2014-2015 NBA MVP Discussion

[CnG]

So who is the more valuable player?

Lebron.

Cavs went 1-7 when Lebron was injured. Lebron comes back Cavs go on to a 12 game winning streak. Easily Lebron.

Cleveland with Lebron 33-17.

Warriors with Curry 43-9.

That‘s without mentioning the strength of West.

Is it of significant relevance that the Cavs couldn‘t win much when Lebron missed their West coach road trip against a lot of the best teams in the league? Or is it of more relevance that when he‘s on the court he STILL can‘t make his team close to as good as Curry makes his even with the help of playing some absolute terrible teams more?

Everybody obsessed with "what can they do without him" rather than "what have they been doing with him", incredibly strange.

Man, Curry and Harden should have a rest mid-season. Who would‘ve thought playing through fatigue when your team needs you would end up going against you in the race for MVP. Not to mention both Harden and Steph were representing their country throughout the summer too.

[TaylorMonkey]

So who is the more valuable player?

Lebron.

Cavs went 1-7 when Lebron was injured. Lebron comes back Cavs go on to a 12 game winning streak. Easily Lebron.

You obviously didn't read any of the points made.

I'll simplify.

Cavs were a .500 team WITH Lebron before his vacation. In spite of a new Big Three. That's not very valuable.

Cavs getting better coincided with massive roster changes. That counts against Lebron's magical value.

Games where Cavs sucked with Lebron count against him, as well as games he didn't play. That diminishes Lebron's value.

You don't get a reset button just because a vacation and a roster overhaul changes the narrative.

"Lebron is more valuable because I'm going to forget the half season where he didn't elevate the team, his improved roster when he started winning, and the games he made himself unavailable in favor of a 15 game stretch" is a pretty lame point.

In other news, Hawks and Curry's GSW were making 15+ win streaks before Lebron homers tried to make it cool.

[TaylorMonkey]

Everybody obsessed with "what can they do without him" rather than "what have they been doing with him", incredibly strange.

The one year Curry is the clear objective leader in terms of win record, conference difficulty, advanced analytics, and impact per minutes played, everyone is trying to turn the MVP into the "Crappiest/Worst Coached Team Without You" Award. This goes for Harden guys too.

It's the Most Valuable Player Award, not the Most Obviously Valuable Player (Because Real Analysis Is Hard) Award.

They should really just have a Least Valuable Teammates Award, or a How Bad We Were While You Took A Nap Award if we want to further this somewhat obtuse line of thinking to its logical conclusion.

Just give it to Irving, Love, and the Cavs and be done with it. Howard's Rockets can get runner up.

We can get this silly narrative out of the way and preserve the sanctity of the MVP Award for those who deserve it.

[Heat_Fan_87]

curry has this locked up

[INKtastic]

So who is the more valuable player?

Lebron.

Cavs went 1-7 when Lebron was injured. Lebron comes back Cavs go on to a 12 game winning streak. Easily Lebron.

Cleveland with Lebron 33-17.

Warriors with Curry 43-9.

That‘s without mentioning the strength of West.

Is it of significant relevance that the Cavs couldn‘t win much when Lebron missed their West coach road trip against a lot of the best teams in the league? Or is it of more relevance that when he‘s on the court he STILL can‘t make his team close to as good as Curry makes his even with the help of playing some absolute terrible teams more?

Everybody obsessed with "what can they do without him" rather than "what have they been doing with him", incredibly strange.

Man, Curry and Harden should have a rest mid-season. Who would‘ve thought playing through fatigue when your team needs you would end up going against you in the race for MVP. Not to mention both Harden and Steph were representing their country throughout the summer too.

at least get the records right

Cavs with LeBron 32-14, 33-14 when this game is over as they are destroying yet another team (today's opponent admittedly isn't very good), which will now include 16-2 (.889) over the last 18.

Why do you keep saying 15 games, today is the 19th game since LeBron returned?

Why do you keep saying rest when LeBron clearly injured his knee when he left the game christmas day and reinsured it again a couple of days later when he left another game?

[pelican piranha]

Lebron.

Cavs went 1-7 when Lebron was injured. Lebron comes back Cavs go on to a 12 game winning streak. Easily Lebron.

Cleveland with Lebron 33-17.

Warriors with Curry 43-9.

That‘s without mentioning the strength of West.

Is it of significant relevance that the Cavs couldn‘t win much when Lebron missed their West coach road trip against a lot of the best teams in the league? Or is it of more relevance that when he‘s on the court he STILL can‘t make his team close to as good as Curry makes his even with the help of playing some absolute terrible teams more?

Everybody obsessed with "what can they do without him" rather than "what have they been doing with him", incredibly strange.

Man, Curry and Harden should have a rest mid-season. Who would‘ve thought playing through fatigue when your team needs you would end up going against you in the race for MVP. Not to mention both Harden and Steph were representing their country throughout the summer too.

at least get the records right

Cavs with LeBron 32-14, 33-14 when this game is over as they are destroying yet another team (today's opponent admittedly isn't very good), which will now include 16-2 (.889) over the last 18.

