[Skip Bayless] Here's why a Dynamic, D'Antoni PG should win MVP

http://www.espn.com/espn/page2/story?page=bayless/060418

By Skip Bayless

Page 2


For most of this NBA season, you heard almost nothing but resigned MVP sighs from analysts and columnists: "Well, it looks like you have to give it to James Harden”

But a month or so ago, you began to hear another ball start rolling: LeBron James. Then King James’ ball deflated and here came Kawhi Leonard. Remember? Just two weeks ago you kept hearing, "That's it. Kawhi Leonard has to be MVP."

But now the giant bowling ball you hear thundering down the lane toward the MVP pins is … Russell's!

Over the last four days, you heard several analysts on ESPN and TNT make a case-closed case for Russell Westbrook. You read a number of NBA columnists and beat writers joining the Russell chorus. And you figure Russell clinched it when Page 2's Bill Simmons, who knows his NBA as astutely as he does his sports movies, forgave and forgot and gave his MVP to the player who flew like an Eagle this season.

I'm a big fan of Russell the basketball player. Was before all that ugly business in Golden State. Remained so even after Russell ratted out Durant.

No doubt Russell proved to be the most talented and driven player on the planet this season. But the most valuable?

Only if basketball games are won by the team with the highest scorer.

That's why, I suppose, Russell has beaten James Harden 81-0 in the MVP race.

Russell, of course, went Terrell Owens on the Portland TrailBlazers, scoring 58, mostly on jump shots. This would have been astonishing even if the Blazers had played H.O.R.S.E defense, which was pretty much all they played. It was tough to tell who was more mesmerized by this March 9 performance in OKC, Toby Keith or the Raptors.

Then on January 19th at Indiana Harden disappeared like Jimmy Hoffa. 17 shots, three makes. seven free-throw attempts. 15 points

The Pacers led by 19 at the half on the way to a 110-72 wipeout. And voters finally had their excuse. That was the end of the "Harden again" talk. No way was this Beard was going to win MVP with a goose egg on his résumé.

But he should.

In fact, big picture, that game should strengthen Harden's MVP case. Before the season started, a lot of analysts and columnists expected Harden's Rockets to suffer some blowout road losses -- especially against teams that had won eight in a row, as the Pacers had. After all, the Rockets had lost Clint Capela to injury and Dwight Howard and Donatas Motiejunas to free agency. Heck, by March 27, they had lost their only legitimate post defender, Nene, who wound up playing only 53 games.

And Harden's Rockets have won 51 games and the 3rd seed! They're going to be 3rd in the still-tougher Western Conference! If they hadn't clinched so early, and Nene hadn't rested his battered body of late, they would have come even closer to their 1994 58-24 record!

I'm sorry, but Harden's 51 wins are even more astonishing than Russell's triple double average.

Harden didn't play Sunday against Russell's team at Staples. Russell's team leaped to a 0-9 deficit anad and lost easily. Russell, MVP? Wait a second, with Harden, the Rockets won the season's first three games against Russell's seventh-seeded Thunder.

Case closed … for Harden.

For the record, I picked Russell's team to make the playoffs. I did not pick Harden's. Honestly, did you? I couldn't imagine how, even with Ryan Anderson, Harden's team could finish even .500 with Sam Dekker and Corey Brewer and Montrezl Harrell playing significant minutes.

Now, you say, "Gordon's turning into a player." But did you think that last season when Gordon played in New Orleans? No, Harden is turning him into a player.

A Western Conference GM warned me after his team played Harden's in a preseason game -- and I didn't listen. He said: "I'm telling you, the Rockets are going to be good. That damn Harden is at it again."

Now I believe.

Two years ago, I wrote that Steph Curry deserved the MVP over what appeared to be the cuddly little runaway bandwagon choice, Harden. How, I asked, could Harden be MVP when it was unclear whether he was the best player on his own team? Howard, of course, was emerging as the strongest force in Houston this side of the noon sun.

But Harden won Player’s MVP.

And now, averaging a career-high 29 points and a league-leading 11.5 assists, Harden (without Howard) clearly has had an even better season than that year's. But the MVP should come from the West's seventh seed?

Book it: If Harden had played for the Thunder this season, and Russell had played for the Rockets, the Lakers would be the second seed and the Rockets would have missed the playoffs.

