The NBA’s Most Valuable Player award has always been sort of a nebulous distinction. The qualifications aren’t written down anywhere, but it almost always goes to the best player on one of the league’s top two or three teams.
If the Brooklyn Nets meet or exceed their own expectations in the coming year, then Deron Williams would likely be a big part of the reason why, and would almost certainly be included in the award’s conversation.
New Nets head coach Jason Kidd, along with veteran guard Jason Terry are expecting that to be the case.
From Jared Zwerling of Bleacher Report:Can Deron Williams not only help the new-look Brooklyn Nets knock off the Miami Heat this season but also take away the MVP crown from LeBron James?
Two new members of the Nets, coach Jason Kidd and sixth man Jason Terry, have said Williams should be in the MVP conversation in 2013-14. And that has D-Will pumped up.
“It definitely excites me when they’re talking about you like that,” he told Bleacher Report. “I feel like if we’re winning and I’m playing well, it will take care of itself. I don’t get caught up too much into that stuff.”
The highest Williams has placed in the MVP voting was ninth in 2009-10. That season, he averaged 18.7 points, 10.5 assists and 1.3 steals over 76 games, leading the Utah Jazz to a 53-29 record and the Western Conference Semifinals.
LeBron James and Kevin Durant are widely recognized now as the game’s two best players, and if either the Heat or the Thunder end up at or near the top of the league-wide standings, one of those guys is taking home the MVP, pure and simple.
But the fact that the award does tend to go to a player on one of the best teams in the league at least would get Williams into the conversation if the Nets perform as expected. And really, that’s all his head coach or his new teammate could possibly ask.