no chance. they didn't want to give him mvp last year and he had to lead the leauge in scoring and PER on 65 win team just the edge out lebron and AD. the media has made up their mind who they want to give it to. anthony davis could put up a soild 25/12 on a 45 win pelicans team and it's his.
LeBron can get similar stats to Harden's when Harden was robbed by Curry and Russ, but carry the Lakers to a 7th seed and Lebron will win MVP. -Giannis won't have the team record in the EAST which hurts badly.. -AD won't have the team record but will also miss too many games. -Not sold on Toronto winning 60-65 games for Kawhi to win which they would have to for him to win because Kawhi's numbers don't really "pop" as MVP numbers unless it was POP holding him back. If Kawhi gets out of that 30mpg Popovich type of set up, and ups his minutes to Harden and LeBron level, we could easily see him go for 28/8.5/6 with great %'s, great D and the Raptors team record- and an MVP to show for it. I find that unlikely though as part of him playing 30-33mpg is to keep him well enough rested to continue giving 100% effort on defense. We've seen many cases of good to great defenders when they played less minutes or carried less of an offensive load turn into average to very poor defenders when they upped their minutes and offensive load. It's one of the most impressive things about MJ's career that separates him from anyone else (not including big men). So can Kawhi up his USG/min and still have the efficiency and play elite D? We'll see. Still might not matter. LeBron/Lakers already got the media in their hands now that they're bored with GS.
Their expectations of us will morph mid season if its necessary to downplay Harden for mvp, just as they did in 2016/17
Every other player contending for MVP to be injured. Harden got denied a mvp for carrying a sht team with injured man child dwight to second seed. No amount of carrying unless maybe 70 wins will net him mvp.
Yeah the latest Bill Simmons podcast had him KOC and Russilo talking about MVP odds and they did not like him as the 4th best Vegas favorite. I think I agree. Story isn’t there unless we come close to 70 and he’s even better than last year.
He's the actual MVP regardless. If you need a bucket/points, there's no better player in the NBA to make that happen.
He needed the title last year. Media won’t give it to him this year because he didn’t hold the trophy last year. Players that won 2 MVPs before winning a title: -Wilt Chamberlain -Moses Malone -Michael Jordan -Karl Malone -Steve Nash -LeBron James Chamberlain and Jordan both won their 2nd MVP the same year they won their 1st titles. Since voting occurs after the regular season, the media technically awarded them the MVP without knowing the end result. Karl Malone is a bit of a fluke since his 2nd MVP came during the Lockout-shortened season. His 1st MVP in 1996 should have gone to Jordan, but the media felt like awarding Malone for his career that season; figuring it would be his “1.” Problem was that most of the players came back from the lockout severely out of shape, while the notoriously fit Malone came in ready to go. He truly was the best player that season and the media had to give him his 2nd award. Only three of the six players above won the MVP in consecutive years prior to winning the title: Chamberlain, James, and Nash. Wilt and LeBron are easy to see why...Nash is the huge outlier of the group. While the first award was semi-defensible, it was the 2nd award that was downright laughable. The Suns lost 8 more games than the previous season, D’Antoni’s 7-second or less offense wasn’t a shock anymore, and the field of contenders was much stronger. Nowitzki probably should have won it with a Dallas team that ended up with 60 wins, but you couldn’t have gone wrong with LeBron or Chauncey Billups. Hell, Nash may not have even been the best player on his team that year (Shawn Marion) and probably shouldn’t have been Top 5. So, judging by historical precedence, for Harden to win MVP this year, he needs to put up a season for the ages (average a trip-dub or average 35+ ppg)...or turn white.
Last season HarGod achieved regular Ultra Instinct, this season he's going to get the complete version.
what happens when you think of a narrative that will make it easier for harden to win it again this year?
Even more. The cards are set up for LeBron. Consider the narrative of LBJ and some punks beating the Warriors: Unlikely as all hell, and yet, people will go towards that because it's appealing to the league's popularity vote. I find it to be unfortunate. Wins and GROWTH are important. James deserved that MVP for not only the great season the team had, but his INDIVIDUAL growth as a player, both as a dominant scorer and facilitating leader. Unpopular opinion: In my eyes, James may grow on stats from season to season, but individually, does he show the growth that's immensely noticeable? Or, the growth that carries over to his teammates? Sure LBJ had a new core on the Cavs, but in my eyes, he took it upon himself to WIN without them. It's not that George Hill, JR, KLove can't play. It's your trust in them, AND your growth to set them up in better spots. I give CP credit for fostering #thegrowth in James, but still, James took it upon himself to make Clint a rising star (Clint says thanks to James for the contract), he made CP look better than previous years as a Clip, and more importantly, he created a winning culture with guys like Trev, Ego, Tuck, GG, and even the atrocious Tarik Black played his heart out. Westbrook didn't deserve it his year for simply dominating the ball. How did that end? Yeah, your team has suffered ever since in player development. Steve Adams should be an all star by now (He would in Houston) and the only saving grace in that rancid team is PG13. Don't get me started on "new colorism" but the Rockets will have to win it all if James is MVP. Nothing less. LeBron's decision shifted the NBA's popular narrative. It's sick, but it's here. XO
You're totally right on this one (as usual). The only thing I would add is that James needs to shoot a higher percentage and continue to move his game away from needing ref calls for contact. There is this false narrative among some fans that James is only a great scorer because he gets "help" from bail out calls... My answer to that is for James to shoot an even higher percentage from the perimeter and to get solid play from his teammates so that he's not dribbling out the clock...Even some James movement off the ball (which I actually saw in a preseason game!) might set up some higher percentage shots. Every time he makes a move in this direction, he's lengthening his career and his MVP portfolio.
