The MVP

One thing that Gus Johnson's Whisper hates (and by extension, we assume that Gus Johnson must hate as well) is how the NBA MVP is decided. Not so much the voting process, because that is as equitable as the process can be, but rather the 'pack mentality' that develops. It's an interesting phenomenon. At some point during the season, enough analysts, tv personalities, columnists and the like declare '______ is the MVP hands down'. As soon as that tipping point occurs, all the voters rush to line up and cast their ballots for the 'hands down MVP'.

The most glaring example of this occurred last year (repeating this year with Lebron) with Kobe Bryant. Now, Kobe was outstanding last year; this is not up for debate. But, what GJW believes is that the key word in the award is 'Valuable'. The Lakers were a very good team last year (made it to the finals). Do they do that without Kobe? No. But, are they good enough to be a playoff team if you put an average NBA 2 in his place? Absolutely. Especially after the Gasol heist.

2 players last year deserved the NBA MVP more than Kobe Bryant: Lebron James and Chris Paul.

Take either of those 2 guys off their teams, and not only do they not go to the playoffs, but they are in danger of winning the lottery. I won't go into a John Hollinger breakdown as that is not why you are reading. Just know that the same thing happened the year before when Dirk Nowitzki won the award with a season that was not his statistical best (fewer rebounds, pts, blocks, FT attempted per game, steals and somehow, he had a 'transcendent' season.). The award for the '06-'07 year should have gone to either Steve or Kobe Bryant. We could go on and on about this. Email us if you want a further dialogue.

This year's MVP will be Lebron James.

We've past the tipping point and now, much like critics of global warming, any contrarian is shouted down. Lebron is certainly a fine choice as he is the linchpin on the best team in the East and a legit title contender. But again, Valuable is the key word.

Lebron's per game #s of 28.4 pts, 7.6 boards, 7.5 assists, 1.7 steals and 1.2 blocks are incredible. Especially when you consider that he sat out a lot of 4th quarters or large portions of games because his team was rolling. Know what else was incredible? His #s last year. 30 points, 7.9 boards, 7.2 assists, 1.8 steals and 1.1 blocks. Weird. Those numbers look really similar to us. But again, we've had that tipping point occur where there is no doubt in a voter's mind that this year is somehow more special than a better statistical effort from a year ago. The hype has gotten so out of control that Lebron is now being mentioned for the All-Defensive Team. The .1 more blocks per game really were that noticeable?

Cleveland has the exact same team from last year with the exception of Mo Williams. The only possible explanation is that Lebron has a 'special year'. The guy was just as special last year.

As for this season, the MVP should be Dwayne Wade.

Think about Miami's squad. Lottery team last year with Wade hurt. It happened. They were epic bad. This year, a rotating cast of dung surrounded Wade. Literally, without him, this team might have won 10 games. With defenses keying only on him, with no one else capable of getting to the basket to create space, with no post scoring, with a clueless rookie coach, and every other factor working against him, he did this:

30.2, 5 boards, 7.5 assists, 2.2 steals, 1.7 blocks. Give him the Cavs group of shooters, he gets 9 assists per. It's hard to get an assist when you are kicking it out to Joel Anthony.

Again, look at those defensive numbers. 4 blocks and steals per game from a 2 guard. Yet, no All-Defensive mention. He'll finish a distant 2nd in the voting which is OK because it means that he might get a make-up MVP at someone else's expense. We guess that's the pattern, you don't earn the MVP the year you should, you get delayed a year or 2 and earn the right hype.

Back to Bamas

The other day, someone goes, 'you need to get back to doing bamas posts.  It's your bread and butter.  Taking those punk b*tches down a notch or two is good for everyone.'  Mom was right.  It's on.

This week's bama is Josh Childress.

Oooooh, is this a new trend for NBA players?  Taking money overseas?  Wow, what an innovative move!  Incredible that Josh Childress and his people had the foresight to make this happen!  Will this start a flood of talent going overseas?

No.

It's good for this dude that he got 20 mil to be an average player over in Greece.  Can't fault him for that.  The reasons he is a bama are as follows:

-His dumb hair.  We hate it when nerdy black dudes have Menace to Society Hair.  You went to Stanford you nerd.  You are a soft nerd with no real game.  The fro is bamafied unless you have A) been in prison, B) recorded a tight rap album that will still be tight in 15 years, C) are the fun black dude that always knows where the party is.  This is not Josh Childress.

