MVP Discussion [19/20] [part II] - voting opened

[jc23]

narrative matters alot and Giannis winning last year hurts him winning it this year. Its looking like lebron is now the favorite unless Giannis has a couple of big statement games on national television.

[Liam_Gallagher]

Should go to James.

#1 in the West is more impressive than #1 in the East.

[Ainosterhaspie]

It is an award for the whole season, not the first 75%, so it shouldn't be a closed case quite yet. But teams also tend to start focusing on rest once seeding is set, so we could see Lakers and Bucks both let their foot off the gas at some point since both have a big lead in conference. LeBron's probably got two or three weeks to make a run at it, but he's a long way behind and I suspect the Lakers are going to enter maintenance mode soon.

Still, LeBron probably earned a few first place votes this weekend. Not enough to take the award, but he's likely to get votes.

[jg77]

AD was the best player on the floor yesterday afternoon... just sayin.

[Heej]

LeBron might have AD to help but the Bucks have a pretty stacked 2-way team from top to bottom as a supporting cast for Giannis. Their numbers still beast on other teams when Giannis sits. There's no way he doesn't have a sick supporting cast too if they're on a 70 win pace with Giannis playing 31 mins a game.

I will say this much, if the Bucks fail to win 70 and LeBron outplays Giannis down this last 20 game stretch while not having a single strike-out vs his remaining Marquee matchups, there's a chance the media gives it to him. A lot of the unanimity is based on that magic 70 number. If they win 69 games or God forbid 68, the race becomes a lot more wide open than people think.

God forbid 68

You're right though. For some reason 68 wins seems farther from 69 than 69 to 70. Never noticed before but it's a fact now

Haha yea it's funny how much our minds play tricks on us. It's one game but I think it just seems so different because we've seen multiple teams hit 67 wins where 68 is really just one away. For 69 it was just the 2 Bulls teams and the Warriors that even won that much. It seems like so much more of an accomplishment because the air is slightly more rarefied lol. So dumb, but if the Lakers pull ahead somehow this **** is about to get real crazy

[Wile E. Coyote]

The Lakers won 69 in 1971-1972.

[syrus3]

This sudden push to give Lebron MVP is utter bullsh*t! I cannot wait for him to retire.

[ken6199]

Should go to James.

#1 in the West is more impressive than #1 in the East.

I am all for promoting the tougher Western conference and some late season exciting comeback story for a 35 yo man playing out of his mind but this is not how it works. Bucks have by far the best SAS led by a guy with a top 5 PER all time literally playing at this level since day 1 you can't just all of a sudden throw away the first 60 games and say I go with the other guy after one weekend.

If anything, Giannis can say goodbye to the unanimous possibility but the award is pretty much his to lose. There are small chances the voters go full Melo '13 mode and he loses it by a hair but that would be wrong.

[yoyoboy]

After this weekend I’d say LeBron does have a pathway to the MVP but Giannis is still the the clear favorite. It’s an award for the whole season. Performances later in the season aren’t weighed any more than October games. But if:

- Giannis misses 3-4 games (meaning he’ll have missed 10-11 compared to LeBron’s 3)
- LA finishes with the same number of wins (would probably be 66 in that scenario)
- LeBron continues his Post-All star play while Giannis dips a bit below his season play

Then I could see LeBron having a claim to it. Right now my tiers are:

Giannis

LeBron

Harden
Kawhi
Tatum
Paul
Jokic
Doncic

Davis
Gobert
Siakam
Butler
Lillard
Middleton

[Baski]

It is an award for the whole season, not the first 75%, so it shouldn't be a closed case quite yet. But teams also tend to start focusing on rest once seeding is set, so we could see Lakers and Bucks both let their foot off the gas at some point since both have a big lead in conference. LeBron's probably got two or three weeks to make a run at it, but he's a long way behind and I suspect the Lakers are going to enter maintenance mode soon.

Still, LeBron probably earned a few first place votes this weekend. Not enough to take the award, but he's likely to get votes.

You're gonna give some posters heart attacks. How dare you speak such blasphemy

[Jazz9]

LeBron would have to play out of his mind to make up for the gap with Giannis and I just don't see him going all out just before the playoffs.

Honestly it's been Giannis' award from basically day 1 and it won't change.

[_Game7_]

Lebron is averaging a 30pt triple double while shooting 55% since all star break, he has been number two all year for MVP and is gaining traction fast. This is real, this is happening.

[jc23]

Should go to James.

#1 in the West is more impressive than #1 in the East.

AD is also more impressive then the entire Bucks roster.

[TheHartBreakKid]

Laker fan here

Lebron has been nothing short of incredible all season and he has stepped it up to a whole other level. Add that to Giannis being injured and I could see how this a race again all of a sudden.


All that said, as much I would love to see lebron win it, if I’m being objective, I think giannis deserves it and I think he’ll get robbed if lebron somehow wins it. If lebron continues his level of play and giannis doesn’t play again this season by some off chance and the lakers catch up to the bucks, I might reconsider, but as it stands giannis still has a significant cushion for me that he could miss a few games and coast while lebron balls out and he should still win it.



That said, I think it’s funny that people think there is some grand conspiracy to rob giannis. Of course people will be talking about lebron. He’s been incredible and he and his team is peaking at the right time, leading the west. This isn’t harden from last year we are talking about...lebron is a legitimate thread as a candidate to giannis. I still think Giannis should win it, but let’s give lebrons season the props it deserves.

[NyKnicks1714]

Should go to James.

#1 in the West is more impressive than #1 in the East.

AD is also more impressive then the entire Bucks roster.

Why are the Bucks without Giannis a much better team than the Lakers without LeBron then?

https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/a/antetgi01/on-off/2020

https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/j/jamesle01/on-off/2020

[Benedict_Boozer]

This sudden push to give Lebron MVP is utter bullsh*t! I cannot wait for him to retire.

You might be waiting awhile if he is still this good at 35.


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[Benedict_Boozer]

Also hate to break it to y’all, but if the Lakers pass MIL in the standings (which is possible, given his injuries plus a tough stretch of games) then Giannis will lose the MVP. That’s all that needs to happen.

I’m not saying it’s right, but historically the top player on the best team wins the award and part of the appeal for Giannis was the 70 win pace plus his elite numbers. Take that away in combination with recency bias (which is a real human trait) then it’s a wrap.




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[OriginalRed]

Giannis has a better record against the West than Lebron has against the East, so I don't wanna hear that as an argument for why Lebron should be MVP.

Lebron's only case for MVP is narrative, the whole "Washed King" schtick and 17th season stuff. Outside of that, he has no argument against Giannis at all. Doesn't have a better team, doesn't have better stats, has another superstar on his team, has a 1-1 head to head against the Bucks, and only leads his team in one category while Giannis leads his team in every major category.

If Lebron wins MVP, it'll be because of the media narrative and if the Lakers finish with the better record. Last night's game didn't prove anything except that Lebron is still the best INDIVIDUAL player in the league and that the addition of AD, a dude who can drop back to back 30 point games while playing DPOY level defense, is the reason the Lakers are Number 1.

[zshawn10]

lol wow

Read on Twitter

Full clip:

https://streamable.com/qxyub

[Parker2Duncan]

So all a sudden when Giannis was talked about as maybe being an unanimous MVP because Lebron had two good games Lebron has caught up? Seems like people want to just pick and choose what games matter in the regular season.