Its going to be between Harden and Westbrook. The one with better record will win. I would put all my money on Rockets having better record than Thunders. Harden for MVP!!!
There is a media bias against Harden baked in now that he will have to overcome. I doubt he can do it personally.
The Houston Rockets are shooting 65% on 2′s and 41% on 3′s on shots taken off passes from James Harden. 47% and 31% on non-Harden passes.
James Harden is ranked as the BEST player so far this season by ESPN. http://www.espn.com/nba/insider/sto...gs-lebron-james-kevin-durant-james-harden-top James Harden, take a bow. Harden opened up his week on the road against James and the Cavs. His first quarter Tuesday proved to be precursor for the 11 quarters that followed. He scored 13 points, more than any player on either team. He dished out six dimes, also more than any player. Harden finished that game with 41 points and 15 assists. He followed that up with 30 and 15 at Madison Square Garden and 30 and 12 in Atlanta. He finished the week averaging a tidy 33.7 PPG and 14.0 APG while shooting better than 50 percent from the floor in each game and averaging more rebounds (7.3) than his own starting center (Clint Capela, 6.7). How rare is the week Harden just had? According to the Elias Sports Bureau, just three other players in NBA history -- Oscar Robertson, Nate Archibald and Tim Hardaway -- have ever played in three straight road games and finished with at least 30 points and 10 assists in all of them. Harden is the only one to do it while shooting at least 50 percent in each game. Let's back up to that first quarter against Cleveland to really illustrate the value of his playmaking. A run through the roster of his assists: Capela dunk. Another Capela dunk. Eric Gordon from inside the paint. Trevor Ariza layup. Nene dunk. Corey Brewer layup. Five of the six were from inside of two feet with the other an uncontested runner. He finished the week with 24 assists on shots made inside of two feet. No other player had more than 15. If you only included his assists on those close looks, Harden's 8.0 APG for the week still would have ranked fifth in the NBA in total assists per game and ahead of prominent playmakers like Russell Westbrook, Stephen Curry and Giannis Antetokounmpo. Generating that volume of high percentage looks does wonders for an offense. If that wasn't enough music for Houston GM Daryl Morey's ears, consider his other 18 assists. 15 of them were on 3-pointers, with the other three all inside the paint. Not a single mid-range shot among his 42 total assists. For a franchise that routinely takes the fewest mid-range shots of any team in the NBA, Morey himself couldn't have come up with a better distribution of shots created from his franchise player. Harden's historic second week has further brought into focus some more rarified history. In 1972-73, Archibald became the first (and only) player to lead the NBA in points per game and assists per game in the same season. According to Elias, Archibald averaged 34.5 points and 10.8 assists through six games. Where Harden now stands (31.5 PPG and a league-leading 12.3 APG) is comparable and has at least opened the possibility of a season-long quest to stand alongside Archibald in the history books.
People really try to use this as a legitimate argument. Hilarious to me how people interpret "high energy" as "plus defender."
If someone tried to use that logic to compare Westbrook to Curry though they would get laughed out of the building...
LMAO, seems like Morey is just as psyched as I am about Harden finally getting some recognition from a major media outlet
MVP Year Seed Kevin Durant 2014 2nd LeBron James 2013 1st LeBron James 2012 2nd Derick Rose 2011 1st LeBron James 2010 1st LeBron James 2009 1st Kobe Bryant 2008 1st Dirk Nowitzki 2007 1st Steve Nash 2006 2nd Steve Nash 2005 1st Kevin Garnett 2004 1st Tim Duncan 2003 1st Tim Duncan 2002 2nd Allen Iverson 2001 1st Shaquille O'neal 2000 1st Karl Malone 1999 3rd (Tied for 1st best record though) Michael Jordan 1998 1st Karl Malone 1997 1st Michael Jordan 1996 1st David Robinson 1995 1st Hakeem Olajuwon 1994 2nd Charles Barkley 1993 1st Michael Jordan 1992 1st Michael Jordan 1991 1st Magic Johnson 1990 1st Magic Johnson 1989 1st Michael Jordan 1988 3rd Magic Johnson 1987 1st Larry Bird 1986 1st Larry Bird 1985 1st Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is the only one who has won the MVP award without his team making the playoffs in 1975-76 season. Lakers were 40-42 (.448) in that year. However, worst team record for an MVP was 33-39 (.458) in 1955-56 season. Bob Pettit of St. Louis Hawks won the award despite his team being ranked 7th of 8. Only 2 NBA MVP trophies have been awarded to a player on a team with losing regular season record: Bob Petitt in 1955-56 (first MVP ever awarded). His St. Louis Hawks tied 6th out of 8 teams with a record of 33–39 (.458). The team was seeded 3rd in the Western Division and lost in the division finals. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in 1975-76. His Los Angeles Lakers tied 9th out of 18 teams with a record of 40–42 (.488). The team did not qualify for the playoffs — this has been the only time an MVP played for a team that didn't make the playoffs The only other MVP winners to play for a team that won fewer than 60% of its regular season games are (they still qualified for the playoffs): Moses Malone twice for Houston Rockets, in 1978-79 (47–35, .573) and 1981-82 (46–36, .561). Bob McAdoo for Buffalo Braves, in 1974–75 (49–33, .598). Of the 61 MVPs to date (from 1955-56 to 2015-16): 39 played for the team with that year’s best regular season record. 23 of them won that season’s championship.
Probably Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in 1975-76. His team was 9th, had losing record (40-42), and didn't even make the playoffs.
He doesn't need to win the actual MVP. The goal should be to get people talk about and perceive Harden as a legitimate MVP candidate, as they did in the 14-15 season. He is too underrated at this moment in time.
In 2014-15 he actually was an MVP candidate and the Rockets got the 2nd seed. It wasn't just perception, it was reality. Probably should have won it that year
well there is always that 'what if' factor, both Westbrook and AD were considered to be legitimate MVP candidates few years ago with mediocre team record. If Harden continues to put up these gaudy numbers, there is no doubt that people will include Harden's name in the MVP discussion (actually it's already happening), if we somehow managed to win between 45-50 games. If we win more than 50 games, and Harden averages 30-10 for the entire season, then MVP is not an impossibility, probably not likely if we are not a top 3 team, but still slight chance.
So ESPN ranks Harden as the best player in the league through the 1st two weeks of the season, but George Hill won the Western Conference Player of the Week award?
