Lmao, that's hilarious! Jeez I hope not! Would love for Harden to win it, but might be best for him to not win it. I think it'll make him play with a bigger chip on his shoulder in the playoffs. Making no comparisons, but reminds me of Hakeem getting robbed of his MVP trophy and "bamboozling" David Robinson in the playoffs. Spoiler Spoiler
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>My 2014-15 awards ballot, complete with an MVP rant about "carrying" a team. <a href="http://t.co/1Huzo3nYWX">http://t.co/1Huzo3nYWX</a> [in] <a href="http://t.co/cZQSFDiLfE">pic.twitter.com/cZQSFDiLfE</a></p>— Tom Haberstroh (@tomhaberstroh) <a href="https://twitter.com/tomhaberstroh/status/588370768540655616">April 15, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Bogut's net rating is higher, and their record without him is 9-6 (60%). But since Curry made 77 threes in a row, I think he's the MVP.
QFT! I got an ESPN app notification push on that headline last night and about fell out of my chair. This is worth an app notification push? WTF? They keep serving Chicken Curry at the ESPN cafeteria.
Warriors, Warriors and more Warriors Spoiler The season's already coming to a close? Well, that was fast. This was a season of surprises, both good and bad. If there's a silver lining to all the unfortunate injuries to big-name players this season, it's that we get to put the spotlight on other deserving stars. The league is in great hands with commissioner Adam Silver and a wealth of young superstars. Stephen Curry and James Harden are just entering their primes. Anthony Davis, Kyrie Irving and Kawhi Leonard are just scratching the surface of what they can become. Full disclosure: I don't have a ballot this season, so these are my fake official awards to go along with my real unofficial HabersTrophy awards. As many will tell you, I didn't feel great about any of these picks because there were no slam dunks in the field, but here is one man's opinion on who should win the NBA's annual awards. Most Valuable Player 1. Stephen Curry 2. James Harden 3. Anthony Davis 4. Chris Paul 5. LeBron James It's time to bury the "carrying the Team X" trope when discussing the MVP award. We've heard it ad nauseam when it comes to Harden's and Westbrook's MVP candidacy, usually at the expense of Curry and the juggernaut Warriors. Harden is carrying the Rockets to the second seed. Westbrook is carrying the Thunder into the playoffs. Never mind that no team has more double-digit scorers than the Rockets, which speaks to their sneaky depth. Never mind that the Rockets' foundation is built on having the sixth-best defense in the NBA. Never mind that Enes Kanter is averaging 18.4 points and 10.9 rebounds since arriving in OKC, a rate that only four other bigs can match over the full season. At its core, the "carrying" storyline is a flimsy rhetorical shortcut that degrades teammates who have made winning contributions. But here's the whopper: Statistically, Curry carries the Warriors more than Harden and Westbrook carry their respective teams. Per NBA.com lineup data, the Warriors are 16.8 points per 100 possessions better with Curry on the court compared to when he's on the bench. The swing is just plus-7.8 for Harden and plus-6.6 points for Westbrook, far less impactful than Curry. Are you a visual learner? Take a look at the chart below. As you can see, the swing between on/off court is far wider for Curry than it is for Harden or Westbrook. When Curry is on the floor, the Warriors have outscored opponents by 16.8 points (green dot) while the Warriors have played an even 0.0 net rating when he's on the bench (red dot). Actually, LeBron James (plus-17.2) and Chris Paul (plus-20.3) have slightly larger swings than Curry, which speaks to their lack of quality reserves. By no means should this alone decide the MVP race. There are other factors that should be considered, namely whom each player tends to share the court with and whom they play against. But the "carrying" notion sounds a lot better in theory than it does in reality. (And if you've been paying attention, the Rockets have actually been outscored with Harden on the court this month, and they're killing opponents when he's on the pine. Poor timing.) Going beyond the fact that Harden's biggest rhetorical chip has backfired, there are more reasons why I think Curry is the 2014-15 MVP. He helped turn the Warriors from a good regular-season team to an all-time great regular-season team, which is harder to do than going from bad to average or average to good. At 66-15, the Warriors have added 15 wins to last season's total, which is the most that a 50-win team has ever done in NBA history (the previous record was 13). The Curry-led Warriors are absolutely crushing the league. Even if the Rockets nab the No. 2 seed, it shouldn't bolster Harden's case. That would suggest that the Rockets, as a No. 2 seed, are right behind the Warriors as the No. 1 seed. In reality, the Rockets aren't even in the same stratosphere as the Warriors, who have a plus-11.4 net rating. No team is even close. As Insider pal Kevin Pelton points out, this isn't a reductive "best player on best team" argument. Curry has the individual cred. Survey the advanced metrics and you'll find that Harden and Curry are basically indistinguishable. Harden narrowly edges Curry in win shares and WAR; Curry nips Harden in