that he is currently averaging a career high in three categories is the main reason why he is the first on the list of candidates. Twenty-nine points per game seats him in the second spot for the league lead but the shocking stat is the 2bpg. At 6 foot 4 and being a shooting guard, the blocks are a revelation that his resurgence as an elite player, after an injury filled 07/08 season, is complete. Wade has also upped his steals(2.4) and assist(8). He goes to the charity stripe at a clip of eight times per game. I admit that he could improve on his ft percentage from seventy seven to around eighty percent but there is no other player in the league that is doing more for his team at this juncture in the season.


The second player to get a vote is Chris Paul. Lets talk about efficiency for a second here. CP3 is averaging three less shots per game this season but has managed to maintain his 21 point average from last season. He is currently shooting 53 percent from the field and is leading the league with averages 12 assist and 3 steals per game. CP3 has averaged in double digits in the assist department in every game except for two and has had a steal for the 96th consecutive game, this is only nine short of the NBA record of 105 set by Alvin Robertson. Paul had a triple-double for the first time this season in yesterdays win over the woeful Oklahoma Thunder.

The best power forward in the game right now is Chris Bosh! I'm not going to make the mistake of leaving him off the list this time. How could I anyway. The proof is in the pudding......and CB4's game is nice like chocolate pudding. Ahem, I know that was lame but I don't care. Tell me of any forward in the game right now that has the arsenal of offensive weapons that Bosh possesses. I say he edges even Kevin Garnett by a small margin. A career high of 27 points and 11 rebounds per game makes him one of the best players in the game right now.

I am going to go off the MVP rant a little here. A couple of days ago, while watching the half-time show on NBA TV, former Raptor Jalen Rose made a bold statement that he claims was provided by "some very credible sources." He stated that Lebron James and Chris Bosh are going to sign with the New York Knicks in 2010. He repeated it several times and got even more confident each time he said it. I am left with this conclusion that Rose is either trying to establish himself as an NBA insider a la Peter Vescey, so he is throwing out bold but baseless statements or he actually has managed to get an inside scope on this matter. Ever if it's fact or fabrication, it's not something that I am pleased to hear. After the Knicks traded Jamal Crawford, Zack Randolph and Mardy Colins a couple of days ago, New York has now cleared around US$27 million in salary-cap space for 2010. Folks, that is enough to sign both LBJ and CB4. Now consider how much they will have when they finally trade or buy-out the problematic Stephon Marbury. As a Bosh/Raptor fan, this worries me, BIG TIME!!!

Back to the votes. The second installment votes go to Dwayne Wade, Chris Paul and Chris Bosh.

Here's the tally:

Chris Paul - 2 votes
Chris Bosh - 2 votes
Dwayne Wade - 2 votes
Lebron James - 1 vote
Dwight Howard - 1 vote
Kobe Bryant - 0 votes

Sportacularly yours,

The Vicarious Athlete

My anthology of NFL observations: Week 11

It was great weekend for the football fan in me!!!

• It was an early start with Thursdays game between Brett Favre's Jets and.........umm, don't know if I should say Matt Cassel's Patriots. I can't stand the Pats but Matt "the replacement" Cassel is playing his tail off. If he keeps it up, he'll be in line to earn some serious coin for his next contract.
• My Packers won in a convincing way! So glad the running game finally made a statement. Ryan Grant ran for his second hundred yard game of the season and I hope he can continue the trend. This is a biased statement that I am about to make but I think my boys are the sleeper team to win the Lombardi trophy this year.
  
• Another team to watch out for is the Pittsburgh Steelers. They always play well enough to get the "W." They have one of the NFL's toughest schedules and are currently sitting atop the AFC North with a 7-3 record. Trivia tidbit here: the Steelers/Chargers 11-10 score was the first time in NFL history that the score of a game has ended as such. Wow!!! I find that fascinating.
• Can anyone figure out why the Cowboys aren't winning convincingly. Blame the defence all you want but the offence is not running on all cylinders and the reason why befuddles me. Hopefully the return of Tony Romo and their bye week coming up will give them time to work out all the kinks and allow Romo to put in some time with Roy Williams. Williams playing across from the most narcissistic player in all of sports should make the offence as potent as we all expected.
• Who's the NFL's most valuable player at this point? Kurt Warner gets my vote. That old dawg can still toss 'em with the best of 'em. Doesn't hurt to have arguably the best weapons on offence in the league. Boldin, Fitzgerald and Hightower are a quarterbacks wet dream. Kerry Collins gets my vote as runners up. 10-0 ain't no joke people. Someone on that team needs to get some props. Without Collins, their record wouldn't be what it is.
• I didn't forget about the defending champs. Great defence and a very good offence simply means all signs are pointing towards a return to the Superbowl. Every team in the league should copy the Giants running formula. Get a bruising back that's light on his feet and loves punishing defensive backs. Brandon Jacobs is like a wheelbarrow with a motor; filled with cement, going downhill. Also get two tough, lightening quick backs that can juke a safety out of his cleats. Good luck stopping them. Derrick Ward and Ahmad Bradshaw can start for almost any team in the league.
• On a final note. I can't wait to see what the Browns will be like with Brady Quinn against the Buffalo Bills tonight. The Bills need this win after dropping four of their last five games. I look for them to keep the pressure on Quinn to see if he can withstand the pressure blitz. I say the former Notre Dame stand out will have a good game. Maybe he'll throw pick or two but nonetheless a good outing and a win.

