Magic C Dwight Howard finishes second in MVP voting

by Mike from Illinois on May 3, 2011 10:42 PM EDT

Bumped to frontpage - ED

To no one's surprise, Chicago Bulls' PG Derrick Rose was named the NBA's MVP this season, and becomes the youngest player at age 22 to win the award. Rose finished with 1,182 points and 113 first place votes. Howard finished a distant second, with 643 points. Miami's LeBron James finished third.

Even though I am a huge fan of Rose and he is my favorite professional athlete to watch, I have always maintained that Dwight Howard should win the MVP because of his historical statistical season of 22.9 ppg on 59.3% shooting along with 14.1 rebounds and 2.4 blocks per game, which no one had ever accomplished before. Howard was also the most dominant player on both offense and defense in the game, and didn't have nearly as good a supporting cast as Rose did with the Bulls.

I would have placed Rose second on my imaginary ballot, as he became just the seventh player in NBA history to average at least 25 ppg, 7.5 assists, and 4 rebounds per game.

What really helped Rose in the eyes of the voters was the fact that Rose was the best - and most prolific - offensive player on the Bulls, along with being the obvious go-to-guy on the team that finished with the best record in the NBA. The fact that the Magic finished 10 wins behind the Bulls didn't help Howard's cause either.

Rose's inefficiency on offense has been well-chronicled on this blog, but the fact that Rose can drive to the hoop and finish so well along with drawing fouls and getting to the free throw line more than makes up for his inefficiency from the outside.

Congratulations to Dwight Howard on winning the Defensive Player of the Year and finishing second in the MVP balloting!

This FanPost was made by a member of the Orlando Pinstriped Post community, and is to be treated as the opinions and views of its author, not that of the blogger or blog community as a whole.

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Comments

2nd's better than 4th.

"We just want to chill" - Chris Bosh.
Proud Jameer and Rashard apologist since '07

by slickw143 on May 3, 2011 11:49 PM EDT reply actions

I don't really have an issue with Rose winning it

I don’t think there was an outstanding candidate this year and Rose has as good a case as any, although personally I’d have gone with Dwight.

The disparity in first placed votes is farcical though, and illustrates how little the mainstream media actually pays attention to basketball outside of their own teams. The groupthink on display through ESPN’s championing of Rose is my problem with the process, not Rose winning.

by eltharion_doa on May 4, 2011 12:37 AM EDT reply actions 3 recs

Same here.

That’s been my #1 issue the whole time. There was no clear-cut winner, so there shouldn’t have been a landslide total. Bah, whatever.

"We just want to chill" - Chris Bosh.
Proud Jameer and Rashard apologist since '07

by slickw143 on May 4, 2011 1:02 AM EDT up reply actions

Yeah, I'll agree with that also

Chicago Bears... 2010 NFC Conference runners-up
Chicago Blackhawks... 2010 NHL Stanley Cup Champions
Orlando Magic... 2009 Eastern Conference Champions

by Mike from Illinois on May 4, 2011 4:15 AM EDT up reply actions

It just doesn't make sense.

Rose winning MVP doesn’t upset me nearly as much as Dwight getting like 4 first place votes. That’s just incredible in its absurdity. That’s some of the worst bandwagoning I’ve ever seen.

But congratulations to Rose who is an exceptional athlete and basketball player. I hope the Atlanta series has shown people how amazing Dwight is and how shackled he is by our lineup though.

The intensity has to go up, up! Not down...UP! -Stan Van Gundy

by cgsimone on May 4, 2011 10:27 AM EDT up reply actions

Nah, the worse bandwagoning was Blake Griffin winning the dunk contest.

His dunks weren’t better, he had a lot of re-try’s and he Dunked over a Kia, which just so happens to be the Official car company of the NBA. Then they used his dunk to promote the car! It’s all marketing. When they said some players and coaches said they were giving the trophy to Blake before the contest even started, I believe it.

by REP96st on May 5, 2011 11:15 AM EDT up reply actions 1 recs

The dunk contest is won by fan votes

I think everyone knew Griffin would win because he was by miles the most popular in it.

by eltharion_doa on May 6, 2011 10:58 PM EDT up reply actions

one thing about the dunk contest and I agree with you.

I think that people didn’t give enough credit to JaVale McGee for using his mom as a prop in the contest instead of a vehicule. That is real determination and the end justifies the means and stuff.

Don't mind my spelling. I'm a Typo Master.

by 44792212 on May 7, 2011 6:45 AM EDT up reply actions