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To be fair, TP has been the Spurs MVP the last 12 games or so...
MVP standings not as important to Spurs as NBA ones
By Steve Aschburner, NBA.com Jan 14, 11:44 am EST
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Spurs coach Gregg Popovich says the team doesn't think in terms of MVPs during the season.
The San Antonio Spurs no longer could be ignored. Their winning had become relentless, their success imposing.
As they put serious daylight between themselves and the rest of the NBA—their 33-6 record is the league’s best, 3 ½ games better than Boston, 4 ½ out front of the Los Angeles Lakers in the West—it seemed that some up-close poking and prodding was in order. Not just to determine the perennial contender’s pecking order of Most Valuableness for the purposes of the Race, but to see what the Spurs think of the award and the endeavor overall.
Turns out, not much. Particularly when asked, point blank, who San Antonio’s MVP is.
“Well you know I won’t answer that,” coach Gregg Popovich said after his team’s 91-84 victory over the Bucks Wednesday at Bradley Center. “I think the team is the most valuable, really. This season especially. We get really balanced scoring—last night [at Minnesota] was even more balanced than tonight. And I know they don’t care who’s scoring. It’s just a matter of playing the game.
“So we don’t really have MVP candidates. We don’t really think in those terms.”
Hmm. Nice sentiment, and it seems to be working for Popovich. But the fact is, the Spurs have had three league MVPs in their history: Tim Duncan(notes) (2002, 2003) and David Robinson (1995).
So even in the best one-for-all, all-for-one cir stances—with Duncan, Tony Parker(notes), Manu Ginobili(notes) leading a bench corps that includes Antonio McDyess(notes), Matt Bonner(notes), Gary Neal(notes), George Hill(notes)—some poppies grow taller than others and there’s nothing necessarily wrong with that.
“Tony and Manu have been playing the best on the team,” Duncan said.
Great. Now we were getting somewhere. Or not.
“We have guys coming off the bench who are playing really well. We need an entire team effort. So that’s a great problem to have right now. We’re not counting on one guy on any given night—we’re asking a bunch of guys to step up and make plays for us.”
Duncan, at 34 averaging career lows in points (13.7) and rebounds (9.3), still is a commanding presence but he neither can nor is asked to dominate the way he once did. “An MVP is the person who has to do the most for his team in a winning situation,” he said. “But we just have a lot of guys who are playing well on a lot of different nights. It’s turned into the record that we have now, and we’re not counting on one individual to get it done every night and wear somebody down.”
Most outsiders have pointed to shooting guard Ginobili as San Antonio’s MVP and, by default, its top league MVP candidate. The tricky part is that Ginobili ranks 25th in the NBA in scoring, 28th in assists, 19th in free-throw shooting, 39th in efficiency and 76th in field-goal percentage. He does rank eighth in steals.
But few players bring as much to their teams at both ends of the court, much of which doesn’t get measured even by trendier statistics. Against the Bucks Wednesday, there were possessions when Ginobili would get a hand on the ball to disrupt one Milwaukee player’s dribble and rhythm, then beat a second Buck to his spot to alter the fellow’s shot. He could rotate from John Salmons(notes) to Andrew Bogut(notes) and still wind up with the defensive rebound.
In the fourth quarter, Ginobili sat down with 6:45 left, San Antonio up 79-72. By the time he returned at 2:48, the Spurs had been outscored 8-2. Yet they closed the game in a 10-4 spurt. Salmons, who had hit three shots in the middle of the quarter for seven points, managed just one long, contested (and failed) jumper the rest of the way. And it was Ginobili, with a runner in the lane, who got the Spurs cushion to 83-80.
So the committee surrounded McDyess afterward, the locker room nearly empty, and asked the question again.
“If I had to pick one person? Manu probably,” the veteran forward said. “Every night he’s very consistent for us. When we need big buckets, he’s there to make ‘em. He’s quick like a cat—he’s always disrupting something. So defensively he’s always there. Offensively he’s always there. So he does everything.”
Ah, now The Race was getting somewhere. Until it talked to Ginobili in the hallway outside.
“It’s great to hear that,” he said. “But the thing is, who cares who’s the most valuable player on the team when you’re leading the league? Nobody cares. When TD was winning MVPs, nobody cared—we just wanted to win. In the first games of the season, I was playing well and feeling really good, so the team used me more. But in 82 games, it’s going to go to Tony, it’s going to go to Tim. Even Gary Neal has won many games for us. Matt Bonner. So really, nobody cares.”
The 100 miles back to Race headquarters was a lot longer drive after that. But here are this week’s rankings anyway:
1. Amar’e Stoudemire(notes), Knicks (22-16)
G MPG PPG RPG APG SPG BPG FG% 3P% FT%
38 37.1 26.1 8.9 2.7 0.9 2.3 .509 .583 .776
Last Week’s Rank - 1
His point totals (23, 23, 23 and 22) were more consistent than his shooting (40 percent for the week) but Stoudemire did block 10 shots on the four-game trip and beat his old pals in Phoenix. The committee expects big things vs. Sacramento Friday and a visit from those Suns on Monday.
