Bill Simmons’ MVP Breakdown, Pt. II

NBA / Apr 17, 2008 / 9:15 am

You guys definitely seemed to enjoy our link to the first half of Bill Simmons‘ NBA MVP Breakdown yesterday, so we figured we’d post a link to Part II here today.

(Editor’s Note: Be prepared for some serious, predictable KG man-love)

Posted in NBA |

28 Responses to “Bill Simmons’ MVP Breakdown, Pt. II”

April 17th, 2008 at 9:22 am

Borgs says:

I read it yesterday, and he changed my mind. The question regarding the first name that pops in to one’s head when season 2007-08 is recalled in ten years did it. KG should be MVP.
April 17th, 2008 at 9:22 am

Junio says:

praying for him to select my reply in his mailbag….

my proposition: put CP3 in the Celtics jersey, keep all the stats, and the wins….who would get Bill’s vote?
April 17th, 2008 at 9:25 am

Dime Magazine says:

Junio –

let us know if he answers your question in his next mailbag and we’ll link to it here.

- PC
April 17th, 2008 at 10:12 am

Celts Fan says:

He kind of changed my mind too. KG COMPLETELY transformed the Celtics this year and deserves all the man-love he’s getting (and more!) Having said that, DPOY is gonna have to be his consolation prize, cuz CP3 and Kobe had too good of a season. Any other year… (or no Ray Allen too)
April 17th, 2008 at 10:39 am

Duke says:

Cool article. But we all know it’s Kobe’s year. I hate to admit that but it’s true.
April 17th, 2008 at 10:48 am

Austin Burton says:

I don’t agree. KG is the first name that pops into your head because of the trade that happened before the season started. If he’d averaged 10 points and 8 rebounds and the Celtics were 50-32, he’d still be the first name because you had a Hall of Famer being traded to a storied franchise.

Here’s my thing: The MVP CANNOT be someone who is the 3rd (and now 4th) offensive option on his team when they need a big shot.
April 17th, 2008 at 10:58 am

Kobeef says:

Simmonds is funny but he cannot write an objective article. His man-love for some of the NBA’s players is uncontrollable. Evidence?

- Manu Gnobilli is more valuable than Dwight, Pierce, Amare, DUNCAN? Absolutely NO way. Put Manu on a team of role players and see how valuable he is. He is a system player.

- Monta Ellis is the most valuable under-25 free agent to hit the market since T-mac? No way. Monta is the second coming of Mo Williams (a player one team will regret it signed to an untradeable contract).

- KG did a great thing with PP and Jesus in Beantown but I really didn’t see him carry the team the way Lebron, CP and Kobe did. In fact in some games it was really obvious that he was not the first option. KG is great, all time great in fact but he is not the only reason the C’s are the best team in the league.
April 17th, 2008 at 11:04 am

Dime Magazine says:

Kobeef –

The thing with Simmons is that he isn’t paid to write objective articles. His allure is that he has blind allegiances to players and teams just like any other fan.

Also, have to 100% disagree with you on your Monta Ellis thing. That dude is the truth. He’s a 6-3 guard who played 38 minutes a night, averaged more than 20 ppg AND shot 53% from the field this season. Unheard of.

- PC
April 17th, 2008 at 11:11 am

Kobeef says:

I can’t help it.

I am reading the article again and thinking, if Buford called Otis and said:

“I’ll trade you Manu for Dwight” Without blinking, Otis would probably assume it was a prank call and hang-up. Dwight and Manuflops are that far apart in terms of team value.

Or put another way, ask Buford “You can only keep one player on your current roster, which will it be?” Is there even a 1% chance he responds “Manu”?
April 17th, 2008 at 11:18 am

Mike C says:

Yeah, the first name that pops up this season so far is KG. But it will be Kobe when the playoffs end.
April 17th, 2008 at 11:24 am

Kobeef says:

@ Dime/ PC

Yes, and Rajon Rondo’s success is completely his own doing and has nothing to do with the 3 All Stars on his team. And while we’re at it, MJ should really thank Bill Wennington for carring him to 3 ‘chips in Chicago

No NBA GM should pay big $$ for an undersized shooting guard. At best they are off the bench energy guys. Monta is no different.

