As the season midway point approaches in the NBA, it seems suitable to discuss who the MVP is as of now. In my book the candidates as of now have to be Tim Duncan, Steve Nash, LeBron James and Shaquille O’Neal. Let’s see some cases for why each player should get the trophy.
As the NBA All-Star game nears, I start to see who is leading in the balloting, hoping to see one of my Wizards in the top 3 or 4 in voting. So I look and I don’t see Larry Hughes or Gilbert Arenas in the top ten in guards in voting and Antawn Jamison is 6th in forwards in the Eastern Conference. I say to myself: “This has to be a mistake! Aren’t all three of these players averaging 20 plus points a game and at least 5 rebounds and at least 5 assists? And aren’t the Wizards having a great season? Isn’t the combination of Larry Hughes and Gilbert Arenas the best backcourt in the NBA (points wise)? Aren’t Larry, Gilbert and Antawn the new “Big Three”, combining to score 63% of the Wizards points?” It isn’t a mistake, but it should be.
As the NBA finals are going on strong and the NFL playoffs have passed, the biggest trend seems to be the emergence of players after they leave the Wizards or the Redskins. Let’s look at the Pistons of 2003-2004 for example: the four former Wizards players on the Pistons are Ben Wallace, Rasheed Wallace, Rip Hamilton and Darvin Ham. 3 of their 5 starters are former Wizards (Rasheed, Ben and Rip), 1/3 of their team is made up of former Wizards, Rasheed and Ben have been all-stars (Rip will be Finals MVP and will definetly be an all-star next year unless he is injured) and Ben Wallace has been Defensive Player of the Year twice. But the most astounding number is that these 4 players make up 1/2 of the Piston’s points per game in the playoffs and in the regular season…wow. Lets just call them the Detroit Wizards from now on.