Now what, Pop?
With Tony Parker out for a month, do you turn to the French rookie (Nando DeColo) … or the Aussie speedster (Patty Mills)?
And yes, we agree with your statement that Parker should be given major consideration for every award out there, and yes, we agree that there hasn’t been an NBA point guard who has done as much for his team as Parker has done for the Spurs.
But here’s the thing, Pop … your floor general is out for a month with a Grade 2 ankle sprain, and the love he has been getting in this weekly feature is going to become tough love.
He’ll hang onto a spot somewhere in these rankings over the remainder of the regular season, but his chances of stealing enough MVP award votes from LeBron James just went out the window.
You miss a month – unless it is the first month – and your chances of being the MVP are virtually non-existent. Unless the Thunder and Heat go into prolonged slumps (sure doesn’t look like that will happen with the latter of those two teams), we are likely in for a 1-2 finish for LBJ and KD.
And KD has a heck of a lot of catching up to do after Miami’s run of 13 consecutive victories. (They can tie the franchise record of 14 if they defeat the New York Knicks on Sunday at Madison Square Garden, and I guarantee you — as I did on the air in Miami on Friday night — that the Heat are coming into that game as stoked as they have been for any game since last June.)
So to close, we give Parker his props and thank him for making this a three-man race for the past three months. We wish him a speedy recovery, and we threw in the above photo as a bonus. But please, Tony, put some Gruyère on that burger, will ya? Bleu cheese and beef only mix properly when filet mignon is in the equation.
On to the ranks …