-His non-game.  Here are some of the tight 3s out there: Lebron, Caron Butler, Danny Granger, Kevin Durant, Carmelo, Paul Pierce, Josh Howard.  Josh Childress fits with this group like the angry, protesting, lesbiany chick fits in at a model party.  You're too small to be a 4, but at least you can't score.

-The fact that this move spawned all sorts of absurd discussions about actual tight NBA players going to Europe.  The whole 'will Kobe go play somewhere?' thing was annoying like local tv ads.

-The fact that he isn't even dominating his JV Euro experience.  Listen bruh, at least be in the top half league wide.  What's that?  You are averaging 13 and 3 in THE GREEK LEAGUE?  You put up 9 and 5 in the Euroleague?  Jump back.  Our apologies.  At least he's out now with a 'sports hernia' which we believe is the equivalent of having a bruised ego.  Note: we are not doctors.

-Last, he was on the cover of ESPN College Hoops 2K5.  This confirms several things.  1st, the 2k series of video games are dumb.  2nd, Was Erik Barkely not available?  3rd, college basketball games are not tight.  4th, Josh Childress stands for inferior products.

So there you have it.  Thanks Josh Childress.  Thanks a lot you Greek bamapolis.

NBA JAM!!!

At Gus Johnson's Whisper, we love classic things.  And by classic things, we mean video games from when we were kids.  The best basketball game ever made is NBA Jam.  The debate is over 2nd place.  Ohhhh but what about NBA 2K Live To The Streets The Life '10?  Nope.  Dumb.  Basketball games are always bad for some reason.  Maybe it's the sideview screen, maybe it's the play controls, or maybe it's just that we're not kids.  Whatever.  NBA Jam was great.

Anyway, we realized that 2 NBA Jam players: Scott Skiles and Terry Porter are now NBA head coaches.  This got us to thinking, who would make the best NBA Jam pairings today?  We're going to keep it real.  You'll see:

Eastern Conference

Boston: Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen.  The big guy/little guy combo would be devastating.  'He's heating up' every 13 seconds for Ray Allen with KG lurking to protect the rim/goaltend.

Detroit: Rasheed Wallace and Rip Hamilton.  This would be an annoying team because their ratings wouldn't be that good but somehow, when you played against them on the computer they would be awkwardly close.  Especially if the game was on juice mode.

Orlando: Rashard Lewis and Hedo Turkoglu.  Shaq wasn't in this game because he was a bagadouche, so we can only assume that no Orlando big men can be included.  This team would struggle to stop you but it would be 3 ball in your eyepiece all afternoon or evening depending on when you were playing.

Cleveland: Zyldrunas Ilgauskas and Delonte West.  You know Lebron James would play it like MJ/Shaq/Barkley (Barkley was available in the earlier versions, including the one that I had but later became unavailable once his game: 'shut up and jam' came out.  Note: shut up and jam sucked) and not allow himself to be included for some reason.  When he leaves Cleveland, does he get booed when he comes back?  I cannot wait to see what happens.

Washington: Antawn Jamison and Caron Butler.  This might be the exact opposite of the Tom Guggliata/Harvey Grant combo from the original.  Arenas would not be included because his knee passed away and is in the midst of designing his own basketball game where point guards have to take 22 shots per night.

Toronto: Chris Bosh and Jose Calderon.  Jose is on vacation so far away.  Call him up to talk it over.  So many things that I wanna say, you know I like my girls a little bit older...

Philadelphia: Elton Brand and Andre Igoudala.  This would be one of the nastier squads.  good defensive stats and high dunk ratings.  'Jams it in!'

Atlanta: Joe Jonson and Mike Bibby.  I hated teams with 2 guards and one would be a mini guy.  HATED.

Indiana: Danny Granger and Mike Dunleavy.  Exactly 0.0 defense.  This is the modern day Edwards/Lohaus team which no one ever lost to in the history of the game.

New Jersey: Vince Carter and Devin Harris.  I don't think NBA Jam had a rating for sand-bagging when the team is bad.  I'll check on that and get right back to you.