Ps. My rookie of the year so far: MATT RYAN. Dude can play!!!

Sportacularly yours,

The Vicarious Athlete

I should be ashamed of myself!!! MVP-DS Revisited.

Please allow me to graciously pull my over-sized head out of the sand for omitting a player who definitely should be added to the list of ballers in my first installment of my MVP-DS.

No one can be as stupid as I was when I decided that his 1 block per game and almost no assist per game was enough reason to leave him off this list. Well, I got a shot of "profanely-filled" reality check from a good friend that called me after reading the blog.

THANK YOU Albs! Your carefully structured verbal lecture made me see my mistake. For that, I say thanks bud!!!

The player I left off is CHRIS BOSH. I did mention him at the beginning of the entry but left him off the final run of MVP candidates. How could I have left him off because of a low number of blocks per game and then include Dwight Howard and his horrendous below .500 ft percentage. Even the original Superman (Shaq) is shooting at a better clip that Howard.

Forgive me CB4. Please forgive the omission of a misguided soul such as myself. You are currently shooting 54 percent from the field, even though most of your shots are jump shots. Your 82 percent from the charity strip should not have been ignored since Howard would give you his NASA designed physique just to be able to shoot at that clip for a game.

I should be even more ashamed for ignoring the fact that you are currently in the top five for MVP talks at this point by many league experts. I saw you single-handedly carry us to victory against the Charlotte Bobcats last night; and yet I acted "ignant" by leaving you off the list.

Chris Bosh numbers thus far: 27ppg, 11rpg, 3apg and 1bpg

Those numbers are definitely MVP worthy. Here is my revised list of the candidates after the six games; in no particular order:

Chris Paul
Chris Bosh
Dwayne Wade
Lebron James
Dwight Howard

Looking forward to one of these guys and a few others to separate themselves from the pack.

Sportacularly yours,

The Vicarious Athlete

My NBA: MVP-Decider System (MVP-DS). Part 1 of 14.

Is it too early to start the race for the league MVP?

Nope!!!

CP3 is one of the players leading the way for MVP considerations; at least in my opinion. After six games into the 08/09 NBA season, his averages are:

21.3ppg, 5.2rpg, 11.7apg and 3.3stg

A strong case can be made for Joe Johnson and Carlos Boozer. Heck, I would even toss my man Chris Bosh in there. After all, a winning team record is one of the main criteria in deciding whom the MVP designation belongs.

In order to make it more fun for myself, I have come up with my own way of determining the leagues most valuable player.

Every six games, I will evaluate players and their performance during that small period of time. Team record during the six game period will play a role but performance will be considered high and above all. Team record will only come into heavy play at the end of the season. In this case, if a player gets more votes in my system but his team does not make the playoffs, then he will get stripped of the award. The player with the second most votes and also has a playoff bound team will be declared the winner. In case of a tie...........I'LL JUST FLIP A COIN!!!

Nah, I'm just kidding. Overall team record will come into play and if there is another tie, then I'll really flip a coin!!!

All in all, the player that gets the most votes after 82 games, with my evaluation system, should be the league MVP. This means that each player has a potential of getting 14 MVP votes.

(82 divided by 6 equals 13.6. Round that up and you get the magical number 14)


It will be an almost impossible task for any one player to garner all 14 votes. This is because of the caliber all the players that are in contention for the award this year. The only time I can say a player would have earned all 14 votes in my system would be in 1961-62 when Oscar Robertson average a triple double for the entire season. Wilt Chamberlain obviously gets a node also but his average or 50 points and 25 rebounds per game were rivaled by Bill Russel's 19ppg and 24rpg. This debate can go on forever because of Wilt's scoring average but I make this argument that outside of Russel, there were no other "good-enough" centers that could contend with the Stilt on a nightly basis. Robertson on the other hand had to face great players almost on a game by game basis.

Getting carried away here! Back to my "MVP-Decider System." Right now, I would say that it's a four way tie. I have already made a case for Chris Paul. Here are the other three guys that are in the running at this point:

Lebron James: 28ppg, 9rpg, 7apg, 1bpg and 1spg
Dwayne Wade: 26ppg, 7rpg, 8apg, 3bpg and 2spg
Dwight Howard: 22ppg, 14rpg, 4bpg and 1spg

So after 6 games; according to my "MVP-DS": CP3, LBJ, DWade, and Superman2 all have 1(one) vote each. I hope that after another 6 game set, there will be a little bit of distinction between these players. Heck, another player might just outplay them. I hope so!!!

Be on the look out for thirteen more of these to determine whom the 08/09 NBA's Most Valuable Player will be.

Sportacularly yours,

The Vicarious Athlete


NOTE: The "MVP-Decider System" or" MVP-DS"; in relation to the NBA most valuable player award is a trademarked creation of The Vicarious Athlete and thus the name and the ideology behind it cannot be used without permission and written consent.