Why Wade SHOULD be the MVP

A while back I wrote a post about how I did not think Dwyane Wade could be the MVP. It was months ago, and at the time it seemed obvious that LeBron James was the frontrunner considering how his team was beating everyones expectations and as he played the best basketball of his career. 

LeBron is still as good as ever, if not better, so his candidacy is as firm as it was before. Kobe is also right up there. But for the first time in the season people are talking about Dwyane Wade and giving serious thought to the possibility of him being this season's Most Valuable Player. 

Now, the first thing everyone brings up is the fact that the Miami Heat are five games above .500, while the Cavaliers and the Lakers have the two best records in the NBA. That is very valid, but there are many other factors to consider.

1) Miami has more than doubled the win total from last season and went from last in the league to contending for the #4 seed in the East. 

2) The team is full with young players, including a starting rookie PG and a rookie coach.

3) There were no major off-season moves for the Heat other than drafting Michael Beasley. He is a great player, but he has not been better than Derrick Rose or OJ Mayo. Their teams are not doing so great.

4) And perhaps the most important thing is to consider where would the Heat be without Dwyane Wade. I don't want to disrespect the rest of our roster because we have some talented and hard working guys over there, but come on. 

Think about it this way. If you take LeBron out of Cleveland, they still have a decent team that can win games. Mo Williams is playing spectacular basketball, and they have good team and a deep bench. They would be nowhere in the race for the NBA Championship, but there is still a team there. Same goes with the Lakers, as they have players that can lead a team like Pau Gasol, Lamar Odom and Derek Fisher. 

Wade is not only the indisputable leader of this team, but he makes everyone better. He has played every game this season with the intensity of the NBA Finals, and this is why Miami has improved so much, and players like Mario Chalmers and Michael Beasley are playing great basketball in the rookie season. 

If that is not enough, look at the stats for this guy.

- 29.7 points per game. Leads the NBA in scoring.

- 49.5% field goal percentage. 6th amongst Guards.

- 7.7 assists per game. 8th in the league.

- 2.2 steals per game. Tied for 2nd in the league with Jason Kidd.

- 5.1 rebounds per game. 13th amongst Guards.

- 1.4 blocks per game. Best shot-blocking guard in the league, and he is only 6'3". 

- 31.6% from beyond the arc, and until the past few games nobody believed he could be a threat with his 3-pointers.

- 38:30 minutes per game.

And if that is not enough to convince you please go back and watch his games after the All Star Break. Those numbers are nothing compared to what he has been doing over the past three weeks, where he set new career highs in points, assists, steals, three-pointers, and doing the impossible on the court. He set records that either do not exist, or are comparable to those of Michael Jordan or Wilt Chamberlain.

I rest my case. 

Comments

[Alejandro]

HE HAS MY VOTE

[HEATFAN]

YOU HAD ME AT MVP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LOL

I'm sending this out to everyone. Good post!!!

[BTerry]

i'm a Kobe fan, but loving the sport, you have look at the facts. LB23 and KB24 are doing their thing. If either team (Cleve or LA) didn't have these cats, the team wouldn't be doing as well. Dont try to tell me Gasol could carry the Lakers, I remember his days w/ the Grizz.LB23 is outta this world. I'm used to seeing Kobe go off so that's nothing new. he's been doing it for years.Wade is nice with his, i cannot lie. His squad sucks, this is also true. It goes back to the MJ days. Looking at what DWade is doing now reminds of J-Bone up until he started collecting jewelry. Mike could've been the MVP just about every year. Besides 85-87, the Bulls were at least 18 games over .500. MJ should've had 9 MVPs if Wade is deserving of it today. The argument with KB24 was he needed to make his squad better, i.e. win games. Wade needs to do the same thing. So for now, King James should get it with Black Mamba a close runner-up.

[House]

BTerry, what do you mean Gasol's days with the Grizz? You mean when they made the playoffs three consecutive seasons in an EXTREMELY DIFFICUlLT western confernece, despite having basically no help around him?

[Andy K.]

Thanks House. My point exactly. But I'm not even saying that Gasol can carry the Lakers to the finals like they're doing with Kobe, I'm saying that the Lakers are a veteran team with players who can step up and win games even without Kobe on the floor. Cleveland not so much, but they also have veterans who can score given the minutes. Miami not so much, for the simple case that the top scorers are rookies. Beasley is #2 in scoring, Chalmers is right there, and Cook and Moon are in their second year. As good as those players are getting and will probably be in the future, they cannot win games without Wade. When Wade is not on the floor their struggle, so he makes them better even when he does not score, by passing or playing defense.

[Gregster]

If the Heat play more games like last night and if they make it to that 4th seed, he has a good chance of getting it. If not its unlikely no matter how good he is.

[birdman]

Gasol took kobe past the first round. Where was he before gasol??? Getting bitch slapped out the first round for 5 years

[Jia]

Go Wade!!! He is so Underrated and overlooked. Hopefully his squad will grow or Wade will get a better team in the future. I love Kobe and Lebron but I get tired of hearing the commentators constantly speak their names when they're not even in the game you're watching. I'm looking forward for Beasley to improve cause he has a lot of potential. And Defense can't be stressed enough-every team must put that as one of their top priorities, it could definitely make a difference.

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