Unanimous MVP: Did LeBron Deserve It?

LeBron James has been named the 2012-13 NBA Season League MVP for the fourth time in five seasons.Gary Washburn, who is currently receiving some serious flack for not voting for LeBron. But is his decision worth the criticism or did he make a legitimate choice for his MVP?

This feat has only been accomplished by one other player and that was Bill Russell. Not only did LeBron win the MVP, but he won this coveted award by receiving 120 of the 121 first place votes. But instead of all the attention being placed on LeBron’s historic accomplishment the media decided to focus on the fact that he was not unanimously voted the MVP. The lone vote for Carmelo Anthony came from Boston Globe’s,


The criteria for the NBA Season League MVP is based on overall contribution to the team and not on who we think the best player in the league is. Unfortunately, over the years this so called clear cut definition of MVP has been muddled by the choices these voters have made. What is amazing is that no matter what their decisions were the media has always been able to justify their decisions by flopping back in forth between the original definition of the MVP and the statistics of the awarded player against the other finalists. The reality is that this award is still a perception award that is voted on by sports writers and broadcasters that make bias decisions, because they are humans. For example, Jason Kidd was snubbed in 2002 when they gave the MVP to Tim Duncan, because Kidd had been arrested in 2001 for spousal abuse. Now, you mean to tell me that Kidd’s arrest for domestic violence wasn’t on the mind of the voters when they made their selection?

Don’t get me wrong a lot of other great players have been snubbed before, Air Jordan included on several occasions. So LeBron not getting a unanimous decision doesn’t incinerate me or cause me to dislike Washburn in anyway. I thought his decision was a sound one that look at all the facts and based it on Melo’s contribution to the Knicks. But as a former player and coach I can’t help but compare each player’s game to the other and when I did that I had to pick LeBron. Although I think LeBron lacks killer instinct like Kobe or Jordan, I still believe his all-around game is better than Melo’s and if he was on the Knicks they would be just as good as or better than the Heat than vice versa.