James Harden is gonna get screwed over again in MVP Voting

What's even more remarkable is what if Durant stayed healthy and put up Durant numbers.

He would have been the favorite because they were the "#1 Seed" on the best team in the NBA. Script would change. And people would be stirring the debate on Durant vs. Westbrook and changing the narrative. JH season would have been on the back burner.

I think the media really does ignore and hate the Rockets.

 

The lack of intelligence in this conversation bothers me.

 

http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/19141335/predictions-mvp-rookie-year-more

 

Harden is about to get screwed, but hopefully he uses this as motivation in the matchup against Westbrook. He needs to channel his inner Olajuwon versus Robinson. Hardens numbers are much better and the lame argument that Kawhi wins are more valuable than Hardens is laughable. They are so much worse other than field goal percentages. I believe that Harden and the Rockets should have not come out to plead their cases. Humility would have given them a few more voters. On the flip side, I understand why they did it. These internet articles written by Stein, Lowe, Adande are all by fat overweight columnist that do not have a speck of athletic ability.

 

Russell WB - likely to be MVP

James Harden - Champion of our hearts, the real MVP

 

The only reason to cite the Spurs' record w/o Leonard is to comment on the strength of his supporting cast. However, given that he was strategically rested against weak opponents by Popovich, that record is intentionally skewed. That's why it's a weak argument.

 

The key thing to understand is that the narrative was always going to be whatever it needed to be. Whatever made Westbrook stand out, was going to be pushed.

This is why the Westbrook media push bothers me more than the Curry media push. Curry organically came about. Him and the Warriors shocked everybody by being as good as they were in 2015, so while the media was obviously on his side, it at least was logical that they'd latch onto him. With Westbrook, it's been obvious from July 4th that this year was dedicated to Westbrook. Whether Westbrook needed wins, triple doubles, or whatever, that was where the focus was going to lie.

 

The worst thing is that we won't know until after the playoffs ???

Why not announce as soon as the votes are in , or before the second round like they used to ?

Seems like a needless change to me .

 

How does Skip still have a job?

 

Yes ESPN really is good at forecasting isn't it?

 

Houston is hard to figure out. They love all west coast/east coast and have a soft spot for small markets like oklahoma city and san antonio.

They also recognize dallas as the hollywood of texas.

They dont know what to think about bigass suburban houston. Huge city but not a huge metropolitan media center so its in a weird purgatory for a lot of media members

 

it's not a weak argument and your logic is flawed imo.

 

The trophy was created and awarded by Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame to Westbrook which is facking ridiculous.

Hey HOF, I'm expecting a trophy for every record shattered by Harden and the Rockets this season!!! Let's see them.

 

The only solace that I can take in this is at least the MVP won't be given to Westbrook until after the Finals, therefore many will not even care about it at that point. Will feel hollow.

 

I'm definitely on board that there is always a narrative.

I'm not sold the Westbrook narrative from day 1 was the complete reason he'll probably win this MVP. I mean, if ever a 6th seeded star player should win the MVP award, it's probably this one. It's not like Westbrook winning the MVP will go down as super controversial. Probably not the right choice, based on pure historical consistency, but you can't really freak out and say what, that's crazy. It isn't.

But there's clearly a narrative TODAY, a ESPN and Nike driven narrative.

 

The moment Durant left, the media hopped aboard the "RUSS REVENGE TOUR. TRIPLE DOUBLES. RUSS AGAINST THE WORLD!" narrative.

 

Maybe, but absent the triple double, Harden is winning the MVP regardless of media narrative.

Also, media narrative is a very weird beast. Westbrook has never been media friendly. He never seems friendly generally. And before Durant left he was the "problem" that got a good coach (Scotty - not amazing, but definitely good) fired, and has since basically neutered the second good coach they brought in. And he was the "problem" that drove away the clearly better player on the team. But the narrative as you note did immediately change.

 

Lowe (ESPN) - Leonard (Harden 2nd, Westbrook 3rd)
Marc Stein (ESPN) - Westbrook (Harden 2nd, Leonard 3rd)

 

Can we get the Rockets media department to remake their playoff intro video before Sunday to just feature highlights of the Hakeem vs David Robinson series?

 

At the beginning of the season Vegas had OKC winning 45 gms. They finished with 47.

At the beginning of the season Vegas had Houston winning 41 gms. They finished with 55.

OKC wound up being +2.
HOU wound up being +14.

So who was thought the better team entering the season? OKC.
HOU not only won EIGHT more gms then OKC but they also won FOURTEEN more gms then they were projected to.

So everyone makes a big deal out of Westbrook averaging a triple double.
Harden sets a record becoming the only person to have 2,000 pts, 900 assists and 600 rebounds.

The Rockets are the 3rd seed in the west AND they have the third best record in the league.

Harden is third out of 84 NBA guards on contesting shots at 8.7 a game.

Westbrook is third to LAST contesting a little over 3 shots per game, which obviously shows how/why Westbrook gets his rebounds.

All this and there are voters who think Westbrook is the MVP?