Derrick Rose was great during the 2010-2011 season, easily his best year, and definitely deserved to be top 3 in MVP voting with James & Howard. Rose was not top 10 in PER that year, and him and Nash are the only two cases where that's ever happened. Rose shot 44% from the field that year, 2nd worse MVP field goal % of all time (Iverson). In 2011, six players averaged more points per game than Rose, and ALL six players averaged less shots than Rose.
Statistic (2011) LeBron James Derrick Rose Dwight Howard
PER 27.3 23.5 26.1
Win Shares per 48 .244 .208 .235
Points 26.7 25.0 22.9
Rebounds 7.5 4.1 14.1
Assists 7.0 7.7 1.4
Steals 1.6 1.0 1.4
FG % .510 .445 .593
FT % .759 .858 .596
Record 58-24 62-20 52-30
I hate to look at stats only but that's a big part. Curry had two previous seasons where he was statistically better than every Rose stat, but he never won the MVP. Plus James shut him down in the ECF, but obviously the award was already handed out at that time. I think the MVP should go to the best player, not the player who "is most valuable" to their team. That year, it would have been James, Love, or Rose as far as "most valuable."
James has gotten screwed out of two MVPs (one of Nash's then the robbery in 2011). The only two things that are bigger heists are the 2006 Outback Bowl and the 2011 Iowa-UNI basketball game.
2 EDITS - I swear the chart looks good in my post, not sure why it's not showing up properly. I'm too stupid.