I don't see any problem with this. This article is insinuating that a media member from Houston should have a vote so that they can with bias cast it for Harden. Votes should not be given to media outlets but to specific unbiased journalist specifically. What's the point of voting to just give it to your local player? The NBA should review past votes and remove the voting rights from specific journalists who were either biased or plain ignorant. I remember I have seen some outrageous votes by some international journalists, by the Boston media and by the Bucks represantive. All their rights should have been immediately been removed and replaced by people who follow the games. Without Giannis they lost to the Wizards and by 20 to Orlando. Loaded
Dude take away Giannis and that team would suck. Yes they might make the playoffs as an 8th seed but its only because the east sucks after the top 4 seeds. A Giannisless Bucks team in the west would be a 10th seed at best
The media is LA. Anytime we have a better player or record they despise us. Since they now have LeBron the petty level has reached to back in the day tmac vs Kobe level. Media use to **** on the rockets and tmac alot and houston sheep fans rolled with it. This is why joined the site back in 09. To make people stay awoke
I agree but even with him we haven’t been elite. Sorry but you can't lose 9 games to garbage ass teams and win MVP. Yes it happens sometimes but 9 games? Thats the difference between being a no. 1 seed and no. 5 seed.
LOL There is a reason Brogdon has this kind of % and it IS not because he is some kind of star. When he is a ballhog who doesn't shoot when he isn't wide wide open, so that he can make it and doesn't pass the ball in transition. Bledsoe was the worst starter in last years playoffs. Middleton has been horrible this whole season and Lopez was run out of the tanking Lakers last season. Just take a look at pre season projections to see how the analysts were saying that with such horrible depth they couldnt even be better than the 6th seed.
That’s not what MVP is. MVP is the player who does the most to make his team elite. Not the player who does the most to keep his team afloat. The bucks would suck without Giannis and are elite with him. The Rockets would be quite atrocious without Harden and are inconsistent middle of the pack team with him, having lost 9 games to inferior teams to boot, 9 games....
Can't be horrible this whole season and make an all-star team. C'mon. Harden would love to have a wing shooting 38% in 3's spacing the floor and only missing 3 games all season.
You've made zero arguments FOR Giannis here... it's like your argument is like... 'why not, his team has won the most games'. I don't buy that and I think MVP voters don't either. Story seems to matter now more than it used to. This isn't like when Magic beat Jordan out for MVP (Jordan's 37 ppg year). The Bulls had a losing record. Harden is 21-10 without his starters. Don't tell me Giannis could pull that off over a 31 game stretch. He's just not that good.
yes he can. As I have said here before Middleton just can't adjst to read and react offence. He has even been benched because of how he played. Tell me an all star who had his coach bench him, against NY in a LOSS because of how horrible he was.
Every voter has their own criteria for MVP. Howard Beck's is "statistical achievement combined with team success" Matt Moore's is "player that is the most impactful"
Wow.. how many games in a row was that one loss? Incredible! You have to let the shock wave leave before the true impact of a player being out is seen. They didn't even adjust.. because it's one friggin game. Not like our entire paint defense missing for 15 games or CP and Gordon being out at the same time. Harden carries this team, Giannis is part of a consistent crew. Your argument about depth is shallow.
Ehm..all the wins and Bud's system, have hurt his stats as much as they have helped. He has been playing the least minutes since he 2014, he has to share the ball and be the primary playmaker and sacrifice his shots, usage and scoring. No isos are allowed either. I don't know who deserves it more, but this "he is just not that good" is wrong.
This isn’t whose a better player. Giannis isn’t putting up the numbers Harden is. But come on the Bucks were blown out by 20 to Orlando without Giannis. Quit being a homer. We see what Harden is doing but the Rockets have lost 9 games to garbge and mediocre teams. They have needed late game heroics to beat teams like the Lakers? Lost to New Orleans without AD? Sorry but you cant lose 9 games to such shite teams and win MVP when another guy is dominating the league while leading his team to the best record so far... Further arguments... Giannis has been very efficient He handles the ball as a 7 footer Giannis is dominating in the paint He dunks at will Giannis has had multiple 30, 20, games.. He’s also the primary playmaker His team sucks without him and with him are elite...
