Congrats to Harden for securing only the 2nd 30 pt average per season in Rockets history. This following the only 10+ assist per game in a season in Rockets history last season.
https://www.si.com/nba/2018/04/11/2...liers-rockets-lebron-james-harden-ben-simmons MOST VALUABLE PLAYER James Harden, Rockets LeBron James, Cavaliers Anthony Davis, Pelicans Damian Lillard, Blazers Kevin Durant, Warriors James Harden’s MVP case isn’t perfect: The Rockets guard has missed nine games, the second-most for an MVP winner during the three-point era (only Allen Iverson in 2001 missed more). That blemish aside, Harden has accumulated so many superlatives that he deserves to win his first career MVP by a comfortable margin. Among players with at least 60 games played, Harden ranks first in scoring, usage, Player Efficiency Rating, Win Shares and Real Plus Minus. That individual clean sweep is buttressed by his team’s steady dominance, as Houston leads the NBA in wins, point differential, offensive rating, and three-pointers. To make a case against Harden, one must lean heavily on valiance. LeBron James, Anthony Davis and Damian Lillard have all performed admirably with supporting casts that are undoubtedly weaker than Harden’s squad. All three arguably have sexier narratives: James hasn’t missed a game while carrying Cleveland through an injury-ravaged and trade-altered rollercoaster, Davis posted mammoth numbers after DeMarcus Cousins suffered a season-ending injury, and Lillard turned it on down the stretch to make Portland one of the league’s biggest surprises. But Harden has enough convincing counters that voters shouldn’t be swept away by his competition’s heroic stories. Don’t forget: He carried Houston to an excellent start despite Chris Paul’s extended injury absence. What’s more, his playmaking has served a central role in making his supporting cast look so good: His on-the-ball wizardry and superb passing sets up everyone—from Paul to lesser-known off-season acquisitions like P.J. Tucker and Luc Mbah a Moute—for success. And with help from GM Daryl Morey and coach Mike D’Antoni, Harden has spun 180 degrees since his ill-fitting pairing with Dwight Howard, transforming from an occasionally disengaged and unreliable teammate to the leader of a juggernaut that took pleasure in methodically ripping apart its opponents all season. Simply put, Houston’s lack of drama should be treated as a strength of Harden’s candidacy, not a weakness. For voters insisting on a storyline, Harden offers two good ones: 1) He’s been the best player on the league’s winningest team, and 2) he’s been out for revenge. After finishing second to Russell Westbrook in the hotly-contested 2017 MVP race, Harden came back even stronger, posting a 30 PPG/ 8 APG/ 5 RPG stat line that has only been matched by Westbrook (2017) and Michael Jordan (1989) during the three-point era. This season, Harden has improved all of his major advanced stats and guided Houston to franchise records in wins (smashing the old mark of 58) and offensive efficiency (currently the 7th best ever). In a hypothetical world without the recent Golden State dynasty, Harden’s individual campaign and Houston’s potent offense would draw far more attention and historical comparison than they have to date. Perhaps that’s the best closing argument: During a season in which most prognosticators assumed the Warriors would trounce all comers, Harden led a sustained, brilliant and awe-inspiring challenge that brought the Rockets far closer to their superteam target than most thought possible. James, who said recently that he would vote for himself, has been spectacular, even by his own standard. At 33, he’s leading the league in minutes, averaging career-highs in assists and rebounds, and posting his highest scoring mark since 2010. His 27 PPG/ 8 RPG/ 9 APG line has only been matched by two players during the three-point era: Westbrook and Harden last season. Despite a cavalcade of injuries and trades around him, James has led Cleveland to a top-five offensive rating and a sparkling 30–15 record in close games (score within five points in the last five minutes) while ranking first in clutch points and second in clutch plus-minus. While Harden holds slight edges over James in the major individual advanced stats, the gap between Houston and Cleveland is too vast to ignore. James bears some of the responsibility for that: Even though he has maintained the “Best player in basketball” title for another year, his effort has waned for stretches and the Cavaliers have posted an atrocious 111 defensive rating with him on the court. Houston has been excellent on offense and strong on defense with Harden; the same just can’t be said for Cleveland with James. Kudos to Davis for making this race a little more interesting down the stretch, as he has ripped off 30 PPG/ 11 RPG averages since the All-Star break to deliver on the