SNUBBED: The Carmelo Anthony Story

I will agree that Lebron James is probably one of the most gifted athletes to ever walk on the Earth. I will also agree that James is up on the same pedestal as Michael Jordan, if not higher. However, I will not agree with his selection as this year’s MVP.

James almost unanimously won the NBA MVP Award; but there may have been someone more deserving. Though James can be argued as the greatest player to pick up that orange ball, I feel New York Knicks small forward Carmelo Anthony may have been snubbed this year. Despite his iffy and inconsistent playoff performance, this whole season Anthony has led New York to the top of the Atlantic Division and Eastern Conference. Anthony may have always been among the game’s best, but he always seemed to be forgotten in a league with marketed fan favorites like James, Kevin Durant, and Kobe Bryant.

Those larger than life superstars, both literally and figuratively, have always kept Anthony out of the MVP question. Leading into the season, the league had two views on the reigning scoring leader- a selfish ball hog and the only top 5 pick of his draft class without a title- yes Darko Milicic has a ring. From the first week of the season, Anthony finally put tangible and intangible together to silence the haters, as he would say. Melo actually started playing defense and for a title. This was reflected in a Knicks team that rose as an Eastern Conference force.

MVP stands for Most Valuable Player, not best player. This year no other player has been more valuable to their team than Anthony was to the Knicks, as his performance usually decided the outcome of games. A prime example would be Anthony’s stellar performance during New York’s thirteen game winning streak. During that stretch, Anthony averaged 33 points a game, despite sitting out a game. Anthony also had the game high in points 33 times in the Knicks’ 54 wins, as the Knicks were below .500 without him in the lineup.

The best way to decide a Most Valuable Player is to look at their failure opposed to the team’s failure. When the Most Valuable Player does bad, the team does bad as well, just as much as when the Most Valuable is hot, the team is hot. It seems like whenever the Knicks were doing bad, every newspaper and sports show in New York blamed Anthony. However, when the Knicks were riding out their win streak, Anthony could do no wrong, and was biggest thing since Jeremy Lin.

The biggest reason Anthony deserves the award is who he was playing with. Opposed to James, Anthony lacked a consistent and healthy supporting cast. J.R. Smith, Kenyon Martin, Jason Kidd, and Amar’e Stoudemire may have had their moments, but ultimately this was the Anthony show. James had Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh, to complement a handful of other All-Stars. The Heat could have won and dominated without James. Without Anthony, the Knicks would have been that same mediocre team and not seven wins away from an NBA Finals appearance.

I am not saying Anthony is better than James- he is not, nor is any other current player. What am I saying is that Anthony was more instrumental to the success of the Knicks than James was to the Heat. This season, Anthony has already erased one of the two negative views the league has of him. Now playing for the team and not just himself, the next thing for Anthony is to match fellow 2003 top five picks, James, Wade, Bosh, and Milicic, by capturing a long awaited ring.