Should Jayson Tatum be the frontrunner for this year's NBA MVP award?

After a straw poll was released recently which had Jayson Tatum far removed from the NBA MVP favorites this season, his exclusion has become the talking heads topic of the week. I more or less gave my thoughts yesterday on x.com, so instead of repeating them again here, here's the tweet:

It's not surprising that the media members who cover the Celtics are championing his MVP candidacy. I'm sure Oklahoma City Thunder and Denver Nuggets media think Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Nikola Jokic respectively should be MVP as well. I think the MVP award voting has issues nowadays as many of the past voters have given up their votes, so as not to upset the camps of other star player they cover. So you're left with voters who kind of thrive on controversy.

Last season it appeared that Nikola Jokic would win his third straight MVP, but then a campaign came out saying Joel Embiid was being slighted and Kendrick Perkins made it a racial thing. Joel Embiid would go on to win the MVP. Did he win because some white voters were scared to be labeled "racists" if they voted for Jokic? Who knows?

Often times the MVP seems to be given to a player who is seen as having previously been snubbed of the award. So basically their previous seasons are being taken into account, which shouldn't be the case. But since it is I do think if Tatum just concentrates on winning a title this year, that an MVP (or MVP's will come in his future).

One last point I'd like to make is there seems to be a change in how fans nowadays root for their teams. Back in the the day it was all about winning and results. How others viewed your team didn't matter as much. Having that championship to brag about was the key.

Many fans nowadays seem very obsessed with everyone saying how great their team's players are. Or trying to prove to others on social media that their players are the greatest. Kind of ties into the "Are you a real fan?" nonsense if you're not only singing your team's players praises no matter what or not predicting "Celtics in 4" every series.

Again, why should I as a Celtics fan care if another team's fan doesn't think that Jayson Tatum should be MVP. These awards are very subjective, just the same as all the "Top 10" lists. To me being a winner is more important than whether you have the popular vote for whatever award or list is being discussed.

I'm sure one of Tatum's goals is to be a league MVP. But heavy is the head who wears that crown without an NBA championship. Steve Nash, James Harden, and Russell Westbrook I feel take more heat for not winning championships because they were MVP's. It's kind of used is a way to say they didn't deserve the award. Same might happen to Embiid.

What should be more important to Celtics fans at this moment is not some MVP straw poll or whether the national and local media think Tatum should be MVP, but whether the Celtics have added enough depth for the playoffs, are they healthy, is Mazzulla improving as a coach, and anyting else that directly has an effect on winning Banner 18 this year.

disqus Post a Comment
Share