One of my favorite factoids involving NBA awards goes back to the ’50s and ’60s when the two premier legends in the history of pro basketball were dominating the game.
Wilt Chamberlain was a mythical character – a combination of Paul Bunyan, Jack in the Beanstalk and the Incredible Hulk.
Bill Russell was the ultimate winner — 11 championships in 13 seasons.
Yes, I believe Michael Jordan is the best player ever, but Wilt and Russell were bigger than life and their legend is undoubtedly enhanced by grainy black-and-white photos and prehistoric TV footage of exceeding low definition. Plus so much time has passed. Russell retired 45 years ago; Wilt 41.
Their careers intersected for 10 years from 1959-60 to 1968-69 and during that period, they defined rivalry. Wilt and Russell played a staggering 142 times against each other. You think Magic-Bird was a rivalry? Those two played each other exactly 37 times. There has never been, nor will their ever be, a rivalry as prolific as Chamberlain-Russell. They played an average of more than 14 times a season, and that’s not counting preseason games.
That leads to one of the points today, which is: Can you imagine how difficult Wilt and Russell made it in awards voting each season? There is extensive debate this season about the merits of LeBron James vs. Kevin Durant for MVP.
But consider the 1961-62 season – the season Wilt played all but eight minutes. That was the season when, because of overtimes, he averaged 48.5 minutes per game. That was the season of his 100-point game. That was the season he averaged 50.4 points a game. We love to speculate on records that are unbreakable. In that one season, the 25-year-old Chamberlain set at least three.
That was also one of the seasons when he finished second in MVP balloting. Russell won easily – 51 first place votes while Wilt had nine. It was only Wilt’s third pro season yet people – in this case, it was the players, not the media, who voted for awards – were already taking him for granted.
But that leads to the other fascinating point of the day. Although Russell won MVP that season, Wilt was so dominant individually that he was selected First-Team All-NBA. Russell was Second-Team.
That was not an anomaly. Russell won five MVP awards during his career and in three of those seasons, he was second-team All-NBA. While that might seem strange, I always thought of it as a case when voting defined the parameters of the awards. In this case, Russell was the MVP because he was most valuable to his team while Wilt was clearly the most dominant individual player, and thus first team All-NBA.
As the topic of Wilt-Russell would suggest, the debate about what constitutes the MVP has been going on forever. There was considerable discussion in the ‘80s because Jordan was clearly the best player. But from 1986-87 to 1989-90, Magic Johnson won three MVPs while Michael got only one. And the one Magic won in 1987 was after Jordan had averaged 37.6 points a game, the most of any season in his career and the most by any player in history not named Wilt.
There have been suggestions of resolving the MVP dilemma by adding an award for something like Best Player. I like the idea of an additional award, but I think it should be more specific. The NBA awards the most valuable player, the best coach, best defender, best sixth man, best rookie and most improved player. Yet there is no award for the best offensive player and, well, offense would seem to be an important part of the game.
So I would like to see an Offensive Player of the Year awarded added. This year, it would be a perfect award for Durant. Last year, it would have been perfect for Carmelo Anthony.
It does seem this season, however, that voters are leaning towards giving Durant his first MVP award. Sheridan has already made up his mind. On paper, there is little difference between Durant and James. In round figures, Durant averages five more points and one more rebound a game than James while LeBron averages one more assist and 0.3 more steals per game than Durant.
Durant’s team has four more victories than LeBron’s, and each has had to make up for the absence of a key helper – Dwyane Wade has missed 27 games because of injury and Russell Westbrook has missed 34.
To me, however, LeBron is still the superior all-around player, primarily because he such an accomplished defender. That gives him an edge and I believe he should again be the MVP this season.
Then again, there is room for debate. Always has been and always will be.
Here is the complete awards ballot.
MVP
LeBron James
Kevin Durant
Joakim Noah
Blake Griffin
LaMarcus Aldridge.
Rookie of the Year
Michael Carter-Williams
Victor Oladipo
Trey Burke
Sixth Man Award
Jamal Crawford
Taj Gibson
Markieff Morris
Most Improved
Gerald Green
Goran Dragic
DeAndre Jordan
Coach of the Year
Gregg Popovich
Jeff Hornacek
Dwane Casey
Defensive Player of the Year
Joakim Noah,
DeAndre Jordan,
LeBron James
(RELATED: MARK HEISLER’S POSTSEASON AWARDS CHOICES)
(RELATED: CHRIS BERNUCCA’S FINAL ROOKIE RANKINGS PRODUCE FIRST- AND SECOND-TEAM)
TAKE A SPIN THROUGH JAN HUBBARD’S ARCHIVE FROM SHERIDAN HOOPS.COM. FANTASTIC STUFF ON THE NBA, PAST AND PRESENT.
Jan Hubbard has written about basketball since 1976 and worked in the NBA league office for eight years between media stints. Follow him on Twitter at @whyhub.