2016-17 MVP Discussion Thread

[Side beard]

Harden and Davis are my top2.
Could put Westbrook, but I don't believe his team will be successful enough.

[Shock Defeat]

Harden because the Rockets will have a better record than the Thunder.

[Merc_Porto]

1. Westbrook
2. Durant
3. Towns (oh yeah)

[MaxRider]

Harden - insane stats under D'Antoni
Westbrook - insane stats as usual
Davis - if he gets back to form and somehow gets them back to playoffs

too bad the most important stat for MVP is team wins

[Bank Shot]

1) Kawhi
2) Curry - If the Ws are the clear cut best team in the league, and they should be, he'll get a lot votes. Voters just don't ignore the best team in the league even when there's multiple candidates on it.
3) Harden

[bwgood77]

Harden - insane stats under D'Antoni
Westbrook - insane stats as usual
Davis - if he gets back to form and somehow gets them back to playoffs

too bad the most important stat for MVP is team wins

Yes, and none of them will be near the top in wins, however I think the votes will split on the Warriors and LeBron is slowly declining a bit.

Davis was 5th in voting a couple of years ago and Harden and Westbrook were 2nd and 4th. I think if Davis stays healthy he should only be getting better and I expect the other two to get two to likely improve on that year.

[Phiology]

Harden

Rockets will win 55 games plus this year, just watch

no way they win anything close to 55 games.

[NBAfan3024]

Like Westbrook chances but only if thunder get top 3-4 seed

[ken6199]

no way they win anything close to 55 games.

Two years ago people said the same thing when we lost Parsons, Lin, Asik and replaced them with the ISO king Trevor Ariza. We won 55, while being predicted to miss the playoffs.

Another two years ago, again, with a sophomore Parsons, poison pilled Lin and Asik, a newly landed Harden, with the league youngest average age, we won 45 while being predicted as bottom 3 team. Regular season SRS ranked 6th in West (but better than the East 3rd Pacers).

55 is surely a long shot but I wouldn't say 'no way anything close to it'.

[Phiology]

no way they win anything close to 55 games.

Two years ago people said the same thing when we lost Parsons, Lin, Asik and replaced them with the ISO king Trevor Ariza. We won 55, while being predicted to miss the playoffs.

Another two years ago, again, with a sophomore Parsons, poison pilled Lin and Asik, a newly landed Harden, with the league youngest average age, we won 45 while being predicted as bottom 3 team. Regular season SRS ranked 6th in West (but better than the East 3rd Pacers).

55 is surely a long shot but I wouldn't say 'no way anything close to it'.

I get ya, it is possible that they might win that many games, but the probability for it in my opinion is very low.

You added Anderson (good player, but mainl offense only), Gordon (good shooter, injury prone) and Nene (was good, also injury prone), and also D'Antoni as a coach (offensive coach, last gig a total disaster with lakers for numerous reasons) but lost Howard amongst other players. While it did not really work out with Howard for you, last years team was clearly disfunctional and defensively abysmal, as well as lethargic imo. I dont think that that is going to change this year.

I think the rockets missing the playoffs is more likely than 55 wins, which was achieved last year by:

cavs
raps
warriors
spurs
thunder

Sure, the warriors will lose a game or two more, the thunder also, but the west has become more competitive and equal in my opinion than last year.

[StepBackCrack]

Top 3 MVP voting that I expect :

1. Leonard.
2. Harden/Westbrook.
3. Harden/Westbrook/LeBron (if he cares enough he will be 1st).

Durant/Curry can't win because Rose won it in 2011 after LeBron joined the Heat. Same story next season. An inferior player (to Durant/Curry) will most likely win the award (unless that player is LeBron).

Top 3 players of the whole season is a different matter, however. This is what I expect if all stay healthy :

1. Durant
2. LeBron
3. Curry

[simon24]

Hi All,

I wanted to start a discussion around the upcoming 2016-2017 NBA season and who you see emerging as the top candidates for the League MVP? For me:

1/ LeBron James: you can't ignore that the championship will give him credibility going forward in this season. I think he'll have a personal mission to get another League MVP and title by leading the champs to the best record in the east. You also can't ignore last season's team record without LeBron and so many statistics that prove his importance to the team.

2/ Russell Westbrook: I think two players are significantly impacted by Durant's decision to move to Warrior land. Russell Westbrook will touch the ball more, which should be scary if you consider the triple double machine he was last year. Only question is, can the Thunder get a good enough regular season record to be in the conversation to deliver the MVP?

3/ Kevin Durant/Steph Curry: I purposely have put Steph on 3rd place because he's the second player impacted by KD's decision. Curry and KD will receive most of the media attention and praise with their team, yet you can argue that the Warriors will still win a lot of games without one of them. I also cannot see either one of them giving the spotlight to the other. Because of this, their importance to their team will be less obvious than with my two previous candidates and as a result I consider them as outsiders.

