Steph Curry to be named MVP

[Eric15]

http://deadspin.com/stephen-curry-dominated-the-mvp-voting-1702019769

Imagine being the T'Wolves right now, knowing you drafted not one, but two guards ahead of Curry (Flynn and Rubio).

 

[Cusefan0307]

Well Deserved. They outscored opponents about 11 points a game when he was on the court.

With Paul, Conley, and Love all hurt, and SAS eliminated, Golden State is the clear favorite now.

 

[Melancer46]

I still would have voted for Harden first, but Curry is extremely deserving as well. Seriously an incredible year for MVP candidates. CP3 led the Clippers to the 3 seed in the West while averaging 19/10/4.5/2 steals on 48.5/40/90 shooting and being an elite PG defender and finished SIXTH in the voting. Just a crazy year.

 

[Knicks411]

The Knicks radio guy voted Steph 5th. wut.

 

[urban96]

does that mean this meme gets retired now?

 

[Jeremy L.]

does that mean this meme gets retired now?

 

[UnderHisOwnPower]

I still would have voted for Harden first, but Curry is extremely deserving as well. Seriously an incredible year for MVP candidates. CP3 led the Clippers to the 3 seed in the West while averaging 19/10/4.5/2 steals on 48.5/40/90 shooting and being an elite PG defender and finished SIXTH in the voting. Just a crazy year.

I agree it was a crazy year, I just can't see Harden getting all the love considering he is half the player these other guys are. Dude plays no defense, and while he is gifted with the ball in his hands, I don't see him as the complete player these other guys are. So my vote would have been:

LBJ
Steph
CP3
Harden

 

[Knicks411]

I agree it was a crazy year, I just can't see Harden getting all the love considering he is half the player these other guys are. Dude plays no defense, and while he is gifted with the ball in his hands, I don't see him as the complete player these other guys are. So my vote would have been:

LBJ
Steph
CP3
Harden

Is Steph really that much better a defender than Harden though?

 

[Melancer46]

Is Steph really that much better a defender than Harden though?

If he's better at all, it isn't by much. They're both liabilities relative to their teammates, but Curry is surrounded by a much better defensive supporting cast so he's easier to hide. Neither is as bad as Damian Lillard though (Harden used to be, but he took more pride in his defense this year).

 

[UnderHisOwnPower]

Is Steph really that much better a defender than Harden though?

Statistically, their steals per game are about a wash, with Harden getting about 1.5 more rebounds per game than Steph, so that may actually work in James' favor. I just know that watching Austin Rivers abuse him on drives to the basket that James is not making the effort on defense worthy of a MVP. Which is why I would have voted for LBJ, the best 2 way player in the league.

 

[Knicks411]

If he's better at all, it isn't by much. They're both liabilities relative to their teammates, but Curry is surrounded by a much better defensive supporting cast so he's easier to hide. Neither is as bad as Damian Lillard though (Harden used to be, but he took more pride in his defense this year).

That's kinda the impression I had. I know Steph has improved this year as well.

 

[Cusefan0307]

Statistically, their steals per game are about a wash, with Harden getting about 1.5 more rebounds per game than Steph, so that may actually work in James' favor. I just know that watching Austin Rivers abuse him on drives to the basket that James is not making the effort on defense worthy of a MVP. Which is why I would have voted for LBJ, the best 2 way player in the league.

Is lebron still the best two way player? I can make an argument that he is already in decline. He had his worst defensive rating of his career this year, worst offensive rating since his rookie year, the worst shooting year since he was 23, least amount of win shares since his rookie year, and worst PER since he was 23. If you look at most advanced stats, they suggest Curry, Paul, Harden, Davis, and Westbrook are all better players.

Lebron is still great, but you can argue he isn't the best player anymore. Is that because he is bored with the regular season and maybe doesn't care as much as the younger guys, and he just wants to focus on the playoffs? Is he wearing down at all?

He isn't nearly efficient as he was 4 years ago, some due to wear and tear, some probably due to not being entirely focused in the regular season, but even last night when he scored 33 he was "only" 13-29 shooting.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/leagues/NBA_2015_advanced.html

 

[HakAttack]

Call me crazy, but why didn't Westbrook get more votes? The NBA's MVP system is such a joke. Pick the best player on the top two best teams in the league for any current season and call it a day.

 

[Eric15]

Which is why I would have voted for LBJ, the best 2 way player in the league.

Lebron is still the best and most valuable player in the league, and probably will be for another 3-5 years barring any injury, but similar to Jordan's prime the voters just occasionally want to mix it up and give it to other guys.

 

[Knicks411]

Lebron is still the best and most valuable player in the league, and probably will be for another 3-5 years barring any injury, but similar to Jordan's prime the voters just occasionally want to mix it up and give it to other guys.

I've said this before, but if i needed to win a game tomorrow and could pick any player to start my team with, it's Lebron. So I think he's the best by t hat definition. But I don't think he had the best season of any player in the league this year, and I would not have voted him for MVP.

 

[Melancer46]

Call me crazy, but why didn't Westbrook get more votes? The NBA's MVP system is such a joke. Pick the best player on the top two best teams in the league for any current season and call it a day.

