There are 5 categories of which determining who had the best season relies on. 1) Who statistically had the best season? 2) Whose team had the best season? 3) Who got the most of his teammates (not who did the best despite his teammates)? 4) Who, relatively, is the most valuable player to his team? 5) Who consistently performs the best in clutch situations or in the biggest games?
It is very rare that the MVP is also the BP and the MPTP. As we know, the most physically talented player is rarely also the best player. And by "Best," I mean, if you're a GM/Head Coach, and it's the start of the season and you could pick one player in the entire league to try to win a championship this year, who do you pick? The main difference is the Best Player, though maybe not as physically gifted as the MPTP, still has the all-important "Mental Edge" making him the better of the two. In addition, it must be said that the Best Player is not often the MVP.
For example, A-Rod has been the MPTP for years and he's been the MVP three times. But I still would have rather had Jeter or Pujols or Ortiz many of those years before the 2007 Alex Rodriguez came along. It wasn't until last year that he became truly the Best Player in the league. The easiest way to tell the difference between who the Best Player is and who the true MVP is to ask yourself who is the best player as opposed to who had the best season. The answers are often different.From '91 to '93, Lord MJ was all three (he should have beaten Sir Charles in '93 for MVP honors). Also from '96 to '98, he was all three (the playoffs proved he deserved it more than The Mailman in '97). This rarely happens. Michael Jordan was the most physically talented player, the best player, and the MVP (and should have been named as such) all those years.
MJ, as always, is only the exception. In 2000 and 2001 it happened with Shaq also (he should have beaten Iverson for MVP in '01). Duncan surpassed him as the MPTP in '02, also winning the MVP that year. But Shaq was still the BP and probably would have won MVP had he stayed healthy that year instead of missing almost 20 games (on his way to winning his 3rd straight championship, outplaying Duncan in the WCF along the way). Duncan had an incredible season and established himself as one of the top 3 or 4 players in the league. But he wasn't the "Best." That year, Shaq still had the mental edge on Duncan, even though Duncan had probably surpassed him physically. If I was picking one player to lead my team that year, I'm picking Shaq without hesitation. It wasn't until the following year that Duncan became the Best Player as well as the MVP (on his way to winning his 2nd championship), despite the fact that, at that point, he was probably surpassed by Kobe's development for MPTP.
Kobe and Duncan have swapped back and forth over the MPTP in the league since then (and probably until this year, with Lebron taking over that title). But despite Kobe maybe being more physically talented, he was never a better player than Duncan. Since '03, Tim Duncan has been the best player in the league, period. He's won 3 out of 5 championships. He should have won in '06 if Manu hadn't fouled Dirk. And he probably would have won in '04 if Derek Fisher hadn't hit that ridiculous fadaway on the inbounds pass in San Antonio with .4 seconds left. San Antonio would have gone on to beat the Lakers and probably would have beaten the upstart Pistons that year in the finals. It's amazing how influential these little plays can be.
Now, despite Duncan being the Best Player in the league for the last 5 years and Kobe Bryant being the Most Physically Talented Player for the last 5 years, only one of them has won the MVP since '03, the year Duncan won it. KG won MVP in '04, and he deserved it. That doesn't mean he was more talented than Kobe or better than Duncan. I still take Duncan that year as my first pick if I want to win a championship. But KG deserved the MVP for taking a miserable T-Wolves team to within 2 games of the Finals. (If Cassell hadn't gone down with an injury during that series and had the referees not called two of the most lopsided games in the Lakers favor that I've ever seen, they would have beaten that Lakers team.) The following years in '05 and '06, Steve Nash won it, deservedly. He was the Most Valuable Player in the league both those years, despite the fact that Duncan was still the Best and Kobe was still the MPTP.
Last year, Dirk was named MVP and he had a terrific year. But the league didn't look passed the notion of "best player on the best team should be the MVP." And therefore, nobody considered Duncan for MVP, despite the fact that he was the best offensive big man in the game and should have been beaten Camby for Defensive Player of the Year (he dominated Camby in their playoff series). He proved in the post-season that he was still the Best player in the league and should have been the league MVP.This year's race is tighter than a Nun's a-hole and so far at least a handful of players can make a claim that they deserve it. But it's important to keep in mind what the MVP truly is, as opposed to who simply is the most physically talented player or who is the best player. They are rarely all the same. The MVP should go to the player having the best season, period.
Best Players, Most Physically Talented Players, true Most Valuable Players, and named Most Valuable Players since 1988, the year Jordan got his first MVP:
1988: BP - Magic Johnson, MPTP - Michael Jordan, true MVP - Michael Jordan, named MVP - Michael Jordan.
1989: BP - Magic Johnson, MPTP - Michael Jordan, true MVP - Michael Jordan, named MVP - Magic Johnson.
1990: BP - Michael Jordan, MPTP - Michael Jordan, true MVP - Michael Jordan, named MVP - Magic Johnson.
1991: BP - Michael Jordan, MPTP - Michael Jordan, true MVP - Michael Jordan, named MVP - Michael Jordan.
1992: BP - Michael Jordan, MPTP - Michael Jordan, true MVP - Michael Jordan, named MVP - Michael Jordan.
1993: BP - Michael Jordan, MPTP - Michael Jordan, true MVP - Michael Jordan, named MVP - Charles Barkley.
1994: BP - Scottie Pippen, MPTP - David Robinson, true MVP - Scottie Pippen, named MVP - Hakeem Olajuwan.
1995: BP - Hakeem Olajuwan, MPTP - David Robinson, true MVP - Hakeem Olajuwan, named MVP - David Robinson.
1996: BP - Michael Jordan, MPTP - Michael Jordan, true MVP - Michael Jordan, named MVP - Michael Jordan.
1997: BP - Michael Jordan, MPTP - Michael Jordan, true MVP - Michael Jordan, named MVP - Karl Malone.
1998: BP - Michael Jordan, MPTP - Michael Jordan, true MVP - Michael Jordan, named MVP - Michael Jordan.
1999: BP - Shaquille O'Neal, MPTP - Shaquille O'Neal, true MVP - Karl Malone, named MVP - Karl Malone.
2000: BP - Shaquille O'Neal, MPTP - Shaquille O'Neal, true MVP - Shaquille O'Neal, named MVP - Shaquille O'Neal.
2001: BP - Shaquille O'Neal, MPTP - Shaquille O'Neal, true MVP - Shaquille O'Neal, named MVP - Allen Iverson.
2002: BP - Shaquille O'Neal, MPTP - Tim Duncan, true MVP - Jason Kidd, named MVP - Tim Duncan.
2003: BP - Tim Duncan, MPTP - Kobe Bryant, true MVP - Tim Duncan, named MVP - Tim Duncan
2004: BP - Tim Duncan, MPTP - Tim Duncan, true MVP - Kevin Garnett, named MVP - Kevin Garnett.
2005: BP - Tim Duncan, MPTP - Kobe Bryant, true MVP - Kevin Garnett, named MVP - Steve Nash.
2006: BP - Tim Duncan, MPTP - Kobe Bryant, true MVP - Steve Nash, named MVP - Steve Nash.
2007: BP - Tim Duncan, MPTP - Kobe Bryant, true MVP - Tim Duncan, named MVP - Dirk Nowitzki.
2008: BP - Kobe Bryant, MPTP - Lebron James, true MVP - Kobe Bryant, named MVP - Kobe Bryant.
2009: BP - Kobe Bryant, MPTP - Lebron James, true MVP - ?, named MVP - ?
