ALONG with the words “great” and “fornicate,” the word “value” is among the most misused and misunderstood word in the English language.
For instance, “great” is often applied to anyone who plays games, sings songs, hosts TV shows or appears in movies for a living. In short, anything other than an honest day’s pay.
In truth, as an adjective “great” is supposed to mean “markedly superior in character and quality.” See what I mean about misuse?
Likewise, Mike Tyson, for one, seems to believe “fornicate” means engaging in sexual relations with the nearest available contender.
Actually, fornication is defined as “consentual sexual intercourse between two people not married to each other.” The word that seems to throw Tyson, of course, is consentual.
But the most misunderstood word of the week is clearly “value,” or its adjectival cousin, “valuable,” and specifically its significance in the phrase, “Most Valuable Player.”
According to Messrs. Merriam and Webster, “value” is defined as “relative worth, utility or importance.”
“Most” is defined as “greatest (there’s that word again) in quantity, extent or degree.”
And I assume you all know what a player is.
There is considerable debate this week over the perceived slight of one Jason Kidd, point guard for the Nets, who today will officially be deemed of less value to his team than Tim Duncan was to the Spurs.
Duncan was voted this year’s NBA MVP, much to the consternation of those who perceive that there is a collective national nose-holding toward anything that emanates from New Jersey.
In actuality, it is hard to argue against the value of Kidd to the Nets, who lost 56 games and finished sixth in the Atlantic Division without him last year, and won 52 games to lead the Eastern Conference with him this year.
It is just as hard to argue against Duncan, behind whom the Spurs have never failed to win at least 50 games. The year before his arrival, San Antonio had managed to win a paltry 20 games.
I just hope that all those who are screaming “Snub!” in regards to Jason Kidd this year were shouting the same thing about the NBA’s omission of Tim Duncan in 1998-99.
Although playoff performance has no bearing on the award, this year’s postseason has done nothing to bolster Kidd’s case. Tuesday night, Kidd had a horrendous night against the Hornets, and the Nets still won Game 2 in a walk.
By contrast, Duncan missed Game 4 of the Spurs’ first-round series against Portland, and San Antonio was trounced. He came back for Game 5, they won.
Truth is, the MVP award in every sport rarely has anything to do with strict value. All too often it goes to the player with the most eye-popping statistics, regardless of the success or failure of his team. (Witness Sammy Sosa, 1998).
And especially in the NBA, it seems to be more of a Lifetime Achievement Award than a true reward for value. (Karl Malone, 1998-99).
These days, the only true measure of a player’s value seems to be in his paycheck.
Now there, Kidd may have a gripe. His 10-year, $65 million contract, scheduled to run out after the 2003-04 season, paid him $8.44 million this year.
That is some $3 million less than was paid to Stephon Marbury, the man for whom Kidd was traded and the point guard behind which the 2000-2001 Nets sputtered to 26 wins.
Nobody was touting Marbury for MVP this year, but if you divide his yearly salary by his weight, Marbury goes for $62,500 a pound.
By the same standard, Kidd, at 212 pounds, cost the Nets a measly $39,811 a pound. Duncan, at 260 pounds and $10.865 million, cost his team just $41,788 a pound. Depending on what weight you calculate his worth at the listed 315 – or the more accurate 350 – Shaquille O’Neal set the Lakers back either $68,027 a pound, or a mere $61,224.
The heavyweight champ of value, however, is none other than Allen Iverson. With a fat paycheck ($11,25,000) and a scrawny body (165 pounds), Iverson is the most expensive cut in the league at $68,181 a pound. But even that kind of money isn’t enough to get Iverson to the practice court.
Let the voters and the public argue over the relative merits of Duncan and Kidd.
For my money, Iverson is still the Most Valuable Player in the league, and I have the numbers to prove it.