James Harden is gonna get screwed over again in MVP Voting

The Cavaliers have a terrible record when Harden sits.

 

Enough to beat a team that won 73 games then added the 2nd best player in basketball.

 

Saw this on RealGM:

 

Confirmed. James Harden has at least 1 MVP vote. Kevin Ding is a voter.

 

D'antoni and Gordon winning awards actually hurts Harden's chances of MVP. it's too bad the dumbass media voters don't realize it's Harden making them look good, not the other way around. The same idiots who don't think Harden is all-nba. What a joke.

 

I want Harden to win but wouldn't be mad if Russ won.
Have to respect what he is doing imo.

 

Harden doesn't make Eric Gordon look good, unless you think he's making him healthier. Gordon this year has the exact same statline he did last year, except he's making an additional 3 a game on 3 more attempts.

 

@TheRealist137, but is Gordon getting "better looks" because of the attention Harden brings on the court?

 

Yeah, one knock against Harden is that our role players seem to play just as good - if not better- without Harden being on the court. It'a difficult fact for the Rockets fans to accept, but Harden's net rating (or other various plus-minus metrics) hasn't been that great this season, especially since January.

Net rating since Jan.

Gordon 10.0
Nene 9.7
Ariza 5.7
Capela 5.1
Beverley 5.1
Ryno 4.2
Harden 3.4

The average Rockets net rating during this time span is 4.9, so we've been actually worse off with Harden on the court. It's really no surprise since Harden has been shooting poorly, committed a lot of TOs, and played subpar defense all at the same time.

I mean there are just too many games where we generate or build on our lead without Harden's help, rather than vice versa. This wasn't the case when Harden was a legitimate MVP candidate back in 14-15. We definitely relied on him much more than we do now. Even Curry boasted impressive net rating or RPM while playing for the stacked Warriors during his back-to-back MVP seasons.

I want Harden to win the MVP, but I'm worried more statistically astute analysts might hold this against him.

 

Not really. In fact, Gordon shoots better when Harden is not on the floor.

http://stats.nba.com/vs/#!?PlayerID=201569&VsPlayerID=201935

Harden does make players like Capela, Nene and Harrell better with his elite PnR skills, but his impact on our 3PT shooting is sadly a bit overrated.

 

he didn't say anything about shooting better. more so the better looks. That's not something that you will find on some stat sheet. That's something you get by watching and understanding of the system while applying the concept of spacing and the attention your personnel receive.

Harden's impact on 3pt shooting overrated? don't agree here. he is the actual key for the most part, to the shots our shooters get night in and night out with all the attention he demands

 

http://stats.nba.com/team/#!/1610612745/onoffcourt-traditional/?sort=FG3_PCT&dir=1

Rockets as a team shoots 36.0% from the three when Harden is on the court. That number goes up to 37.2% when Harden is off. Harden is shooting 35.1% from beyond the arc himself, so he himself is not the reason for the 1.2% differential. The rest of his teammates are just not shooting well with Harden's presence. That's just brute fact; interpret it however you will.

I know the main narrative this year is Harden's making his teammates way better, but it kinda only applies to post players like Capela and Harrell. Harden's PnR numbers are indeed very good; certainly elite. But he does not impact our 3PT shooting positively at all for whatever reason.

 

You can respect what Westbrook is doing, but pay attention! Stop being distracted by TWO REBOUNDS.

 

that's fine. it's good that guys are holding there own when he's not on the court. Credit to them. but yeah i'm pointing out the spacing and how it relates to JH not %'s. Regardless I'm not going to over analyze the 10-12 minutes Harden isn't on the floor if you're going into shooting better with or without him.

 

That spacing Harden generates has significantly reduced due to Harden himself shooting so poorly and being so turnover prone, so other teams are playing D off of him now. His impact stats were very good across the board early in the season, but since Jan. it has fallen off the cliff; hence some warranted criticisms. If he can get back to his early season form he deserves to be the MVP; if he can't, then there's really nothing to complain about.

 

sorry but that's false. not even debatable really

 

you haven't provided a single objective measure other than anecdotes and personal opinions. I think the debate is over at that point.

 

got to remember than those players play a lot against the second unit of the other team

 

the entire game of basketball does not fall on nba.com/stats