Pelicans’ playoff mandate, even without Cousins. It’s strange that Davis doesn’t get more love in the “Best two-way player” conversation: His stats compare favorably to Shaquille O’Neal’s best work, he can score in every conceivable manner from every imaginable spot, and he is a game-changing presence defensively. Davis leads the league in blocks, covers tons of ground when helping and switching, and handles his business on the glass. If New Orleans had fully broken through the West’s crowded middle tier, he would have had a better shot at displacing Harden or James. Lillard makes an unexpected landing at fourth due to sheer opportunism. The seas parted in the West standings—due to injuries to Kawhi Leonard and Jimmy Butler—and Lillard carried the Blazers through with another trademark late-season surge. His Stephen Curry-like numbers (26 PPG/ 4 RPG/ 6APG) are impressive, but the real progress has come on the defensive end and, as Lee Jenkins recently detailed, in his command of game flow. Lillard’s presence has markedly improved the Blazers’ offensive and defensive ratings this season, and that improved balance has the Blazers far exceeding preseason expectations. The race for the fifth spot was thinned out by injuries to Curry, Butler, Kyrie Irving and Joel Embiid. Sadly, Giannis Antetokounmpo’s one-man army act was undercut by Milwaukee’s persistent mediocrity. Durant thus claimed the spot almost by process of elimination: The 2017 Finals MVP has “quietly” averaged 26 PPG/ 6 RPG/ 5 APG, nearly reached the 50/40/90 shooting club, and dominated at times defensively for a Warriors team that coasted to the league’s third-best record.
I hate this argument more than any argument against Harden. Harden's supporting cast is so good, he hasn't played with a single All Star since 2013-14 Dwight Howard. This is the worst argument in the world. Like Harden is out there playing with 3 All Stars like Curry. Last time I checked Lebron had Love, Davis had Cousins, even though they were hurt for part of the season, so was CP3. I can't believe Lebron will get an MVP finishing 4th in the East. Cleveland may have missed the playoffs if they were out west.
Some of my favorite arguments ive seen people use for LeBron: 1) His coach was out - People were literally laughing and saying that LeBron was the coach anyways, but now they are using Lue's absence as an argument to make LeBron look like an MVP. I will concede, though, that in that time LeBron carried the Cavs to a 9-1 record. That's fairly impressive. 2) Injuries - We're punishing Harden because some of his guys stayed healthy. 3) Traded whole team away - So Kyrie Irving forced a trade to get out. Isaiah Thomas joins the team and then forces his way out. D-WADE joined the team and then decided that he would rather go back to Miami. I guess maybe next year Harden needs to piss everybody on the team off and force them to leave, then maybe he can check that box off. 4) His #2 guy has been hurt - Kevin Love has literally played more games than Chris Paul, but sure, whatever. And finally, my favorite one: 5) His team is weaker - This one makes me laugh the most. It would make sense if this was Harden's first year on the scene, but he has proven he can carry teams. His first year as a Rocket he carried Jeremy Lin and Chandler Parsons to the playoffs in the West. That same year, LeBron carried Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh to a 66-16 record. Guess who won the MVP that year (Hint: it was LeBron). Three years ago LeBron had Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love, Harden had Dwight Howard (for 41 games) and Trevor Ariza, guess who had the better record (Hint: it was Harden). Last year LeBron had Krie Irving and Kevin Love, Harden had Eric Gordon and Ryan Anderson. Guess who had the better record (Hint: it was Harden). I seriously hope that people are really just trying to set up arguments for ratings and likes because it would be an absolute travesty if LeBron won it over Harden.
Zach Lowe voted for Harden! http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/...defensive-player-year-rookie-year-more-awards
Exactly. The same media will then bemoan, "but CP3 should have been an all-star".. well then you should have voted him to be one, lol. Curious: Any 65+ win team every without at least 2 current season all-stars? Another point, I'm not even sure why Lebron is even a debate or a unanimous #2? His stats aren't so crazy better than AD, they're only 3 wins better than the Pelicans who play in the still tougher conference, AD has dealt with team "crisis" via the Cousins injury, without Cousins the question was could they even make the playoffs, AD didn't "take a month off"
Zach Lowe about to put up 47,000 weird stats pointing to Harden winning the MVP, omit all that & say something like “a healthy Kawhi has my true vote” & then reluctantly give in to voting for Harden.