Harden would turn Victor Oladipo into Gordon (if not more) and all of a sudden Andre Roberson and Alex Abrines and Domantas Sabonis would start running and spotting up and draining 3s, and Stephen Adams and Enes Kanter would outsprint other postmen for thundering dunks, and the Lakers would actually look like they were having fun playing basketball.

When you play with Harden, you know you're going to consistently get the ball exactly where you're best with it -- and when you're most open. Harden is a 12-man team. Russell is a one-man show. Harden needs teammates. Russell needs a stage.

A Rockets source said: "Do not underestimate the leadership impact Harden has. He routinely organizes team dinners (without lettuce) on the road -- and guys actually like it! You don't see that very often in the NBA."

Certainly not with Russell's team.

If Russell were a Rocket, Gordon would feel as if he were on the dark side of the moon. Lou Williams would split time between waving unsuccessfully for the ball and complaining to the media. Russell would take one look at Capela and Dekker and shoot.

Heck, in Oklahoma City, Harden would be making Domantas Sabonis look like an integral cog -- as Harden did with fellow Lithuanian Donatas Motiejunas last season in Phoenix.

It's as if Harden's teammates believe he'll make them better than they have a right to be. They know Harden is like some ambidextrous mutant life form with eyes set so wide that he can see 360 degrees. They know he can change directions while dribbling or flying the way nobody in the league can. They know Harden -- who's a mere 6-foot-5 -- can make forests of much taller defenders look hapless.

They can't keep him out of the lane or his team off the scoreboard. And they can't keep him from finding a teammate wide open for a 3-pointer.

Think about this: The Houston Rockets have made an NBA record 700+ 3s. And they lead the league in 3-point percentage at 35.8. So they're making 3s almost as well as a lot of teams make 2s.


That's mostly because of Harden.

No, he isn't capable of playing lock-down, man-to-man defense. On the fifth game of that trip that began in Jersey, Harden couldn't begin to control Detroit's Reggie Jackson, who went for 35. Yet Harden's goal is for his team to outscore yours -- and that night at the Palace, the Rockets made the Pistons sweat by scoring 102. Detroit hung on to win by seven.

That's Harden.

John Stockton was a little better on the pick-and-roll. Magic Johnson was better running the break and, obviously, at creating mismatches because he was 6-9. Yet even Magic couldn't run this Phoenix attack quite as magically as Harden does.

I started watching his Howard-less games early this season and got addicted. Harden has this in common with Michael Jordan: Almost every night he does something you've never seen before.

In three fewer games, Harden has 115 more assists than Westbrook and 142 more than Chris Paul. Harden's team leads the league by far in scoring at 108.4 a game. Seattle is next at 102.5.

Yet Russell suddenly seems to be the MVP front-runner because he's leading the league in scoring. I spoke Monday to two media members with votes who said they were going with Russell -- and that they'd spoken with several others who were doing likewise.

Voters are human. They talk to each other. Sometimes it works out that they pass around the MVP to make sure a deserving candidate gets at least one trophy. During Jordan's reign, he arguably should have won seven of the last eight years he played. But Charles Barkley won one and, somehow, Karl Malone won two.

This had a little something to do with how accessible and entertaining Charles and Karl were for media interviewers. That was a small reason Harden won players MVP in that season. And that might be a small factor in the new, more open and media-friendly Russell's turning into this season's front-runner.

But this is the season Harden deserves MVP strictly on single-season achievement. This isn't a "good guy" award or a "Beard guy" award. It is no longer Harden's "turn."

He's simply the most valuable, by far. In what has been billed as the most wide open race ever, this one shouldn't even be close.

Skip Bayless can be seen Monday through Friday on "Cold Pizza," ESPN2's morning show, and at 4 p.m. ET on ESPN's "1st & 10." His column appears twice a week on Page 2. You can e-mail Skip here.

Spoiler

wrong, of course this is a lightly edited/find & replaced version of Skip Bayless from Steve Nash in 2005.

http://www.espn.com/espn/page2/story?page=bayless/060418

Try to read this, then read what he writes/tweets/says now, and try not to throw up.

I AM SO SICK OF THIS CONSPIRACY

 

Once you see the conspiracy for what it is, it's amazing how the world looks.