Is Kevin Durant the MVP? Lebron James? Kobe Bryant?
How about showing a little love…..to Kevin Love.
That’s right. I’m officially backing Minnesota Timberwolves forward Kevin Love to be this years NBA Most Valuable Player.
It’s a HUGE leap of faith on my part, but I would never throw my support behind a player I truly didn’t believe deserved the award.
Even though I would love for Kevin to shock the basketball universe and somehow win the leagues MVP, he’s not going to do it.
4 of the last 5 and 20 of the last 26 league MVP’s have come from the teams who finished with the #1 seed in their conference. Considering the fact that both the Miami Heat and Oklahoma City Thunder sit at/are near the top of their conferences, it would be fair to say that Kevin Durant and Lebron James are the clear-cut favorites.
The Minnesota Timberwolves currently sit last in the Northwest Division and 12th in the Western Conference at 25-29 as of today. On that fact alone, Kevin Love has ZERO chance of winning the MVP Award. Players on losing teams (especially teams that don’t qualify for the playoffs) don’t win Most Valuable Player awards except on very rare occasions.
That’s a shame. Kevin Love is just as deserving of the award as James and Durant and that’s even with the sub-par record the Timberwolves currently have.
Love is having a MONSTER season, and that might be putting it lightly. He’s averaging 26.5 points (3rd in NBA), 13.7 rebounds (2nd in NBA) and is shooting 38.3% from three-point range. In the month of March, Love averaged 30.7 points and 13.8 rebounds. His numbers alone should warrant him being in the discussion for the award.
That doesn’t even take into account the stellar supporting casts that his competitors have playing along side them.
Kevin Durant has Russell Westbrook and James Harden. Lebron James has Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh. Kobe Bryant has Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol. Kevin Love HAD Ricky Rubio until he went down with an injury. Even if he was healthy, Rubio has yet to reach the level of stardom of a Westbrook, Wade or Bynum. Kevin Love is working with far, far less on his team.
The case can be made that there is no one player more valuable to their team than Love is to Minnesota. Without Lebron, the Heat would still have 2 of the 15 best players in the league. Without Durant, the Thunder would still have a core of players that could stay afloat in the West. Without Love, the Wolves would be a complete and utter disaster. That’s a fact.
Kevin has also led the Wolves to more victories than they had all last season. At the end of 82 games in 2010-11, Minnesota had 17 wins. After 54 games this year, the Wolves have 25. That’s a huge improvement for a team that is looking to make its first playoff appearance since the days of Kevin Garnett.
Love has acted very humble with all of the MVP talk. He’s actually come out and openly endorsed Kevin Durant as his choice for the award.
Taking a realistic approach to the voting, Kevin Durant will more than likely win and as he should. The Oklahoma City Thunder have been one of the big stories of the league this year and are steamrolling their way through the NBA at 40-12. If both the team record AND statistical output of a player are the main criteria for who is MVP, than Durant has it basically locked up.
I’m just taking this opportunity to let it be known to all of you that Kevin Love SHOULD be in the discussion. He 100% deserves it. Where would Minnesota be without him?
My brain says Kevin Durant, but my heart and love for the game says Kevin Love.
What you do think? Is Kevin Love a viable MVP candidate? If you had to pick a player as of today, who would be your Most Valuable Player? Leave a comment below and join the discussion.
Christopher Walder is a sports blogger and lead editor for Sir Charles in Charge. You may follow him on Twitter @WalderSports