The Way of Basketball: Never Talk Shit to Him!
Chapter 552 - 230 God of Active MVPs in the NBA_3

Chapter 552: Chapter 230 God of Active MVPs in the NBA_3

"First Team All-Defense: Su Wan, Kobe, Dwight Howard, Kevin Garnett, Shawn Battier;"

"Second Team All-Defense: Chris Paul, Artest, Tim Duncan, Rajon Rondo, Wade;"

Su Wan, Kobe, and Howard were the players who made it to both the "First Team" and "First Team All-Defense" this year.

However, the competition for the "Best Defensive Player Award" between Su Wan and Howard concluded with the Eastern Conference Finals about to begin, and Su Wan narrowly lost with a 35.4% vote share to Howard’s 36.7%.

There might have been just a difference of 1 or 2 "first-place votes" between the two.

Seeing this result, Barkley commented, "Su Wan has essentially reserved next season’s ’Defensive Player of the Year’!"

Since the loss was too much of a pity.

According to the unwritten rules of the NBA, as long as Su Wan’s performance does not decline too drastically next season, he will get compensation in the form of the "Defensive Player of the Year" award.

This was later reflected in the case of Tyson Chandler.

The media, in their pursuit to make Dwight Howard the NBA’s first "three-time consecutive Best Defensive Player Award" recipient, did not vote for Tyson Chandler, who actually had a stronger defensive performance that year.

However, the following year, Chandler still lifted the long-overdue "Best Defensive Trophy," his form having clearly declined.

And in Bill Walton’s view, this was a good thing...

It likely means that the regular-season MVP would probably be Su Wan’s!

"You can’t let a player of this caliber go without any awards for the season!"

Of course, there have been players who’ve won both the "Defensive Player of the Year" and the "regular season MVP" in the same season, but those scenarios usually lack a strong competitor. This year is different; Su Wan is against the historically formidable Howard.

Moreover, his performance wasn’t enough to earn him both awards.

Since he did not grab his first career Best Defensive Player Award, it indicated that his third career regular-season MVP trophy was at hand!

Clearly, Bill Walton isn’t someone who would "poison milk" with his commentary.

About two days later, which was the day the Eastern Conference Finals kicked off, the League officially announced the results for this season’s regular-season MVP:

Sure enough, Su Wan claimed his third regular-season MVP trophy of his career.

Interestingly enough, on the very same day, the media suddenly exposed that the Cavaliers’ series loss was because LeBron James had been playing through an injury: "That wasn’t LeBron at his best; his back injury was very serious, but he didn’t tell anyone, including the head coach and his teammates. He didn’t want others to worry and didn’t want to use it as an excuse!"

Well, that’s very LeBron!

Su Wan wasn’t surprised at all to see this news.

Even though LeBron was suppressed by him, he was still the same LeBron, and his team behind him was still the same team, truly...

As a result, these reports sparked a considerable amount of controversy and ridicule.

Barkley commented, "If I remember correctly, the last time the Cavaliers and LeBron lost to Su Wan, shortly after there was news that LeBron had been battling injuries. Could it be that LeBron has never been healthy over these years?"

He laughed sarcastically toward the end.

This excuse could be used once or twice, but time and again, who do they think is a fool?

The New York Times went straight to the point: "Honestly, if LeBron’s Team can’t find good specialists, they could send LeBron’s injury reports to the New York Times; we’ll publish his injury reports and medical history for free to find him the best treatment plan. All so that he can recover quickly and no longer have to play while injured!" freewёbn૦νeɭ.com

Such sarcasm showed how far LeBron James’s reputation value had fallen after losing to Howard...

If this were the old LeBron, claiming his game was affected by injury at this time might not have led to such open mockery from the media, whether they believed it or not.

Because LeBron’s team and the backing of Nike were strong enough to control the media and keep these comments out of public view.

Just think about it, a college kid dunked on him at a training camp, and immediately his team rushed to confiscate the tape and demanded that the bystanders delete their videos, showing just how domineering they could be.

But now, LeBron’s Team obviously didn’t have the same control over the media and could only watch as these mockeries continued to emerge.

The good news was...

The outside world didn’t dwell on this matter for long, as the heat generated by Su Wan receiving his third career regular-season MVP trophy shifted public attention.

LeBron’s Team almost cried.

Never would they have imagined that in the end, they’d have to rely on the very former teammate who had most severely suppressed LeBron to settle the rhythm down.

They really didn’t know what to say...

The media in Cleveland saw Su Wan winning the regular-season MVP with no objections.

It wasn’t that they didn’t write anything.

In fact, as early as the end of the season, the Cleveland media had prepared for both outcomes.

They readied a celebratory piece for LeBron James getting the regular-season MVP on one hand, and on the other, a piece about Su Wan getting the regular-season MVP which laments for LeBron James’s sake.

According to their original expectations, at this time the Cavaliers should have been facing the Pacers in the Eastern Conference Finals.

If LeBron hadn’t received the regular-season MVP, they could have used this as a motivator for the Cavaliers to have more drive and seek revenge in the Eastern Conference Finals.

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