Why do you keep saying 15 games, today is the 19th game since LeBron returned?

Why do you keep saying rest when LeBron clearly injured his knee when he left the game christmas day and reinsured it again a couple of days later when he left another game?

If LBJ would have been healthy from the start, he'd easily win this years MVP. Guy is clearly the best player and is on a different level. Cavs are looking incredible as is he. I'd take Harden over Curry, but it feels so weak to give it to either guy as Durant and LBJ have both been out w injuries or have played through injuries. Westbrook would be in if not for missing so many games. Guy has truly elevated his game.

[TroubleS0me]

Harden is the real mvp
but the media will give it to Curry, the warriors have the better record

[INKtastic]

Meanwhile Curry has been doing his thing day in and day out from the start of the season, ALSO with a new (rookie!) coach and an entirely new offensive system. Curry bought in from day one even though his beloved coach was fired against his wishes, and now leads the team with the best record in the league holding the best individual advanced metrics and playing every game this season so far in a much tougher conference. It's also arguable if Klay and GSW's next best player--Green?-- are even as talented as Love and Irving.

The cavs have an 8 player rotation. Of those 8 players, LeBron had never played with any of them prior to this season. None of the other 7 players made the playoffs last year, 4 of them have never made the playoffs at all. How is that even remotely the same as a 51 win team returning pretty much everyone except the coach?

[Kordic27]

No horse in this race, but as amazing Harden and Curry have been, have to go with Lebron. Would Rockets or Warriors be better off with Lebron rather than Harder or Curry? Would the Cavs be better off with Harden or Curry over Lebron? I know they play different positions and all that, but the fact of the matter remains that Lebron makes any team a contender, and I don't think the same can be said of Curry or Harden.

[Coxy]

No horse in this race, but as amazing Harden and Curry have been, have to go with Lebron. Would Rockets or Warriors be better off with Lebron rather than Harder or Curry? Would the Cavs be better off with Harden or Curry over Lebron? I know they play different positions and all that, but the fact of the matter remains that Lebron makes any team a contender, and I don't think the same can be said of Curry or Harden.

[CellarDoor]

Granted I don't like Lebron, but I find it hard to vote for him when you're looking at a team that underperformed until he sat and came back *and* they made two trades for rotational players. How do you isolate what part of that is Lebron and what part isn't?

Also, if parts of season's were enough to win awards Paul George and Roy Hibbert would have had MVP and DPOY locked up last year.

[pipfan]

Things against Lebron
-coasting in the first half-no one can deny this
-huge slippage on D, honestly he looks Hardenesque sometimes-lost or blown by
-lots of turnovers
-solid but not spectacular record playing in the East
-great supporting cast-big time all stars in Irving and Love, solid role players
-bad attitude, poor leadership in first half
-missing too many games
-his stats are down from previous years. Can a player have a worse year than the year before and win the MVP, when he didn't the year before. I KNOW it is only for this season, but come on

[nbhadja]

Lebron is the MVP and everyone knows it. The only reason Curry and Harden are brought up and might win the MVP is because of Lebron MVP fatigue. No one can legitimately think that Curry or Harden are better or more valuable than Lebron, the games best and most all around player.

[Dupp]

Lebron has no argument for this years MVP, that's just the way it is. I personally think he's clearly been the best player in the league since his "vacation" but that doesn't make him MVP.
Harden is in a position to make a push but looks like curry has this wrapped up.

[Atmanne]

If we're gonna completely succumb to recency bias - which appears to be the sole argument for Lebron - then how has he been better than Westbrook? Have you seen Westbrook's numbers in February? He's annihilating the league right now.

(Curry's the MVP, and I doubt it'll be much of a discussion by season's end)

[day1086]

We are seeing how offensively inept the warriors are without curry.

Wow what an all-time great supporting cast.


There are 0 legitimate scorers on the warriors outside of the splash bros, and without steph klay would become a much less efficient volume scorer

[stayeduptolate]

We are seeing how offensively inept the warriors are without curry.

Wow what an all-time great supporting cast.

the best ever from some people in here LOL. Just goes to show you what curry does for the team.

[KobeBryant24]

Give goatbrook the mvp

[CellarDoor]

While I don't like to take a lot from one game, my goodness. Klay is as good as the rest of the Warriors are bad here. Should at least slow the train of everyone thinking the W's are a hypertalented team for a little while.

[day1086]

While I don't like to take a lot from one game, my goodness. Klay is as good as the rest of the Warriors are bad here. Should at least slow the train of everyone thinking the W's are a hypertalented team for a little while.

It's been a stupid narrative from the start, just a baseless attempt to discredit curry.


He is the only playmaker on the warriors. The rest of the team can't create anything. They are completely curry-reliant