And Giannis would love to have a healthy Eric Gordon instead of Middleton. As a Middleton stan it pains me to say that but he just isn't fit to play that kind of system. He has been the most horrible starter in the team. While someone like Gordon would fit like a glove.
LOL part of a crew? Let's see : The Bucks defence and offence is built only around Giannis. He is the main playmaker, defensive player, rebounder and offensive scorer. Sorry but you are deluded if you think that he is just part of a machine. He is the machine himself.
Thank you. Please everyone else, take off your homer glasses and be objective. Giannis is a beast and having an MVP season... Some of these guys are such homers...
Traditionally the award went to the best player on one of the if not the best team. Only when Westbrook won it had that changed. I am not sure why that would change again now. Harden was the best player on best team last year, Curry the two years prior to Westbrook. Durant and LeBron prior to Curry. Even when it came to the narrative that was super controversial to do. You could say the media bias against Harden helped Westbrook win the award. That would be only time I would have said Harden was genuinely "robbed" of the award. This year though? If Giannis wins it I would have no problem at all. Even if Harden continues this current streak and the Rockets end up with the 3rd seed (fairly unlikely after losing to OKC and Minnesota) I have no issue with Giannis winning because Giannis would be only the second player in NBA history to average 27ppg/12rpg/6apg (Oscar being the other) and he is doing it in a little over 33 minutes per game. Oscar did it playing over 44 minutes. If you are using the stats comparison that is just as historic and impressive as Harden's insane PPG this season. And of course its leading to winning. As for the team health part. It sucks and its part of the game and Harden has elevated himself as a result and helped the Rockets to a respectable record at the same time. He did it 4 years ago when the team won 56 games with a roster that kept changing constantly and had injuries. You can argue though this roster was far weaker than that one once guys like Gordon, Capela and Paul were all out. But I would argue this - lets say the Rockets had perfect health and no one was injured. Their record then would be much better and I would argue that they would be fighting for the #1 seed in the west. At the same time then Harden wouldn't have to be scoring at such a high rate and he would probably be more in the 29-30ppg range. Would he still be in the MVP conversation then? If he was pretty much putting up the same numbers as the year before? I personally cannot see a scenario where the Rockets are fully healthy and Harden scores 35+ every night there would be no need to. Quite frankly I would be disappointed and upset if that continues to happen once Capela is back later this week. Even Harden himself has said that he knows that playing this style is not conducive to winning at a larger stage and at some point the rest of the team does need to get back in sync for a more balanced attack. The Bucks have built around Giannis in the same way the Rockets have with Harden. Utopia? I dont know how you can describe the Bucks that - this is the team that drafted Jabari Parker #2 overall and let him walk for nothing, Hired and then fired Jason Kidd midseason LAST year, the Larry Sanders debacle, Their owner threatening to leave the city if they did not get funding for a new arena, Had their GM leave 2 years ago. All of these things happened during Giannis' time around there. Their new GM did make a smart move to hire Budenholzer and you can see what a difference a great coach can make for a star player. Just like when MDA was hired the Rockets evolved dramatically the Bucks have done the same. You can say Giannis is more popular, but a lot of that has to do with Giannis himself. He is a pretty genuine guy, I mean who can forget him live streaming that he got a "ring bell for blowjob" from his girlfriend and him ringing it constantly? Funny stuff. Given his background of how he came from nothing makes it even easier to root for him. Look there are plenty of seasons where a MVP candidate is propped up by the media without really much substance (LeBron last year, WB year before, Rose when he won it) but this year with Giannis that is NOT the case at all whatsoever. He is having a historic season while leading his team at the moment to what would be the third best record in their franchise's history and the best record in the NBA. Those were pretty much the criteria for Harden winning last year, not sure why that standard needs to be changed this year for Giannis.
Sure it is. If he was good enough to score on ISO with efficiency then "Bud's system" is missing a weapon... but it isn't. Giannis can't go ISO over and over again so a system is in place for him to spread the ball around to his high quality teammates who've been hitting shots and playing well all year. Your argument is shallow and it's because you're a Bucks fan first. A lot of people around here haven't forgotten that.