MVP Prediction (NBA 2010-11) - Big3Heat631's Blog

Big3Heat631's Blog

MVP Prediction (NBA 2010-11)

Posted on August 3, 2010 at 04:58 AM.

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This year's MVP race will be interesting with LeBron's stats going down now that he's on Miami. I'd like to remind everyone that stats aren't everything in the MVP race, and that team records count too. If the Miami Heat can pull off 65+ wins or so, the MVP trophy will most likely go to LeBron again regardless of stats (as long as they're better than Wade's). Still, he's not the only player with a realistic chance at the MVP trophy.

Kobe Bryant, easily the most clutch player in the league at the moment, has a huge window here for him to cash in his second MVP. We'll most likely see Kobe record something around 27+ ppg, 7+ apg, and 2+ spg while leading the defending champs back to the #1 seed in the Western Conference. He'll be a strong MVP contender.

Kevin Durant, the defending scoring champion and leader of this year's Team USA squad, will probably remain a consistent scoring threat. He will probably post a similar stat line to last year's. With the Thunder not making much changes to their team, Durantula's MVP push will rely heavily on how far he can get his team this year.

The league's current DPOY, Dwight Howard, is also a dark horse once again. He is currently working with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar on his growing post game. Last year, he led the league in rebounds per game, blocks per game and field goal shooting while carrying his team to the second seed in the Eastern Conference. His biggest weaknesses are on offense. He will easily give you about 20 points per game, but he has his weak points - his post game and free throw shooting. If Dwight can fix those two things, he will earn a lot of MVP votes.

Other notables include Carmelo Anthony, Dwyane Wade, Deron Williams, Dirk Nowitzki, Amare Stoudemire and Chris Paul.

Conclusion: I think it's going to come down to Dwight and Durant. I don't see the Superfriends meshing together perfectly in their very first year in the league. Kobe will finish strong, but I think injuries - which troubled him last season as well - will probably keep him away from the MVP honors. Durant and Dwight will probably both do partially what I said they needed to do - a slightly higher seed for the Thunder (think 3-6) and improvement in his post game for Dwight. Durant would need to take his team to the top two in the conference and Dwight would need to have a noticeable improvement in his free throw shooting as well as his post game for either to overtake the other, but for me, the scales tip ever so slightly for Durant.