2014-2015 NBA MVP Discussion

[Foliohattu]

I actually do like Harden and understand that his unreal ability to get to the line and make free throws makes his TS% decent, but I still have hard time to consider someone with a shotchart like this a real MVP candidate.

[MisterHibachi]

Why do people think Harden is the Rockets' MVP over Dwight?

Rockets have a 97.6 DRtg, first in the league, and a 104.2 ORtg, 21st in the league. They are winning on the back of their defense, and guess who's largely responsible for that..

[mademan]

Lowry deserves a mention in the MVP debate. He's only behind Curry as of now, imo. He's rocking a 23 PER (more than howard/Harden who have gotten mentioned) and leading the Raps to a 9-2 record. He's played like a top 3 pg thus far and deserves his due.

[Doctor MJ]

Why do people think Harden is the Rockets' MVP over Dwight?

Rockets have a 97.6 DRtg, first in the league, and a 104.2 ORtg, 21st in the league. They are winning on the back of their defense, and guess who's largely responsible for that..

I think fundamentally what puts it beyond debate so far is that Harden's played more than 100 more minutes than Howard, so it doesn't really make sense to talk like Howard is single handedly making the defense great. Their defense wouldn't have the stats it does if it died without Howard.

This isn't to say that Howard might not become the team MVP candidate, but reasoning "they win with defense and he's their best defender so he must be their MVP" is not a sound proof. And then of course there's the matter that there are various statistics that favor Harden.

[Doctor MJ]

Lowry deserves a mention in the MVP debate. He's only behind Curry as of now, imo. He's rocking a 23 PER (more than howard/Harden who have gotten mentioned) and leading the Raps to a 9-2 record. He's played like a top 3 pg thus far and deserves his due.

You mention for guys...and none of them are Davis. I don't understand how that makes sense to people.

[Dupas]

Lowry deserves a mention in the MVP debate. He's only behind Curry as of now, imo. He's rocking a 23 PER (more than howard/Harden who have gotten mentioned) and leading the Raps to a 9-2 record. He's played like a top 3 pg thus far and deserves his due.

You mention for guys...and none of them are Davis. I don't understand how that makes sense to people.

Raptors fans being raptors fans. Whatelse.
At this point..AD got my vote so far.

[Hans Embiid]

Lowry deserves a mention in the MVP debate. He's only behind Curry as of now, imo. He's rocking a 23 PER (more than howard/Harden who have gotten mentioned) and leading the Raps to a 9-2 record. He's played like a top 3 pg thus far and deserves his due.

Butler>Lowry and both are nowhere near MVP caliber players. 23 PER isn't anything special and Raps are 9-2 bc they played about 8 games at home.

[mademan]

Lowry deserves a mention in the MVP debate. He's only behind Curry as of now, imo. He's rocking a 23 PER (more than howard/Harden who have gotten mentioned) and leading the Raps to a 9-2 record. He's played like a top 3 pg thus far and deserves his due.

You mention for guys...and none of them are Davis. I don't understand how that makes sense to people.

If Pelicans weren't 6-4 and 7th in their conference, Davis would be running away with the award, atm. Didn't think it was something that had to be mentioned

[Shwaguy]

Lowry deserves a mention in the MVP debate. He's only behind Curry as of now, imo. He's rocking a 23 PER (more than howard/Harden who have gotten mentioned) and leading the Raps to a 9-2 record. He's played like a top 3 pg thus far and deserves his due.

Butler>Lowry and both are nowhere near MVP caliber players. 23 PER isn't anything special and Raps are 9-2 bc they played about 8 games at home.

Unless you're just statwatching, Butler is not better than Lowry, who has been the best (Or at least had the biggest impact) PG in the East so far this year.

and lol always gonna be a reason to try and bring the raps down.

[Hans Embiid]

Lowry deserves a mention in the MVP debate. He's only behind Curry as of now, imo. He's rocking a 23 PER (more than howard/Harden who have gotten mentioned) and leading the Raps to a 9-2 record. He's played like a top 3 pg thus far and deserves his due.

Butler>Lowry and both are nowhere near MVP caliber players. 23 PER isn't anything special and Raps are 9-2 bc they played about 8 games at home.

Unless you're just statwatching, Butler is not better than Lowry, who has been the best (Or at least had the biggest impact) PG in the East so far this year.

and lol always gonna be a reason to try and bring the raps down.

give me a reasonable argument for Lowry.

[MisterHibachi]

Butler>Lowry and both are nowhere near MVP caliber players. 23 PER isn't anything special and Raps are 9-2 bc they played about 8 games at home.

