"If LeBron would have done enough to make me change my vote due to recency bias, I would have voted for him!"
I'd love to blast this Stefan Bondy guy on Twitter, but it's not worth it. This really highlights how voting is a platform for attention. His article is a clear click-bait piece, saying LeBron over Harden and it's not even close. lol. What can you do? It's clear with voting for these awards that it's a favorites thing. Some don't like Harden and they're not going to vote him as MVP, ever. To me, that's more clear than ever after the full season he had this year.
Lowe talked about how the Executive of the Year award is just a petty fest and that's why Morey will never win. He said that GMs just don't like voting for success and vote on other things instead.
I'll get the ball rolling here: Harden- 13 Zach Lowe, The Ringer Kevin Arnovitz, ESPN Ramona Shelbourne, ESPN Cassidy Hubbarth, ESPN Sam Amick, USA Today Ben Golliver, Sports Illustrated Sean Deveny, Sporting News Kevin O'Connor, The Ringer Steve Aschburner, NBA.com John Schuhman, NBA.com Shaun Powell, NBA.com (He didn't have a vote last year but was in a column with 4 verified voters. Probably has a vote.) Sekou Smith, NBA.com Chris Broussard, Fox Sports LeBron- 2 Jeff Zillgitt, USA Today Stefan Bondy, NY Daily News David Aldridge has stated that he will not reveal his vote early. This was all that I've found so far. I've been searching Google news for NBA MVP, James Harden, etc. and referencing the names here: http://official.nba.com/wp-content/...-Most-Valuable-Player-of-the-Year-Award-1.pdf. If anyone wants to take this list and run with it, feel free.
This right here is the stuff that makes my eyes roll so hard they nearly pop out of my head. So LeBron loses, however narrowly, in a hugely important game where his team trailed by as many as 30 points. Not to mention that, as well as he performed, LeBron's direct positional opposition (Ben Simmons) arguably played just as well (BBRef game scores of 34.6 and 34.0, respectively) and actually won the game. Oh, and lest we forget LeBron's opportunity to tie the game at the free throw line, which did not go so well for him. Meanwhile, Harden was relaxing at home, having locked up the #1 seed in the harder conference a week before. This is a prime example of voters getting swept up in "moments" and narrative while ignoring a player's overall body of work.
the writers have voted already?! What happens when WB rebound hunt this last game and get his triple double average for the season?!!
You can add Jason Lloyd to the list of Lebron voters. https://theathletic.com/309906/2018/04/11/lloyd-im-voting-for-lebron-james-for-mvp/
Can someone explain to me why Lebron is the clear #2 when AD exists? AD has a higer PER, higher WS/48, higher ORtg, lower DRtg, scores more PPG, grabs more rebounds, more steals per game, more blocks per game, and is only slightly behind on TS%. Not there on assists, but at some point you have to realize a big is a big, and a guard creator is a guard creator. The Pelicans are 3 games behind the Cavs, in the tougher conference. If you zoom out and they're all statistically similar, and you resort to records, where Harden clearly leads, Lebron only barely is above AD at that point, so I'm not sure how one could conclude Lebron's "clearly #2 and I'm not sure anyone else has an argument."
https://theathletic.com/309906/2018/04/11/lloyd-im-voting-for-lebron-james-for-mvp/ Another LeBron vote
I love my boy Harden. He's great. He's phenomenal...except for his defense, BUT Westbrook is an automatic back to back MVP for his automatic back to back Double Triple Double Average. Russell Brodie Westbrook is history in the making, and his teammates are trash. Imagine if he tried to pad his statistics!! My opinion of DA is so low that I suspect he'll vote for Lebron for some interview brownie points.
Stefan Bondy, NY Daily News The New Yorkers will ALWAYS be bitter about 1994. They always felt that it was their title, they even made a documentary about that year. This was WAY before we got our NBATV documentary. To have a grudge against the Rockets is what I expect
That's Jason Lloyd though, previously of the AKRON Beacon Journal. For perspective, he voted LeBron (over Curry and Harden) in 2014-15, one of only five first-place votes that weren't Curry or Harden. He's maintaining relationships.
