Look, I get it, March Madness starts this week, and trust me, we got you on Thursday with another college hoops-themed newsletter.

But the dialogue around the NBA MVP trophy is too loud for us to ignore.

And of course, we gotta plug our latest YouTube video: The Inner Game of Hoops—an introspective look at the lessons and emotions of hoops through three player stories featuring Russell Westbrook, Pau Gasol, and Ray Allen.

In other exciting news, this past week marked one year since we first started the Instagram page. To celebrate, we dropped a special exclusive 1-year hat, and we're giving you 20% off till this Wednesday with code 1YEAR.

The Award That Keeps Changing

There is no more illustrious individual award than the MVP. It is meant to signify the best player in the world, and to honor the greatest campaign of the year.

Unfortunately those grand adjectives leave a lot of room for interpretation.

To some the best player is defined by the eye test, to some it’s about numbers. Sometimes it’s about wins, other times it’s about how much help a player did or didn’t have.

The one commonality throughout is that it’s never the same, and it's tough to value an award you can’t even appraise.

You Play to Win

This kind of controversy and confusion isn’t new. It dates back to the Old Testament, the days of Russell and Chamberlain.

Up in Boston Bill Russell was putting up high profile numbers, but beyond that he was anchoring the Celtics best defense, and leading them to 60 wins in the process.

But he wasn’t the only one doing the extraordinary. Wilt Chamberlain was putting up 50 points and 25 boards a game, while Oscar Robertson averaged a 30 point triple double.

But at the end of the day, the Celtics were the best team in the league, so the award went to their best player.

In The Interest of Variation

For a while we pushed on with that precedent established.

There were contentious races, but for the most part we found some semblance of consensus, until that black cat in Chicago got going.

Michael Jordan was the best player in the league just about every year he was playing in it. In 1997 he had won four of the last five MVPs, and seemed deserving of another, but there was a new amendment to the original criteria.

The voters were tired of sending the award to the same address, so they wrote down a new one. The birth of voter fatigue, and Karl Malone’s first time holding the trophy. 

Difficulty as The Defining Measurement

Ok fine. You give it to the best guy on the best team, unless he’s gotten it too often. Maybe not the most intuitive set of principles, but we can work with it.

And then another wrench. In 2001 it was clear amongst most of the fans of the game that Shaquille O’Neal was the best player in the world. He was an unstoppable force on the best team in the league, and one of the best teams of all time.

But Allen Iverson was carrying an offensively limited Philly squad further than anyone anticipated, and the inspiration of that was enough.

Shaq was great, but he had Kobe. Iverson did it on his own.

Back to Basics

At this point the lines had been drawn over each other. Every established value system was momentarily replaced by something that contradicted the last one, and in 2006 it happened again.

Kobe Bryant was out in Los Angeles willing a Lakers that belonged in the lottery, to the playoffs.

He was putting up unprecedented numbers, leading a lackluster roster, and winning more than he lost.

But now Steve Nash was in Phoenix revolutionizing modern offenses. Sure his numbers weren’t as eye popping and yes his supporting cast was significantly better. But this time, the award went to the best guy, on one of the best teams. 

Stories Over Stats

Finally we got our latest chapter in this confounding odyssey.

The 2017 MVP race was set up to be historic the moment a certain high profile small forward moves out to the bay, and it didn’t disappoint.

Russell Westbrook did what we all thought he could do. Led the league in points while averaging a triple double, and leading the Thunder to the playoffs.

It was the first time we had seen that since the Big O back in the 60s, but James Harden had a similar season while leading his team to more wins.

The past would’ve said Harden, but the people chose the Brodie.

Can’t Rely on The Unreliable

The MVP was supposed to be straightforward. A three-letter acronym that, more or less, meant the best player in the league.

But we said it earlier, there’s just too much room for interpretation.

What one person finds more impressive is bound to be different from the person next to him, and without any clear, outlined checklist to get these candidates, we’ll just have to weigh those conflicting opinions.

As a result we have an award that steps on its own toes, spits in its own face, and then does the same thing all over again.

Maybe one day we’ll know what most valuable player really means.