NBA MVP Discussion Thread 2022-23 (pt 3)

[LessEyeTest]

I literally cannot believe Perkins hasn't been fired and cancelled for race-baiting. He's going to potentially steal Jokic's MVP award away by creating such a circus around the award and white voters.

Crazy.

[antonac]

At least a bad game has meant we can reign the arguments against back to "defense" and "shmadvanced shmats" from "coordinated racist conspiracy".

by the same people, obviously.

[eyeatoma]

I literally cannot believe Perkins hasn't been fired and cancelled for race-baiting. He's going to potentially steal Jokic's MVP award away by creating such a circus around the award and white voters.

Crazy.

If he was white he would have been fired. The producers knew what he was doing. A lot of this is scripted.

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[LessEyeTest]

I literally cannot believe Perkins hasn't been fired and cancelled for race-baiting. He's going to potentially steal Jokic's MVP award away by creating such a circus around the award and white voters.

Crazy.

If he was white he would have been fired. The producers knew what he was doing. A lot of this is scripted.

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And to be fair - I'm starting to REALLY cool down on Jokic's MVP chances the past week...

But that was BS.

[jokeboy86]

Jokic is going to be an MVP candidate just off his health alone compared to the other great players in the league:

-Durant old and usually has some nagging injuries every year
-Curry same thing as Durant
-Morant plays really explosively and unless he starts playing below the rim a little more he'll probably always miss a couple games a year
-Zion is Zion
-AD is AD
-Embiid is the healthiest he's ever been but I still worry about his foot issues
-Luka plays a ton of minutes and one of these off-seasons is going to have to start a consistent routine where he's all in on maintaining his body.
-Giannis is relatively healthy for the most part but his game, the amount of energy he exerts and how hard he plays will always concern me.

The only one who's health I trust going forward to compete with Jokic in the future for MVPs is Tatum because he appears to be relatively healthier than the others. Now the voters could switch things up as they have done recently and just not penalize guys for missing games because I think the days of many stars playing 70+ games may be over.

[LessEyeTest]

I can't justify Jokic winning MVP if he continues limpdicking his way through the regular season taking < 12 shots, scoring < 25ppg, and playing HORRIFIC defense like he did last night.

Embiid in his last 3 games: 37PPG, 6RPG, 6 APG...shooting > 60%.

[Slacktard]

First time I watched a full Jokic game this year. He had an off game offensively, but we know his all time greatness on that end. But his D was REALLY bad-and this from a Bulls' fan who has to watch Vuc every night.

His defense was so bad.

Read on Twitter

The defense on a bunch of those plays was somewhere between Jahlil Okafor and All-Star game 1st 3 quarters level of effort.

[Kurtz]

First time I watched a full Jokic game this year. He had an off game offensively, but we know his all time greatness on that end. But his D was REALLY bad-and this from a Bulls' fan who has to watch Vuc every night.

His defense was so bad.

Read on Twitter

Tbh, that's what his defense usually looks like in the games I've watched - he hangs back in the paint and lazily challenges shots around the basket. Sometimes he doesn't even put his hand up. I know he gets steals/deflections, but imo a C is a much more effective deterrent when he blocks/alters shots rather than being a threat to strip the ball off a sloppy/indecisive attacker.

I'm also wondering, given the recent streak, if Joker is getting tired or else, with the first seed secured, is starting to take it easy to save himself for the playoffs. He's been telling everyone who would listen that he doesn't care about MVP, so why push himself at this point of the season?

[AleksandarN]

I can't justify Jokic winning MVP if he continues limpdicking his way through the regular season taking < 12 shots, scoring < 25ppg, and playing HORRIFIC defense like he did last night.

Embiid in his last 3 games: 37PPG, 6RPG, 6 APG...shooting > 60%.

I agree 100 percent

[AleksandarN]

First time I watched a full Jokic game this year. He had an off game offensively, but we know his all time greatness on that end. But his D was REALLY bad-and this from a Bulls' fan who has to watch Vuc every night.

His defense was so bad.

Read on Twitter

Tbh, that's what his defense usually looks like in the games I've watched - he hangs back in the paint and lazily challenges shots around the basket. Sometimes he doesn't even put his hand up. I know he gets steals/deflections, but imo a C is a much more effective deterrent when he blocks/alters shots rather than being a threat to strip the ball off a sloppy/indecisive attacker.

