Official 2009 NBA MVP Thread vol Congrats to LeBron

[CP1708]

Bron with a huge game vs good comp in the Spurs in a blowout win.

Kobe played like doo doo in a squeaker vs the Clippers.

If there was any hope before that, it should be gone now. Couple games left, only way the seeding changes is if something catastrophic happens in the HCchase.

Give it a couple more games and I'll post my top 5 voting.

 

[outacontrol music]

Couple writers who have official votes


They have begun trickling in...

Time For An Awards Show
By Marc Stein

The final weekend of the regular season has arrived. Ditto for the year-end award ballots from the league office.

So let's proceed with the season's final Weekend Dime, where we will do what the Basketball Hall of Fame does not by revealing all of our votes and explaining how and why we made them (FYI, the Daily Dime will continue throughout the postseason).

Consider this your third and final (and fully transparent) Trimester report of 2008-09, with the ballots officially due back to the league by 3 p.m. Thursday. Voters are asked to list their top three choices in each category except for the MVP award, which asks for a 1-5 ballot:


MOST VALUABLE PLAYER
LeBron James, Cleveland Cavaliers

We tried.

All the recent fawning over Dwyane Wade's emphatic comeback from a 15-win season of woe was an earnest attempt by the NBA press to create some legit MVP suspense.

But we failed.

This is actually not going to be an MVP race for the ages. The only suspense in this race, after seeing a field so deep last season that LeBron James couldn't do better than finish fourth, is figuring out how to cram six or seven worthy names into the four spots on the ballot below LBJ.

Let's be real, people. LeBron might not be a unanimous pick by this season's 123 voters, but it'll be close. And rightfully so after he's put a team that won 45 games in 2007-08 on pace to win 66, entering Friday's play, with more of an all-around game than he's ever played. Better defense, better free-throw shooting, better leadership.

The offseason arrival of Mo Williams and coach Mike Brown's willingness to address his offensive shortcomings (by hiring John Kuester as a virtual offensive coordinator) are undeniable factors, too, but James is the clear-cut trigger man for Cleveland's staggering 20-game improvement in the standings. Knowing how us media know-it-alls feel about the team-success component -- and when you hear that James is about to join Kevin Garnett (2002-03), Scottie Pippen (1994-95) and Dave Cowens (1977-7 as the only players in the game's modern history (since 1973-74) to lead their team in total points, rebounds, assists, blocks and steals -- you can understand the urge to call this a non-race.

The only negative we can conjure is Cleveland's 2-6 record against the Lakers, Magic and Celtics, but that's not sufficient to help any of LeBron's nearest pursuers, even though Bryant, Wade and Orlando's Dwight Howard -- whose consistent exclusion from the season's MVP discussion has been the real injustice -- aren't exactly doing bad work. James' big advantage, besides what the standings say, is that he has less top-shelf help than any other title-contending team's franchise player. As Hall of Fame writer Mark Heisler so nicely put it recently in the Los Angeles Times: James has "more help than Chris Paul and Dwyane Wade -- but not too much, like Bryant and Dwight Howard."

The agony here, as hinted above, is the shame we feel at not finding room for Paul in our top five after he nearly beat out Bryant for the trophy last season. But Denver's rise to No. 2 in the West -- when no one believed that was possible even after Chauncey Billups got there a week into the season and instantly made the Nuggets better than they've been since their ABA days -- sneaked Billups into the No. 5 slot even though CP3 is better this season than he was last season and is really being punished (I agree: I suck) by all of the Hornets' injuries. (Which means we can't even think about making room for Tony Parker, Brandon Roy or Paul Pierce.)

The Lakers' Kobe-fueled runaway success in the West and the damage Howard does at both ends for another team bound for 60 wins bumped Wade down to No. 4, which is bound to enrage Heat lovers given how across-the-box-score spectacular he's been.

At least we got no protest from D-Wade when we told him last week that LeBron had our vote … and that it wasn't really close.

"My vote is for LeBron," Wade said. "I think he's having an unbelievable year and his team is No. 1 in the NBA. So you can't really argue about it."

STEIN'S BALLOT
1. James
2. Bryant
3. Howard
4. Wade
5. Billups
October prediction: LeBron James
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/dailydime?page=dime-090411-12

Here are my votes on the postseason awards:

MVP: 1. LeBron, 2. Wade, 3. Kobe, 4. Dwight Howard, 5. Paul Pierce
Rookie of the Year: 1. Derrick Rose, 2. Russell Westbrook, 3. OJ Mayo
Coach of the Year: 1. Mike Brown, 2. Stan Van Gundy, 3. Eric Spoelstra
Most Improved Player: 1. Devin Harris, 2. Danny Granger, 3. Kevin Durant
Defensive Player Award: 1. Dwight Howard, 2. Ron Artest, 3. LeBron James
Sixth-Man Award: 1. Nate Robinson, 2. Anderson Varejao, 3. Jason Terry
Executive of the Year: 1. Danny Ferry

ALL-NBA:
First team - F LeBron James, F Paul Pierce, C Dwight Howard, G Dwyane Wade, G Kobe Bryant
Second team - F Tim Duncan, F Pau Gasol, C Yao Ming, G Chris Paul, G Tony Parker
Third team - F Dirk Nowitzki, F Carmelo Anthony, C Shaquille O'Neal, G Joe Johnson, G Brandon Roy

ALL-DEFENSIVE:
First team - F Ron Artest, F LeBron James, C Dwight Howard, G Chris Paul, G Kobe Bryant
Second team - F Gerald Wallace, F Andre Iguodala, C Emeka Okafor, G Shane Battier, G Delonte West

ALL-ROOKIE:
First team - Derrick Rose, Russell Westbrook, OJ Mayo, Eric Gordon, Kevin Love
Second team - Marc Gasol, Michael Beasley, Brook Lopez, Mario Chalmers, D.J. Augustin
http://clevelandcavaliers...my-postseason-picks.html

ALL-DEFENSIVE:
First team - F Ron Artest, F LeBron James, C Dwight Howard, G Chris Paul, G Kobe Bryant
Second team - F Gerald Wallace, F Andre Iguodala, C Emeka Okafor, G Shane Battier, G Delonte West

No Wade???

Dude is TRIPPIN...Delonte over Wade...

 

[CP1708]

I've seen several votes now from all the ESPN dudes, TNT, NBATV, just about everyone, and it's a wrap, Bron will be the 2008-09 NBA MVP.

My final vote (which I was holding until the end of the season)

1. LeBron
2. Wade
3. Kobe
4. CP3
5. D12


Anyone else have anything different then these 5, please post them up and why.

 

[CP1708]

Heard from Belle that it may be official.

Belle didn't like this thread when it was started, maybe now he will see I am a good luck charm for LeBron.

Props to LeBron when they announce that he is indeed, your 2008-09 NBA MVP.

 

[darthska]

Just for fairness sake (since I already sad it to belle), his thread will be re-opened upon announcements of LeBron's first MVP award.

If he's wrong, then someone else can make a thread announcing/discussing the award going to... whoever else it will go to (maybe... Stephon? Ariza? Barea?

)