2. LeBron James(notes), Heat (30-11)
G MPG PPG RPG APG SPG BPG FG% 3P% FT%
40 37.9 25.4 7.0 7.2 1.4 0.4 .482 .369 .767
Last Week’s Rank - 3
James has a big week statistically. His former team gets crushed by the Lakers. He turns his ankle against the Clippers and Miami loses, and he sits at Denver and the Heat loses again. There’s a whole lot of value being demonstrated in his absences.
3. Derrick Rose(notes), Bulls (25-13)
G MPG PPG RPG APG SPG BPG FG% 3P% FT%
37 37.8 24.1 4.4 8.1 1.1 0.5 .453 .374 .805
Last Week’s Rank - 2
The most promising sign for Bulls fans was Rose’s growing ability and willingness to take contact (rather than contort away) and get to the foul line. Less promising? Chicago’s knack for losing to the Nets, the 76ers, the Bobcats & ip; and the Pacers Friday?
4. Kobe Bryant(notes), Lakers (29-11)
G MPG PPG RPG APG SPG BPG FG% 3P% FT%
40 33.0 25.2 5.0 4.5 1.3 0.1 .450 .324 .834
Last Week’s Rank - 7
Bryant hit seven of his 17 3-point attempts and all but one of his 22 free-throw attempts as the Lakers won four more times, pushing their streak to six. He averaged 26 points, 5.5 rebounds, 5.3 assists.
5. Dwight Howard(notes), Magic (25-14)
G MPG PPG RPG APG SPG BPG FG% 3P% FT%
37 35.9 21.9 13.4 1.2 1.2 2.3 .569 .000 .587
Last Week’s Rank - 6
Nothing but double-doubles lately, 62 rebounds in a 2-2 week and—whoa, get a load of that 17-of-20 night from the foul line in the loss to Oklahoma City. Howard hit 74.3 percent for the week (26 of 35).
6. Dwyane Wade(notes), Heat (30-11)
G MPG PPG RPG APG SPG BPG FG% 3P% FT%
39 36.4 24.9 6.5 4.3 1.4 1.0 .491 .300 .738
Last Week’s Rank - 4
Wade had a Van Morrison week: Two Below 20, scoring 14 in a game that went to overtime in Milwaukee and 16 in Thursday’s defeat at Denver, shooting a combined 11-of-38. Yes, he did get 65 against the Blazers and Clippers. But 25 free-throw attempts in four games is way light for this guy.
7. Kevin Durant(notes), Thunder (27-13)
G MPG PPG RPG APG SPG BPG FG% 3P% FT%
36 39.2 28.5 6.2 3.0 1.1 1.0 .476 .341 .878
Last Week’s Rank - 9
Durant moves up thanks to the Thunder’s 3-0 week during which the club’s beat player shot 57 percent from the field, 87 percent from the line and 50 percent from the arc. Batman got three more double-doubles (including one triple-double) from Robin, Russell Westbrook(notes).
8. Dirk Nowitzki(notes), Mavericks (26-11)
G MPG PPG RPG APG SPG BPG FG% 3P% FT%
29 35.4 24.1 7.4 2.4 0.7 0.8 .545 .403 .879
Last Week’s Rank - 5
True, a player’s value becomes apparent when his team falters without him. But there also is critical mass needed for annual awards and Nowitzki’s sprained right knee now has cost him almost 22 percent of the Mavericks’ schedule. Thus this slide.
9. Manu Ginobili, Spurs (33-6)
G MPG PPG RPG APG SPG BPG FG% 3P% FT%
39 31.7 19.1 4.1 4.7 1.8 0.4 .446 .373 .865
Last Week’s Rank - NR
This week the vocal Ginobili supporters don’t even need to wave the intangibles flag. Their guy averaged 22 points, 6. 8 rebounds, 4.3 assists and 2.5 steals as the Spurs won four more.
10. Rajon Rondo(notes), Celtics (29-9)
G MPG PPG RPG APG SPG BPG FG% 3P% FT%
27 37.5 10.6 4.4 13.4 2.5 0.2 .516 .273 .435
Last Week’s Rank - 10
There are a bunch of point guards stacked up near the bottom of these rankings, including Westbrook, Deron Williams(notes) and Chris Paul(notes). Rondo gets the edge after averaging 10 assists and 3.0 steals (his seven free-throw attempts in four games might mean he’s in no hurry to return to the Celtics’ trainers room).
Honorable mention: Westbrook; Williams; Paul; LaMarcus Aldridge(notes), Portland; Monta Ellis(notes), Golden State; Blake Griffin(notes), L.A. Clippers; Kevin Love(notes), Minnesota; Paul Pierce(notes), Boston.
Steve Aschburner has written about the NBA for 25 years. You can e-mail him here and follow him on twitter . The views on this page do not necessarily reflect the views of the NBA, its clubs or Turner Broadcasting.
Updated Jan 14, 11:44 am EST
To be fair, TP has been the Spurs MVP the last 12 games or so...
Yep, Tony's been very aggressive lately..
s almost 2 weeks old
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