I'm also wondering, given the recent streak, if Joker is getting tired or else, with the first seed secured, is starting to take it easy to save himself for the playoffs. He's been telling everyone who would listen that he doesn't care about MVP, so why push himself at this point of the season?

Yeah since the Memphis game his effort on both ends of floor have not been great. He seems to be in a funk.

[ROA]

Embiid in his last 3 games: 37PPG, 6RPG, 6 APG...shooting > 60%.

Embiid for last 3 games MVP!

[iggymcfrack]

Murray had to have a crazy (another ) 40 point performance to bail Jokic out of game 7 in the following series.

LOL. There’s no way you’re arguing in good faith here. Jokic got “bailed out” because his #2 had a good game in the Game 7 the Nuggets won by 15 on the road where Jokic put up 16/22/13 with 3 blocks for a +22 to pull off one of the biggest upsets in recent playoff history?

That’s like the people who say Kyrie “bailed out” LeBron against the Warriors. Apparently no one else on the team’s allowed to have a good game no matter how well you play or you suck.

Murray had 2 50 point games and a 40 point game in that series. Without those they would not be making the WCF. Who is the one operating in bad faith? Murray was the better player in that series, and that can't be denied.

Jokic had a 19.9 game score for the series and had a plus/minus of +23. Murray had a 16.9 game score and a plus/minus of +7. I don’t see how it’s undeniable Murray had a better series. I mean he balled out and I love him for it, but Jokic was still more valuable.

[Bank Shot]

None of the MVP candidates are playing that well at the moment. Jokic is going through maybe his worst stretch of the year, Embiid is scoring well but all of a sudden has zero interest in rebounding and is coasting on defense, and Giannis is in and out of the lineup with minor issues.

[DutchManDanFan]

Another missed game for Giannis. He's out of this race. Congrats to Jokic.

[RubberSoul]

Another missed game for Giannis. He's out of this race. Congrats to Jokic.

Agreed as a Bucks fan I don’t think Giannis can win it with this many missed games. He may never win another one as rest seems to be the higher priority during the regular season than going for the 1 seed or the MVP. It’s the main reason I don’t go to many bucks games it’s impossible to know for sure if he’s going to be in the lineup.


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[Jurassic_Park]

Another missed game for Giannis. He's out of this race. Congrats to Jokic.

Wow. He must be hurt. This was an easy W tonight.

Missed games:
Giannis = 14
Embiid = 13
Jokic = 8

[BelgradeNugget]

Great discussion. They are describing the greatness of each candidate. I'm Nuggets fan but for all the people here who don't understand what makes Jokic great just listen to CJ from 25:00. It is also interesting to hear Zach Lowe process on deciding who to vote for.

For people in Giannis and Embiid's corners, keep supporting your favorite player, you are not wrong, but while we had so many stupid conversations on TV, this is smart and like a breath of fresh air

Watch on YouTube

[Johnny Tomala]

https://www.basketball-reference.com/friv/mvp.html Harden is fourth there and no one is talking about him being MVP candidate.

[Packbuckman]

Bud and bucks looking at big picture having Giannis 100% healthy for playoffs. With Middleton back in starting lineup and the emergence of Lopez as a scorer Giannis might sit more and as a bucks fan I ain’t hating on that jokic award now for sure.

[eyeatoma]

LOL. There’s no way you’re arguing in good faith here. Jokic got “bailed out” because his #2 had a good game in the Game 7 the Nuggets won by 15 on the road where Jokic put up 16/22/13 with 3 blocks for a +22 to pull off one of the biggest upsets in recent playoff history?

That’s like the people who say Kyrie “bailed out” LeBron against the Warriors. Apparently no one else on the team’s allowed to have a good game no matter how well you play or you suck.

Murray had 2 50 point games and a 40 point game in that series. Without those they would not be making the WCF. Who is the one operating in bad faith? Murray was the better player in that series, and that can't be denied.

Jokic had a 19.9 game score for the series and had a plus/minus of +23. Murray had a 16.9 game score and a plus/minus of +7. I don’t see how it’s undeniable Murray had a better series. I mean he balled out and I love him for it, but Jokic was still more valuable.

Lol game scores don't really matter in this situation. Without those 3 performances, the Nuggets aren't winning, plain and simple.