You heard it here first: Dirk Nowitzki for MVP.
With just about ten games left in the NBA season, it's time to start handing out end of the season hardware. And the most coveted individual accolade should be awarded to none other than everyone's favorite 7'0" German.
Before I go any further, I should confess something - I'm from Dallas. I love the Mavericks so much that my lucky number is still 24 in honor of the artist formerly known as Jimmy Jackson. One of my favorite possessions is a pennant autographed by Popeye Jones and Tony Dumas. And I send more e-mails to Mark Cuban than I do to my former roommate, who's studying abroad. League Pass is vital to my livelihood, and what I really want to do with my life is be the Mavericks' General Manager.
But there are two reasons why you shouldn't dismiss this piece as a bunch of biased nonsense. First, I don't actually like Dirk that much. The only current Maverick's jersey that I own is Josh Howard's, and the only Dirk poster on my wall has Steve Nash (in a Mav's uniform) as its focal point. I still haven't completely forgiven Dirk for his world-class choke job in last season's playoffs. So I'm writing this article because I think Dirk is the most deserving candidate, not because I'm some sort of Nowitzki groupie. But even if you don't buy that, you know the phrase, 'just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get you?' Well, just because I'm biased doesn't mean I don't have a valid argument.
Now that that's out of the way, let's get to the meat and potatoes. The first thing anyone making an MVP argument needs to do is establish what the award means, so let's start there. The way I see it, there are two main perspectives on the award. Some think that it should go to the player who scores the most, leads the best, and makes the biggest difference in his team's overall winning percentage.
The problem with this interpretation is twofold. First, it could simply go to too many guys. Sure, without Kobe the Lakers would probably be at the bottom of the conference. But the same could be said for the Celtics without Pierce, the Cavs without LeBron, or the Wizards without Arenas.
Second, the guys who fall into this category don't have to be the most talented. If you put any very good-but-not-great player on a terrible team, he would automatically become an MVP candidate - like if Baron Davis moved to Toronto or if Manu Ginobili went to Atlanta.
The second interpretation of the award makes a lot more sense: the most valuable player is the one who makes his team a contender. Not only does this limit the pool considerably, but it also forces the award into the hands of the best of the best - not just the best compared to a bunch of scrubs. Furthermore, it rewards players for responding to the pressure that championship talk puts on their shoulders.
Now let's take a look at the MVP frontrunners. The Detroit Pistons don't have a candidate because every member of their starting five is vital to their success. Neither do the Spurs, because Tony Parker and Tim Duncan essentially cancel each other out.
I think Phoenix falls into this category as well, because although everyone seems to have jumped on the Steve Nash bandwagon, he wasn't any more valuable this year than Shawn Marion. Marion hasn't missed a game this season and has averaged 41 minutes, 22 points and over 12 boards, while shooting over 51 percent and playing fantastic defense. That's tremendous. And while Nash certainly delivers great passes to Marion, Marion's rebounding prowess, which has been essential to Phoenix's success, has little to do with his stud point guard.
Next we come to Dwyane Wade, who has had a phenomenal year. But here's the thing - Shaq is averaging 20 points and 10 boards while shooting 59 percent, meaning that he both converts Wade's passes into assists and draws the defense to open up the lane. Wade would still excel without the Diesel, but the numbers say that he needs Shaq to make Miami a contender; during the 18 games that Shaq missed this year, Miami went 9-9. One of those losses was to Toronto, and another was to Orlando.
Now let's look at Dirk and the Mavs, who have had an especially tumultuous year. Doug Christie was our starting shooting guard and projected defensive stopper at the season's start, and now he has retired. Erick Dampier was our starting center in November and our 80 million dollar man, and now all he can do is come off the bench to grab a few boards against second-string big men.
Injuries have also plagued the team. Josh Howard, our second option and best defender, has missed 21 games. Devin Harris, our back-up point guard, has missed 15 games. Jerry Stackhouse missed 24, Keith Van Horn missed 20, and Adrian Griffin, our chief of dirty work, joined us 13 games into the season and has since missed ten. Currently, Dallas is 54-16, tied with San Antonio for the best record in the West.
So how did we do it? How could we possibly have scrounged together such an impressive record with seemingly so little? The answer is Dirk. In the last ten games, we have had so few healthy guys that we had to plug a skinny Developmental League player named Rawle into our starting line-up. During that span, Dirk averaged 33 points a game and - here's the best part - we went 7-3.
Dirk is the guy who causes matchup problems for the other team because he's a seven footer who can shoot the three. Dirk is our go-to guy whenever we're in desperate need of a basket. He comes down with nearly every big rebound, and he can create his own shot perhaps better than anyone else in the league. Seriously, the guy doesn't have bad games.
Dirk for MVP. It'll bring tears to Detlef's eyes.
Leah Roffman is a junior majoring in political science and philosophy. She can be reached at Leah.Roffman@tufts.edu.
