Harden: "I thought winning was the most important thing"

Most Valuable Player. To what? Winning games? Or winning while said player is on the court? You tell me.

But here's reality. We were 2-6 against the Warriors and Spurs this year.

So if James is going to make a case for winning then it's going to go against him. Because Kawhi and Curry dominated him in the winning column, both overall and head-to-head.

Yeah, Curry has better teammates. But Kawhi? Aldridge? Look at Aldridge's numbers. Won't shoot the three. Prefers those crappy 17 footers. Him and Pau clog the lane so bad they had to split them up and they looked at trading Aldridge. Parker? Manu? Over the hill. Predicted to stumble to mediocrity.

The Spurs roster IS NOT better than ours.

So if you're gonna make a case for winning, the mvp should belong to Kawhi or Steph, especially if you look at all four players playing head to head.

And the playoffs are going to show it too. Kawhi is a defensive monster, a truly great two-way player. And if he's healthy it's gonna show in the playoffs. Especially when we play them and they choke out our shooters and let Kawhi take Harden defensively.

Barring serious injury this post season, Russ is going down in the first round, Harden is going out in the second round, and the Spurs or Warriors will come out of the West and win it all.

The true MVP argument should be between Kawhi and Steph......If we're gonna talk about winning. Birth teams would be, at best, 6 seed or lower without their main man, just like us.

 

Put him under a average coach and around average iq type nba teammates and it changes. Like i said he is a great player and his impact on defense is really is strong point. Lebron, Harden and Westbrook just play different and it gives a coach more variety in what they can do with those players versus a Leonard who has to play off the ball a lot more. Leonard has to be in discipline system or he wouldn't stand out on the level of those other three. That's what I'm saying.

 

Makes sense what you say but that is your wishful thinking and MVP still is a regular season award. Stats do count.

I am sure Kawhi will win it in the future so no worries there.

 

Efficiency counts too. Give Damon Lillard 55 possessions and block out for him and he'll put up even more numbers because he can actually shoot from distance.

 

Since the 82-83 season, nobody has ever been so media-driven for performing well after losing a teammate the prior season. This is going to be an MVP based on media blitzing alternate opinions into oblivion.

 

I also sense that this year could be more special than a normal year.

Rules and norms are there to be broken or bent.

 

I'd love to see the last game of the season, where we funnel all the rebounds to Harden and play him at 50+ usage, just to illustrate how stupid a Westbrook vote is.

 

Send this to Harden. It is this teams' duty to embarass and destroy the entire OkC organization. I don't have any hate for Westbrook but I have hated their owners since they moved the sonics. That organization doesn't deserve squat. It makes me sick how much ESPN still rides and promotes that team. I hope Westbrook demands a trade to another team soon.

 

Exactly, he's only human there's only so much disappoint a person can take. Losing MVP to Steph, snubbed from All-NBA, probably losing MVP to Westbrook. I just hope next season he keeps playing to win and doesn't become a stat chaser for the accolades, because I think he's definitely feeling under appreciated.

Not saying Harden is soft or a diva, but generally people like to feel appreciated. Some people here expect athletes to be emotionless robots or something, he's hardly whining, he's just speaking his mind.

 

100% disagree. people just love to be stuck on the general outlook on a player without looking at actual play these days. oh well. won't change my appreciation for players that put the work in

 

Nobody would ever question whether or not Harden deserved the MVP if he leads the Rockets to a 4-1 waxing of the Thunder. That's the ONLY goal at this point, and something that should be on every single player's mind in that locker room. The Rockets need to make it so that even so much as bringing up Westbrook's MVP leads to a cringe, a la Dirk.

 

I am not advocating for Leonard. But it's silly to compare his game to that of Harden's and Westbrook's. They are completely different type of players playing in completely different systems.

Guys like Westbrook, Harden, LeBron, Nash, Iverson, etc. are ball dominating play makers. These players have high assist numbers by virtue of their role and their style. Some are better passers and some are better scorers than others. But they all rack up a lot of assists.

Leonard is not like that. And he plays in a motion offense. Motion offenses do not have one single player dominating the ball and getting lots of assists. The Spurs don't have a dominating play maker since Parker lost his speed. Parker leads the team at 4.6 apg. Leonard is second at 3.5. Nobody has 5 or more on the team, yet the Spurs ranks 6th at number of assists. That's pretty clear to me it's the system. But it's also the players. The coaches devise their systems for their star players (or get players that fit their systems.)

 

LOL.. Westbrook ain't going anywhere anytime soon, and probably ever. I think he's going to retire an OKC Thunder. After what Durant did, there's no way Westbrook leaves, EVER. Just think about it. This makes Westbrooks image and personality go up the roof in relation to the media, the fans.

But hey, if he came to Houston, then I wouldn't mind...

 

I get what you're saying but James is the only MVP candidate with WINS AND NUMBERS!!!

But because of 2 rebounds it's likely voters will reward NUMBERS ONLY!!! Never mind that some of those rebound numbers are gift wrapped by OKC teammates.

 

Leonard has a better argument than Westbrook. But Harden has historically amazing numbers and a good record. Really think he should be the front runner.

 

Stats get you looked at for MVP...
Team success gets you considered for MVP...
beyond that... it's a popularity contest... it's about marketing and a feel good story...

Cracks me up that people keep trying to make it into an algebraic expression to declare who the indisputable winner should be... I guess that's just the age of analytics - lol!

I dont like Curry... but I get why he's won... stats, success, pretty boy, cute wife n kid for the photo opp...

James has done much better with his pr image this year... not seein him show up on stripper's instagrams and such... lol! btw whatever became of the little Mo thing?

The guy is getting better... he's just not always all that likable - tbh... can come off as aloof... the homeless man beard probably doesn't fly with some... stupid things like team huddles, traveling with the team, eating with the team... they're trivial... but can play into people's perception...

If you're MJ or Kobe... you could (and did) pretty much get away with anything and still get the glory... but if you're anybody else in a close race... perception can tip the scales...

Not sayin it's right... but it is what it is...

 

I feel bad for Harden, he did enough to win MVP two years now, but people just don't like his game. What else can you say.

 

Stats alone says this years ROCKETS HAVE ONE OF THE BEST TOP 10 OFFENSES OF ALL TIME!

 

The Rockets can beat the Thunder and people will still think Westbrook is better than Harden. The reality is that Westbrook is likely to set the NBA usage record this post season. He is going to shoot the ball 35-40 times a game and will dominate the ball to a level that will ensure he has rebounds and assists.

Westbrook isn't a very efficient scorer, and as a consequence isn't as "good" a scorer as many think, but what he does do well (even better than Harden) is stay on the court and handle a work load of ungodly proportions. Harden is an absolute bull, he can play 40+ minutes and handle a load only a handful of players have in history........... but be prepared. There are going to be some game lines where Westbrook against the Rockets has 45 points on 12-40 from the field and 20 free throws, to go along with a dozen assists and 15-20 rebounds. Harden may respond with 38 points on 10 - 24 from the field with a 12 free throws and 14-15 assists. Even though the reality is Westbrook will be inefficient, the talk will be about Westbrook having 45 point games....... Westbrook could easily average 40/12/12 in this series and lose in 5 games.

 

Agree with @Nook. Now that the 3x2 race is over for Westbrook he can go full on score mode. The games were he is the most dangerous is when he dials it back and involves his teammates.