That may be true, but at the end of the day, being recognized by your peers is an accomplishment that James should be proud of. The guys that Harden has competed against, thinks that Harden has been the most valuable player in this league. Even if spectators watching don't think so, Harden can take pride knowing that the people who live playing basketball in the most competitive basketball league in this world recognize his importance.
I can't wait to tell my kids about that time that dozens of people tuned in to BET to watch Harden win an award that likely won't even exist by the time they're 12.
Wrong again. The 2015 MVP will always be remembered as the media vs player awards in which the media voted for Curry and the NBA players voted for Harden. I'll always remember it as the year the media shoved Curry in our faces so much that no one else stood a chance to win their award no matter how much more valuable they were to their teams. It's also the year the media made Curry the most popular player in the world and made his jersey a top seller. Maybe that is meaningful to you but me, personally, I'd rather James Harden's opponents recognize him as a more valuable player than Steph Curry. That's a very simple way of putting it. Why don't you go ask NBA players? Oh wait... Maybe they're Clutchfan members.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Knew it. Almost every player I asked said they'd voted for JH <a href="https://t.co/8W8yDScHLS">https://t.co/8W8yDScHLS</a></p>— Ramona Shelburne (@ramonashelburne) <a href="https://twitter.com/ramonashelburne/status/623611911603638272">July 21, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">NBA player Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors wins the Hardest to Guard Award. <a href="http://t.co/X8q0xSRQJL">http://t.co/X8q0xSRQJL</a></p>— Diamond Leung (@diamond83) <a href="https://twitter.com/diamond83/status/623647237625769984">July 22, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">NBA player Stephen Curry of Golden State Warriors poses with his Clutch Performer Award at The Players' Awards. <a href="http://t.co/T6RK8pcUsV">http://t.co/T6RK8pcUsV</a></p>— Diamond Leung (@diamond83) <a href="https://twitter.com/diamond83/status/623645560508166144">July 22, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
tbh anyone who thinks he was limping because of some injury, he was walking like that because he didn't want to crease his kicks
While I'm happy he won and for my money he should have won the real MVP, but I disagree that players know better than the media and their opinion is more valuable. Players have an inherent bias built in from small sample size. They only play against certain players only a few times a year (4 at most in the regular season out of a 82 game season) and their perception is heavily biased on the few games.
I don't see how the opinion of the media who merely watches from afar is more valuable then someone's peers who is apart of the NBA. Their ability to judge a player whether it's through playing with/against them, studying film, building relationships, etc is a lot more credible than a media person. It's easy to say players play against each other only a few times a year but these days players know each other better than what most of us think, both on and off the court.
You do realize that the players watch more than just the 2 games against a player right? Through film, highlights, etc. Plus, this is the players' vote. Not singular. Harden won the majority of the league so your "biasing the perception of the player" argument means little. Harden played so well that he biased everyone's opinion? Wouldn't that make him the winner of the majority? I guess what I'm saying is, all of the players play other opponents only 2-4 times a year. Harden has as much exposure to an opponent as anyone else, so the playin field is fair.