PER, RPM and VORP. Throw in the fact that Curry's "VER" -- "Vine Efficiency Rating" -- is unofficially the highest in the league (seriously, he is the ultimate Vine maker on the popular social network). All in all, Curry has put together the best 2014-15 season. He is my MVP. As a bonus, here are some of my favorite Curry nuggets: • Curry has sat out 19 fourth quarters this season because of blowouts. • Curry has shot .500 FG%/.517 3PT%/.944 FT% since the All-Star break. • Curry has made 33 3-pointers this month, which is more than the Memphis Grizzlies as a team (25) and the same total as the Miami Heat. • Curry is fourth in the NBA in steals and has cut his foul rate down to a career-low 2.0 per game. • Curry has drained 37 pull-up 3-pointers in transition (less than five seconds into the shot clock), which is more than any non-Warriors team (Raptors are the next-highest at 34). Hat tip to NBAsavant.com for that gem. • Curry is shooting 87-of-162 (53.7 percent) from 3-point land in back-to-back games. • Curry is averaging 7.7 assists and 3.6 3-pointers per game. When Ray Allen averaged 3.4 3-pointers per game in 2005-06, he registered just 3.7 assists -- less than half as many as Curry. • Klay Thompson shoots 47.1 percent from the floor and 44.0 percent from downtown when he plays with Curry, and just 42.5 percent and 40.9 percent, respectively, when Curry sits. A few words on the other candidates • However unpalatable his free throw game may be, Harden was a beast of efficiency this season. He becomes just the second guard ever to put up a true shooting percentage north of 60 percent while also registering at least a 30 percent usage rate. The other guy: Michael Jordan. Harden was a world-class compiler, as well, leading the NBA in minutes, points, free throws, free throw attempts, field goal attempts and turnovers. He's a worthy MVP, but Curry gets the nod because of Harden's occasional defensive apathy and because the Rockets don't have a top-10 offense and weren't dramatically better with him on the floor. • Here's a player comparison that sheds light on Chris Paul's season: Player A: 15.5 points, 11.5 assists, 1.0 steals and 3.3 turnovers on .502/.431/.887 shooting and a 22.0 PER Player B: 19.1 points, 10.2 assists, 1.9 steals and 2.3 turnovers on .485/.398/.900 shooting and a 26.0 PER Player A: Steve Nash when he won the 2005 MVP Player B: Chris Paul in 2014-15 • If you want to hear my MVP case for Anthony Davis, give this a read. Whether or not the Pelicans make the playoffs should have no bearing on his candidacy. It's silly that New Orleans is in the Western Conference in the first place. My heart wanted to put Davis on top knowing how masterfully productive and clutch he was this season, but my brain recognized the missed games and the fact that the Pelicans ranked 22nd on defense. • By any serious statistical measure, this was LeBron James' worst season since his rookie year. But even still, James' worst is better than 99 percent of the league. James looked fresher after the December layoff and finished much better at the rim afterward, but otherwise the supposed massive improvement was mostly a myth. The Cavs' surge was driven by GM David Griffin's smart midseason acquisitions, not James. But he gets the fifth-slot here over Russell Westbrook for his two-way performance and jaw-dropping on/off splits. At this point, saving enough gas for another title run should be more important to James than MVPs. At 30 years old, that's the sensible route. Defensive Player of the Year 1. Draymond Green 2. Kawhi Leonard 3. Andrew Bogut Draymond Green is the modern NBA defender who can guard almost any position on the perimeter and bang down low with bigs, and do it well. He ranks fourth in defensive RPM, and in the 12-game stretch when Andrew Bogut was injured around the New Year, the Warriors allowed just 98.8 points per 100 possessions when everyone thought they would fall apart. That's Draymond. For fun, here's a sample of guys from whom Green has stolen the ball multiple times this season: LeBron James, Chris Paul, Jeff Teague, Kyle Lowry, Rudy Gay, Kevin Love, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Enes Kanter, Zach Randolph, Andrew Wiggins and Eric Bledsoe. A list of players Green has blocked multiple times this season: Dirk Nowitzki (5), Blake Griffin, Russell Westbrook, Damian Lillard, Kevin Love, Tyreke Evans (3), Zach Randolph (3), Jonas Valanciunas, DeMar DeRozan and Taj Gibson. If Leonard or Bogut hadn't missed a bunch of games season, this would be their award. Alas, it's good to be Green. Sixth Man of the Year 1. Lou Williams 2. Andre Iguodala 3. Isaiah Thomas Imagine if the Atlanta Hawks didn't give Williams away for free this summer? The 28-year-old is like a James Harden East, a guy with a great handle who lures his defender into dumb fouls. Williams ranked sixth in free throws per 36 minutes, topped All-Star teammates Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan in PER, and led the Raptors' second unit that helped buoy the third-best offense in the league. And Williams didn't hemorrhage points to his opponent as Isaiah Thomas did. But Williams made his mark on mastering the art of the 3-point foul. According to NBA StatsCube, Sweet Lou got 44 whistles on 3-pointers, which set a new NBA record. To put it in perspective, he earned twice as many 3-point fouls