Oh, by the way, who are the Warriors playing in the first round?
April 17th, 2008 at 11:26 am

JHov says:

My only problem with KG receiving the MVP is the fact that even when he was out with the injury they showed no signs of slowing down..Pierce carried them..he should be in the running too by those standards! Kobe or CP3 deserve it the most..
April 17th, 2008 at 11:39 am

Dime Magazine says:

Kobeef –

I hear what saying about the danger of signing small guys to big deals. Still have to disagree with you on the Monta thing though. He’s arguably the fastest player in the League from end-to-end, rebounds well for a G (avg. 5 rpg this season), is durable (played 77 and 81 games his last 2 years) and is improving in leaps and bounds each season.

And the playoff thing is kind irrelevant. That team won 48 games (6 more than last season) this year. He’s not the reason they’re not going to the playoffs. In fact, he singlehandedly won a bunch of games for him this year.

Is he a franchise player? No. Is he a very, very good player who is still getting better and worth a big contract gamble? 100%.

- PC
April 17th, 2008 at 11:44 am

CJ says:

Simmons doesn’t get paid to write objectively, he does whatever he wants and doesn’t even follow his own guidlines. How can he lay these questions and then not follow them:

Question No. 1: Ten years from now, who will be the first player from this regular season that pops into my head?
Question No. 2: In a giant pickup game with every NBA player waiting to play, and two fans forced to pick sides with their lives depending on the outcome of the game, who would be the first player picked based on the way everyone played that season?
Question No. 3: If you replaced every MVP candidate with a decent player at their position for the entire season, what would be the effect on their teams’ records?

My ranking would go like this:

Q1: Kobe KG CP3 Lebron (Maybe KG here because of the turnaround, but kobe because of all the drama has to win out)
Q2: Kobe Lebron CP3 KG
Q3: Lebron CP3 Kobe KG (not sure about Kobe and CP3)

That’s Kobe 5, Lebron 7, KG 8, CP3 8. Low score wins, KOBE MVP.

By his own guidelines, there’s no way it could be KG. Would anyone pick KG in a pickup game over any of the other three? And do you really think the Celtics as regular season team as assembled would be worse than the other three if you insert a decent player (They still have The Truth and Ray Ray+improved Rondo, and I like their bench)?

KG may be the heart, but Kobe is the backbone, CP3 is the motor, and Lebron is the team. Simmons is always fun to read, and sometimes insightful, but he’s a freaking idiot time and time again.

With his guidelines, how does your MVP shake out?
April 17th, 2008 at 11:46 am

Austin Burton says:

Monta also just makes big plays in big situations. You might look at the box score and see he had 3 rebounds, but two of those were monster offensive boards in the fourth quarter. Or maybe he didn’t have any steals, but he forced his man into committing a turnover in the final two minutes.

And if you’re gonna blame one person on the Warriors for them not making the playoffs, blame Al Harrington. It wouldn’t kill him to rebound once in a while and stop jacking threes.
April 17th, 2008 at 12:03 pm

Juanito says:

God, I always get suckered into reading Simmons and then get pissed off because I know he’ll end up stroking the Celtics way more than they deserve. Rondo for Most Improved? Not even top 5…;although I like KG, this is a complete homer vote, despite Simmons’ caveat. CP3 is my clear and away choice, but I’ll accept it if Kobe wins.

And Bostonians wonder why people hate their sports teams so much…
April 17th, 2008 at 12:22 pm

Jim says:

You know what NFL player I think of when I think of the 2007 season? Mike Vick.

