With the NBA MVP being announced in the beginning of May during the start of the second round of the playoffs, this is my take on who will win the award.
Let’s start with the unibrow wearing Anthony Davis. He is undoubtedly the best young up and coming player in the league and widely thought of as the top player to pick if you were starting a franchise today. Davis this year averaged 24.4 points, 10.2 rebounds, 2.9 blocks. These stats are impressive but what is most impressive was his 30.89 player efficiency rating which is the highest in NBA history for a person not named Jordan, James, or Chamberlain. You would think that this would be a good enough season to win the MVP but that is not the case. The MVP hasn’t been given to a legitimate big man since Dirk Nowitzki in 2006. It’s obvious to see that the big man is just not as valuable in the league anymore as it was ten or twenty years ago. So I don’t think this is the year for Davis, but give it a couple of years and I’m sure he will rack up a couple of these awards.
The value is now being placed on athletic point guards/shooting guards which is the exact description of Russell Westbrook. Westbrook had arguably the best overall seasons for a point guard that the NBA has ever seen. He finished the season with 11 triple doubles and averaged 28.1 points, 8.6 assists, and 7.3 rebounds. His 28.1 points per game was good enough to win him the league scoring title which puts him in the company of Allen Iverson as the only point guards to win the title in the last 35 years. Also his 7.3 rebounds per game were the highest since Jason Kidd in 2007. All that being said he should be a shoe in for MVP right? Wrong. I have two major issues with his season. The first was the fact that he was injured for fourteen games which caused him to miss pretty much every game in November. Even though an injury is out of a player’s control, if you want to be the most valuable player in the league you miss a significant amount of time and let your team suffer. The next issue is something that he could control, and that is his team did not make the playoffs. Even though his team missed it by one game to the Pelicans and the Western Conference is ten times as good as the Eastern Conference, I still feel like the league MVP should have been able to lead his team to the playoffs.
Now on to a player that quietly got his team to have the tied for second best record in the West and fits the mold as a traditional point guard. He is in my opinion still the best overall point guard in the league, Chris Paul. He has finished 7th, 4th, and 3rd in the MVP voting in the past three years. He has lead the NBA is assists in 2008, 2009, and 2014, and for his career has averaged 10 assists per game. I am big on taking the MVP literally and think of the players who if they were removed from their team, the team would suffer greatly and fall apart I feel like Chris Paul is the most important piece for the Clippers. Even though Blake Griffin is probably the best player on the team and DeAndre Jordan is a freak of nature that can jump out of the gym, there still needs to be a player that gets them the ball. There is only one problem with the Chris Paul MVP campaign. That is his points per game. He averaged 19.1 points which was 18th best in the league. This is a problem because for some reason in the recent history of the NBA the league’s leading scorers are automatically thought of as being the league’s MVP. This trend has been going on for a while. In the past ten years, the player that won the MVP has finished no lower than sixth in the ranks for the league’s leading scorer.
LeBron is the King. He is the only player on this list who has won multiple scoring titles and MVP awards out of this group of players. LeBron is still hands down the best and most complete player in the league. He has it all. He has the size to grab rebounds and block shots yet the mindset of a point guard with the ability to thread the needle with a great pass and the skills to lead the fast break. This year however was unique for LeBron. First off the fact that he started playing without a headband on March 10th against the Mavericks. I have been saying for years he needed to lose the headband ever since he lost it in Game 6 of the 2013 Finals which was in fact the greatest night of my life. Back to the current season. LeBron averaged 7.4 assists per game this year which was the second most in his career and also played 36.1 minutes per game which was the least of his career. He also took his infamous mid-season two week vacation where without him his team went 1-7. I take this as the Cavs and LeBron saying that he needs to conserve his energy and they don’t care about the regular season as long as they make the playoffs and the team is generally healthy. However I do not think that LeBron will win the award. As strange as it sounds I think that people are tired of seeing LeBron win personal accolades. People think that he has already gotten his shine and should be focused less on individual awards and more on winning championships. Also going back to my argument on Westbrook, I find it hard for a player to miss a significant amount of games and let their team suffer, and still be considered for the MVP.
Now the final two who are really the front runners for the awards. James Harden and Steph Curry. The Cook vs. the Chef.
