Author Topic: Who has your vote for NBA MVP?  (Read 7793 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Re: Who has your vote for NBA MVP?
« Reply #15 on: April 16, 2015, 10:13:02 AM »

Offline Fafnir

  • Bill Russell
  • ******************************
  • Posts: 30859
  • Tommy Points: 1327
1 through 5

Curry
Davis
Harden
CP3
Lebron

Re: Who has your vote for NBA MVP?
« Reply #16 on: April 16, 2015, 10:16:15 AM »

Offline Waew

  • Jayson Tatum
  • Posts: 775
  • Tommy Points: 50
Its a tough decision. Lebron and cp3 aren't in the discussion imo.

Harden played hard without Dwight... Pretty significant.

Re: Who has your vote for NBA MVP?
« Reply #17 on: April 16, 2015, 10:21:39 AM »

Offline fairweatherfan

  • Johnny Most
  • ********************
  • Posts: 20738
  • Tommy Points: 2365
  • Be the posts you wish to see in the world.
1 through 5

Curry
Davis
Harden
CP3
Lebron

I had a hard time leaving CP3 out with the Blake injury and their massive wing deficiencies, but I have a harder time picturing Westbrook not getting in the top 5.  Playoffs or not the guy put up ridiculous numbers (and OKC would've been the 6 seed in the East).

Re: Who has your vote for NBA MVP?
« Reply #18 on: April 16, 2015, 10:22:39 AM »

Offline Who

  • James Naismith
  • *********************************
  • Posts: 47135
  • Tommy Points: 2401
I can't go for LeBron James. LeBron is still the best player in the league but (1) his star studded Cavs team won only 53 games, and, (2) he failed to incorporate a fellow star (K-Love) into framework of the team.

Re: Who has your vote for NBA MVP?
« Reply #19 on: April 16, 2015, 10:34:15 AM »

Offline fantankerous

  • Jayson Tatum
  • Posts: 915
  • Tommy Points: 122
LeBron James.

Re: Who has your vote for NBA MVP?
« Reply #20 on: April 16, 2015, 02:13:10 PM »

Offline Moranis

  • James Naismith
  • *********************************
  • Posts: 33461
  • Tommy Points: 1533
I can't go for LeBron James. LeBron is still the best player in the league but (1) his star studded Cavs team won only 53 games, and, (2) he failed to incorporate a fellow star (K-Love) into framework of the team.
And yet Love still averaged 16.4 and 9.7 as his teams third best player and was clearly and visibly injured for much of the year.  And for the record that drop from Love was basically the drop that Bosh had when he went from Toronto to Miami in those two categories. 

Let's also not forget that at one point this year Cleveland was 19-20.  Lebron came back from some much needed time off and Cleveland was able to put together a much better and cohesive bench through trading (something they couldn't do this summer).  Cleveland finished the year 34-9 (and that includes the 2 losses against Boston which Cleveland clearly wasn't trying to win). 

Lebron James is the best player in the world.  Now I can see holding the 13 games he missed against him, but I just can't see voting for someone else just because.  I mean James still went for a terrible 25/7.5/6 with a TS% of 57.7 and a PER of 26. 

If I were to hold the 13 games against him, I would want to vote for Davis, but he missed more time than James so that means I would eliminate him.  Westbrook missed even more games and his team didn't make the playoffs, so out he goes.  Thus, if I hold the 13 games against James it comes down to Paul, Curry, and Harden.  GS has been pretty healthy so I think I would knock Curry out leaving just Paul and Harden.  Both had to carry their teams for awhile, but I'm always going to favor the bigger guy as I think they are move valuable.  Therefore, if I was going to knock James out for missing 13 games, I would vote Harden.

My real ballot
1. James
2. Davis
3. Harden
4. Paul
5. Curry
6. Westbrook
2023 Historical Draft - Brooklyn Nets - 9th pick

Bigs - Pau, Amar'e, Issel, McGinnis, Roundfield
Wings - Dantley, Bowen, J. Jackson
Guards - Cheeks, Petrovic, Buse, Rip

Re: Who has your vote for NBA MVP?
« Reply #21 on: April 16, 2015, 02:55:10 PM »

Offline celticsclay

  • Reggie Lewis
  • ***************
  • Posts: 15739
  • Tommy Points: 1386
I have a hard time seeing how people could put James up with a straight face. James was more valuable in his 68 games than Curry and Harden were in their 80? Harden led a team in a much better conference with much less support to more wins. Curry was clearly the best player on a team  that was dominant from start to finish, not just dominate in half of the season. How someone could James above those guys is a bit mind boggling.

