20 Second Timeout

Jokic is a Deserving MVP Winner, but not Denver's First MVP Winner

Denver's Nikola Jokic won the 2020-21 NBA regular season MVP award after averaging 26.4 ppg, 10.8 rpg, and 8.3 apg while playing all 72 games. He led the Nuggets to the third best record in the Western Conference despite the fact that All-Star guard Jamal Murray suffered a season-ending knee injury after playing in only 48 games. Jokic set career highs in scoring and assists, and nearly tied his career-high in rebounding. He is justifiably praised for being the only second round draft pick to win the NBA regular season MVP and the first center to win the award since Shaquille O'Neal in 2000.

However, Spencer Haywood may have fallen out of his seat if he heard commentators calling Jokic the first player in franchise history to win the MVP. A franchise's history is a factual matter, not a subjective determination--and the fact is that the Nuggets' franchise began in 1967-68, when the team played in the ABA as the Denver Rockets. In 1969-70, Haywood authored the greatest single season performance in franchise history, playing all 84 games while leading the league in scoring (30.0 ppg), rebounding (19.5 rpg), and minutes played (45.3 mpg). Haywood, a 20 year old first year pro, won both the MVP and the Rookie of the Year, joining Wilt Chamberlain (1960 NBA) and Wes Unseld (1969 NBA) as the only players to receive both honors in the same year. Haywood also won the 1970 ABA All-Star Game MVP award, and he averaged 36.7 ppg plus 19.8 rpg in the 1970 playoffs.

The Rockets have always been based in Denver. They were renamed the Nuggets prior to the 1974-75 season. The Nuggets--along with the Indiana Pacers, San Antonio Spurs, and the then-New York (now Brooklyn) Nets--joined the NBA in 1976 after the ABA-NBA merger. Jokic is the first Nugget to win an MVP since the ABA-NBA merger, but in no sense did the franchise begin in 1976; the franchise began in 1967, and Haywood is indisputably the franchise's first MVP.

Historical blasphemy aside, Jokic is my choice for 2020-21 MVP. He posted the best all-around numbers of any NBA player, he did not miss a game, and his individual productivity is directly connected to team success. 

Labels: ABA, Denver Nuggets, Denver Rockets, NBA MVP, Nikola Jokic, Spencer Haywood

posted by David Friedman @ 10:35 PM

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