I personally think that James Harden SHOULD be the MVP. I think that what he did for the Rockets while Dwight Howard was hurt was unbelievable. Dwight missed significant amount of games twice during this past year. The first was when he missed 11 games, but with James Harden leading the way the Rockets went 8-3 over that span. Then when he became injured again he missed 26 games. Over that span Harden led the Rockets to an astounding 17-10. Over this span Harden was awarded the NBA player of the month twice and average an amazing 28.36 points per game in Howard’s absence. That would of lead the NBA in scoring if he kept up that pace. He is the bearded assassin that led the league in minutes played, free throws, free throw attempts, total points, and win shares. While leading all of those stats is impressive, there is something glaringly obvious about it. Those are all stats on offense. He has been heavily criticized since he came into the NBA that he is a liability on defense. This is a league wide stigma that Harden has to deal with but the stats do not support this thinking. He ranks 10th in the league in Defensive Efficiency and 6th in steals. Even with these stats exposing these thoughts, I feel that Harden will be forever seen as a burden on defense.
You know that you are good if Drake mentions you in a song. If that’s not enough how about leading your team to having the best record in the league. Even if that’s not enough what about having the most wins by a team that wasn't the Chicago Bulls and didn't have Michael Jordan. So yeah Steph Curry is pretty good. I can say from watching him play a lot of his games over this past season, and he has been remarkable. Whether it’s him making shots 4 feet behind the three point line, finding his teammates with pin point no look passes, or nearly forcing Chris Paul into early retirement out of pure embarrassment, Curry has had a legendary season. An amazing stat that Curry has this season is his minutes per game and his field goals made and three pointers made. This season Steph averaged 32.7 minutes per game which was the lowest of his career, yet he averaged 8.2 field goals made per game which is the second most in his career, and 3.6 made 3 pointers per game which is the highest of his career. That is a testament to his efficiency playing the least amount of minutes and yet making more shots limits mistakes and opens up opportunities for teammates to contribute. Unlike Anthony Davis, Curry fits the mold of the current NBA superstar. Curry has led his team the not only the playoffs but to the number one overall seed in the traffic jam that was the Western Conference which Russell Westbrook was unable to accomplish. With Curry’s 23.8 points per game he was sixth in the league in scoring, which gives him a leg up over Chris Paul. Curry missed a total of 2 games the entire year and in the previous games he played at least 32 minutes so the day off was well deserved. Curry must have denied LeBron’s invitation to take two weeks of rest and relaxation during the heart of the season. And unlike Harden, Curry was a lock down defender leading the league in total steals. Other stats Curry lead in was Win Shares per 48 minutes, Offensive Plus/Minus, and Value Over Replacement Player. That is why I believe that Steph Curry will be your 2014-2015 NBA MVP.
MVP Rankings
1. Steph Curry
2. James Harden
3. LeBron James
4. Chris Paul
5. Russell Westbrook
6. Anthony Davis
Let’s start with the unibrow wearing Anthony Davis. He is undoubtedly the best young up and coming player in the league and widely thought of as the top player to pick if you were starting a franchise today. Davis this year averaged 24.4 points, 10.2 rebounds, 2.9 blocks. These stats are impressive but what is most impressive was his 30.89 player efficiency rating which is the highest in NBA history for a person not named Jordan, James, or Chamberlain. You would think that this would be a good enough season to win the MVP but that is not the case. The MVP hasn’t been given to a legitimate big man since Dirk Nowitzki in 2006. It’s obvious to see that the big man is just not as valuable in the league anymore as it was ten or twenty years ago. So I don’t think this is the year for Davis, but give it a couple of years and I’m sure he will rack up a couple of these awards.
The value is now being placed on athletic point guards/shooting guards which is the exact description of Russell Westbrook. Westbrook had arguably the best overall seasons for a point guard that the NBA has ever seen. He finished the season with 11 triple doubles and averaged 28.1 points, 8.6 assists, and 7.3 rebounds. His 28.1 points per game was good enough to win him the league scoring title which puts him in the company of Allen Iverson as the only point guards to win the title in the last 35 years. Also his 7.3 rebounds per game were the highest since Jason Kidd in 2007. All that being said he should be a shoe in for MVP right? Wrong. I have two major issues with his season. The first was the fact that he was injured for fourteen games which caused him to miss pretty much every game in November. Even though an injury is out of a player’s control, if you want to be the most valuable player in the league you miss a significant amount of time and let your team suffer. The next issue is something that he could control, and that is his team did not make the playoffs. Even though his team missed it by one game to the Pelicans and the Western Conference is ten times as good as the Eastern Conference, I still feel like the league MVP should have been able to lead his team to the playoffs.
Now on to a player that quietly got his team to have the tied for second best record in the West and fits the mold as a traditional point guard. He is in my opinion still the best overall point guard in the league, Chris Paul. He has finished 7th, 4th, and 3rd in the MVP voting in the past three years. He has lead the NBA is assists in 2008, 2009, and 2014, and for his career has averaged 10 assists per game. I am big on taking the MVP literally and think of the players who if they were removed from their team, the team would suffer greatly and fall apart I feel like Chris Paul is the most important piece for the Clippers. Even though Blake Griffin is probably the best player on the team and DeAndre Jordan is a freak of nature that can jump out of the gym, there still needs to be a player that gets them the ball. There is only one problem with the Chris Paul MVP campaign. That is his points per game. He averaged 19.1 points which was 18th best in the league. This is a problem because for some reason in the recent history of the NBA the league’s leading scorers are automatically thought of as being the league’s MVP. This trend has been going on for a while. In the past ten years, the player that won the MVP has finished no lower than sixth in the ranks for the league’s leading scorer.