I'll add... where would the Rockets even be if Harden had given himself a two week vacation to recharge and rest in the middle of the season?
« Last Edit: April 16, 2015, 03:03:11 PM by celticsclay »

Re: Who has your vote for NBA MVP?
« Reply #22 on: April 16, 2015, 03:04:28 PM »

Offline manl_lui

  • Paul Silas
  • ******
  • Posts: 6571
  • Tommy Points: 427
I think LeBron, Curry, and Harden will lead the way for the MVP votes. I think Harden might win it. Personally, I vote for Westbrook. No Durant, no Ibaka, he put the Thunder on his back, posted monstrous stats and ALMOST got them to the 8th spot had the Pelicans lost

Re: Who has your vote for NBA MVP?
« Reply #23 on: April 16, 2015, 03:20:33 PM »

Offline BudweiserCeltic

  • Dennis Johnson
  • ******************
  • Posts: 18699
  • Tommy Points: 1818
I don't see how anyone could put someone above Curry this year. What he did this season was spectacular. When you think of him, the first thing that you think about as a negative against him is his defense, well this year it wasn't the case.

He put a very impressive offensive performance, and consider that he sat out a lot of 4th quarters because his team was blowing teams away, and he still put impressive aggregated numbers.

There's really little discussion to be made.

For all the Harden carried his team, Houston... that team had 8 players scoring in double figures. Think about that for a second. It's impressive that they got that record, but let's not downplay how much talent and depth that team had either.

And if there's one thing you CAN knock on Harden, it's his defense... one of the worst around.

What Westbrook did was quite impressive as well, but a little too late as well.

In the end, I just don't see how you can't give this award to Curry solely on its merits, and not a sympathy award as it's been done in the past. He earned it, he's clearly the best player this year.

Re: Who has your vote for NBA MVP?
« Reply #24 on: April 16, 2015, 03:27:01 PM »

Offline celticsclay

  • Reggie Lewis
  • ***************
  • Posts: 15739
  • Tommy Points: 1386
I don't see how anyone could put someone above Curry this year. What he did this season was spectacular. When you think of him, the first thing that you think about as a negative against him is his defense, well this year it wasn't the case.

He put a very impressive offensive performance, and consider that he sat out a lot of 4th quarters because his team was blowing teams away, and he still put impressive aggregated numbers.

There's really little discussion to be made.

For all the Harden carried his team, Houston... that team had 8 players scoring in double figures. Think about that for a second. It's impressive that they got that record, but let's not downplay how much talent and depth that team had either.

And if there's one thing you CAN knock on Harden, it's his defense... one of the worst around.

What Westbrook did was quite impressive as well, but a little too late as well.

In the end, I just don't see how you can't give this award to Curry solely on its merits, and not a sympathy award as it's been done in the past. He earned it, he's clearly the best player this year.

I don't disagree with you about Curry, but your stats on the Rockets is super misleading. Of the 8 guys that averaged double figures only 1 was completely healthy (Ariza) and only 1 other guy played more than 56 for them (Motiejunas who has been injured himself the last few weeks managed 62). The fact is it wouldn't be possible for those guys to have those kinds of averages if they were all playing at the same time. In fact if you add up there averages you would get 114 points a game from them alone. Can you see why that doesn't make much sense?

Re: Who has your vote for NBA MVP?
« Reply #25 on: April 16, 2015, 03:37:34 PM »

Offline Moranis

  • James Naismith
  • *********************************
  • Posts: 33461
  • Tommy Points: 1533
Some food for thought.

Anthony Davis' PER of 30.8 is the 11th best season in NBA history (8 players have had higher). 

2023 Historical Draft - Brooklyn Nets - 9th pick

Bigs - Pau, Amar'e, Issel, McGinnis, Roundfield
Wings - Dantley, Bowen, J. Jackson
Guards - Cheeks, Petrovic, Buse, Rip

Re: Who has your vote for NBA MVP?
« Reply #26 on: April 16, 2015, 03:51:13 PM »

Offline nickagneta

  • James Naismith
  • *********************************
  • Posts: 48120
  • Tommy Points: 8794
  • President of Jaylen Brown Fan Club
Lebron James. Without him that Cleveland team is a sub .500 team even with Irving and Love. Irving and Love know how to put up stats but they don't know how to win. That Cavalier team is that good because of one player and one player alone, Lebron James.

The media is going to do what they did to Michael Jordan in the 90s and give it to someone having a career year(Harden, Curry) like when they gave it to Barkley and Malone but the simple plain fact is Lebron is the best player in the world and is more responsible for his team being great than any other player in the league.

