Hours after the win against the Los Angeles Clippers, a game that proved to be an instant classic, something caught my eye in the old Twitter feed. Bill Platschke, writer for the Los Angeles Times, wrote this article titled, "Despite blunder, the Clippers' Chris Paul is the NBA's MVP so far". I was intrigued to see where Mr. Platschke was forming this statement from. I thought maybe he had some sort of NBA insight and knew more than little old Spurs writers like I knew.
He didn't hear it at the free-throw line, and he won't be feeling it on the streets, but Paul has been the NBA's most valuable player in the first half of the season, and what happened Saturday confirmed that.
He was the hero. He was the goat. And then, he was the man.
- Bill Plaschke
I read his article three times in order to find this insight Plaschke apparently has. It's not there. No where in this article in which he got paid to write proved where Chris Paul is the league's MVP this year. Okay, taking off the "silver and black" glasses, maybe Tony Parker won't be MVP this year. That isn't to say he doesn't deserve it. Parker has been averaging 19 points, 8 assists in 33 minutes. By comparison, Chris Paul is averaging 18 points, 8 assists in 36 minutes per game.
(stats from basketball-reference.com)
What is Plaschke's reasoning here? 2/3rds of his article is about how Paul ruined the play, and eventually the game, for the Clippers. It just surprises me how writers here at Pounding the Rock, and even the other writers at other SB Nation websites are paid mostly NOTHING and come up with articles worthy of incredible praise and attention (1, 2, 3). Conversely, Bill Plaschke has a cushy job with the LA Times ending an article with:
"Today's story changed that quick, didn't it?'' he said to the pack of media members he generously welcomed to his locker Saturday afternoon. "You had it written differently, didn't you?''
Not me. Didn't change at all.
''M-V-P … M-V-P … M-V-P''
Unbelievable. If Plaschke can get away with writing that, then I'll say that I'm the best writer in the world. Despite having any credibility, any proof of backing this up, I'm the best writer in the world.