Charlotte Hornets: Is Al Jefferson In MVP Race?

The debate over what criteria determines the winner of the NBA’s Most Valuable Player award still remains in great question.

Is it the player who is, well, most valuable to his team, or is it simply the NBA’s best?

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The trend over the last few seasons would point to the latter, however last year, there were a few guys in the race–notably

Blake Griffin

and

Joakim Noah

–who, while certainly skilled, wouldn’t be considered top-1o NBA players.

LeBron James and Kevin Durant (the eventual winner) claimed a large majority of the total points, but with Durant set to miss the first part of the season and LeBron seemingly ready to defer to his new teammates in Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love, is there a shot for any of the dark-horse MVP contenders to shock the world in June 2015?

I think so.

In all likelihood, this year’s MVP-race will be as wide-open as ever, and there very-well may be a new face to take the highly sought-after award.

“New face,” you ask. “Like who?

How about Big Al Jefferson?

The 6-foot-10 center finished eighth in voting last year, but there may not have been a player more essential to his team’s success last season than Jefferson. All NBA fans (besides those who have repressed the memory) recall the Charlotte Bobcats 2011-12 and 2012-13 seasons, in which the team won a combined 28 games. Yeah … combined.

The Bobcats turned heads last summer when they signed Jefferson to a three-year, $41 million contract; why pay $14 million a season (this was back in the time when max contracts weren’t given out to the Chandler Parsonses of the league) for a 28-year-old who had an extensive injury history and just two postseason appearances?

As the 2013-14 season panned out, though, those who doubted the Bobcats management soon came to regret it. Jefferson started out the year missing nine of 12 games, but bounced back in the second half of November, and finished the month averaging 16.1 points in only 28.9 minutes per game.

From there, things only got better. Jefferson had 13 games last season in which he scored 30 points or more, including a 40-point, 18-rebound outburst during a road win against the Lakers. Behind the big man’s strong play, the Bobcats were able to go 7-1 in April to snatch the seventh seed in the East.

As you can tell, Jefferson’s low-post domination was instrumental in Charlotte’s success last year (43-39 is considered very successful for the Bobcats). He averaged almost 22 points and 11 rebounds per game, numbers that put him within the top-11 in each of those categories.

He was also in the top-25 in field goal percentage, t0p-10 in double-doubles, and top-5 in assists (among centers).

OK. We get it. Jefferson had a good season.

So why wasn’t it enough to get him a real look at the MVP award?

Well, the NBA awards are voted on by the media, and the media loves a good story line. It wouldn’t be an NBA season without blowing the Durant/James rivalry out out of proportion for the millionth time.

I’m not denying that those two were the most qualified, I’m simply stating that the smaller-market players–stars like Jefferson, John Wall, and even LaMarcus Aldridge— should get a little more love, especially considering the fact that without each of them, their respective teams likely wouldn’t sniff the playoffs (remember the 2012-13 Wizards, sans John Wall?) .

But yes, back to Jefferson …

What are his odds looking like for this season? Well, the most important thing to note is that the Hornets brought in highly-regarded swingman Lance Stephenson earlier the summer. Stephenson is known primarily for his passing and rebounding, but he made bounds as a scorer last year as his usage rate went up.

Coming into a offense-starved Hornets system, Stephenson will likely make a decent impact scoring-wise. He’s also someone who is going to up the tempo of the Hornets’ offense, meaning there will likely be fewer straight-isolation plays called for Jefferson.

But, do not assume that this means Jefferson will be scoring less. Stephenson may love his transition situations, but in halfcourt sets, he is a creator. He’s an explosive (but below-the-rim) athlete who can dribble and pass at high levels.

His speciality is the drive and dish, and last season, we saw Roy Hibbert find himself a ton of easy layup opportunities thanks to Stephenson’s playmaking abilities. Lance can draw the defense, and invaluable trait for any good floor general.

Jefferson’s not going to have to do as much of the back-to-the-basket dirty work as last season, and because of this, expect his scoring numbers to increase. Undoubtedly the focal point of the Hornets’ offense, Jefferson should be able to score anywhere between 22-25 points per game this year, and his field goal percentage reaching the mid-50s wouldn’t be unrealistic by any means.

Besides the numbers, the fact that the Hornets will (hopefully) be winning more next year should factor into Jefferson getting some MVP-attention. If everything goes well, Charlotte will likely win between 46-51 games this year, which could result in a top-five seed in the Eastern Conference.

Many consider the Hornets to be the East’s biggest sleeper, and that claim isn’t far-fetched. They’re heading into the 2014-15 season already in the spotlight (largely thanks to Stephenson). The fact that Charlotte is a small market may have hurt Jefferson’s award chances last year, and hopefully, now that the team is among the league’s best, Big Al will get some of the recognition he very-much deserves.

It’s a bit early to predict the 2014-15 league MVP, and most likely, it won’t be Al Jefferson.

But hey, you never know.

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Charlotte Hornets: Does Al Jefferson Have A Shot At MVP?

By Jon Shames | Oct 23, 2014