LeBron James was a runaway choice for MVP for the 2008-2009 SportsRatings NBA Most Valuable Player. The Cavaliers' superstar was more than 500 MVP points ahead of #2 Chris Paul of New Orleans, who won the SportsRatings designation last season.
James led the league in Per-game and Season Output, and Total Score as well, and was first among significant players in efficiency (Output per minute played). He shot nearly 50% while averaging 28.4 points, 7.6 rebounds, and 7.3 assists during the regular season.
SportsRatings 1st team All-NBA
| AP |
Player | Team |
|||||
| 1st | LeBron James F |
CLE | 29.1 | 2357.1 | 0.772 | 1819.4 | 1464.6 |
| 2nd | Chris Paul G | NO | 27.6 | 2152.8 | 0.717 | 1543.3 | 922.9 |
| 3rd |
Pau Gasol F |
LAL | 22.7 | 1838.7 | 0.614 | 1128.1 | 894.6 |
| 1st |
Dwight Howard C | ORL | 23.6 | 1864.4 | 0.661 | 1232.5 | 887.4 |
| 1st |
Kobe Bryant G |
LAL | 22.0 | 1804.0 | 0.609 | 1099.4 | 871.8 |
Joining James and Paul on the first team were Pau Gasol and Kobe Bryant from the Lakers and Orlando's Dwight Howard at center. In the AP team announced today, Paul made the second team while Gasol was a third-team selection.
SportsRatings' second team is led by AP first-team selections Dwayne Wade of Miami and Dirk Nowitsky of Dallas at guard and forward respectively. Joining them are three players also on the AP's second team: forward Tim Duncan of San Antonio, guard Brandon Roy of Portland, and center Yao Ming of Houston.
SportsRatings 2nd team All-NBA
| AP |
Player | Team |
|||||
| 1st |
Dwyane Wade G |
MIA | 27.0 | 2133.0 | 0.699 | 1492.0 | 781.8 |
| 2nd |
Tim Duncan F |
SA | 21.9 | 1642.5 | 0.652 | 1070.6 | 705.5 |
| 1st |
Dirk Nowitzki F | DAL | 23.2 | 1879.2 | 0.615 | 1156.4 | 705.4 |
| 2nd |
Yao Ming C |
HOU | 20.9 | 1609.3 | 0.622 | 1001.0 | 646.7 |
| 2nd |
Brandon Roy G | POR | 20.2 | 1575.6 | 0.543 | 855.6 | 563.8 |
The third team contains three Celtics: guard Rajon Rondo and forwards Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett. Of the three, only Pierce made the AP squads as a 2nd-teamer. Tony Parker of San Antonio and Deron Williams of Utah round out the final team.
SportsRatings 3rd team All-NBA
| AP |
Player | Team |
|||||
| 3rd | Tony Parker G |
SA | 19.2 | 1382.4 | 0.563 | 778.4 | 512.9 |
| -- |
Rajon Rondo G |
BOS | 16.5 | 1320.0 | 0.500 | 660.0 | 499.0 |
| -- |
Kevin Garnett F |
BOS | 18.8 | 1071.6 | 0.605 | 647.8 | 489.7 |
| 2nd |
Paul Pierce F |
BOS | 16.6 | 1344.6 | 0.443 | 595.2 | 450.0 |
| -- |
Deron Williams G | UTA | 20.4 | 1387.2 | 0.554 | 769.0 | 449.9 |
Purists may feel the need to rebalance the 3rd team. Putting Garnett at center isn't unreasonable, but that leaves Williams to play forward. A small but workable lineup considering the talent involved, though it might be best to replace Williams with the next available center, which would be either Toronto's Chris Bosh or (for pure purists) Shaquille O'Neal, who was the AP's third team center.
Denver teammates Chauncey Billups and Carmelo Anthony were both 3rd team selections by the AP; Billups narrowly missed the SportsRatings 3rd team, finishing 18th on the MVP list, while Anthony was #27.