Wouldn't it be common for a player to garner MIP consideration if they become a serious MVP candidate a year after not making any All-NBA teams.
a lot of things will have to happen for that but it's not out of the realm of possiblity. If he gets consistent from midrange and develops a respectable 3-pnt shot and if in 2-3 years he can also start playing some small ball C (which Kidd SHOULD try soon). From the rates of his progress in the past 4 years all these are possible. He has only been playing basketball for 8 years so I will be suprised if his progress curve is typical. The thing is this summer he didn't focus on his shooting but instead on how to play point guard. I am labeled anti-Giannis in the Bucks boards btw. (Because I think he has not proved to be a star yet but just a top 25 player right now).
@withmustard ... it's gotta be Giannis, right? Most times the vote excludes the young player who hits their superstar-dom potential in a big leap, and tends to go to the role-players who reach 20ppg (often for only that one year in an ideal situation). It is really hard to make the jump Giannis is doing. I prefer to reward these feats, sometimes. Are you still labeled "anti-Giannis", Don't be a curmudgeon...embrace it.
I never thought Giannis would be this good. I still think Warren was a lock pre-injury, but since has fallen off in a major way. Giannis looks like the front-runner now for sure.
LOL yes I still am. Compared to most the others. Maybe here I seem a homer or whatever but compared to them I am an anti fan. ONLY because I wait for proof for games before making big statements and overhyping someone. I am happy for his improvement and have already changed my opinion since November but that was because he proved it in the court with his consistent perfomances. Now the others say he's a top 5 player and can't do no wrong..I disagree. If you say he sucks at crunch time and iso you "drag him through the mud"...<_< As for this thread the race is over and has been already for one month. Giannis will win the MIP there's not even an argument about anyone else. I don't care if Otto Porter turns into a "max" 20 ppg 3+D wing or if Avery Bradley gets 10 rebounds per game. When someone jumps from marginally top 30-25 good player at the start of the season,completely skips the star stage and turns to top 10 superstar he wins the MIP. Now if we see for who should win second. I'm really impressed with Otto Porter. I don't know if it's a contract year perfomance but he has taken big strides in his game. Also Gobert should probably take second place with the improvement in his FTs and offensive game. Julius Randle has improved a TON as well. He looked like he would be a bust but this year he has completely turned it around with big improvement in Defence and decisions in playmaking.
Gannis will win this award by "going from good to great" theory. He was an EC all star starter. Good to great > nowhere to good.
Not that everything should be all stat based, but going off truly improved, its amazing how Giannis has improved, and a LOT, across every category. Career highs in PPG, RPG, APG, SPG, BPG, FG%, 2 POINT FG%, FT%, eFG%, TS%, PER, ORtg ... despite playing basically the same MPG and similar possessions as last year (so stats similarly up across the board on a per 36 minute and per 100 possession basis). It's not just the career highs, but the degree of improvement. PPG went from 17 to 23. Ortg went from 109 to 117. PEr went from 19 to 26.TS% topping 60%. Whereas Devin Booker is clearly better and improved, especially from an absolute scoring perspective... but ORtg just went from 102 to 103 while DRtg went from bad to worse (1121 to 115), he's down on TS%, he's not appreciably better rebounding, assists per minute/possession, etc. It's a runaway for Giannis, though Jokic should come in a solid 2nd. Seth Curry might get some love, too.
You must be excited to see Giannis on the big stage when the playoffs start. That's a perfect opportunity to showcase his ability, and prove he can carry a team with real expectations.
I am not sure how he will do in the playoffs because he can't shoot. But his defence should be even better.
