LeBron James remains atop the SBNation.com NBA MVP Power Rankings, but Kobe Bryant has supplanted Kevin Durant and is offering up a challenge.
Feb 1, 2012 - LeBron James remains the king of the SBNation.com NBA MVP Power Rankings as we enter February, but there's a switch at No. 2 as Kobe Bryant crawls past Kevin Durant on the strength of a well-rounded floor game.
Further down the board, Kyle Lowry falls out of the top 10 as his individual performance slides, and Dwight Howard moves down a few spots. Chris Paul, back at the head of the hot L.A. Clippers, is climbing back up the board.
All stats are through Tuesday's action and via Basketball-Reference.com.
| Rk | Player | Team | Stats | Prev. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | LeBron James | Heat | 29.2 points on .620 TS%, 8.3 rebounds, 7.1 assists | 1 |
| The last player to average more than 29 points on a True Shooting percentage better than 62 percent was Karl Malone in 1990. The only other player in history to do it: Adrian Dantley, who accomplished the task five times in six season in the suped-up early '80s. That's an interesting if unusual comp for this version of LeBron: Adrian Dantley transported to the 2010s, fed spinach and stuck on fast-forward. | ||||
| 2. | Kobe Bryant | Lakers | 30.0 points on .541 TS%, 6.1 rebounds, 5.4 assists | 3 |
| Kobe hasn't been just the top scorer among two-guards this season, but he's also one of the best rebounders and the best playmaker. If you close your eyes and look at the numbers, he's been disturbingly Wade-like. | ||||
| 3. | Kevin Durant | Thunder | 26.8 points on .613 TS%, 7.9 rebounds, 3.2 assists | 2 |
| What a season from Durant, who is an impossibly efficient scorer and would be considered the league's most deadly if not for LeBron. There remain concerns about the Thunder's late-game offense primarily because KD has trouble getting open against physical defenders, but thanks to Durant's scorer prowess and improving rebounding, Oklahoma City should be in a position to win most of its games. | ||||
| 4. | Derrick Rose | Bulls | 23.3 points on .565 TS%, 7.8 assists | 6 |
| D-Rose has definitely been better this season than in 2010-11, when he claimed the MVP. That he's not touching the top couple of candidates says something about those guys are playing. Otherwise, Rose has been amazing. | ||||
| 5. | Kevin Love | Timberwolves | 25.5 points on .582 TS%, 13.5 rebounds | 5 |
| As the nation begins to notice that Minnesota is no longer terrible, Love appreciation should grow. Guys who can rebound and score this well are a rare breed. | ||||
| 6. | Dwight Howard | Magic | 20.0 points on .544 TS%, 15.3 rebounds, 2.0 blocks | 4 |
| Dwight's lower-than-usual True Shooting percentage is a real concern; Orlando isn't used to seeing the center score at league-average efficiency. They are accustomed to much more. His free throw shooting percentage has shrunk from a career 59 percent to 46 percent this season, and that explains a little over half of his drop from last season's 61.6 percent TS%. The rest is in lower efficiency from the field. | ||||
| 7. | LaMarcus Aldridge | Blazers | 22.6 points on .545 TS%, 8.8 rebounds | 8 |
| Aldridge has been really consistent on offense this season. He's scored in double-digits in every game, has fallen below 15 points just three times in 21 games, and has hit the 20-point mark 15 times. In terms of efficiency, he has shot worse than 40 percent just once this season (7-21 in a loss to Houston). | ||||
| 8. | Chris Paul | Clippers | 18.1 points on .598 TS%, 8.9 assists, 2.5 steals | 10 |
| There's a feeling that those back-to-back wins over the Nuggets and Thunder constituted a turning point for the Clippers, and CP3's floor game would have been the dominant story if not for Blake Griffin's maiming of Kendrick Perkins. By the end of the season, once his games played number catches up, he should be right near the top of this list. | ||||
| 9. | Kyrie Irving | Cavaliers | 18.1 points on .597 TS%, 4.9 assists | 9 |
| Kyrie is flirting with putting up the best rookie season by a guard since Chris Paul. CP3, of course, had put up the best rookie season for a guard since Jordan. The rook's just a pleasure to watch, and he may be forcing Chris Grant to rewrite the team's blueprint back to contention to shrink the calendar significantly. | ||||
| 10. | Russell Westbrook | Thunder | 21.3 points on .525 TS%, 5.8 assists, 4.7 rebounds, 2.2 steals | Unranked |
| KD has help in OKC, of course, and Westbrook is the most important complement. According to 82games.com, opponents are shooting an effective field goal percentage of 44.1 percent against Russ. Thabo Sefolosha gets a lot of defensive credit, but Westbrook handles himself as well as any point guard not named Rajon Rondo at the position. | ||||
Others receiving consideration: Kyle Lowry, Chris Bosh, Joe Johnson, Blake Griffin, Greg Monroe, Travis Outlaw.
3 comments
Comments
Adrian Dantley
A bit off-topic, but after reading te LeBron analysis, I had to take another look at Adrian Dantley.
Could it be that Adrian Dantley is criminally under-appreciated as one of the all-time greats? While the article says he topped 29 points and 62% TSP 5 out of 6 years, its really 4 out of 4 as he didn’t play a full year either the year he missed out and one of the years he made the stat). He led the league in offensive win shares all 4 of those years and was often near the top of the list in other years. Yet, his one 7th place finish in the MVP voting was the only time he ever cracked the top 10 in his career and he’s never mentioned as one of the all-time greats or anything close to it (he also wasn’t named to the 50 all-time greatest as selected in 1996). I’m not saying he belongs in the upper echelons, but after seeing how high he rates in various statistical categories and his amazing peak seasons, I’m surprised he doesn’t get more love.
by Brad Newberg on Feb 1, 2012 11:27 AM EST reply actions
travis outlaw
lol trout is the man
"Some things you just can't question. Like you can't question why two plus two is four. So don't question it, don't try to look it up. I don't know who made it, all I know is it was put in my head that two plus two is four. So certain things happen. Why does it rain? Why am I so sexy? I don't know."
Shaq
by LeGarrette Blount's Right Fist on Feb 2, 2012 7:19 AM EST reply actions
Floor game?
Granted he deserved more than one MVP, but putting Kobe Bryant above Kevin Durant THIS year is sacrilege. When you say close your eyes, are you asking us to do it so that we don’t see his true shooting percentage (which is worse on than anyone on this list not named Russell Westbrook) or his nearly 4 turnovers a game. Also, if you take 24 shots per game, you had better score 30.
by chicagomaroon on Feb 2, 2012 3:42 PM EST reply actions
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