Latrinsorm
05-17-2012, 12:29 AM
I happened to look over the MVP voting today for the 2012 season, and noticed that Kobe got two 1st place votes. (LeBron had 85, Durant 24, Paul 6, Parker 4.) How the voting has worked since the 1981 season is a varying number of media members cast 5(ish) votes for the MVP: first place receives 10 points, second 7, third 5, fourth 3, and fifth 1. The number of media members is roughly proportional to the number of teams in the league. I say 5ish because there a surprising number of voting irregularities: 5 times since 1981 there haven't been enough votes (including this year), and 5 times there have been too many, but these are rarely more than a fifth place vote or two here or there, and the first place votes are always accounted for.
I haven't even scratched the surface of how weird historical NBA MVP voting is, but I'm already well digressed, so to get back to the point: Kobe got exactly two 1st place votes, and I remembered he had only gotten one or two some other years, so I wondered who has had the most of those kind of years?
In total, 53 players between 1981 and 2012 have received at least one 1st place vote in their careers. 15 never had a 1 or 2 first place vote year, 23 had such a year once, and 10 had such a year twice. The remaining five:
Patrick Ewing, Karl Malone, Charles Barkley: 3
Hakeem Olajuwon: 4
Kobe Bryant: 5 (including this year)
Each of the players to win 3+ MVPs in this modern era of MVP voting had at least one such year: LeBron in 2008 (Kobe won), Michael in 1985 (his rookie year, Larry won), Larry in 1987 (Magic won) and 1983 (Moses won), and Magic also in 1985 and in 1983.
As some of the circumstances so far cited suggest, these very low 1st place vote candidacies frequently come off as trolling in retrospect (or even as they happen):
-Elton Brand received 1 in 2006 while playing for the 6th place Clippers
-Amare received 1 in 2005, when teammate Steve Nash won
-Perhaps most infamously, Allen Iverson received 1 in 2000 to keep Shaquille one vote short of the only unanimous NBA MVP in history
It really makes you wonder who casts these votes, and if it's the same two guys voting for Kobe over and over when the rest of the voters regard him as a 3rd place finisher at best. It also makes you wonder if there are similar patterns in the (not publicly available) 2nd place, 3rd place, etc. votes. One of the few advanced metrics Kobe places well in is MVP Shares, after all.
I haven't even scratched the surface of how weird historical NBA MVP voting is, but I'm already well digressed, so to get back to the point: Kobe got exactly two 1st place votes, and I remembered he had only gotten one or two some other years, so I wondered who has had the most of those kind of years?
In total, 53 players between 1981 and 2012 have received at least one 1st place vote in their careers. 15 never had a 1 or 2 first place vote year, 23 had such a year once, and 10 had such a year twice. The remaining five:
Patrick Ewing, Karl Malone, Charles Barkley: 3
Hakeem Olajuwon: 4
Kobe Bryant: 5 (including this year)
Each of the players to win 3+ MVPs in this modern era of MVP voting had at least one such year: LeBron in 2008 (Kobe won), Michael in 1985 (his rookie year, Larry won), Larry in 1987 (Magic won) and 1983 (Moses won), and Magic also in 1985 and in 1983.
As some of the circumstances so far cited suggest, these very low 1st place vote candidacies frequently come off as trolling in retrospect (or even as they happen):
-Elton Brand received 1 in 2006 while playing for the 6th place Clippers
-Amare received 1 in 2005, when teammate Steve Nash won
-Perhaps most infamously, Allen Iverson received 1 in 2000 to keep Shaquille one vote short of the only unanimous NBA MVP in history
It really makes you wonder who casts these votes, and if it's the same two guys voting for Kobe over and over when the rest of the voters regard him as a 3rd place finisher at best. It also makes you wonder if there are similar patterns in the (not publicly available) 2nd place, 3rd place, etc. votes. One of the few advanced metrics Kobe places well in is MVP Shares, after all.