[ClutchFans] Podcast: Is James Harden leading the early MVP Race?

People LOOOOVE the Warriors and Curry because they are a high-paced team.

Also, the three point shot is probably tight behind Dunking on someone and an alleyoop in terms of exciting plays...and Curry drains them. In this way he's a more exciting player than Harden, I feel like it is his award to lose because people just like the guy and his playstyle.

 

I said "at this point", which I guess was a poor choice of words. I meant "right now" as in "so far this season". The lowest seeded team that have had an MVP in the last 3 decades were Jordan's Bulls once when they were 3rd and MJ's statline was downright obscene. Davis could get a similar nod because the effect he has on the Pelicans is historically great* but even if they sneak into the playoffs, I don't think he can win MVP without even getting HCA.



*AD adds 23 points to their points per 100 possessions when he's on the floor compared to when he isn't. To put that in perspective, when AD plays they're about as efficient as last year's Spurs. When he's out they're worse than this year's 76ers.

 

He is great at free throws and scores so much only because he is a ball hog, and takes more shots than probably anyone in the league. He isn't even the best shooter on the team.

 

i doubt the warriors would be 17-2 if bogut missed half of their games like dwight

 

if the warriors didnt have the best record, i doubt curry would be leading harden.

 

harden playing w/o 2 starters and several injured backups , but still keeping it together with a 16-4 record is why he should be leading in mvp votes right now

 

The warriors would be lucky to go 500 without Bogut, if you stripped them down further like we've been, they'd be in a whole world of pain, they;ve been missing Lee, whose basically their 7th man now, and have had their starting lineup for every game. Our starting lineup has played 2 games.

 

And they have played a ridiculously easy schedule- I mean, 12 in a row is certainly an achievement, but there's not one in that group other than the Bulls that is even above .500.

 

I'm a believer in the Unibrow, dude is ridiculous @ 25p/11r/2.9b/2.2stls with above 50% shooting but it's too soon for him IMHO. He can definitely win, but IMHO it'll be like Derrick Rose winning a "fale" MVP just because people were tired of voting for Lebron and then getting manhandled in the playoffs. With Davis though, there's a chance his team might not even make the playoffs. In fact, I'd go on record saying his team probably won't make the playoffs because their team is horrible now with Davis healthy and i expect him to get injured later on because his style of play is too much for his still developing body, I'm not confident he can handle the grind of the NBA just yet.

 

Finally getting some recognition trickling in...
Sheridan as of now #1 Curry, #2 Harden...
http://www.sheridanhoops.com/2014/1...kings-edition-iii-prince-william-sees-lebron/

 

James - " Once we get our whole team back and are ready to go, we're going to be a problem."

 

Quotes like these imbibe me with confidence. Thanks Plowman.

 

Somebody should show Barkley this video and maybe he'll change his mind about who's the best 2 guard is in the league.

 

"Houston, you have a problem"

flips to

"Houston, you ARE a problem"


Thank you, thank you. No autographs please. :grin:

 

Zack Lowe has a new BS Report up where he talks about MVP candidates. The picture on the page is of Harden. I am at work and cannot listen. Can anyone summarize?

 

Listening to it now...

First thing Simmons asks Lowe is who's the most surprising team. Lowe says Houston because of injuries to Dwight, Jones, Bev, etc. They then talk about MVP candidates and Harden is the first one they bring up. Lowe says he's right there with any number of guys, including Davis who he said is the best player in the league but doesn't play on a winning team. Simmons then says that if he had to pick a MVP right now, he'd pick Harden because he's the only consistent offensive threat on the team right now, and if you replaced him, the Rockets wouldn't be anywhere near as good.

Also mentioned that he's not a liability on defense anymore which helps his case, but the narrative that he's become a great defender all of a sudden is untrue.

 

How valuable to your team are you if it doesn't make the playoffs? I get that AD is an amazing young talent but winning has to be a big ingredient in the MVP recipe and the Pelicans are not doing a lot of winning so his name should not even be in the MVP conversation.

 

Honestly Bogut is their 3rd or 4th best starter. Let's not pretend like Bogut means as much to GS as Dwight does to Houston....and Houston was missing 4 rotation guys to GS's one.

 

They wouldn't be 17-2 but I bet they would still have as good of a record as Houston right now. I actually like our chances a lot against GSW, harden is just the better player between him and curry and he proves it every time they play each other. Bev is the type of guy who gives these star PGs fits. He's like pj tucker and Wes mattews to harden. They still get theirs but it's a long night and forces atleast 3-5 negative plays a game that they ordinarily wouldn't make.

Harden seems to make it a point to show klay up every time they play. Klay just lacks confidence going up agains harden. Frankly klay is the 2nd best 2 in the game and he's always going to be judged to harden. Which isn't fair because harden is shaping out to be a generational player it seems.

Bogut is great and is just as important to their title run as Dwight is to ours. The difference is Dwight's a lot better than bogut and harden is better than curry on both sides. That's why I like Houston over them because talent wins and Dwight is a hof talent. Don't forget he and the rockets were playing great before the injury (9-1).

 

I had no idea harden is currently the leading scorer in the NBA