as the next-highest guy in the league (Harden at 22). For someone who's an 86 percent foul shooter, a 3-point whistle has a higher payoff than a LeBron James dunk. Rookie of the Year 1. Nerlens Noel 2. Andrew Wiggins 3. Nikola Mirotic This admittedly wasn't a great crop of rookies, but I have to go with The Eraser here. Did you know the Philadelphia 76ers had the 13th-best defense in the league, better than the Los Angeles Clippers and Cleveland Cavaliers? Even though the backcourt was a turnstile of fringe NBA players, the lengthy Noel somehow managed to anchor one of the league's better defenses, which got much better when he was on the floor. Noel is the only player in the NBA to register at least 100 steals and 100 blocks this season, and he becomes the first rookie to eclipse the 125-steal/125-block threshold since David Robinson in 1989-90. Noel's offense needs work, but coming off a long layoff from ACL surgery, rust was expected. He was the NBA's most improved player in-season (HabersTrophy!); after the All-Star break, he averaged 13.1 points and 10.0 rebounds on 52.8 percent shooting. I'd have no problem with anyone giving Wiggins, Mirotic or Elfrid Payton the ROY award, but to me, Noel stood above the class. Most Improved Player 1. Hassan Whiteside 2. Jimmy Butler 3. Rudy Gobert This time last year Whiteside was cut from his team in the Lebanese Basketball League for performance reasons. You don't get further from the NBA than that. Fast-forward to now. He averaged a double-double on a playoff contender while blocking 2.6 shots per game and shooting 62.8 percent from the floor. On a per-36-minute basis, he averaged 17.8 points, 15.2 rebounds and 3.9 blocks. Among those who have played more than 1,000 minutes in NBA history, he's the only player to ever put up a 15-15-3 on a per-36-minute basis. Whether Whiteside should qualify, considering he didn't play last season, is a semantic debate. But it seems silly that we need that to appreciate how much this guy has improved. I mean, he led the NBA in points per offensive touch (0.85), registered a 26.2 PER, the highest for any big man not named Anthony Davis this season, and rescued the Heat's defense from life support before he wrecked his hand in March. Whiteside is a 7-foot revelation. Coach of the Year 1. Mike Budenholzer 2. Steve Kerr 3. Brad Stevens Budenholzer accomplished the toughest task for an NBA coach: convince millionaire basketball players to play for "we," not "me." And it paid off. According to VegasInsider, the preseason over/under for the Atlanta Hawks' win total was pegged at 40.5. They responded with a 60-win season. A longtime Gregg Popovich assistant, Budenholzer's legacy this season was that he got his players to buy into Spurs basketball. Once you adjust for pace, no team created more assist opportunities per game than the Hawks, hard evidence of their selfless style of play. No Hawk scored more than 30 points in a game all season. What's more, Budenholzer orchestrated a top-three team in offensive efficiency out of timeouts, according to Synergy tracking. Considering the dark cloud that hovered over this organization in the offseason, this was a coach's masterpiece. Team selections All-NBA first team G: Stephen Curry G: James Harden F: LeBron James F: Anthony Davis C: Tim Duncan Second team G: Chris Paul G: Russell Westbrook F: Kawhi Leonard F: LaMarcus Aldridge C: DeMarcus Cousins Third team G: Damian Lillard G: Jimmy Butler F: Blake Griffin F: Paul Millsap C: Marc Gasol All-Defense first team G: Chris Paul G: Tony Allen F: Draymond Green F: Kawhi Leonard C: Andrew Bogut Second team G: John Wall G: Andre Iguodala F: Michael Kidd-Gilchrist F: Serge Ibaka C: Tim Duncan All-Rookie first team G: Elfrid Payton G: Marcus Smart F: Nikola Mirotic F: Andrew Wiggins C: Nerlens Noel Second team G: Jordan Clarkson G: Langston Galloway F: Bojan Bogdanovic F: Tarik Black C: Jusuf Nurkic
It grabbed a headline because it is pretty ****ing impressive and it is a fun note. Only fans of this board would have a meltdown over it. Maybe if Harden drew 77 consecutive fouls in practice....
figured cp3 was winning in that on off stat, hes been a beast this year with griffen/crawford being out and with a poor bench and austin rivers playing alot of min
No you didn't. You made it to the part where he thought Curry was the MVP, after providing a slew of reasons why, then decided to come make a pouty little post that you hoped would discredit everything you read. (By the way, it didn't work)
man what...?!!!! who would've thunk. I hope the voters that do have a vote (the 400 that are not at espn), feel some remorse and actually vote for Harden just to spite ESPN
No actually I read up to the part where he said he has no vote. He is not someone's opinion I care about. I'd rather read what the real voters have to say regardless of who they vote for.
These trolls think they're so clever by putting something about Houston, the Rockets, or a Rockets player in their username, as if to come across as a 'Rockets fan'. See right through that ****. Only this board, only this board,... Yeah, if it's so bad here, head out or we can just have Clutch take care of that for you. You do know you're on a ROCKETS fan site, right? Not Mavs, not Warriors, ROCKETS. ClutchFans: Diehard and loyal Houston Rockets fans, ClutchFans has been giving the honest dish since '96
