Chris Broussard said that he still has Harden 1st, Kawhi 2nd, Westbrook 3rd, and Lebron 4th. He also straight up said that if Westbrook's apg fell to 9.9 and he was no longer averaging a triple double then he won't even be in the discussion since the triple double is his only argument. His argument for Harden is that his numbers are eye popping, and his team is overachieving with a decent but not great supporting cast. Kawhi's case is hurt because Greg Popovich is his coach and many will argue that Pop is the real MVP of that team. Broussard mentioned that the Spurs are 12-4 in the last 2 seasons without Kawhi (5-1 this year). They just came back from 28 down to win by 10 in a game that Kawhi and Lamarcus sat out. As long as Pop is there the Spurs will continue to win games no matter who's on the roster.
Skip Bayless literally said that it doesn't matter how many games the Thunder win, he would vote for Westbrook if he averaged a triple-double. Thankfully Skip doesn't have a vote.
If the Rockets can get to 55-56 wins and Harden has 2 or 3 more signature games that can influence the media (preferably against the Cavs, Warriors, or Thunder on national TV) then I think the award is his. Westbrook is slipping due to the slide that his team is on. They're now on pace to win around 44 or 45 games which just isn't good enough. He's also barely holding on to his triple double average. Westbrook did score 58 points in his last game, but the fact that he shot the ball 39 times in a game that didn't even go into OT while the next closest guy only had 9 shots is not a good thing. Kawhi is coming on strong, but he's a late arrival. He was barely being mentioned until a week ago. Lebron is missing games in order to rest and his team does not have some phenomenal record either. His numbers are good, but Harden's are even better.
I don't know what you mean by 'late arrival' If you look at his entire season from beginning to know, his stats, team record, defense have been MVP caliber.
late arrival as in nobody was really talking about him until a week ago He was behind Harden, Westbrook, Lebron, and Durant for pretty much the entire season. He moved up to 4th by default after KD's injury, and now after 1 game against the Rockets he's now in people's top 2.
Something I heard last night (and happy to be corrected here) but who and when was the last player to win MVP where their team didn't finish top 2 in their conference? Apparently it was Jordan 20ish years ago. If that's correct, then I get something historic like averaging a triple double over the season would sway voters even if that players team finished outside the top 2. Harden has had an outstanding season no question. But based on the law of averages, has he already missed out regardless?
What's the point of this post? No one suggested that there's significant correlation between winning titles and having an elite playmaker. I find it hilarious that you didn't include LeBron and Magic in your list though. Two of the best playmakers in NBA history and they alone have 8 championships combined and counting.
I respect the Spurs immensely but as crappy as it is to say, I think the fact Pops has been so successful as a coach undermines Kawhi's case a bit because Pops has been the constant of that team through consistently very good teams. When I think San Antonio, I think about the system and as good as Kawhi is, he still feels like a cog in the system. It even feels like Pop would push them to a top 3 seed even if Kawhi weren't there. Now they would be a far less dangerous team without Kawhi BUT good regular season teams and dangerous playoff teams are sometimes entirely different things. The thing is, Kawhi makes San Antonio dangerous but this team may very well be neck and neck with Houston fighting for the 2nd seed if you somehow removed Kawhi from the team. So I'm thinking something like this when I'm thinking MVP since they all put up MVP worthy stat lines: Rockets with Harden - 3rd seed, and a dangerous playoff series team Rockets without Harden - a surefire lotto team Spurs with Kawhi - 2nd seed and a dangerous playoff series team Spurs without Kawhi - still a top 4 seed at worst but not a dangerous playoff series team OKC with Westbrook - 6th or 7th seed and a dangerous playoff game team but beatable in a series OKC without Westbrook - a surefire lotto team Cavs with Lebron - 1st seed in the East and a dangerous playoff series team Cavs without Lebron - a surefire lotto team ....and just for grins even though he is hurt: Golden State with Durant - 1 seed and clear title favorite - the most dangerous team of all time Golden State without Durant - 73 wins and still the most dangerous team of all time(but no title!) ...by that logic Lebron and Harden represent probably the biggest difference to their teams and thus have more value. One thing working against Lebron though is that he plays with two other All Stars while Harden plays with only one All Star Weekend participant.
Agree with everything except this, the Cavs with Irving, Love, Shumpert and Smith would still be top 5 in the east.
My bad - you're right, I was forgetting about Love although it's worth noting they were a lotto team with Kyrie and the Wolves were a Lotto team with Love.
Based on NBA.COM, Westbrooke took the MVP spot from Harden, not Kawhi. Guess the 31st triple double & W over the Spurs did the trick.
he said that he has a vote this year, and if u look back at previous ballots he's on there as well...he actually voted for Harden back in 2015
This is what you said earlier: So although you didn't correlate elite playmaking with winning titles, you did significantly overrate the value of elite playmaking. That's why I pointed out the discrepancy in championships. Both Lebron and Magic are physical freaks. They're both essentially 6'9" point guards. That's why they were so successful. When Harden grows a few inches, then we can start comparing them. Until then, they're in a level by themselves.
Since 1985, only twice has a 3 seed won MVP Jordan in 88 and Malone in 99. Utah was tied for best record though Rest of the time has always been a #1 or#2 seed
Hahaha, this is especially more amusing since they just lost to the Tpups Gutted the defense for Durant and now they're paying the price
