James Harden is gonna get screwed over again in MVP Voting

Laides and Gentlemen... We got em


@32:30 - Royce Young: Steven Adams has never been a big rebound guy in terms of numbers. So, ya know, the Thunder have always kind of done it by committee. Um... and, or really what they've done is they've boxed people out and let Westbrook get it for statistical purposes.

*Laughter*

Ian Begley(Knicks beat writer): I was gonna say, wait wai.. cau.. yea, didn't Melo make a point of mentioning something about that, that uh...

Young: Exactly

Begley: Westbrook's taking his rebounds away?



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Well of ****ing course it's tongue in cheek at this point. Everyone in the media knew it was padded stats then, but there was a narrative to uphold at the time. Now that Russ was officially the MVP and it can't ever be taken away, it's no problem to joke around and be honest in retrospect.

 

At least the media is starting to admit to what they did last season. That's at least something, I guess.

 

I think Curry will win it. Posting a 135 ortg and it looks sustainable. Reasserting his control of the team.

 

Harden would actually have a really good chance of winning it this year if the media wasn’t so corrupt.

The Cavs look suspect and Lebron isn’t putting up monster stats.

Kawhi is out, and I don’t think the Spurs have said when he’ll be back.

Giannis won’t have enough wins and won’t average a triple double to make up for it.

Steph and KD will take votes away from each other.

I doubt they’ll give Russ back-to-back MVPs.

If the Rockets have a really good season and Harden averages like 28, 6, and 9 on good efficiency then he should be the favorite, but we all know he won’t win.

 

That's a big IF. So far, Harden doesn't look that great, and in fact if you count from the 2nd half of last season, playoffs, and the beginning of this season, there's a real concern as to whether this is just a mini-slump or something deeper is going on.

 

This same guy wrote a furious response piece to a Reddit post that was using two stats that I personally data mined last year.


http://dailythunder.com/russell-westbrook-triple-doubles-and-stat-padding-accusations/


But I was the one who was being called dishonest for months

 

Harden definitely hasn’t looked that great to start the season, but it’s early so I’m giving him time.

He was fine during the 2nd half of last season other than when he was suffering from that injured wrist, and he was fine in the playoffs until the very end of game 5 and all of game 6.

My main concern is him going from being a solidly above average 3 point shooter to barely average at best. I feel that shot selection has a lot to do with his mediocre percentages tho. I also don’t know why he has declined so much in terms of athleticism and explosiveness from what he was just a few years ago in 14-15. The difference is pretty notable.

 

Giannis Michaels can go 41-41 and they’d still find a reason to give it to him.

 

Sure, Harden was more than fine compared to an average player, but by his standards he was pretty mediocre during the time span that I mentioned. I think he shot barely above 40% and committed like 6 turnovers per game on average.

In terms of his shooting woes, I agree with you that this is a real problem that rarely gets brought up. Harden's defense is not the main problem because we know he's always going to be below average in that department, and his turnover issue is also well-documented, but man I don't feel confident at all whenever Harden launches a three-pointer, and I definitely didn't feel this way just a few years ago. Coupled with his declining athleticism and recently implemented 'Harden rule', his lack of shooting touch is a real concern going forward, because sometimes I feel like Harden doesn't have that many killer moves anymore.

 

Harden is a notoriously slow starter in terms of his shooting numbers in the beginning of the season.

This year is actually one of his hotter starts.

I do wish he would show more restrain in terms of some of his shots. His 3 point shooting was more in the 37-38% range when he was only taking 6-7 a game.

I'm not to worried about harden his defense awareness has been pretty good this year also.

Gordon has been fantastic and when he comes off the bench the team should be much better.

Last years team started 4-4 and really didn't hit a stride till bev cane back and gave us that 3 guard rotation.

I expect that to happen with cp3 only better.

Im worried about Ariza he's been the weak link for over 2 years now. His contract is nice so I understand why we keep him but man he's not the same guy he was his first and second year back here. The last years and change his shooting has been streaky at best

 

He's been fine. If he was being officiated correctly, he'd be averaging well over 30 a game.

 

I think he’s been ok...not bad, but not all that impressive yet for his standards...the officiating has been a problem tho

 

We have two players on our starting five who don't deserve to start for any decent NBA team, one being Ryno and the other being Ariza. This is definitely a problem that Morey should look into.

 

one of the reasons why im starting to care less about the nba. Prior to last year the standards were set to achieve the nba mvp award at least 50 wins/3rd seed /great season. This is why harden lost out to curry in 2015. But to completely throw the script out for a guy who didnt even win 50 games just left a sour taste in my mouth as an follower of the nba. I mean i was watching this league when lebron was doing doing horrible numbers( ratings) againist the spurs in 2007. These new age nba fans are lost and dont know the game, they just parrot what they hear on espn.

 

I think Ryno is over paid by 6-7m a year but he's a better player than Ariza at this point.

He's already had a few 15+ point games for us this year and has been decent defensively.

Ariza is brick fest and can't dribble to finish in the paint.

I think if we ha a better option at sf that would go a lot longer way than replacing Anderson.

Ryno is just overpaid he's fine imo.

 

Just found this of coach Nick breaking down the greatest triple double ever recorded:

 

you already have an answer

even Lebron, Curry, or KD will look bad if 2 players on the starting 5 doesn't even deserve to start for any decent NBA team

 

Harden currently at #2 in the 2017-2018 MVP rankings at NBA.com
http://www.nba.com/article/2017/11/...week-giannis-antetokounmpo-makes-early-case#/

#2, a familiar spot.