Alright, so I get that averaging a triple-double regardless of which era of basketball or how you get it, it's extremely tough to do and I'll give credit for Westbrook last year. I enjoyed the MVP competition between Harden and Westbrook and while I didn't agree with the argument of averaging a triple-double alone put him over the top of Harden, he had other stats to back up his case. As far as the argument though, Harden's season was about as rare as they come too with the 29-11-8 and some guys even said if WB would've missed out on the triple-double even on a decimal point, they would've given it to Harden. Now we are a year later, OKC is doing alright - although worse than expected considering the Big 3 stuff - and Westbrook is 0.1 rebounds shorts to average another triple-double again. Why is not as relevant this year as it was last year? Because he did it already? If it was that impressive as they made it out to be last year, it should be enough to at least mention him in MVP conversations again on a regular basis right? To me, the silence proves it was a narrative they needed to keep things interesting, they all knew Harden probably deserved it and maybe even see now that Westbrook really was stat chasing (team letting him get rebounds). I don't care about last year since losing it definitely motivated Harden even if he never admits it. In hindsight it was the perfect setup for this year's Harden to focus on winning and not chasing that MVP, which both him and D'Antoni admitted distracted them and figured into how Harden played / how many minutes he played (down the stretch at least). What are y'all thoughts?
I realllllyyyy want him to average another triple double. Please. Please. Show the world how dumb that stat line is.
Respect the game dude. No other stat padder in world history has averaged two consecutive trip dub seasons with incredibly talent rich but mediocre teams
They may not even finish with a better record than last year at this point. "Westbrook needs more help!"
Are we considering Carmelo "more help" now my salty Brethren? OKC has a nearly identical record with every team in the West, other than the Rockets/Warriors. Did you really expect them to be better than that with their current bench? (And Carmelo?) My God they are starting COREY BREWER and giving FATTY FELTON minutes and everyone is acting like OKC is loaded with talent? LOL...
Not all triple doubles are equal. All the “advanced stats” looked way better for Westbrook last year than this year. Any voter who was dumb enough to give him the MVP based purely on triple double has explaining to do if he isn’t again on their ballot. But the best MVP case for Westbrook last year was not based on triple doubles. He was one of just a handful of players historically to have a PER > 30, just to take one example.
They have the MVP. They should be better. Harden has done more with less talent playing next to him and he NEVER won a MVP
paul george is 1 more all-star than they had than last year when "westbrook had no help" adding a 2 way all-star whose played 76 games should have them at at least 55 wins. harden got to 56 wins with the corpse of jason terry and corey brewer.
Apparently wins are the end all be all for MVP votes, unless Harden is the front runner...then stats are the decider regardless of how crappy the team. But if Harden has better stats then we go back to wins...and around we go.
Harden had to get better stats AND a better record to erase all doubt. Still they try to snake it away from him.
That's what I said regards to why I personally don't have much of a problem that he won, but don't act like it wasn't his triple-double average that made him a clear winner. Would've been way closer or Harden running away with it if he hadn't. All they talked about was that stat AND how he had some great moments in the last month or two, clutch plays etc.
James Harden had a fairly talented team at 41-41 just a couple years ago (who had Thunder starter Corey Brewer coming off the bench). I think you are also highly underestimating Daryl Morey. You are essentially saying that the Rockets have had less talent than the Thunder have, and post-Durant I don't believe that is true at all. And let's be honest, the Thunder were a few seconds away from beating arguably the greatest team ever assembled with Durant. Sure, we can sit here and give all the credit to Kevin Durant, and then give him passes for being a p***y because we are salty and butt hurt about Harden's MVP, but is that the route we really want to go? Paul George is playing at about his career norm, and he is actually having the 2nd best shooting year of HIS ENTIRE CAREER. He takes 17 shots a game, and I see people on here saying Westbrook doesn't move the ball. Sure, he doesn't have a brain like our guy (Not even close) but he does other stuff that I can respect, too. I appreciate that he isn't a quitter, and right now that seems to be Harden's MO, whether you want to hear that or not. Right now the Thunder are at 45-34 with a few games to go, and they have lost a ton of extremely close games (+3.0 Point Differential). If they win the last 2 games after they get dat ass pounded by my Rockets, they will be 47-35. Do you REALLY think a team that starts Carmelo Anthony and Corey Brewer should be better than 47-35? Honestly, in my opinion it is an accomplishment. Paul George has been a loser for years now. Carmelo is not a top 100 player in the NBA. The rest of the roster is doodoo and Steven Adams seems to be the only guy that gets it.
Nah, I don't buy that at all. They played the majority of the year with Roberson on the team and Brewer NOT on the team, and were still doo doo. They still made terrible plays down the stretch (primarily due to Westbrook), still took a ton of bad shots (primarily due to Westbrook), and lost a ton of games they should have won. Did you miss the two games in a row last week that Westbrook choked away? That has been the Thunder all season regardless of personnel. If you swapped Westbrook and Harden, Harden would have easily won 50+ games with both this year and last years OKC teams because he's done it in Houston with less talent. Westbrook is an underachiever who has NEVER made any player he's played with better. Oladipo leaves and becomes an allstar. Durant leaves and becomes a force on both ends of the floor. I'm sure whenever Adams leaves he'll become an allstar too. That dude RW is overrated garbage, and thats just the truth. I can think of at least 5 point guards id rather have on my team than him.
Your exaggerations are highly unimpressive, but I guess that's what Rocket fans need after seeing Harden get boned out of MVP. We should all be thankful he lost after the worst playoff performance from a star in all of NBA history. Folks are chastising Westbrook now after 47 wins with these players, MPG. 3rd. Carmelo Anthony 5th. Andre Roberson, 6th. Corey Brewer 7th. Jerami Grant 8th. Raymond Felton 9th. Alex Abrines imagine what they would have done to Beard after quitting in a playoff game and then going to the club right after? I did watch both of those games, but I also watched every single game when the Rockets went 41-41 , and Harden choked away what seemed like every game. This Thunder team has bad mojo without a shadow of a doubt. Still, they are going to win 47 games, and just as winning 41 games didn't take away from Harden's greatness, it doesn't take away from Westbrook's to win 47. Westbrook isn't perfect, few players are. Still, it should be mostly obvious to anyone with a basketball brain that this Thunder team is very poorly constructed outside of their big 3. I almost have a hard time thinking of 6 crappier players to put on OKC. I'll have to sneak away and grab ashleyem's talent evaluator and what's draft models. (And apparently mix that in a pot with a ton of silly, witless opinions spouted off around here, specifically about Westbrook)
The stat definitely put him over the top, but if he didn't have all those clutch moments and he wasn't close to leading the league in scoring, and if he had an all-star caliber teammate next to him while he was doing his thing, would he have won MVP last year? The novelty of the triple double would have made it worth more in voter's minds last year than this year, which I agree is dumb, but I don't think triple double = automatic MVP was the thinking last year. It was the triple double on top of other factors that built up his MVP narrative.
Did you ever watch Westbrook and Harden on the floor in OKC? They were p h e n o m e n a l together. Literally the perfect match made in heaven in the backcourt, making up for each other's weaknesses flawlessly. I'd take CP3 and Steph over Westbrook for certain, but after that I think it is a toss up. (Especially since Harden is always the De Facto PG In Houston)
I agree with everything you said except the overrated garbage part. Come on, we are damn lucky to have a player like Harden and Paul AND have chemistry like they do. I don't think any of us expected us to lead the league going into this season. Westbrook makes bad decisions and has only one speed with excellent acceleration but poor deceleration. He's not as good of a passer as people think. Otherwise, it's a matter of the personnel surrounding him