2012 NBA MVP Award: Why Kevin Durant Deserved Honors More Than LeBron James

Miami Heat forward LeBron James has won the 2012 NBA MVP award, according to the AP, but Oklahoma City Thunder star Kevin Durant deserved to win the award.

Let's look at why Durant should have won his first MVP award this season.

Thunder are Not an Elite Team Without Durant

Oklahoma City does not come close to the No. 2 seed in the West without Durant. He led the league in scoring and is the best offensive player in the game.

While James had a slim lead in field goal percentage over Durant, the Thunder star had a better three-point percentage (39 percent to 36 percent) and shot better from the foul line (86 percent to 77 percent).

Russell Westbrook is a talented player no question, but he's not a guy who can be the face of a franchise and carry a team like Durant, James or Kobe Bryant.

Without Durant, the Thunder are a much easier team to defend because OKC doesn't have any low-post scoring, and James Harden can be inconsistent at times.

Without James, the Heat still have two superstar players in Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh. That duo can lead a team to a championship with the right pieces round them. They also would win the Southeast division title.

You could even argue that Bosh, whose stats have taken a hit since he joined the Heat from the Toronto Raptors, would be much more productive without James since he takes a lot of shots.

The Thunder are worse off without Durant than the Heat are without James.

Durant Had more Rebounds with a Better Frontcourt

Kevin Durant averaged eight rebounds per game this season, just 0.1 more than James. However, the difference in rebounds isn't important; it's the competition for rebounds that is the issue here.

It's much easier for James to get rebounds on a Heat team with very few quality big men. Durant has to compete for rebounds against a legitimate center in Kendrick Perkins and two good power forwards in Serge Ibaka and Nick Collison.

Durant also had to battle Westbrook for rebounds, whose 4.6 boards per game tied for the league lead among point guards.

It's so impressive that Durant could average a career-high eight rebounds per game on a team with talented rebounders at every position.

Injuries Allowed LeBron to Put Up Better Stats

Wade and Bosh missed a combined 30 games this year, which allowed James to put up better stats because on many nights he had to play an increased role in the offense.

Durant almost always had his best teammates besides him, as Westbrook, Harden and Ibaka missed just four games combined this season.

This isn't a huge reason why Durant should win the MVP by any means, but it shouldn't be ignored either.

Durant Improvement

Durant was not only very consistent all year, many of his season averages were better than his career averages.

Here's a look at Durant's 2011-12 season compared with his career averages.

*Denotes Career-High	PTS	REB	AST	STL	BLK
2011-12	28.0	8.0*	3.5*	1.3	1.2*
Career	26.3	6.6	2.8	1.2	1.0

You want to see improvement in young players, even ones who become superstars very early in their careers. Durant really worked hard in the summer to improve his game, and it showed in his stats this season.

To play at an elite level throughout the season and improve in many statistical categories while other players on the Thunder set career highs is really impressive.

Review

The difference in Durant and James is so small, so either way, the voters couldn't have made a bad choice. 

Either one is deserving, but since the Thunder had a better record and Durant's stats were very good, I would have given him the award.

That's not to disrespect James, who is a tremendous player, but I just think that Durant means more to his team, because without him, the Thunder have no chance of winning the NBA championship. Without James, Wade and Bosh could lead the Heat to the NBA Finals in the Eastern Conference if healthy.

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