MVP voting

[will_spurs]

I just checked the full MVP votes today and noticed Tony and Tim were tied at the 12th spot with 21 points each.

Tim got:
- one 3rd place vote (Joe Goodman - Miami Herald)
- three 4th place votes (David Aldridge - TNT, Hubie Brown - ESPN, Ted Davis - WTMJ Radio Milwaukee)
- seven 5th place votes (Al Iannazzone - Newsday NY, Jim Paschke - Fox Sports Wisconsin, Mary Schmitt Boyer - Cleveland Plain Dealer, Matt Devlin - SportsNet/TSN Toronto, Matt Winer - NBA TV, Scott Hastings Altitude Sports & Entertainment, Steve Kerr - TNT)

Tony got:
- two 3rd place votes (Al McCoy - KTAR Radio Phoenix, Dwain Price - Ft. Worth Star Telegam)
- two 4th place votes (Marc Spears - Yahoo! Sports, Ron Tillery - Memphis Commercial Appeal)
- five 5th pace votes (Brendan Brown - MSG Network, KC Johnson - Chicago Tribune, Mark Followill - TXA-21/Fox Sports Net Dallas/Ft. Worth, Marv Albert - TNT, Mitch Lawrence - New York Daily News)

So all in all both of them got national recognition (ESPN, Yahoo!, TNT, NBA TV) or from competitors (Miami, Memphis...), with special treatment from New York (3 votes!) and the rest of Texas (2 votes).

From San Antonio writers? Nothing. I'm not asking them to be blind homers and throw a 1st place ballot to Tim or Tony, but I don't anybody will point at them for giving them a 3-4-5 spot on their ballot as the 1st seed overall in the NBA.

Here is how they voted:
- Bill Land, Spurs Television: Lebron, Durant, Blake, Noah, LMA
- Bill Schoening, WOAI Radio: Durant, Lebron, Harden, Blake, Noah
- Jeff McDonald, SA Express-News: Durant, Lebron, Blake, Harden, Noah
- Mike Monroe, SA Express-News: Durant, Lebron, Noah, LMA, Al Jefferson (!!!)

[wut]

They need to rename the MVP award to Scoring Award....because apparently that's all that matters for you to win MVP anymore. Both OKC and Miami had worse seasons in my opinion but both were "unquestionable" mvp candidates.

Guys like Harden who meant the difference in a team regaining notoriety are much better candidates for MVP.

[SpursFan86]

Really, Land? LeBron for MVP? I don't get how some people think LeBron deserved MVP this year.

[DarrinS]

Durant earned it

[100%duncan]

It doesn't matter. I will take Lebron for Durant any day of the week, give Beta his fucking mvp award it doesn't mean anything.

[The Reckoning]

most versatile phluffer tbh

[Cry Havoc]

They need to rename the MVP award to Scoring Award....because apparently that's all that matters for you to win MVP anymore. Both OKC and Miami had worse seasons in my opinion but both were "unquestionable" mvp candidates.

Guys like Harden who meant the difference in a team regaining notoriety are much better candidates for MVP.

Uhhhh... Noah was 4th in MVP voting there, chief. The Spurs were loaded this year. Who deserved MVP considerations on our team? Neither Duncan or Parker were especially dominant this year.

[will_spurs]

Uhhhh... Noah was 4th in MVP voting there, chief. The Spurs were loaded this year. Who deserved MVP considerations on our team? Neither Duncan or Parker were especially dominant this year.

Not only was Noah 4th in voting, but a guy like Harden who plays strictly no D is especially the kind of guy I don't want to see on a MVP ballot. He's a one-trick pony that got badly exposed in round 1.

This being said my point was only that the Spurs beat writers could at least think about throwing a vote to one of our guys. After all they wouldn't even have a job if the Spurs franchise wasn't so successful in the first place.

I also checked how "low" the top player on the 1st seed overall could drop in the MVP voting.

In the 15 seasons since 2000, the MVP was on the team getting the 1st seed overall 8 times (!). In 5 of the remaining seasons the best player on the 1st seed was ranked 2nd, 3rd, 3rd, 5th and 7th (Webber on the Kings in 2002).