I don’t see how that criterion is valid at all. It’s most valuable, not most memorable.
April 17th, 2008 at 12:23 pm

Jim says:

err, 2006. Sorry.
April 17th, 2008 at 12:55 pm

yallallreadyknow says:

hahaha….
about the Garnett talk.
In the first paragraph, this nigga starts off by defending himself as a non-homer.

by the final paragraphs, he’s referring to the celts as “we”.

come off it simmons, you is a homer. and because of that, your list is flawed.
April 17th, 2008 at 12:57 pm

yallallreadyknow says:

plus…
it seems you have a deep love/hate for kobe.
kobe is mentioned in damn near every ranking in the final 5 for some reason.
can’t you get thru writing a piece on a player with referencing kobe bryant?

show some balls/pride and ‘man-up’ and write something useful that dont include kobe.

austin has that same problem on here.
he wanna talk about tracy and vince all the time….and then to prove hs points, he always wanna throw a kobe reference somewhere into his argument
April 17th, 2008 at 1:12 pm

GEE...It ain't no fun if the homies can't haAaAave none! says:

He was certainly right about Carmelo and that was funny too.

I could believe that about A.I.

I have no prob with K.G. being number 1. Then again, Kobe has to be 1.1. Or vice-Versa.
April 17th, 2008 at 1:47 pm

word says:

Yes Bill Simmons knows what’s up. Ain’t a damn thing wrong with KG man love he deserves that shit, he’s the whole package that any team would kill to have. And the Kobe man love is a million times worse.
April 17th, 2008 at 2:04 pm

Prof. TX says:

Kobe gets alot of hate because his supporers are so unrealistically over-the-top in their praise. According to the cult of Kobe, Bryant plays by himself and the Lakers would be 0-82 without him, he’s the best offensive player in history but also the best defender, has never committed a foul and never deserves a tech, he can fly, shoot lasers from his eyes, travel through time, etc.
Alot of people who don’t love or hate him get pushed into the ‘hater’ group because they get sick of reading about him every day and still seeing the rabid fans (often while posting on the bottom of Kobe articles) b*tch about how he still never gets enough credit.
Jordan, Wilt, and any other legend had players that gave them trouble or the occasional bad game. Their smart fans can accept this and say that greatness doesn’t require ridiculous claims of perfection. The really obnoxious Kobe supporters never seem to be able to say that without making it look like he got cheated somehow.
April 17th, 2008 at 2:35 pm

Austin Burton says:

@yall — If I reference Kobe during a Vince/T-Mac argument, it’s because they are elite two-guards and so I’d compare them to other elite two-guards. Kobe happens to be the most elite two, so of course his name will come up. Plus like I said, T-Mac isn’t that much worse than Kobe yet everyone acts like Kobe is untouchable and T-Mac is some softy.
April 17th, 2008 at 2:38 pm

GEE...It ain't no fun if the homies can't haAaAave none! says:

Imma say this to, that a lot of people don’t like Kobe cause he ran up in some white girl who had 10,000 different sperms in her nasty coot and nothing really happened to Kobe. Trust me when I say many people (white especially) became Kobe haters then and that doesn’t have nothing to do with the way dude can play.

Anyway MJ got the same love Kobe gets, matter of fact MJ still gets it. You just have to read into the people who are “to much” in regards to their admiration for a player and that players skills.

Kobe is as great if not greater than K.G. to me.
April 18th, 2008 at 5:03 am

doc says:

Where is Vince team at since he is a elite 2.And comparing Monta to Mo is ignorant.
April 18th, 2008 at 12:01 pm

Austin Burton says:

Vince’s team not being good (go look at their roster) doesn’t take anything away from Vince. He averaged 20-5-5 this year. How many people did that?
April 18th, 2008 at 3:34 pm

Diego says:

Love posts no. 7 and no. 14 regarding Garnett. No way he should be mvp this season over Kobe or Chris Paul. (Or LeBron, for that matter, although I don’t think the Cavs are as good this year as last. How many more years before LeBron joins the Lakers?)

Simmons’s Celtics sh** pisses me off. See my post under Durant column in this regard. (Paul Pierce no. 10 player? I’ve always loved his game, but at this stage in his career, rank him over Amare or Dwight Howard?)

Garnett simply is doing his regular thing, like he did with the nowhere T-Wolves, but he’s got 2 aging allstars helping him, PLUS that freakin’ Celtics magic pixie dust that resurrects careers for several additional years (DJ? Walton?) Luckily for the rest of us, today’s Celtics are tomorrow’s Heat!!