Stephen A. Smith on NBA MVP "James Harden or Greek Freak"

"What James Harden is doing right now is literally carrying the Houston Rockets on his back."

I would pay to see that.

 

You could make a case either way for MVP. But Harden is the best basketball player in the world right now, award or not.

 

Didn’t listen yet. I listened to the Dunc’d On Basketball podcast today morning, and I thought they made a decent case for Giannis.

Giannis brings All-Defense capability plus his team is on pace for 60 wins. I can’t see Harden winning this if the Rockets just barely scratch 50 wins, even if he does lead the league in scoring by a wide margin.

He is in the spotlight right now, but I think he will fall back down in the MVP ladder pretty fast once he cools off a bit, unless the Rockers can continue to rise in the standings.

 

Harden will start bench pressing CP3 first, then we will stack the players one by one on top. Piggybacks are too easy.

 

its easy decision, who is the better player, who makes his teammates better, who is more clutch, who is the better shot take, who can close out game......???

I mean WTF is it even close....??

 

This. Harden would really have to separate himself in the stats category, which believe it or not he hasn’t yet, to get over Giannis if the win disparity is too big.

 

Houston needs to beat Bucks and Nuggets to shut down those mouth. Go Rockets

 

Huh? Harden’s PPG is a good 5 points higher than the 2nd highest player. That’s not separate enough? We’re talking about ~30ppg range. Even 1 point difference is huge here. And he’s got a 5 point advantage. FIVE!

 

Rockets need to finish top 3 in West and hope the Bucks slip some to give Harden the edge.

 

but your boy stat-padding rebound stealing boy westy though

 

PPG isn’t everything. Giannis, believe it or not, is better in scoring efficiency. He plays less minutes and takes less shots but he is elite in efficiency. Obviously a better rebounder and defender and is actually creating pretty decent for others. I believe he’s also on pace to break the dunk record.

Harden has his obvious advantages but at this point it’s not enough to overcome the record disparity.

But things change.

 

It's fine to argue for Giannis. I don't have anything against him or people who say that he should be MVP... except that they are wrong.

 

https://www.basketball-reference.com/friv/mvp.html

I think this does a pretty decent job of predicting.

 

Of course ppg isn’t everything, but it’s the most important stat of all. The Greek Freak is a better rebounder because guess what, he’s a 7 footer! He’d better rebound better. But he’s not in top 5 in ANY of the stat category (ppg/asst/rpg/block/steals). Like none! How does he separate from others?

The only thing going for the Greek freak is the team record. But we’re only what 4 games back, despite the horrible start and all the injuries? So 5 points (it’s actually 7 points over Greek freak) isn’t separate enough, but 4 games is? I don’t think so.

 

Double post

 

Giannis will probably win because the media likes him more but we know who the MVP is

 

If the vote was today Harden would win. That basketball reference estimation uses win shares disproportionately. Harden has a step up on Giannis regardless of who finishes with more wins. All of the analysis of course is dependent on him keeping up this play.

NBA.com has Harden #1:
http://www.nba.com/article/2019/01/04/kia-mvp-ladder-week-12-2018-19?collection=news

Vegas has Harden #1:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/adamza...eak-james-harden-is-now-the-nba-mvp-favorite/

Plenty of other sauces..

 

James Harden IS the Greek Freak. He is James Harden, he is ALSO the Greek Freak.

 

waitaminute.... so I'm saying Harden is the MVP... and yer sayin he's not?

I... I just dont know what to say to that...


lol!