Only twice was there no player from the 1st seed in the top 10:
- in 2012 (shortened season), Chicago was the 1st seed and Derrick Rose was 11th in MVP voting. However the Spurs had the same record and Parker was 5th.
- in 2014, again no players from top seed in top 10: Duncan and Parker tied at 12th.

[bigfan]

As a hardcore Spurs fan for a loongg time I have to say congrats to KD; the guy is a class act and I think deserved the award this year. He gave one hell of a good acceptance speech as well. Hopefully we can get past Portland soon and whip OKC's ass again too.

[Captivus]

As a hardcore Spurs fan for a loongg time I have to say congrats to KD; the guy is a class act and I think deserved the award this year. He gave one hell of a good acceptance speech as well. Hopefully we can get past Portland soon and whip OKC's ass again too.

Disagree with that part. If OKC loses against LAC, we will see how classy he is.

[Kuestmaster]

Half of the spurstalk posters would do a better job than the SA Express-News morons.

[Cry Havoc]

Not only was Noah 4th in voting, but a guy like Harden who plays strictly no D is especially the kind of guy I don't want to see on a MVP ballot. He's a one-trick pony that got badly exposed in round 1.

This being said my point was only that the Spurs beat writers could at least think about throwing a vote to one of our guys. After all they wouldn't even have a job if the Spurs franchise wasn't so successful in the first place.

I also checked how "low" the top player on the 1st seed overall could drop in the MVP voting.

In the 15 seasons since 2000, the MVP was on the team getting the 1st seed overall 8 times (!). In 5 of the remaining seasons the best player on the 1st seed was ranked 2nd, 3rd, 3rd, 5th and 7th (Webber on the Kings in 2002).

Only twice was there no player from the 1st seed in the top 10:
- in 2012 (shortened season), Chicago was the 1st seed and Derrick Rose was 11th in MVP voting. However the Spurs had the same record and Parker was 5th.
- in 2014, again no players from top seed in top 10: Duncan and Parker tied at 12th.

I think that's part of what makes this Spurs team unique. I think this is actually the deepest team in NBA history, if not top 3. The 4 guys off our bench plus Duncan would be a 4-5 seed out East. It makes sense to me that the Spurs don't have an MVP candidate because they are the definition of "team". No ego, no worries about who's the leading scorer (compared to Durant who checks with the scoring table to make sure they don't count turnovers as a missed shot), just seamless dominance and execution from 1-9.

Let them enjoy their individual accolades. I tentatively agree with you about our beat writers, but at the end of the day I'm only concerned with the Spurs getting a Finals MVP this year.

[will_spurs]

I tentatively agree with you about our beat writers, but at the end of the day I'm only concerned with the Spurs getting a Finals MVP this year.

Definitely worth more...

[romain.star]

Not only was Noah 4th in voting, but a guy like Harden who plays strictly no D is especially the kind of guy I don't want to see on a MVP ballot. He's a one-trick pony that got badly exposed in round 1.

This being said my point was only that the Spurs beat writers could at least think about throwing a vote to one of our guys. After all they wouldn't even have a job if the Spurs franchise wasn't so successful in the first place.

I also checked how "low" the top player on the 1st seed overall could drop in the MVP voting.

In the 15 seasons since 2000, the MVP was on the team getting the 1st seed overall 8 times (!). In 5 of the remaining seasons the best player on the 1st seed was ranked 2nd, 3rd, 3rd, 5th and 7th (Webber on the Kings in 2002).

Only twice was there no player from the 1st seed in the top 10:
- in 2012 (shortened season), Chicago was the 1st seed and Derrick Rose was 11th in MVP voting. However the Spurs had the same record and Parker was 5th.
- in 2014, again no players from top seed in top 10: Duncan and Parker tied at 12th.

I am always satisfied with independant journalists free of any kind of influence

[exstatic]

Half of the spurstalk posters would do a better job than the SA Express-News morons.

Monroe is a pretty good writer, but I can't believe McDonald even gets a vote.

[said7]

They need to change the criteria of this award. Most valuable to who/what? Relative to your team? Or the League?

It should simply be, who is the best player in the NBA. If you were a captain in a one game basketball tournament. Who are you picking?

[FromWayDowntown]

I think it's remarkable that Tim has now managed to get some number of MVP votes in 15 of his 17 seasons.

[dg7md]

Durant earned it

:tu