Kawhi Leonard for MVP

If he happens to be a SERIOUS top 5 MVP player , DPOY candidate, and the Spurs win 60+ games.... He should be MVP period... None of the others can meet that crieria.. But popularity will rule, which sucks! And I'm nowhere near a big Kawhi fan...

 

Don't cry for Kawhi, if the Spurs lose in the playoffs, it'll be Popovich's fault as it has been the last 2 years. Kawhi never gets the criticism that a Harden, Lebron or a Westbrook recieves for losing. The Spurs organization are PR masters at deflecting blame from Kawhi. Those other guys get killer criticism from the media when their team fails and Yet all you hear about Kawhi is how underrated he is.

 

Probably because of the marketability of those 3. It's like when Duncan won those titles during the Shaq, Iverson, and Kobe era. Nobody praised him until toward the end of his career. It was KG this and KG that.. (my favorite player of Alltime BTW ) Kawhi is far from being as popular as those 3 you've mentioned.

 

Huh?

 

He has a decent chance for first team all nba this year. That is about his ceiling. It will be hard to pick 2 of Kahwi, KD, and LeBron.

 

the 2017 mvp should only go to players with beards

 

Are you NOT a fan of the Rockets? How could you root for anybody BUT Harden to be MVP!?! Harden is the UNANIMOUS 2017 NBA MVP!!!
Don't even trip!!

 

I'm sorry but no. Usage is overrated. Give me a superstar doesnt need the ball in his hands 24/7 and can still be super effective while playing within the offense. Harden would have no clue what to do in the Spurs offense. He'd probably pout his way out of that team.

 

I'm of two minds on this. I have a lot of respect for the way Kawhi and the Spurs play. I just think it's better basketball. But Harden is more important to the Rockets than Kawhi is to the Spurs. I think they'd still win 50 without him. We'd probably be around 30 wins. Maybe 35, max.

 

ya, kawhi has lamarcus, while harden has the streakiest one-dimensional bum with a different ridiculous injury every week.

 

Agreed! He should be considered for MVP!

 

Maybe Vice MVP runners up?

I would also be for a No Stats MVP btw.

 

By this logic how come Rox are 3rd seed when they downgraded from Dwight to Ryan Anderson? Coaching makes all the difference in the NBA. Sure a team with Lebron can override coaching, but how many Lebrons are there in history again? Oh right, just one so I don't know why you think an exceptional case makes a great argument, that's like looking at Zuckerberg and saying oh man, if we drop out of college we're gonna be millionaires.

There's no point to talking about Kawhi because if you're gonna make him the MVP why not just take Lebron? Lebron has more stats and carries a bigger load than Kawhi does he even coaches their team and sets the team culture so if you're gonna take Kawhi why not Lebron?

Usually when a case is made for MVP there's a strong reason for it, for example either the player is seen as the "true best player" in the NBA (ala TD, Lebron, MJ etc), or the player's team won the most games, or the player has the best statistical production, or the player is carrying the heaviest load etc. Kawhi fits none of those categories, he's not the best player in the NBA, Spurs aren't the best team, Kawhi isn't putting up the most stats, he's not carrying the heaviest load etc. There's no argument you can make for him to get an MVP over other guys. He plays hard on both ends of the court, doesn't Anthony Davis and Klay Thompson do that too? He has no drama, see Kristaps, Davis, Harden, Klay Thompson. What Kawhi is doing isn't special enough this year to get an MVP, I can see a case for him getting the DPOY but the MVP? Nah.

TBH the single most important personnel isn't coaching though, it's the GM. There are dozens of good coaches in the NBA, but there is a scarcity on great GMs and it's harder to find them. When you hire a GM it's always a risk, there's nothing that will guarantee whether the GM is good or not until he's proven it, which is too late already. If you look at Billy King he screwed Brooklyn up in just the first season he got there, by the time the owner discovered he sucks the damage has already been done. Or when the Twolves hired Kahn, they probably realized Kahn sucks but it was too late, he picked 2 pgs in the lottery and somehow missed the two best ones.

 

The way he pouted his way off the Thunder when he was coming off the bench? Did you really just try to paint Harden as selfish?? Seriously?

 

This is stupid. Tim Duncan won two MVPs with Spurs going 58-24 and 60-22. Duncan was never seen as the 'best' - it was Shaq's era at that time - nor the most dominant. Duncan never carried the heaviest load nor had monster stats. In fact, Kahwi this year has higher regular season PER and WS/48 than Duncan ever had during his entire career. And the Spurs are projected to win 61 games according to fivethirtyeight.

Kahwi is on an absolute tear lately, averaging more than 30 points per game with crazy efficiency. Kahwi actually has higher PER, RPM, WS/48, eFG%, TS% than Harden does. On an individual level, Kahwi is having a banner year, way better than last year when he was voted as MVP runner-up. On top of that, he's still one of the best defenders in the game.

There is no need to devalue what Kahwi is doing this year just to make a MVP case for Harden. Yeah, Harden is having a MVP worthy season so far, but Kahwi is the one player who might legitimately deserve that award more depending on your priorities. I don't feel the same about LeBron, Westbrook and Durant.

 

It's not just Lebron though, there are several examples of talent overcoming sub-par coaching. Look at KD and Westbrook with Scott Brooks, Shaq and Penny with Brian Hill, Jason Kidd with Byron Scott. Their teams had stretches of dominance; getting to the finals, winning 60 games or more,and getting deep into the playoffs every year. Steve Kerr is one of the best coaches in the game right now. How much did the Warriors miss him last season when they started 39-4 with Luke Walton? The Celtics had their run in the 80s with a combination of Bill Fitch and K.C Jones(who lasted only two more seasons as a HC after his time with the celtics). I think great coaching can amplify a teams talent and put a team that's on the cusp(talent wise) over the hump, but they're never going to carry a team like great talent will.

And as far as Kawhi for MVP. I'm not going to cry if he doesn't get it, I just think the arguments I've heard against him are really bad and not very factual. For instance, this idea that Kawhi doesn't carry the load offensively for the spurs, when he's ninth in the league in usage % only 3 points behind Harden and ahead of guys like Damian Lillard and Lebron. While also averaging 9 more ppg than the next leading spur(Aldridge).

 

Kawhi gets a pass PERIOD. This is due to the Spurs rep as a team first organization. He's the underrated greatest when they win but bears no blame when the Spurs lose. Yet other guys like Harden get criticized and blamed for everything when their teams lose. Hell folks were blaming Harden for Dwight's lethargic play and for Mchale getting canned.

 

Scott Brooks seems to have revitalized a dead Washington Wizards crew. Think he deserves his due now. Maybe he's the reason they all rise.