Chicago: Luol Deng and Kimberly Noah.  I like the way the Bulls do things.  If you draft players with the exact same skill set every year, you can corner the market.  No one else has 6'10" power forwards forced to play center without offensive game like we do.  Hello 10th place in the conference!

Charlotte: Jason Richardson and Gerald Wallace.  This team would be nasty.  Like my about to be 5-1 fantasy football team is nasty.  Was that outloud?  Whatever, 1st place does that to a man.  It makes him bold.  Like my decision to draft Aaron Rogers... bold.

Milwaukee: Richard Jefferson and Michael Redd.  Shooting percentage?  Over-rated stat.  In real life, I have no idea how Milwaukee will be this year. I talked myself into them finishing with the 4th seed the other day.  I really did.  I woke up today and put them 10th.  I have no idea.  No one knows.  I think it depends on how healthy Bogut is.  Boy that was great analysis.

New York: Zack Randolph and Jamal Crawford.  Ewing and Starks... similar in that they are each NBA players.  'Ugly shot... grabs the rebound'

Miami: Dwayne Wade and Sean Marion.  Eventually, this could grow into Beasley.  I feel like Marion would be the Larry Johnson of the modern NBA Jam.  Rated strong in every category.

West

LA Lakers: Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom.  Bryant, Kobe would never let himself be included.  He'd be at home, looking into the mirror repeating the phrase: 'the game of basketball' until he was convinced that he sounded enough like Jordan.

New Orleans: Chris Paul and Tyson Chandler.  NBA Jam wouldn't match the tightness of CP in real life.  He's Isiah Thomas without the hatred of his pears.  

San Antonio: Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili.  He's on fire!  Ginobili would even make that 9/10 court underhand shot at the buzzer guaranteed.

Utah: Deron Williams and Carlos Boozer.  Tough call here as you want to include Kirilenko as the ultimate NBA Jam defender.  The problem is that he's a tremendous whiner.  NBA Jam was not a place for whiners.

Phoenix: Steve Nash and Amare Stoudemire.  Shaq: 'I'm the big overpaid.  12 and 10 for 20 mil.  I tanked my way out of Miami and ate my way out of LA.  I can leave any place.  I'm the great travel agent.'

Dallas: Dirk Nowitzki and Josh Howard.  J-Kidd would be a good choice here if he hadn't passed away in 2005.

Denver: Carmelo Anthony and Allen Iverson.  We talkin bout a video game.  Ain't nobody ever won and lost 'cause of a video game.  I mean, it's a game.  I don't care if people look to me for how to compete in the league or that I'm under contract and thus obligated for no other reason than the MILLIONS of dollars I'm being paid, I ain't going to try hard all the time.

Golden State: They have 13 guys who are 6'4-6'8.  I miss you Chris Mullin from NBA Jam.  I don't miss you Chris Mullin from NBA GM.

Portland: Brandon Roy and Lamarcus Aldridge.  You have to have played an NBA game to be eligible Greg Oden.  Sorry.  Looking for 'never played a game there... never played a game... OK you still have control of the board Brandon'.

Sacramento: Kevin Martin and Brad Miller.  On the Kings website right now, it says: 'The Kings are coming to Stockton!'  Stockton?  One of the 15 worst places on Earth, it's right below Kabul but above that place in Thailand where they cane people.

LA Clippers: Baron Davis and Chris Kaman.  Elton Brand is not walking through that door!

Minnesota Timberwolves: Al Jefferson and .....  That Brewer guy from Florida?  What's that?  he averaged 4 a game last year and you have to average at least 5 to be in a video game?  Oh... ummm... Kevin McHale?  

Memphis: Rudy Gay and OJ Mayo.  Was there ever a glitch in NBA Jam where two players from the same team would fight for the ball?

Kevin Durant's Traveling Basketball Team: Kevin Durant and Chris Wilcox.  The biggest tragedy is that people aren't more outraged that David Stern and the other owners LOVED the move.  The precedent for holding a city hostage is great for sports.  Not.  Ooooh!  Old school 'not' in your eyepiece.  6th grade and shizzle.

Who would you play with?

Take us home NBA Jam theme music!