KG's transformation of Celtics deserves MVP honor

[R Howe]

I think all Celtic fans agree and any rational NBA fan in general also agree on the impact of Garnett and being deserving of serious consideration. Also think that P.P. also should be mentioned as I think this is his best overall season as far as combined play and leadership, even making up for when Garnett was out and Ray A's sub-standard play (for him)/injuries. Credit for the team turnaround goes to all the big 3 for staying focused on just winning baby and not stats or honors.

Go C's - Mission 17 is not a dream

BDodgers at aol.com wrote:  

     
 
Deep impact
KG's transformation of Celtics deserves MVP honor
 

 
Kobe Bryant, Kevin Garnett, LeBron  James or Chris Paul will most likely win 
the NBA's Most  Valuable Player award this season. The obvious question, 
however, is what  makes any one of them more valuable than another? 
The answer is a simple one. It's all in the eye of the  voter. 
You see, first and foremost, the MVP race is a popularity  contest, plain and 
simple. It is 100 percent subjective with absolutely no  guidelines passed on 
from above. 
What makes it so difficult to pick an MVP this season is  that there is no 
clear-cut, runaway leader. No one has distanced himself  from the pack. When 
Steve Nash won the first of his two awards in  2005, for instance, he 
distinguished himself early by leading the  highest-scoring, most exciting team in the 
league. Last season Dirk  Nowitzki was the front-runner almost right out of the 
blocks as the  Mavericks had a shot at a 70-win season. 
The award is based on the regular season only and all  ballots have to be 
cast before the playoffs begin. The league picks three  voters from each of the 
30 markets and 35 to 40 national media members for  a total of 125 to 130 
voters. This year's list is still being  finalized. 
I've had a vote for the last 23 years and I have some  guidelines that I used 
every time. They are: 
• The best player on the best team (record-wise) has to be  given strong 
consideration. 
• A player's team has to make the playoffs. 
• This isn't a lifetime achievement award or a chance for  voters to make up 
for past oversights. 
• You can't dismiss a candidate simply because you feel he  is young enough 
that he'll have a chance to win it later in his  career. 
• You can't be blinded by statistics. 
• It has nothing to do with who is the best player in the  league or who is 
just the most valuable player on his particular  team. 
• It is simply about which player has had the largest  impact on the NBA as a 
whole in a particular season. 
Taking all of that in mind, I think Garnett is the NBA's  MVP. 
That in no way takes anything away from Bryant, James or  Paul, but Garnett 
is perhaps the most singularly responsible for the  Celtics' resurgence, 
guiding them to the league's best record and changing  the culture and mind-set of 
the team and its belief in itself. His  practice habits, unselfishness, 
leadership, intensity, focus and  determination set him apart. 
His statistics aren't that earth-shattering, as this is  the first time in 10 
seasons that he hasn't averaged at least 20 points  and 10 rebounds (18.9 
points and 9.4 rebounds going into Tuesday's games).  He is shooing a career-best 
53.7 percent and committing a career-low 2.0  turnovers, but he is also 
averaging a career-low 1.2 blocked shots and his  assists average of 3.5 is his 
lowest in the last 11 seasons. He's also  playing the fewest minutes (33.6) since 
he was a rookie. But his impact is  immeasurable. 
Here is a team that many critics felt would have trouble  accommodating three 
big scorers such as Garnett, Paul Pierce and  Ray Allen, yet with two weeks 
left in the season, the Celtics are  the league's best defensive team. From Day 
One, Garnett said that the  offense would take care of itself and that 
champions are made at the  defensive end. He made that his mission, and the Celtics 
have responded by  allowing NBA lows in points (90.2) and opponents' shooting 
(41.9  percent). 
Perhaps the most interesting thing about Garnett this  season is that when he 
missed nine-straight games in late January and  early February with an 
abdominal strain, the Celtics went 7-2. The  argument can be made that if he is so 
valuable, his team shouldn't have  won so many games without him? But the 
reality of it could be that he has  helped instill such confidence and belief in 
each other that his team can  win, at least for the short term, without him. 
Sure, you can say Bryant deserves the award because he is  the best player in 
the league, or that James deserves it because if you  take him off the 
Cavaliers, they might not win 10 games. But neither of  those reasons necessarily 
makes either of them the MVP. Or you can say  that James, 23, and Paul, 22, are 
young, so they have plenty of time to  win it later. That's also a ridiculous 
reason not to vote for  someone. 
So my advice to all those voting is simply to be fair,  objective and look 
into your own mind and decide exactly what the MVP  means. 
By the way, the player I have voted for in each of the  last 23 years has won 
only 15 times. 
David DuPree covered the NBA for nine seasons for the  Washington Post and 23 
seasons for USA Today. His column appears weekly at  SI.com.





**************Create a Home Theater Like the Pros. Watch the video on AOL 
Home.      
(http://home.aol.com/diy/home-improvement-eric-stromer?video=15&ncid=aolhom00030000000001)
_______________________________________________
The Boston Celtics Mailing List
celtics at igtc.com
http://www.igtc.com/mailman/listinfo/celtics

       
---------------------------------
You rock. That's why Blockbuster's offering you one month of Blockbuster Total Access, No Cost.