Quote:
Originally posted by: grndmstr_c
A couple things need to be said here. One is that the way Dirk is playing offense right now would be enough to overcome a sizeable advantage for any MVP competitors on the other side of the ball. He's averaging just over 1.28 points per scoring attempt, as compared to 1.07 for KG, and 1.045 for TD. Granted, that spread may or may not hold up, but that's still just a massive divide when you're talking about all-nba caliber players. Second, Dirk actually has quite a knack for making the game-breaking defensive play. He's not as consistently good on defense as TD or KG, not as versatile as KG, and not as good a post-defender as TD (who is IMO tops in the league in that respect), but it's hard to knock him too much when the Mavs' team defense with Dirk on the floor is holding opponents to ~100 points per 100 posessions, a figure that is identical to the number for the Spurs when Duncan is on the floor this year, and superior to the 104.6 pp100 the Wolves are allowing with Garnett on the floor. None of that is to say that I think Dirk is the best player in the league, because I don't think he's earned that distinction, but I do think it's fair to say that there's not a player in the league who's playing better than him so far this year.
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All excellent points here. But I'm not completely sold. Are Dirks numbers a result of him elevating his game to a new high, or are they artificially inflated due to the easy schedule the Mavs have had so far? I guess time will bear this out. And I also don't think we've seen the Spurs' defense hit it's stride yet this year either. Duncan's numbers may not be quite as monstrous this year as in years past, since he's getting much more help from his teammates. But MVP awards are often given to the best player on the best team (or one of them) so I'm sure all these guys will have a legit shot. And don't forget Shaq, who when healthy can make any team a contender.
Oh well, in 3-4 more years it's probably gonna be LeBron's anyway...