Re: Who has your vote for NBA MVP?
« Reply #27 on: April 16, 2015, 03:52:49 PM »

Offline BudweiserCeltic

  • Dennis Johnson
  • ******************
  • Posts: 18699
  • Tommy Points: 1818
I don't see how anyone could put someone above Curry this year. What he did this season was spectacular. When you think of him, the first thing that you think about as a negative against him is his defense, well this year it wasn't the case.

He put a very impressive offensive performance, and consider that he sat out a lot of 4th quarters because his team was blowing teams away, and he still put impressive aggregated numbers.

There's really little discussion to be made.

For all the Harden carried his team, Houston... that team had 8 players scoring in double figures. Think about that for a second. It's impressive that they got that record, but let's not downplay how much talent and depth that team had either.

And if there's one thing you CAN knock on Harden, it's his defense... one of the worst around.

What Westbrook did was quite impressive as well, but a little too late as well.

In the end, I just don't see how you can't give this award to Curry solely on its merits, and not a sympathy award as it's been done in the past. He earned it, he's clearly the best player this year.

I don't disagree with you about Curry, but your stats on the Rockets is super misleading. Of the 8 guys that averaged double figures only 1 was completely healthy (Ariza) and only 1 other guy played more than 56 for them (Motiejunas who has been injured himself the last few weeks managed 62). The fact is it wouldn't be possible for those guys to have those kinds of averages if they were all playing at the same time. In fact if you add up there averages you would get 114 points a game from them alone. Can you see why that doesn't make much sense?

Oh I agree, it's why I also felt dirty making allusion to that number. But at the same time it gives some insight about the depth that team had and how injuries to a player here and another there might have not been as catastrophic as it would've on other teams.

I really don't mean to take away from what Harden accomplished without Howard, but I don't want to downplay their roster either.

Re: Who has your vote for NBA MVP?
« Reply #28 on: April 16, 2015, 03:55:18 PM »

Offline celticsclay

  • Reggie Lewis
  • ***************
  • Posts: 15739
  • Tommy Points: 1386
Lebron James. Without him that Cleveland team is a sub .500 team even with Irving and Love. Irving and Love know how to put up stats but they don't know how to win. That Cavalier team is that good because of one player and one player alone, Lebron James.

The media is going to do what they did to Michael Jordan in the 90s and give it to someone having a career year(Harden, Curry) like when they gave it to Barkley and Malone but the simple plain fact is Lebron is the best player in the world and is more responsible for his team being great than any other player in the league.

2 questions in response to this

1) Doesn't sitting out roughly 15% of the season count for something? I would think that it has too. I think it is safe to say that Harden and Curry could have put even better numbers if they were given the luxury of sitting out 10 games to recharge.

2) I don't think calling the Cavs a sub .500 team without James is very accurate. It wasn't just that they got James back after being .500 they also added JR Smith and Shumpert in January for a player that was not helping them at all (Waiters) and added Mosgov as well. Can we really say Irving, Smith, Love, Shumpert, Thompson and Mosgov would be under .500? That seems like a really crazy reach, especially in the east.

Re: Who has your vote for NBA MVP?
« Reply #29 on: April 16, 2015, 03:55:44 PM »

Offline fairweatherfan

  • Johnny Most
  • ********************
  • Posts: 20738
  • Tommy Points: 2365
  • Be the posts you wish to see in the world.
For all the Harden carried his team, Houston... that team had 8 players scoring in double figures. Think about that for a second. It's impressive that they got that record, but let's not downplay how much talent and depth that team had either.

Double figures is an arbitrary line to begin with - would it really mean less if two of those guys averaged 9.8? - but Houston had that many 10 pt scorers precisely because of all the injuries they had (and some trades).  It's much easier to have a lot of double-digit averages when your lineup keeps changing - a lot more points to go around that way.

To put it in context, of the 7 teammates that averaged in double figures, only Howard broke 13 ppg.  5 of the 7 missed more than 25 games of Houston's season, because of injuries or trades.  2 of those missed half the season or more, and 2 others had season-ending injuries in the past month.  Harden and Ariza, plus a 37 year old Jason Terry were the only constants in the rotation.  But they still won 56 games and finished 2nd in one of the most competitive conferences in league history.  Meanwhile of Curry's top 7 teammates, 6 played 76+ games, and even Bogut got to 67.

Harden led his team in points, rebounds (tied), assists, steals, FTM (nearly matched the rest of the roster combined), 3pters, and was 2nd in blocks.  His TS% was over 60, PER over 27, and a league-leading 16.4 win shares.  Like I said I think Curry wins in the real world, but I don't think it's an easy argument at all.