Someone explain to me why Dirk Nowitzki keeps gettin disrespected in this conversation? Dont they have a better record than the bulls? and the mavs went 2-7 without him.
Because Dirk's stats are even more pedestrian than Rose's.
23 and 6.6 on 53% shooting? That doesn't scream MVP. He's 8th in the league in PER. He's 6th in Win Shares/48 if you're into that.
I get that he's 2-7, but it's not other MVP candidates' faults that they didn't get injured so they could show how much they mean to a team.
For the stat guys out there, did anyone here know that Dirk led the NBA in Win Shares/48 for three straight years (2005-2007)? That surprised me a bit.
Since when is 23 points on a slower pace team at .600+ TS pedestrian?
His stats are much better than Roses offensively, and its is offense that Rose's MVP case rests on.
Both are dragging their teams to their current level of offensive rating, but Dirk is dragging his team farther.
Pedestrian for an MVP candidate.
Come on - Dirk is really only dominant at one thing, scoring. And this year, Dirk barely cracks the top-ten in PPG. That's great that he's incredibly efficient at shooting the ball. But being an extremely efficient shooter doesn't make you an MVP - not when Dwight Howard also has a 62% TS, and is also a dominant rebounder/defender (and is also scoring slightly more per-game).
He's having a great year by his standards, but for an MVP? It's pedestrian. If the only thing that really stands out is his TS% - (For example, not being top-5 in rebounding, defense, points, PER, Win Shares, etc....he's not an elite passer either), it's stretching to call him anything more than a great scorer when compared to everyone else.
Rose isn't a great candidate either. An MVP shooting 44% from the field? Meh.
Howard has gaudy numbers - but an MVP from a team that is closer to not having home-court in a horrible conference in the first round than to the top seed? No thank you.
LeBron has the gaudiest numbers of all - and I still think if the Heat finish strong that he'll get it.