Figures it would be Jordan. James is playing like Jordan this year. Give it to him, you pansies that decide these things.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>James Harden has taken 531 free throws this season. The next highest: 377 by Jimmy Butler.</p>— Tom Haberstroh (@tomhaberstroh) <a href="https://twitter.com/tomhaberstroh/status/570234870733119489">February 24, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
unfortunately the media is voting for the mvp most will just pick the best players from the best team not to mention harden is not very likeable among media
Barkley said Harden is the leader in the clubhouse and should win it as long as the Rockets finish top 4
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-partner="tweetdeck"><p>Of players w/ USG% > 30% & MP > 1000, Harden this season has the 6th highest TrueShooting% in NBA history (61.1%) (LBJ highest 64.9%,'13-14)</p>— NBA.com/Stats (@nbastats) <a href="https://twitter.com/nbastats/status/570246893709729792">February 24, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/LVuLJ6Hm8cA" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> Kobe was asked which player he'd want to start an NBA team with.
Charles Barkley, of all folks was effusive with praise for James Harden...and thinks he will win it this year. Charles Barkley...notorious Rockets media hater (Les mightve paid him off...lol) What has been the biggest difference for the Rockets from last year and this? There is only one answer to this...James Harden. Harden has finally embraced the role of leadership. And it clearly started this summer. Playing against international competition and not having Lebron or Durant's shadow allowed him to take the biggest step in his career. He always had the attributes of a great scorer and a knowledgeable defender..He has shown flashes of brilliance on both sides of the ball up to this point. Kobe Bryant recently during a Grantland interview stated that the biggest issue he had to face when playing against OKC was not necessarily Kevin Durant or Russell Westbrook...it was James Harden. Game recognizes game...and Kobe, a guy who has seen it all, has acknowledged Harden's rise. It's time that the rest of the league does as well and votes him 2015 MVP.
Not Hardens fault that a vast majority of the players who get to the line a lot have all missed a good chunk of games this year. Whether he intended to or not this tweet reinforces the Harden is a cheap free throw machine narrative to your average brainless NBA fan. If Cousins hadn't missed time he would only have around 25 less free throws attempted than Harden. Westbrook is just about the same.
Harden is notorious for getting to the free throw line. There was a huge disparity between him and the rest of the league the year before last too. IIRC
I prefer to look at win shares, and Harden is leading the league in WS at 11.5 over Curry at 10.2. To me, besides the ubiquitous PER metric, WS tells me how much a player impacts his teams ability to win games, which ultimately translates into MVP performance metrics.
on mike and mike today. The link is an espn insider link... http://espn.go.com/espnradio/show?showId=mikeandmike
starts at about 3:00 mins Spoiler <script src="http://player.espn.com/player.js?playerBrandingId=4ef8000cbaf34c1687a7d9a26fe0e89e&adSetCode=91cDU6NuXTGKz3OdjOxFdAgJVtQcKJnI&pcode=1kNG061cgaoolOncv54OAO1ceO-I&width=576&height=324&externalId=espn:12373806&thruParam_espn-ui[autoPlay]=false&thruParam_espn-ui[playRelatedExternally]=true"></script>
(Disclaimer: I realize this is a basketball thread.) It's JJ Watt all over again. A failure to recognize the hardest working guy in the sport. Watch. We'll get robbed again.
Last season Durant shot 131 more free throws then the 2nd highest guy. There wasn't a a bi-weekly reminder by the media. The season before Harden was number one but only shot 42 more than Durant on the season. It just seems that they are trying to make this out to be a Harden cheating the system type thing when it's really just a symptom of great players kinda thing.
Not the same. The NFL will always go for QB's over DE's because QB's are unquestionably far more important than DE's. In the NBA, no position is inherently more valuable, which helps Harden's case.
What James has done this year is incredible. I think James, Curry, and Westbrook have the best MVP cases right now. LeBron and Davis round out the Top 5, Davis is probably a longshot but LeBron has a shot at it if he tears it up the rest of the way. But I think it's fun to compare the Top 3 guards. I just want to compare them as scorers first, since they are all bigtime volume scorers. <PRE> Player G PTS 2P% 3P% eFG% TS% Stephen Curry 52 23.6 .551 .400 .574 .621 James Harden 56 27.3 .492 .387 .526 .611 Russell Westbrook 42 26.1 .467 .290 .462 .540</PRE> To me, this is Curry's best argument over the other two outside of the Warriors record. Harden might be on Curry's level as far as TS% is concerned because of his ability to get to the line, but look at the disparity in eFG% and 2P%. We all know Curry is an amazing 3P shooter but take a look at how much more efficient he is than Harden INSIDE the arc. Curry just has so much touch and is automatic pretty much all over the floor. James has worked on his mid-range game and is deadly with that stepback, but Curry just kills him as a mid-range shooter. Harden's ability to penetrate and create for himself and his teammates is amazing. He is just so smart about his offense. But I think Curry's shooting is special and makes his game a little more reliable than Harden's, who's a little streaky with his J. Westbrook just is not near the scorer Harden or Curry are. His ability to score at such a high volume speaks to his relentlessness. But he's just not that efficient of a scorer. Only a .462 eFG% while shooting below 30% from 3. Westbrook is an incomparable bundle of aggression and athleticism, he makes an impact on the game beyond his scoring. But as good as he is, the criticism that he shoots too much is still a valid criticism. Kevin Durant is an all-time great scorer, Westbrook needs to reel in the FGA. I think Harden is amazing and I do hope he wins the MVP. I think Harden has a higher ceiling as a player than Curry because his size allows him to do things Curry just can't do. Watching Harden when he gets red-hot is a thing of beauty. But I think Curry does have the higher floor as a player because his shot is just more consistent and allows him to rely less on driving to hole and getting calls to be efficient.
