Shaquille O'Neal proposes a change in the NBA's voting process for the MVP award: "It should be 50 Hall of Famers and 50 ex-players"
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The NBA’s MVP award has been a topic of controversy many times before, and it is again right now, mainly because of the league’s voting process. According to critics, the MVP award has several times gone to a player who wasn’t the best player in the league that season but instead to a good one who played for a better or winning team.
Hall of Famer Shaquille O’Neal is one of those who believe that the MVP voting process needs a revamp. According to Shaq, the MVP is a singular award and has nothing to do with a player’s team.
“We should interject the rules a little bit. For example, if you’re one through eight and your team is in the playoffs, you qualify for Most Valuable Player. I’ve always thought it was stats, how you played, and your effect on the game.” said Shaq during the latest episode of ‘The Big Podcast.’
Shaq says Earthlings shouldn’t get a vote
Aside from setting specific criteria for the voting process, Big Diesel also suggested that only people who really know the game of basketball should be allowed to vote. Currently, the NBA MVP award is voted by a panel of 100 sportswriters and broadcasters from the United States and Canada.
The league says the 100 individuals voting for the MVP and the other regular season awards are carefully selected. However, according to Shaq, that panel should be composed of former NBA players because they understand the game better than those who never played a single minute in the league.
“It should be Hall of Famers and ex-players. Only 50 Hall of Famers and 50 ex-players. That’s it. That’s how voting should be and all these earthlings like Stephen A. and Shannon Sharpe, and Mad Dog, and all of them, they shouldn’t get a vote. It should be 50 Hall of Famers and 50 ex-players that they understand the game.” added O’Neal.
Diesel is still pissed for winning MVP once
Shaq is very critical about the MVP voting because he believes he was robbed of the award when the media voted Steve Nash back-to-back MVP winner during the 2004-05 and 2005-06 seasons.
Nash won the 2005 MVP award while averaging 15.5 points and a league-best 11.5 assists per game while playing on a Suns team with the best league record at 62-20. Shaq averaged 22.9 points and 10.4 rebounds per game for the Miami Heat that season. When the media voted, Nash beat Shaq by a mere 34-point difference.
To this day, Shaq is still mad about how Nash won the award over him. However, despite his vendetta on the MVP selection process, O’Neal does have good arguments in his call to change the voting process for the NBA’s individual awards. After all, players know the game better than any media practitioner.