James Harden is gonna get screwed over again in MVP Voting

ESPN's poll that @topfive posted a link to clearly shows that the "Online/Social Media" world loves Westbrook and hates Harden. It is obvious. If that NBA.com KIA MVP fan vote gives "1" vote to the 100+ media pool, consider that vote as a Westbrook vote. Case closed.

Moving on, I thought this was an interesting article. Some pull quotes below. Shows how the dynamic of the "vote for top 5 MVP candidates" could come into play.



There are said to be four candidates: James Harden, Russell Westbrook, LeBron James,and Kawhi Leonard. The sense I get is that neither LeBron or Kawhi will win — they will affect this by taking first-place votes from the other two. That's where I want to take the discussion before we get into our opinions about the candidates.

Westbrook is going to be No. 3 or No. 4 on a bunch of ballots. I don't see Harden falling below No. 2 anywhere for this reason: If you're a Westbrook voter, you would be a Harden vote if not for Westbrook.

….

So I think Westbrook may end up with the most No. 1 votes but still lose to Harden.

……

You're right about the Westbrook-Harden debate. There is no case against Harden, and while the visceral case for Westbrook may be somewhat stronger — he's going to average a triple-double, and set the record for most triple-doubles in a season — the shooting efficiency numbers and win-loss record are going to give stat-oriented voters a permission structure with which to vote against Westbrook. I don't think a plurality of voters are stats-oriented, but as I said, so long as Westbrook voters have Harden No. 2, the stats-oriented voters who put Westbrook No. 3 or 4 will decide this race.

 

"Of all of Westbrook's MVP-caliber performances this season, two of the most memorable came this week....."



So there you go, Westbrook moves to #1 in USA Today's MVP poll with his "heroic games" coming from behind to beat lottery teams: Dallas and Orlando.

Part of the "narrative" is having identifiable "moments" for the voters. Amazing to me that Harden, after the Rockets win over OKC, seemed to have the firm grasp on the MVP and then the "Orlando" and "Dallas" games happened and that has turned the tides.

 

"Also, Westbrook has lots of really great scream-y pictures like this, which is great for our future content."

 

I think it's over. As dumb as it is, I really think Westbrook locked it up last week. Harden needs a couple of enormous triple doubles to end the season to have a chance. It's ridiculous, but seems to be how it works.

 

Many times, it's the "flavor of the day/week/month" mentality. Never mind the previous 65 games; what happened the in past 2 was incredible!

People were talking about Kawhi being #1 in the rankings after having a really good fourth quarter against Harden (and Spurs coming out with a win). Where's Kawhi now? #4 behind LeBron, in everyone's minds.

 

There is no question the "hot take pundits" are big influencers of the "Online Social/media" crowd. And that is a big reason why Westbrook leads in that audience segment.

 

Its def the humans brains obsession with a round even number like 10.

Its not about basketball as much as much as its about narrative and benchmarks

Some voters even admit it

EDIT: i hate it for rockets fans and mainly for James Harden. He cant catch a break. The narrative and voting criteria is always changed to deny harden.

People just dont like him. They think he is aloof, gimmicky, and awkward

 

Westbrook is going to win MVP because God made us with ten fingers. SMH.

 

The people voting against Harden don't care which team has a better record. Maybe they hate how he is so good at initiating foul calls in his favor by his crafty moves under any opponent sticking his arm out and raising up to throw the ball. Who knows, maybe they just don't like big bearded men. Awards like this only cause hate and discontent to the fans and players who don't win. They are too biased. I personally never liked the idea of giving out individual awards in a team sport, because it takes a total team effort to become Champions in any team sport.

 

NBA's The Jump is lobbying hard for Russ. Much harder than usual.

I feel really bad for Harden.

 

even after Westbrook has lost 2 straight and 3 of 5...

I'm hoping that the Harden supporters will come out in droves when it's time to vote and that logic, reasoning, and facts will win over "triple doubles"

 

I think it could get close.

If the overall 3rd record's difference drops within 1 or 2 games range ahead of the 4th NBA. This will get interesting.

And Russell scoring 42 Triple doubles.

 

Who are the guests on today's show? Seems like most TV shows are throwing themselves at Westbrook.

 

I really thought that this thing was a wrap after the 3rd quarter of that OKC game

this is all Dallas's and Orlando's fault...those 2 scrub teams choked and allowed Westbrook to drop monster triple doubles...OKC should've been on a 5 game losing streak

 

Just Nate Robinson and Tom Haberstroh. Nate if in full Russ Mode. They had a couple packages ready about Westbrook and Rachel Nichols made it a point to talk about all the former players that said it would be a travesty if Russ doesn't get the MVP.

Tom is a stats guy; it didn't seem like he wanted to talk much about Westbrook. He said it's a coin toss for him. He clearly knew what setting he was in. He tried to quell some of the Westbrook slurpage with Rachel interjecting with some "but this and thats."

That 10 minutes made my heart heavy though.

 

This was FANTASTIC.

This is a man who gets it. Fantastic analysis.

 

Well even after WB beasted on Mavs and ORL, Harden had a chance on back to back games on National TV to regain the momentum. he went on to hurt his wrists and then proceed to have two horrible games on national TV

 

yep. it was disastrous but forgettable in the eyes of the media. Surprisingly, media didn't hold any of those games against Harden. It was just damaging because they forgot Harden existed.

 

Seriously, *** the nba and the voting system and the bias shiz. It makes me sick to my stomach. If Harden loses this year, someone needs to make a petition to give that 2014 MVP to Harden. Seriously... *** it. I'm pissed right now.