James Harden is gonna get screwed over again in MVP Voting

His shooting has been down of late and he missed a whole bunch of games compared to last year, Bev is much the same guy though. As for expectations, Anderson has been doing a bit less, Gordon probably a bit more (on the healthf ront), Ariza a bit worse, Harrell in his brief Capela fill-in a bit more, and the rest have been there or thereabouts. The only player whose really gone above and beyond expectations is Harden. The only way you can think any of the vets are having career years is if this is the first year you've watched.

 

I'm sorry, but you're 100% wrong. Look at Beverley's stats this year. He's averaging 5.8 rpg, 4.5 apg, and 1.6 steals per game. Those are all career highs, and there are threads calling for him to make the all-defensive first team. This is easily a career year for Beverley, and frankly, your inability to recognize this shows that you're a Harden fan first and a Rockets fan second.

Also, regarding Gordon and Anderson, I've repeatedly mentioned their expectations in the context of both their health and production. When both are considered, it's undeniable that they've both exceeded expectations. We have 19 games left in the season, and Gordon has already played in more games than he did in 2011, 2012, 2013, and 2016. Also, it's laughable that you think Anderson hasn't met his expectations. We brought him in to be a floor spacer, and he's shooting 40% from the 3pt line with 7 attempts per game. He and Gordon have also showed us a shooting range that none of us expected.

You can't win this argument.

 

The media Is doin all they can to not give it to Harden, smh.. WB could avg a triple double n miss the playoffs n people will still vote for him. Now that his team is losing.. KL name is being thrown in the mix smh

Harden is avg more points, assist and rebounds than KL, and KL has LMA and PG on his team. KL is a great defender, but his impact on his team is not greater than Harden' s

The rockets were expected to miss the playoffs or fight for an 8th seed by a lot of the media. This bias against him is ridiculous

 

Nope, they are performing to expectations. Thus, the 2nd best record in the NBA. If they were exceeding expectations. , then they'd probably be a couple games closer to the Warriors.

 

A couple of games closer? That would put them tied with Warriors. With that performance last night, Kawhi has put his name in the conversation for MVP. Harden has not been able to close out the Spurs in his last 3 attempts. I think it has to be between Kawhi and James and don't consider Westbrook in the conversation really when his team is floundering around 6-7th seed.

 

In his 4 years with New Orleans, Ryan Anderson missed about 30% of the total games. After 64 games this season, he's missed only 5%.

In his 4 years with New Orleans, Ryan Anderson averaged 37% from the 3pt line. This season, he's been shooting them from greater distances and averaging 40%.

In his 5 years with New Orleans, Eric Gordon missed about 44% of the total games. After 64 games this season, he's missed only 9%.

In his 5 years with New Orleans, Eric Gordon averaged 39% from the 3pt line. This season, he's been shooting them from greater distances in much more volume and averaging 38%.

Beverley is having a career year.

In the context of both production and health, all 3 of these guys have clearly exceeded expectations, and frankly, it's not debatable.

 

You said Ryan andrrson, a streaky inconsistent one dimensional soft 3 point shooter that is paid 80 million dollars is 'exceeding expectations".

Pure garbage what you're saying.

 

Out of curiosity, what did you expect from him?

 

garbage? having one of his best seasons from deep and missing a total of 3 games thus far. he's definitely not underachieving. it's only the people that don't understand what he was brought here to do and who he is as a player that think it's garbage

 

Your question was "Outside of Leonard, who has exceeded expectations?"

My response was that the players on the Spurs are playing exactly to their expectations which is why they are 2nd in the league. If their players were exceeding expectations, they'd be a couple games closer to the Dubs if not tied.

Yes, Gordon, Anderson, and Bev are having great years and that is not exclusive of Harden's MVP season.

I'm not really arguing here. I'm just stating the obvious which is that the Spurs have great consistent players and are playing as exactly as anyone should expect.

 

Your logic is flawed. It's like saying that, as a group, you expect the trio of Harden, Anderson, and Gordon to average 40% from the 3pt line. At the end of the day, Harden shoots 80% from the 3pt line while both Anderson and Gordon shoot 20%.

According to your logic, everyone has shot exactly to their expectations b/c as a group, they've averaged 40%.

Do you see the disconnect?

You're saying that 12 ppg and 8 rpg from Gasol and 17 ppg and 7.5 rpg from Aldridge were fair expectations?

 

I think you're a bit disconnected in your rebuttal but go on with your assertion that my logic is flawed. I never mentioned anything about the Rockets expectations.

All I said that is the Spurs team is performing to what many would expect of them. Until Pop is no longer coaching that team I'm going to expect them to be consistently elite.

And yes, that's a fair expectation considering how the Spurs team is ran.

My other statement: "Anderson, Gordon, and Bev are having good seasons..." I'm not exactly sure how you're pulling arguments out of these but have at it.

 

Your logic is flawed, and I was giving you a hypothetical scenario illustrating how it was flawed. You said that because the Spurs are performing as expected as a team, then their individual players must be performing as expected. That's poor logic. That's why I gave you the Harden/Gordon/Anderson shooting scenario....to show you that reaching expectations as a team doesn't mean that the individual players have met their individual expectations.

 

Okay.

 

ESPN's The Jump

Marc Stein: If Thunder win 50 games Westbrook is MVP.

It seems Cuban unknowingly set the bar for Westbrook while trolling the press and now it has legs. It isn't the 4-5 seed anymore, now it's 50 games. Stein didn't say if it's 50 games AND the triple double though. I think it's implied.. or not. Media is thirsty for it.

Stein went on to say that Nash deserved the MVP because he took a 20 something win team to 50+ win team.. interesting...

Stephen Jackson: Kawhi is above Harden

Rachel Nichols: Made a gawd damn poster of Westbrook as best season and Lebron as best player in her campaign for MVP.

Michelle Beadle came in from a different set to give out Kawhi paraphernalia

 

Michelle Beadle about to be insufferable on Sportsnation..

If Rockets won that game last night.. we wouldn't have heard a word about it...

 

Damn she is super obnoxious. All pumped up after last night game. Angrily screaming for Kawhi. Waiving a Kawhi MVP banner around. Everyone else was giving Harden props, while she was aggressively ******** on him.

 

edit

 

Gawd Damn, Michelle Beadle hates James Harden. No respect given at all...

She has officially turned Amin off. He doesn't even want to talk basketball anymore.. HE'S PAID TO TALK BASKETBALL!

 

What happened?