Let me hear your thoughts

1. Durant
2. Curry
3. LeBron

[Patches Perry]

I don't see Durant or Curry winning it unless they top 73. Curry will have a worse statistical season and his team will be worse (regular season anyways). Durant has a newness factor, but again, it's kind of hard to give him credit for being the best player on a 65 win team when they won 73 games the year before without him. That's an -8 win impact, and on top of that he probably isn't even the best player on the team. They take votes away from each other and have gaudy expectations. Not a good recipe for winning MVP.

Westbrook and Harden are good choices individually, but wins will be an issue. As mentioned earlier in the thread, the award never goes to someone on a middle of the pack team, or even middle of the playoff picture team. Always top 4, rarely out of the top 2 or 3.

I'm not sure Leonard doesn't have the same problem as Curry/Durant. They won 66 last season, and he had a ridiculous season. If he takes another step in improving, then he'll deserve MVP because that'll mean he is otherworldly. Most likely though, he maintains what he did last season while winning less games. Not exactly recipe for grabbing anyone's attention.

I think it's probably a LeBron apology year. Many people in the media spoke of his demise far too soon, and he pretty much claimed his throne without a question in anyone's mind. If Cleveland finishes 1st in their conference, and LeBron has a standard year statistically, I can see him taking it home.

Another outside possibility - Kyrie Irving. LeBron takes it easy in the regular season, still making great impact but deferring more. Kyrie has a ridiculous statistical season building on his great finals, and Cleveland takes 1st seed. He'd certainly be in the picture.

[ballfan5]

My vote is for Harden. He will have the ball in his hands even more this year. I expect him to put up high numbers in points and assists. Hopefully he can keep his turnovers down.
My next would be Paul George who I think will be insane this year and have a lot to prove
Lebron James is always in the running.
Westbrook will have free reign to do it all this year and he has a lot to prove.

I have ruled out anyone from GSW because the expectations based on their roster. If they don't make it to the finals then it will be seen as a failure. It will be hard to pinpoint one of those guys as being the most important player on their roster or even dominating in stats because the ball will be shared so much.

[Patches Perry]

Unless the Warriors win 75, what can they do to turn anyone's head? Even if they win every game by 30, their better players won't play enough minutes to rack up the numbers. When Durant came on board, they sacrificed individual accolades for team dominance. Curry and Durant have given up their MVP chances, and Klay and Draymond have probably given up their all-star chances (at least one of them).

[JustNBATingz]

Durant - best team and best player - he will outshine Curry as he will avg 28/10
LBJ - best team in the east - will beast again but wont have a better record than GS
Leonard - Second best team in the NBA - DPOY as well
Curry - does not break 3 point record this year - has his stats lowered maybe 25/8
Harden - best stats but no team success - 30/7/6
WestBrook - see Harden but worse team- 30/8/7

[inquisitive]

LBJ, Harden, RW or PG

[yoyoboy]

It's funny how probably the top 3 players in the league (LeBron, Curry, Durant) aren't on most people's top 3 MVP lists. Not that I blame anyone at all for it, because I'm well aware of the circumstances and how the voting traditionally goes.

If I had to bet, I'm going with:

1. Durant (~26/7.5/5/64.5% TS on 65+ win team)
2. Curry (~24/5/7.5/66% TS on 65+ win team)
3. Harden (~27.5/8/6/60% TS on 45+ win team)
4. LeBron (~24/7/6.5/57% TS on 55+ win team)
5. Westbrook (~26.5/7.5/9/54% TS on 45+ win team)
6. Kawhi (~23/7/2.5/60% TS on 55+ win team)
7. Paul (~18.5/4/10/58% TS on 50+ win team)
8. Lowry (~20/4.5/6.5/56.5% TS on 50+ win team)
9. George (~22.5/7/4/56% TS on 45+ win team)
10. Davis (~25.5/10/2/58% TS on 35+ win team)

HM: Green, Griffin, Lillard, Kyrie, Cousins, Towns, Millsap

Also, this isn't necessarily my list of who I think will be best or the most valuable players in the season (though that obviously plays a part), but who think will be considered so by the media.

[Nowak008]

I think it will be one of 3 people - Lebron, Kawhi, George.

If the Cavs cruise to the 1 seed again I think he will get it by default because Curry won the last 2. Durant won't get it because of joining the GS, and Curry won't win 3 in a row. Harden, AD, Westbrook's teams aren't good enough to get the number of wins required for the MVP. Paul has Griffen/DJ plus everyone really hates the Clips, and this can be a popularity contest at times.

That leaves Kawhi and George. If either team gets the 1st or 2nd seed in their conference they will land the MVP.

[RCM88x]

If Lebron wants it the award is his 9 times out of 10. But I think he has other goals on his mind.

Just based on what I've seen this pre-season. Harden has a great shot if his team wins 50 games and he plays decent individual defense, his numbers are going to be off the charts.

Same deal for Westbrook, if his team wins 50 games which will be a huge task), the award is his. Not sure if he can do that though, team around him just kind of sucks.

Dark horse for me is Paul George, was playing at MVP level early last year before fatigue got to him. Team around him is much better this year as well and they have a decent shot at getting a top 4 seed in the East which will require 50 wins IMO. "Faster" offensive pace will probably help his numbers a bit and might give him just enough of a boost to propel him to MVP level.