Westbrook was good, but a lot of it was just volume stats. Curry, Harden, LeBron, Anthony Davis, and Chris Paul all helped their teams more than Westbrook did this year IMO; he just took a lot of shots and was the only real ball-handler on the team. He can't hold a candle to any of them in terms of scoring efficiency, and isn't the defender that LeBron, CP3, or Davis are (he's better than Curry and Harden on that end, but he's just an average defender IMO).

Personally, I wouldn't have voted for him at all; he'd be my #6 guy so he wouldn't have made my ballot.

 

[OrangeDW]

I agree it was a crazy year, I just can't see Harden getting all the love considering he is half the player these other guys are. Dude plays no defense, and while he is gifted with the ball in his hands, I don't see him as the complete player these other guys are. So my vote would have been:

LBJ
Steph
CP3
Harden

Harden's been the 3rd best player in the LA-Houston series...and he'd be 4th if Paul was healthy.

 

[OrangeDW]

Is lebron still the best two way player? I can make an argument that he is already in decline. He had his worst defensive rating of his career this year, worst offensive rating since his rookie year, the worst shooting year since he was 23, least amount of win shares since his rookie year, and worst PER since he was 23. If you look at most advanced stats, they suggest Curry, Paul, Harden, Davis, and Westbrook are all better players.

Lebron is still great, but you can argue he isn't the best player anymore. Is that because he is bored with the regular season and maybe doesn't care as much as the younger guys, and he just wants to focus on the playoffs? Is he wearing down at all?

He isn't nearly efficient as he was 4 years ago, some due to wear and tear, some probably due to not being entirely focused in the regular season, but even last night when he scored 33 he was "only" 13-29 shooting.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/leagues/NBA_2015_advanced.html

The Cavs were horrible last year, and are a title contender now. He's still very valuable.

 

[longislandcuse]

The Cavs were horrible last year, and are a title contender now. He's still very valuable.

Absolutely but lets also be real.. They assembled the best squad this side of SAS after he signed.

All this about how Melo can't win, but even without Kevin Love, this Cavs squad around Lebron is way more talented than anything Melo has ever had.

 

[OrangeDW]

Absolutely but lets also be real.. They assembled the best squad this side of SAS after he signed.

All this about how Melo can't win, but even without Kevin Love, this Cavs squad around Lebron is way more talented than anything Melo has ever had.

Well, they basically stole Shumpert, Smith, and Mosgov which kind've pisses me off as a basketball fan at how they got what they wanted/needed for very little.

But with Love hurt, they aren't that great. Lebron, Kyrie, and a bunch of role players. Chicago has a way better roster overall, in my opinion.

But I'm with you on Melo, other than a couple years in Denver(one of which they went to the WCF and almost beat the Lakers), he hasn't had much to play with. I've always maintained that he could win it all with the right team, just like Dirk and Pierce(2 similar players, and I think Melo is/was better than Pierce) did.

 

[Knicks411]

Absolutely but lets also be real.. They assembled the best squad this side of SAS after he signed.

All this about how Melo can't win, but even without Kevin Love, this Cavs squad around Lebron is way more talented than anything Melo has ever had.

They didn't really add a lot of talent till the trade deadline, and 2 of those guyss they added were part of the problem when they played with Melo and now I guess are awesome?

Especially without Love, but even with him, I wouldn't say the Cavs have a great supporting cast. Irving is a really good if not great player (albeit flawed) and then they have a bunch of role players. It just so happens that Lebron is an incredible player and role players that look meh on other teams will look a lot better when they're playing with him.

 

[longislandcuse]

They didn't really add a lot of talent till the trade deadline, and 2 of those guyss they added were part of the problem when they played with Melo and now I guess are awesome?

Especially without Love, but even with him, I wouldn't say the Cavs have a great supporting cast. Irving is a really good if not great player (albeit flawed) and then they have a bunch of role players. It just so happens that Lebron is an incredible player and role players that look meh on other teams will look a lot better when they're playing with him.

Thats not fair.

-Shumpert doesnt need to do anything besides be a defender and spot up shooter/5th or 6th option on that team.
-JR isn't banging pop stars and doing coke when he should be getting ready for big games. Also JR isn't the second option on Cleveland as the Cavs have Kyrie, who even hobbled is a better second option than Melo has ever had.
-The Cavs also have "now" Mozgov who is an above average Center.
-Tristan Thompson is better than any big man on NY aside from non-flu Tyson when he was here.
-All of Cleveland's guys are good shooters.

Shump and JR on Cleveland are not Shump and JR on NY with Melo. They are moved down the pecking order in terms of what is needed from them due to the talent on the roster.

 

[Knicks411]

I know it's not entirely fair (and Mozgov was never with Melo, that's why I didn't mention him), but I'm just trying to make the point that Lebron has the habit of making role players look a lot better than they are and we need to keep that in mind.

 

[Knicks411]

Can we talk about how Mozgov was dunking over Noah yesterday?

 

[longislandcuse]

Can we talk about how Mozgov was dunking over Noah yesterday?

The Mozgov scream was incredible ha!