http://www.espn.com/espnradio/play?id=23116874 ZL: MVP? KA: I've got James Harden. Is that a controversy? There's a good case for LeBron and the margin closed in the last month of the season but I don't have a compelling reason not to vote for Harden. ZL: Did you put LeBron two? KA: Yes, absolutely & that was easy. ZL: I had the same one-two. Statistically, they're equal. Zoom out, statistically, they're equal. He's clearly #2 and I'm not sure anyone else has an argument. KA: When you say what's a MVP, to me, it's a guy who scores a lot efficiently. You want to put the ball in the basket. TS% is always something I probably overvalue. I think LeBron passed him in the past week or so. I'd be more persuadable for LeBron if he was a better defender this year. That's always been the edge he's had over other players. "He's a 5-position player!" If he wasn't so apathetic this year...it's funny, he rates worse than Harden in Defensive Real +/-, which is hard to do because it punishes guards usually. ... ... Do I reward LeBron for playing 13% more basketball than Harden this year? This goes up & down all the awards. I'm having a Chris Paul problem. I want to put him 5th in my MVP ballot, between him & Lillard. What do I do with games played? Do I punish? Do I rate it out? Is there a threshold? Once he clears 60 games, it's all the same? It's hard filling out this ballot. ZL: Different for every award & some voters don't care. Some voters will put Roberson on 1st team All-D with 39 games. I can't. DPOY is where I struggled with it. For MVP, when you're talking about players in this stratosphere, ...I think MVP & All-NBA is different. For All-NBA, I'm not all the way there but I tilt to who were just the best guys? ... We live in era now where 70 games counts as a full season. It's cool LeBron played 82. I don't care very much he played 82 & Harden played 70-whatever. I don't care. The difference between 72 and 62 is material and 62 and 54 is now making me nervous for MVP. For me, the games played still matter but I struggle with how much. None of that made any sense. KA: One struggle I've been having is ... I have Harden, LeBron, Davis, Antetokounmpo & a spot for Paul or Lillard. By your criteria, I'd have Dame as 5th on MVP but the 2nd guard on 1st team All-NBA & I'd have Chris Paul bumping Lillard down to 2nd team. ... ... ZL: I will punish Curry & Paul on the All-NBA teams (drop them more than the average voter because of what other guys have done in 20-25 more games. As long as they're on the All-NBA teams - Curry & Paul - I feel I have done enough right by them that I can put them on 3rd team or wherever. You just named my MVP ballot. Harden - LeBron - AD - Giannis - Damian. I had Durant 5th until the last 4-5 games. They've been so ehhh without Curry. I decided given all the other tools Durant has compared to Lillard... KA: Are they protected from the 5th? Does 3-4 matter as much this year in the West? Would you rather have Golden State or Houston in 3 1/2 weeks? ZL: I was talking with execs & coaches from teams 3-9 in the West, the fear factor for the Warriors without Curry is not there. It does not exist. They say they'd rather play the Warriors in the first round right now than the Thunder or the Jazz. Right now, in this state, in which they are 7-10. This is happening last night during the Jazz's destruction. That's a bridge too far for me. Anyways, that's my MVP ballot. I will spoil by All-NBA stuff and will put Lillard All-NBA 1st team next to Harden. KA: I'm leaning Lillard over Paul. When Chris Paul is active, it's insane. In terms of WS per 48, he's above everyone but Harden. His value when he's playing is among top 2-3. ZL: He leads the league in real +/- & it's not close either. KA: It's not. When he's on the court for a possession, he might be the MVP. It's hard for me to leave him off entirely.
For me, if I see a vote, especially if it is an official vote, I post it here just for reference. Hope others do as well. Lets keep track!
FYI, on yesterday's Hoop Collective podcast Shelbourne and Hubbarth (both who said they have official votes) voted for Harden. Hubbarth was pretty torn however and said "if LeBron would have won that 76ers game with the comeback I probably would have voted for him.' Kind of irked me as that is akin to last year with Westbrook and his Den/Orl game winners.
Maybe someone can keep a running total then? The tweets never load for me so I can't see what those people said. Someone could just keep like: Harden- 2 (Zach Lowe, Kevin Arnovitz) LeBron- 1 (whoever that other guy is) etc...
