1# m1213708
Of course ideally you'd like to have both. However, if I had to choose only one of the two, I'd think that the championship ring is more important than getting the MVP. Just look at the history of NBA, or all the major sports for that matter, how many players who were regarded as great players regrated never won a ring and some even take (much) less money in order to try for a championship ring....
Reggie Miller - 17 years in Indiana without a championship. "Miller Time" might be the last of the generation of players who stuck out their entire career with one city. This honor came at the behest of zero championships, despite plenty of classic playoff games against the Knicks and the Bulls. The Pacers managed to reach the Finals only once during Reggie's reign, only to meet up with the start of Kobe and Shaq's Laker dynasty in 2000. Reggie even avoided the temptation to chase a ring with the Celtics during their championship run in 2008.
John Stockton - 18 unfortunate years in Utah without a championship. "Flopton" as many fans derided him as, not only spent 18 years without a championship, but he had to spend them in Salt Lake City! Stockton was a player you loved to hate, he played in nearly every game, only missing two months in 1997-1998 with microfracture knee surgery (which normally takes a year to recover from!). His reputation, along with Karl Malone, for using cheap tactics may be wrath from our angry basketball gods.
Karl Malone - 18 sucker punch years without a championship. Malone was a true jerk in the NBA. He was like the kid who threw spit wads at you when the teacher wasn't looking and brought the teacher apples so she would never suspect him of being pure evil. In addition to placing number two on the all time scoring list, he also holds the dubious honor of ending the most careers with blatant elbows. Despite what anyone thinks of his character, Malone is still one of the top five power forwards of all time. Luckily the basketball gods gave us sweet vengeance by giving him an injury in the 2004 Finals that played a major factor in the Laker's loss and Malone's retirement.
Charles "Chuck" Barkley - 15 doughnut filled years without a championship. "Sir Charles" was the fat kid who could out run you and out muscle you. Despite being shorter than almost every power forward and more out of shape than everyone else, Chuck managed to become one of the greatest rebounding power forwards of all time. Lady luck however would dangle the championship in front of him for fifteen years. The Sixers drafted him one year after winning a championship, Jordan stopped him in the 1993 Finals, Stockton killed the Rockets hopes in 1997 and Pippen caused the Rockets to self destruct in 1999. Barkley called it quits after an elbow injury in 2000 and avoided the temptation to return with Jordan to the Wizards in 2001.
Elgin Baylor - 13 years with MIN/Los Angeles Lakers. Baylor might have the saddest story of any player without a ring. He reached the Finals eight times and his team came up short every single time. Baylor had the misfortune of running into Bill Russell and his Celtics dynasty. When he finally retired in 1972 the Lakers acquired Wilt Chamberlain and won the Finals the following year. This may be why Baylor became the GM of the Clippers and subjected us to years of terrible basketball.
Just imagine how much "greater" they might have been had they won a ring... |
MVP個人表現啊!