Just read his article. At first it sounded like he was voting for Harden but then you can't use the excuse that the Rockets would be horrible without him to drive your vote but then chooses Curry becasuse he's the enginge that has kept them going?
I hate when ESPN say James Harden started to make a late push for MVP. He's been the destroyer of things since opening day.
hate to say it, but lowe makes good points, especially about how curry warps defenses even when he's off the ball. harden should spend all summer shooting threes, because if he can brush 40% next, he will wipe the floor with everyone.
If I were a neutral, I'd vote for Curry too. His FG%, 3P%, most advanced stats blow Harden out the water. THat and his team is north of 65 wins is very impressive. His D has also vastly improved. If we do finish 5th seed, I expect us to cruise past Portland and I expect a 2nd round with GSW where Harden better make Curry his b**** esp if Curry wins MVP
Guys, we should make peace with it and let Harden worry about exacting revenge on Curry in the 2nd rd/WCF Remember, our superstar is younger, more durable and will dominate his position for the near future.
So according to Zach Lowe, Warriors have 2 defensive player of the year candidates, 6th man of the year candidate, coach of the year candidate, and most improved player candidate. Rockets have 0. Yet Curry is his MVP over Harden?
Alienating hou fans prolly better for his career than Cali fans. Given the lakers plummet, the west coast bandwagoners had to nut hug somebody out there and he'll get more circulation and likes this way; rationale be damned.
Curry will win, and will deserve it for the season he's had. I've been fairly certain of both since the new year. Harden deserves it too. Sometimes it just happens that two exceptionally strong candidates happen to have historically strong years simultaneously.
Watching the Beat on ESPN and Sekou reasoning for picking Leonard over Green for defensive player of the year was because Green has Bogut to help anchor defense. So i patiently waited to see who he picked for MVP and looki here he picks Curry and completely disregards the butload of help Curry has on his team. This is just plain ridiculous. These morons cant even put their left shoe on their left foot.
You don't criticize a player for having a good teammate / system. There is this insane notion, yes unbeliveable, that a player can actually make his teammates better! I think Curry has done that with his court awareness and passing skills. Anyway, saying "MJ isn't the best player in the game because he was surrounded by the best rebounder (Rodman) and a great SF (Pippen), and the best coach of the era (Jackson)" just makes you sound salty and ignorant.
To the couple of people thrashing Zach Lowe's choice for MVP: Have you actually read his argument? Because even though he chooses Curry over Harden, his main reason for doing so is, that Curry is the better and more dangerous off-the-ball player of the two, which I don't think anybody can argue with. And he also credits Curry for making a really good team great, which is very hard to do. Also, he says multiple times that the decision was really really close. In general I'm kind of annoyed about the whole debate. Way too many people always try to discredit the player they think shouldn't win the award. There's absolutely no denying that James Harden deserves the MVP. But at the same time, Curry is also a deserving MVP. You could make a great case for both guys (and their different skills and situations acutlaly make it impossible, to actually say who the more "valuable" player is), sucks that there's just one award. Why can't we just agree, that both have had amazing seasons in their one way and you really can't fault the outcome if either Harden or Curry wins in the end. In my mind, that's the only reasonable thing to do.
Curry is 1st-2nd on most advanced metrics and Harden is 2nd-3rd except in the Win Shares category, in which he is the league leader (and traditionally most relevant to the MVP award, I might add). I wouldn't exactly call this "blown out of water" situation. The only area where Curry seems to enjoy comfortable lead is field goal percentages, but many people seem to forget that Curry is somewhat of a catch-and-shoot type of guy and Harden is mainly an isolation player. And it is pretty clear which style of play produces more higher shooting percentages. There is reason why Kyle Korver is having the best year of his career in the current Hawks system. They just simply move and deliver the ball exceptionally well, hence more easy open looks for their shooters (Thanks to the brilliant coaching of Budenholzer.) I would argue that Curry is a similar beneficiary of this kind. That does not mean Curry is not a great shooter on his own. I think he is one of the best - if not THE best - of all time when it comes down to just pure shooting. I just think that Curry's efficiency numbers are a bit overblown because the level of team's ball movement and the system in which a player makes his plays greatly influences the accuracy of one's shooting. Lets see if Curry or Korver can reach the highly esteemed "50-40-90" (or "50-50-90" in the case of Korver) mark if they are asked to carry a team's offense single-handedly and hence forced to create their own shots in isolation, as Harden does so often. I highly doubt it. Why is Westbrook's field goal percentages down all across the board compared to last year? Because he IS the entire offense of his team and have to create his own shot every single time. Plus, he plays tons of minutes so the fatigue factor is also something to consider. I would argue Harden is in a very similar situation, albeit somewhat to a lesser degree. To back up my argument, there is an advanced stat called 'FGM % AST' which calculates how much of a player's field goals have been assisted by his teammate. Curry's current number is at 44%. So, that means almost half of his shots have been created by some kind of team play. Kyle Korver's number is at staggering 95%. That just shows you how dependent Korver is to his teammates and Curry is better at creating his own shot. Harden's number? Mere 28%. For Westbrook, it's 23% so even lower. I mean, Steve Nash was always way more accurate shooter than Kobe Bryant even in his prime. When in came to the realm of 'efficiency', Nash really kicked Kobe's butt. But does that mean Nash was better scorer or even better overall player than Kobe? I don't know, but I find that difficult to accept. For me, considering all the relevant surrounding factors, there is no question that Harden is doing a lot "more" with a lot "less given". And that I think is his strongest MVP case - that Harden really can do it on his own, whereas Curry has yet to prove that. But why bother, we all know the pendulum has already swung to Curry's favor and he will be the MVP of this season, I just hope this motivates Harden to do well in the playoffs, and not have the opposite effect.
