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Winning the regular season MVP award is one of the most inestimable milestones anyone could ever achieve in the NBA. It sums up the blood, sweat and tears put into the 82 games-long grind, and is the ultimate recognition of the year-long hustle for any player.
To keep up the consistent display of extraordinary playmaking every night is not an easy task. Avoiding injuries, Getting through heartbreaking losses, adjusting to mid-season trades while keeping the foot on the gas during every single game, tends to take a toll on the majority that tend to go for gold. The ones that chug it all up and come out unscathed get to be called the best of the best for that very season.
The Morris Podoloff trophy rests in the hands of a chosen one at the end of every season and leaves not one but many waiting in the queue. Many a time, veterans redefine their discipline levels and perfect their craft all season long, only to be outrun by young, dynamic fresh pair of legs. The following list glorifies the latter, and how they achieved something at so early an age which keeps evading many all throughout their NBA lifetimes.
#5 Bob Petit - 24 years old
After being drafted by Hawks in 1954, Pettit made an immediate impact in the professional basketball circuit, earning Rookie of the Year and first-team All-NBA honours in his initial season in the league. During his sophomore season, he would go on to overwhelm basketball fans all over the world, posting averages of 25.7 points and 16.2 rebounds a night, becoming one of the youngest ballers to lift the MVP trophy.
During his 11-year career, he garnered 10 All-NBA first team selections and was named to 11 All-Star Games. During his career, he was the NBA scoring champion and was voted the league’s Most Valuable Player twice(during the 1955–56 and 1958–59 seasons). Pettit led the Hawks to four berths in the NBA finals (1957, 1958, 1960, and 1961) and to their first NBA championship (1958).
Bob Pettit will always be known as one of the best Power Forwards/Centers to ever live. He was elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1970 and was named one of the 50 greatest players in NBA history in 1996.
#4 Wilt Chamberlain - 23 years old
In 1959, Wilton Norman Chamberlain made his NBA debut, starting for the Philadelphia Warriors.
At 23, Chamberlain took the league by storm, winning Rookie of the Year, All-Star Game MVP and league MVP. In that season his Philadelphia Warriors would fall to Russell's Celtics in the Finals though. Many credit the increase in the popularity of professional basketball to the excitement generated by these two men playing against each other.
Chamberlain owns some of the most impressive records in the history of basketball, highlighted by his 100 point game, and his rookie averages of 37.6 points and 27 rebounds are unlikely to be matched ever by any other MVP.
One of Chamberlain’s most incredible feats was never having being fouled out of an NBA game. A 13-time NBA All-star and 4-time regular season MVP, Wilt was chosen(in 1996) by the NBA as one of the 50 greatest players ever to play in the NBA.
"Wilt The Stilt" (as nicknamed by his friends) was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1978.
#3 Bob McAdoo - 23 years old
McAdoo played for Buffalo Braves, New York Knicks, Boston Celtics, Detroit Pistons, New Jersey Nets, Los Angeles Lakers and Philadelphia Sixers through his career, and is regarded as one of the most underrated big men in NBA history.
In the 1972 draft, he was selected in the first round by the Buffalo Braves (now the Los Angeles Clippers) and became one of the NBA's premier players. In his rookie season, he averaged 18 points and 9.1 rebounds per game and won the 1973 NBA Rookie of the Year Award.
McAdoo enjoyed the finest season of his career as a 23-year-old star with the Buffalo Braves, leading the league in scoring (34.5) and total rebounds (1,155). Averaging an amazing 34.5 points, 14.1 rebounds and 2.12 blocks per game with 51.2% FG and 80.5% FT, Bob won the NBA MVP award in just his third season(1974-75). He didn't miss a single game in this season and managed to keep up such monstrous numbers.
He won two NBA titles (1982 and 1985) with the Lakers during their Showtime era in the 1980s.
#2 Wes Unseld - 23 years old
Wes was drafted second overall in the first round by the Baltimore Bullets in the 1968 NBA draft and he made an impact in the league straight away. Along with leading the Bullets to a division title as a rookie in 1969, Unseld also earned both Rookie of the Year and MVP honours, averaging 13.8 points and 18.2 rebounds.
He is well known to be one of the best Washington Bullets players of all time. Unseld took the Bullets franchise to four NBA Finals, and won the championship in 1978, winning the Finals MVP in the process. He concluded his playing career following the 1980–1981 season, and his #41 jersey was retired by the Bullets shortly thereafter.
After retiring in 1981, Wes remained connected to the Bullets franchise as a vice president of the front office and subsequently, the head coach in 1988.
In 1996, he was named as one of the NBA's 50 Greatest Players of All Time.
#1 Derrick Rose - 22 years old
He was drafted first overall by his hometown Chicago Bulls in the 2008 NBA draft, and won the NBA Rookie of the Year in 2009, averaging 16.8 points per game and 6.3 assists per game.
Following it up, Rose won the regular season MVP in 2011, at the age of 22 years and 5 months old, supplanting Wes Unseld and becoming the second Bulls player to win the award since five-time winner Michael Jordan. His averages of 25 points and 7.7 dimes during the 2010-11 regular season, lead Chicago (62-20) to the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference.
Rose was an explosive beast, a deadly scorer that could torch all opposition with his quick first step, strength and athleticism. In an opening playoff game against the Philadelphia 76ers in April 2012, Derrick Rose went to the basket and came down because of a torn left ACL. This injury kept him sidelined for the entire 2012-13 season. Ever since he has never been the same player - or able to stay healthy for entire seasons.
The question of 'How great would Derrick Rose have been if he never got hurt?' is one of the greatest What-Ifs in NBA history.
