Another interesting tidbit in there: The Rockets believed they had a deal to acquire Chauncey Billups in his prime to pair with Yao/Tmac.
Uh oh, I think Morey just said that there is a legitimate argument for Giannis as MVP, and that years from now people will think both players were deserving. String him up.
He's 100% correct on that. People who think Giannis isn't a legit candidate are just wrong. He 100% is.
lol he's telling the truth If the situations were flipped then I'm sure we would all be clamoring equally as hard . Giannis averaged 28/13/6 and won 60 games .... I don't care about anything else , he deserves to be in the conversation and be treated as a legit candidate . Let's say next year KD goes to the kicks and averages like 33-4 and they win 50-55 games . Meanwhile harden averages like 27 but with 12 assists and Houston wins 62 ... who are we gonna call the MVP lol ?
I think he is definitely having an MVP level season I just think Harden is just having an all time MVP season.
The MVP he was referring to was obviously Westbrook's season. It clearly pointed out that winning doesn't matter (being the 6th Seed that season). They gushed over the triple-double season average; funny thing is, when Oscar had his triple-double season average, he didn't win MVP that season (1961-62). Even Wilt (averaged 50 Points, 26 Rebounds that same season) didn't win it; Bill Russell won MVP that season, averaging 19 Points, 24 Rebounds per game.
I wonder how close the Rockets were to firing D'antoni. They got rid of McHale pretty fast (in 11 games), after the Rockets won more games the prior season than they had since 1997.
I don’t think anyone here is saying Giannis hasn’t had a great season or is not deserving. I think all people are saying is James season is historic. There are so many great moments during the season you can point to in James favor. I can only think of one for Giannis and it was the Philly game. The lead on ALL sports shows throughout the year was James Harden and what he’s done, Giannis did not have that. Giannis has had a tremendous season, but he’s not the most valuable this year. Great stuff by @KellyUnchained and Daryl.
Not close because James/Chirs have a good relationship with Dantoni. Not to mention Daryl and Tillman both love Dantoni.
Is this a straw man? I don’t know many people that don’t have Giannis in their top 2-3. The issue is that Harden is just better this season.
I tend to think the McHale firing either had A) Harden's blessing or B) Les was tinkering, knowing he had limited time left as an owner.
Morey himself is basically saying "at least Giannis is more deserving than Westbrook. If Westbrook won that year, surely Giannis has a stronger case." I love the thinly veiled jabs at Russell Westbrook's MVP.