Carmelo Anthony is the true MVP

                            LeBron James won his fourth MVP award this week, and for the most part,  rightfully so. LeBron James is a fantastic player, and you will not hear me say differently. I firmly believe he is the best player in basketball. In fact, I truly believe he may be the best basketball player ever. But of course, that is a different debate in itself. The current debate stems from a simple interpretation of the award itself.  Does the MVP actually mean "valuable", or does it mean the best player?  I take the award as this.....what player provides more valuable skills to his team? I obviously think Carmelo Anthony did that for the Knicks more so than LeBron James did with the Heat. Here is how....

                      The Miami Heat have a pretty good roster. Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh without
LeBron James still have a top 4 team in the Eastern Conference. LeBron obviously takes that team to a level where they are the undisputed best team in basketball. The fact of the matter is, they could at least compete for a championship or win a series or two without LeBron James. Now, look at the New York Knicks. They are the oldest team ever assembled. The spent most of the season without Melo's running mate, Amare Stoudemire. This left the Knicks with a hodge podge of NBA vets like Marcus Camby, Kurt Thomas, Kenyon Martin, Jason Kidd. The Knicks also ran with no names like Pablo Prigioni, Chris Copeland, and Iman Shumpert. I feel strong in saying, the Knicks are not even a playoff team without Carmelo Anthony, let alone the second best team in the Eastern Conference.


                    Now of course, some may look at numbers. Carmelo averages 28 points (by taking a lot of shots) and roughly 7 rebounds and less than 3 assists per game.  LeBron averages 26 points per game, with 8 rebounds, and 7 assists. It is clear, LeBron is more efficient, and he makes his teammates better. BUT, that is the kind of player he is. Carmelo Anthony has never been taken for a passing forward, or a guy that is going to bang down low. He is a scoring forward, and one of the best ever at doing just that. Carmelo should not be penalized for the style of game he plays, simply because that is exactly what the Knicks needed him to be. New York needed Anthony to score and take shots, and have the offense run through him. He is not a facilitator, he is a scorer. Miami has a couple of game changing players, the Knicks have just one, the MVP....Carmelo Anthony.