Unless you're just statwatching, Butler is not better than Lowry, who has been the best (Or at least had the biggest impact) PG in the East so far this year.

and lol always gonna be a reason to try and bring the raps down.

give me a reasonable argument for Lowry.

Best player on the second best team in the league.

[EvanZ]

Lowry deserves a mention in the MVP debate. He's only behind Curry as of now, imo. He's rocking a 23 PER (more than howard/Harden who have gotten mentioned) and leading the Raps to a 9-2 record. He's played like a top 3 pg thus far and deserves his due.

If you're going by PER or VORP, then Davis and Lillard are also in front of Lowry. Chris Paul too. Lowry would have to climb over a bunch of point guards just to be the best point guard this season, let alone MVP.

And I say this as a huge Lowry fan. Just being honest.

[Shwaguy]

Butler>Lowry and both are nowhere near MVP caliber players. 23 PER isn't anything special and Raps are 9-2 bc they played about 8 games at home.

Unless you're just statwatching, Butler is not better than Lowry, who has been the best (Or at least had the biggest impact) PG in the East so far this year.

and lol always gonna be a reason to try and bring the raps down.

give me a reasonable argument for Lowry.

I never said he should be MVP, if he got it it'd be an unwarranted MVP A la 2011 Season


I was just saying that Butler has NOT/Is NOT better than Lowry.

[Hans Embiid]

Unless you're just statwatching, Butler is not better than Lowry, who has been the best (Or at least had the biggest impact) PG in the East so far this year.

and lol always gonna be a reason to try and bring the raps down.

give me a reasonable argument for Lowry.

I never said he should be MVP, if he got it it'd be an unwarranted MVP A la 2011 Season


I was just saying that Butler has NOT/Is NOT better than Lowry.

Well Lowry is nowhere near 2011 Rose. Good luck averaging 25/7.7 with a 25 PER. Rose deserved it on a 62 winning team and he didn't have to team up like a pussy.

[Shwaguy]

give me a reasonable argument for Lowry.

I never said he should be MVP, if he got it it'd be an unwarranted MVP A la 2011 Season


I was just saying that Butler has NOT/Is NOT better than Lowry.

Well Lowry is nowhere near 2011 Rose. Good luck averaging 25/7.7 with a 25 PER. Rose deserved it on a 62 winning team and he didn't have to team up like a pussy.

No I agree, Rose 2011 was near upper echelon superstar status, I just think he won it cause he was best player on best team rather than most valuable.

Lowry if he took matters in his own hands and was consistently #1 option/ballhandler (Splits with DeMar)
Would top out around 21-5-8-1.5 on a pretty good TS%, so not quite Rose territory.

[Icestorm959]

The brow is going to win mvp

[[e]]

AD is my vote right now. Of course it's November so it doesn't mean a whole lot right now. He's off to a very impressive start

[rich316]

Curry is the frontrunner right now, with Davis coming in strong. IF the Warriors hold strong and win 60+, I think he takes it easily. If they falter or Curry's stats fall back a bit, then Davis has a good chance, but only if the Pelicans win 50+.

[Doctor MJ]

Lowry deserves a mention in the MVP debate. He's only behind Curry as of now, imo. He's rocking a 23 PER (more than howard/Harden who have gotten mentioned) and leading the Raps to a 9-2 record. He's played like a top 3 pg thus far and deserves his due.

You mention for guys...and none of them are Davis. I don't understand how that makes sense to people.

If Pelicans weren't 6-4 and 7th in their conference, Davis would be running away with the award, atm. Didn't think it was something that had to be mentioned

I really think people are thinking too rigidly about these "MVP rules". What matters is narrative, and it's just that the "rules" tend to be what yields narrative. As long as Davis continues to be the talk of the league, his candidacy will remain valid.

I think it's also important to realize that 6-4 means you're on pace for 49 wins. Jordan won with 50, and he was going up against prime Bird and Magic. Obviously Davis isn't going to win MVP if LeBron & Durant have top tier years on elite teams, but beating Lowry is not beating Bird.

[laika]

Only 2 definite rules-
-Your team must be at .600
-You are completely ineligible if you have a negative +/-. That rules out Lebron and Lowry.

1.Stephen Curry
2.Klay Thompson
3.Anthony Davis
4.James Harden
5.Dirk Nowitzki
6.Zach Randolph

The Thompson/Curry duo has been one of the best teams in NBA history so far. But they can't both
win the MVP. Thompson has been better this year but Curry would get the votes since he is much
more famous. Anthony Davis has easily been the most dominant single player. The only thing stopping
him from winning MVP is the Hornets team record. There have not been many good MVP candidates this year. Most of the good teams are good because of a team effort. Nowitzki and Randolph virtually never
get mentioned but have been better candidates than the ones listed so far in this thread.