LeBron is the King. He is the only player on this list who has won multiple scoring titles and MVP awards out of this group of players. LeBron is still hands down the best and most complete player in the league. He has it all. He has the size to grab rebounds and block shots yet the mindset of a point guard with the ability to thread the needle with a great pass and the skills to lead the fast break. This year however was unique for LeBron. First off the fact that he started playing without a headband on March 10th against the Mavericks. I have been saying for years he needed to lose the headband ever since he lost it in Game 6 of the 2013 Finals which was in fact the greatest night of my life. Back to the current season. LeBron averaged 7.4 assists per game this year which was the second most in his career and also played 36.1 minutes per game which was the least of his career. He also took his infamous mid-season two week vacation where without him his team went 1-7. I take this as the Cavs and LeBron saying that he needs to conserve his energy and they don’t care about the regular season as long as they make the playoffs and the team is generally healthy. However I do not think that LeBron will win the award. As strange as it sounds I think that people are tired of seeing LeBron win personal accolades. People think that he has already gotten his shine and should be focused less on individual awards and more on winning championships. Also going back to my argument on Westbrook, I find it hard for a player to miss a significant amount of games and let their team suffer, and still be considered for the MVP.
Now the final two who are really the front runners for the awards. James Harden and Steph Curry. The Cook vs. the Chef.
I personally think that James Harden SHOULD be the MVP. I think that what he did for the Rockets while Dwight Howard was hurt was unbelievable. Dwight missed significant amount of games twice during this past year. The first was when he missed 11 games, but with James Harden leading the way the Rockets went 8-3 over that span. Then when he became injured again he missed 26 games. Over that span Harden led the Rockets to an astounding 17-10. Over this span Harden was awarded the NBA player of the month twice and average an amazing 28.36 points per game in Howard’s absence. That would of lead the NBA in scoring if he kept up that pace. He is the bearded assassin that led the league in minutes played, free throws, free throw attempts, total points, and win shares. While leading all of those stats is impressive, there is something glaringly obvious about it. Those are all stats on offense. He has been heavily criticized since he came into the NBA that he is a liability on defense. This is a league wide stigma that Harden has to deal with but the stats do not support this thinking. He ranks 10th in the league in Defensive Efficiency and 6th in steals. Even with these stats exposing these thoughts, I feel that Harden will be forever seen as a burden on defense.
You know that you are good if Drake mentions you in a song. If that’s not enough how about leading your team to having the best record in the league. Even if that’s not enough what about having the most wins by a team that wasn't the Chicago Bulls and didn't have Michael Jordan. So yeah Steph Curry is pretty good. I can say from watching him play a lot of his games over this past season, and he has been remarkable. Whether it’s him making shots 4 feet behind the three point line, finding his teammates with pin point no look passes, or nearly forcing Chris Paul into early retirement out of pure embarrassment, Curry has had a legendary season. An amazing stat that Curry has this season is his minutes per game and his field goals made and three pointers made. This season Steph averaged 32.7 minutes per game which was the lowest of his career, yet he averaged 8.2 field goals made per game which is the second most in his career, and 3.6 made 3 pointers per game which is the highest of his career. That is a testament to his efficiency playing the least amount of minutes and yet making more shots limits mistakes and opens up opportunities for teammates to contribute. Unlike Anthony Davis, Curry fits the mold of the current NBA superstar. Curry has led his team the not only the playoffs but to the number one overall seed in the traffic jam that was the Western Conference which Russell Westbrook was unable to accomplish. With Curry’s 23.8 points per game he was sixth in the league in scoring, which gives him a leg up over Chris Paul. Curry missed a total of 2 games the entire year and in the previous games he played at least 32 minutes so the day off was well deserved. Curry must have denied LeBron’s invitation to take two weeks of rest and relaxation during the heart of the season. And unlike Harden, Curry was a lock down defender leading the league in total steals. Other stats Curry lead in was Win Shares per 48 minutes, Offensive Plus/Minus, and Value Over Replacement Player. That is why I believe that Steph Curry will be your 2014-2015 NBA MVP.
MVP Rankings
1. Steph Curry
2. James Harden
3. LeBron James
4. Chris Paul
5. Russell Westbrook
6. Anthony Davis