Bron robbed

Jerry West has had the most tragic career ever.

Well tbf they voted before the game or at halftime

he should’ve won MVP the year Willis Reed won in 1970

Not really.

He had great season keeping Lakers alive without Wilt, but it was in big part becasue it was last season Western Conference was weaker prior to 70s shift in balance of power. Basically 3 best teams were in the East and still Reed (and Frazier) lead Knicks to the best record in the league.

Reed was primary scorer, 2nd playmaker and primary rebounder in by far best team in the league, and what’s more important, as we lack stats here: he was best defender in the league that season anchoring Knicks to by far best defense in the league, with -4.4 rating compared to 2nd place Rockets.

Just off skimming basketball reference I think he should’ve won MVP the year Willis Reed won in 1970.

Are you just saying that because that was the closest race he lost so you think he should have won? Lakers were 46-36 compared to the Knicks with the best record in the league at 60-22. 1st team All-Defense and the center competition was insanely stacked in this era. Wilt did miss a large chunk of the year, but the gap in those records are crazy.

Here’s a good article from 1971 talking about that 1970 MVP race.

Jerry West’s quotes:

“Frankly, most of my career, while I know I have been a good and valuable player, I haven’t felt I deserved the award. The big man who gets the ball, the center, is the dominant player in basketball, the single most important player to any team. And when there is a great one around, he is the MVP.

“The Lakers earlier did not have great centers, so maybe Elg or I was the MVP on the Lakers most of the years gone by. But most of those years, Bill Russell of the Celtics was the MVP in the league and, if not him, Wilt Chamberlain. I simply could not do for my teams what Russell could do for his.

“Two seasons ago, another center, Wes Unseld of Baltimore, won the award. Possibly he deserved it. He came in and Baltimore went from a poor team to a pennant-winner. On that basis, last season, Lew Alcindor of Milwaukee may have most deserved it. He came in, and Milwaukee went from last to second place and gave the Knicks trouble.

“I voted for Alcindor and, if he had won, I would not have had much reason to feel rejected. However, Reed won, and I don’t feel he was as valuable to New York as Lew was to Milwaukee. I hope no one takes this as a knock on Willis. He is a wonderful player and hasn’t reached his peak yet. It’s just that I’m not sure if he or Walt Frazier or Dave DeBusschere was the most valuable Knick.”

Knowing what we know now about Willis and the Knicks going through Unseld’s Bullets, Kareem’s Bucks, and West’s Lakers (all the teams that he argued deserved the MVP more than Willis) this is some of the greatest bulletin board material ever. And Jerry West admitted to regretting it after:

“All season, other players said things about me which I read in the newspapers or heard on radio and TV which I couldn’t believe. They were so complimentary as to build up my ego enormously. The respect of your peers is something anyone who is in sports for a living really treasures. And I still have that, even if not enough of them voted for me to win the MVP. I wanted it too much and was led to expect it too much. And when I didn’t get it, I popped off a bit, which I now regret. I should have known better. I don’t win championships, and I don’t win MVP awards.”

His actual best chance was in 1972 when the Lakers won 69 games and 33 in a row. He came in 2nd because him and Wilt split the votes, so Kareem ended up winning. That’s a year where if modern voting tendencies applied he probably wins it.

I need one of those great YouTube channels to make a video about those insane rebound numbers. How much of it was due to their extraordinary rebounding compared to their peers and how much was due to play style and rules?

Jose Ramirez type shit (he has the most MVP shares of any player not to win, and more than a ton of guys who won 2 and 1 guy who won 3)

Only having two or three MVP contending seasons is rare for a top 5 player of a generation with two Finals MVPs and a decade of being great.

That was quite literally a decade ago. During the first 6 seasons of his career, he played 398 games and had 5 seasons with 60 or more games played. The latter 9 season after that, he has played 400 games with only 3 seasons where he played 60 or more games

But those seasons weren’t close to MVP. He was runner up to Steph’s unanimous season (I’m curious if Kawhi would’ve won MVP had Steph not existed). And 3rd behind Westbrook and Harden’s all time MVP campaigns.

there wasn’t

That’s one of those rare years where I think the top three guys all had a legitimate case for the award.

He was not even close. Even if Westbrook’s triple double narrative hadn’t forced voters to look past team record, Harden was comfortably above him.

Only people in San Antonio and the dorkiest stat nerds thought Kawhi deserved that MVP over Russ and Harden. That was a two man race almost the whole way through.

Given how things turned out I really wish theyd given it to Timmy. I think he deserved it just as much. But I think Kawhi being the young up and comer really gave him the edge.

Or just give it to Manu for the hell of it.

Well that was also in that run of 7 straight years where the FMVP was either Lebron or the main guy who guarded him lol, although for every year except Iggy year that guy was also a major offensive threat,. 

I’d argue he wasn’t the spurs best player when he won the first fmvp - could have gone to lots of guys on that squad

BORIS DIAW IS THE FINALS MVP THAT YEAR IS WHAT’S HAPPENING

He literally only won it because it was the good narrative. At least 5 Spurs players had a good claim to FMVP and Kawhi wasn’t the strongest

He averaged just 12.8ppg that year dude. It was an ensemble that was greater than the sum of its parts.

Why are you acting like Bill Walton wasn’t massively ruined from medical negligence by that point lol

Keep plugging em names, the NBA needs to know more about the 70s and 80s. I’ve started watching a lot more 80s games and man they are by far my favorite games outside of the 2010s.

2019 was statistically one of the most dominant championship run for a single player of all time.

He’s finished only 2 playoff runs healthy since then. I think it’s still a what if. He’d be thought of much differently if he found a way to win 3 titles with 3 different teams.

You can be a HOFer and still be a what if.

That means something in other sports not the NBA. Without a doubt a top 75 player of all time though.

That would mean something if the hall wasn’t a joke

He had the potential to be a multi-time MVP. He also could have won more in LA. There are a lot of what ifs in his career

Warriors got to play a hobbled us.

Kawhi was bogged down by the finals, OG didn’t play a minute, Kyle had a thumb injury.

The “hobbled Warriors” are just “the Warriors” without the KD signing that you and 28 other fanbases said “ruined basketball”.

Unpopular take that will get you downvoted, but true. Kawhi’s legacy is completely different without the 2019 ring.

Warriors got to play a hobbled Raptors. We were a pair of Marc Gasol free throws that the L2M report said were owed, away from clobbering the shit out of that team in 5.

Kawhi was bogged down by the finals, OG didn’t play a minute, Kyle had a thumb injury.

The “hobbled Warriors” are just “the Warriors” without the KD signing that you and 28 other fanbases said “ruined basketball”.

People think LaMelo’s game is aesthetically pleasing?

I just like him cause of Apple Time

Ohhhh interesting, great point. That for sure gets forgotten behind the steph unanimous MVP thing

uhh yes it is. finals MVP in 2006 and no mvp