Lol bro, all of that would be nice and well if this were just a one off. My contention is with him being rewarded to not have expectations in back to back years. That's my only contention. Your points would be more poignant if I stated I had an issue with him getting it last year. But that's not the case. It's him getting it last year AND this year running on the same campaign that's contrary to how the award has historically been given out
Answer me this:
How many back-to-back MVP winners in their second season ending up having expectations of winning in the playoffs when they were without their #2 and #3 options?
Not really interested in the hero ball vs not hero ball in the prism of Jokic's game because I already stated, it was necessary. That doesn't change what it is tho, it just sounds shock value because the context people use it in is usually a negative connotation. But that doesn't make it a negative thing. Only difference between his hero ball, and say Russ in 2016 or Kobe in 2004 or something, is that he has to. Russ 2016, Kobe 2004, Jokic 2021&2022 all embodying the archetype of the hero tho. It's just a different spectrum on a particular colors' color chart. Light red. Blood red. It's still red. To better illustrate that it's not necessarily a bad thing, is that Steph played hero ball as well last year. And you know Steph is my guy. Hero ball is hero ball. Whether it was justified or not. Everything on almost every possession is going through you. That is literally playing the hero
You're the homie, but you're saying a whole lot without saying a whole lot: dressing up semantics of some trivial label that has absolutely nothing to do with anything, all because you're desperately trying to find a reason to subtract away from Jokic's MVP campaign, knowing damn well what you're saying doesn't make one bit of sense, but you're continuing to dig that hole as it's too late to walk that shyt back now. Players have been awarded MVP in the past for "hero ball" because they didn't have the right balance of help. The vast majority of Bron's MVPs were awarded because of
hero ball; Rose won an MVP because of
hero ball; Westbrook won an MVP because of
hero ball; Steph won an MVP because of
hero ball; the majority of MJ's MVPs were awarded because of
hero ball; the majority of Cap's MVPs were awarded because of
hero ball.
In fact, the precedent has been set that most MVPs have been awarded on the basis of
hero ball, which only makes sense, because that is the very nature of the award. It's an individual award based upon ONE player's value/performance. Please tell me, how many times has the MVP been awarded to a player because of "team play"? I can guarantee it won't be as many times as a player was awarded it for hero ball.
As a matter of fact, let me put you on the spot. Two questions:
1.) Should Steph had got MVP over Jokic last year? I'm sure you've already addressed this so apologies in advance, but I don't really keep up with or remember everything that goes on on here
I don't think anybody should've won it over Jokic, because obviously, he had the strongest narrative and was deserving. If somebody else was awarded MVP last season, and you asked me should Jokic be awarded it over them, I'd be saying the same thing. To me, MVP is meaningless, and only distracts us from discussing what really matters and appreciating players as they are. Take this thread as example - instead of discussing how great Jokic's season has been, it's devolved into a discussion of whatever the fukk this is. Now, that's not to say Steph wasn't deserving of winning MVP, but I can't say he should have won it over Jokic. Same applies to this season, Giannis and Embiid are both deserving, but if Jokic wins, neither of them should have won it instead, again, just as if Embiid or Giannis end up winning it, I'm not going to say Jokic should have won it either.
If a deserving player wins MVP - that's all that matters, in this context. After all, only one player can win it, and there's typically multiple players who are deserving.
2.) Are we not penalizing players who had to tame and mesh their talents with a better supporting cast for the sake of winning and being perceived as contenders by giving consecutive MVP awards to a player that didn't?
I'll answer this question by reiterating:
How many back-to-back MVP winners in their second season ending up having expectations of winning in the playoffs when they were without their #2 and #3 options....
And I'll also throw it back to you - tell me what you think Jokic should improve on to where he could put his team in a better position of winning where he could drag this team to a deeper playoff run, and tell me which players currently could do that? Also, why is the onus on Jokic to improve the support cast and not the front office? Why are you penalizing him because he's not surrounded by better talent? How's he supposed to "mesh" his talent with better players if he's not being surrounded by better players?
