MVP: How It Should Be Determined

When picking the NBA’s MVP I’ve never quite understood the approach, or formula, most voters use.  Picking the best player on the best team always seemed like a cop-out to me.  Sure, there’s a lot to be said by having one of the best records, but chances are if your team has the best record then there’s more than one great player on your team.    Take San Antonio Spurs for example.  We all know how talented Tim Duncan is, clearly the MVP for the Spurs, but if you took away Tony Parker or Manu Ginobili is Tim Duncan still as effective?  Are the Spurs in general still as effective?  My point is that they should determine the MVP based on: when (FILL IN NAME) is on the floor, I never feel like his team is out of the game. For me, the two names that come to mind are Kobe Bryant and Lebron James.  I’m not saying that these are the only two players that can give you that feeling, but when I watch the Lakers or Cavaliers I ... [link]