LeBron James - 2012-13 Most Valuable Player

[doctordrizzay]

This should have been Lebron's fifth. And Durant isn't doing anything no one else has, he just having an extremely great season. It's pretty crazy though Durant is shooting 4 more freethrow's per game than Lebron. Almost the league's way of sayin "We gotta somehow Lebron slow down" Lebron's career freethrow's is 8.9 and right now he's at 6.7...with a post game and living in the post. Make's no sense.

[Luke]

LeBron is, weirdly enough, pretty fairly officiated. He doesn't get absurd love like wade, durant, or cp3 get, but he doesn't get hated on like a Derrick rose does.


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[Jace]

No one outside of Miami will believe me on this one, but he's been terribly officiated this year. It's gotten a little better lately, but the first couple of months of the season were brutal. He was getting destroyed going to the hoop, and not getting calls that opponents were getting on the same court. Part of his FTs being down is because he was attacking less earlier in the season, but that could've been a result of the shitty officiating.

Originally Posted by yodurk

IMO, you are right to an extent, but it also neglects a facet about Durant's presence that is frequently missed. Lebron directly affects almost every possession because he touches the ball on every possession in his point forward role and distributes better. Durant indirectly affects almost every possession because he is such an extreme threat to catch and shoot from nearly anywhere inside half court, that it creates invaluable spacing for his teammates in a different way from Lebron. The only thing with this is, it's impossible to quantify the benefit from Durant's standpoint beyond things like team scoring efficiency when he is/isn't on the floor. People are probably going to naturally weight this part of Lebron's game higher because it's just more easily understood and observed on paper. I've gotta believe this plays a big role in a guy like Westbrook being able to put up numbers like he does by getting into the lane, with the defense knowing that Durant guy is sitting out there waiting to kill you from deep. Not unlike what Ray Allen provided his teams for years, and still does in limited doses.

And someone arguing LeBron's case can argue that all of the double teams he commands lead to open teammates, whether he gets the assists or not (hockey assist?). I don't think voters will go that deeply into rationalizing Durant.

[Luke]

It's not a Yao situation and from what I've seen they're pretty fair. He gets normal superstar calls but it's not ridiculous like some of the players I mentioned above. All I'm saying is its incredible how he can still blow the other guys out of the water with a relatively conservative amount of help from the officials.


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[Jace]

It seems the refs are still trying to figure out how to officiate him.

Speaking of trying to figure out LeBron, finally finished watching the Thunder game yesterday. Amazing Brooks tried everyone from PG (Westbrook) to C (Perkins) guarding him. Shows what kind of revolutionary player he is.

[LA68]

LeBron, no contest.

Second I would go with Melo or Harden

[Jace]

What's your argument for them over Durant?

[Diable]

Or Paul and Parker. The Knicks are playing .500 ball lately. Harden is going to get some votes, but his team is fighting for the 8th playoff spot and the four candidates ahead of him are on teams with the best records in the league. Harden has a case, but your team record is a big factor in MVP voting. He's not Andre Dawkins either.

[LA68]

I forgot Parker. If the Spurs get the number one seed, I would pick him second. Paul's been injured and missed a few games.

[Jace]

And they were awful when he was out. He hasn't missed enough games to hamper his bid.

[Jace]

I wonder how much of an effect Twitter and other social media have on voters in this era.

[hroz]

Lyndon Baines Johnson

[Jace]

I've moved my TP9 piece ahead of my CP3. Their stats are almost a toss-up, maybe even an edge to Tony. Team breaks the tie.

[Sir Patchwork]

Picking anybody but Lebron over Durant is just an attempt to go against the grain. Durant is clearly having a better season than anyone not named Lebron.

[hobojoe]

Originally Posted by Sir Patchwork

Picking anybody but Lebron over Durant is just an attempt to go against the grain. Durant is clearly having a better season than anyone not named Lebron.

Yup. The latest fad that's been making its way around the various media outlets this week is talking about Tony Parker as a serious MVP candidate. With all due respect to him and the season he's had, it's really absurd to consider voting for anyone but LeBron or Durant. LeBron should win, Durant should finish second and no one else should be anywhere close. If you want to argue Parker or any of the other guys for third, fine. Now I know that it doesn't make for interesting banter on ESPN, but you're just trying to be controversial or different for the sake of being different if you're seriously talking about anyone but LeBron and Durant.