ESPN: 2017-18 NBA MVP forecast

[Mylie10]

Kyrie is gonna win it when Orlando knocks off the Cavs this next season. Kyrie on the Magic of course.

[C3H6N6O6]

I find it funny how much the media likes Durant. Most people in the media "hated" Durant only for 3-4 months after he decided to go to the Warriors.

The truth is that LeBron won the MVP in 2012 because Wade declined because his knees kept getting worse. It got even more clear after 2012 postseason and 2012-13 regular season that Wade's decline was because of his bad knees instead of Wade "letting" LeBron be the number 1 on the team.

I find it funny that a lot of media members say that Kd is the MVP favorite because LeBron won 2 MVPs with Wade while completely forgetting that Wade kept declining after 2010-11 season.

The disrespect for Curry in media's eyes is so clear. I have no idea how Warriors fans don't see it.

I used to think that Durant's move to Warriors would impact his legacy in a bad way but the truth is that Durant's move might only impact Curry's legacy in a bad way.

Curry will get rings but his legacy as a superstar will get impacted in a bad way after people 10 years from now see his numbers in 2016 Finals and then say that he only won because of KD joining the warriors which is false but it will be perceived that way 10 years from now.

[NBAfan3024]

I think if spurs get 60 wins Kawhi will do it.

[Goudelock]

I find it funny how much the media likes Durant. Most people in the media "hated" Durant only for 3-4 months after he decided to go to the Warriors.

The truth is that LeBron won the MVP in 2012 because Wade declined because his knees kept getting worse. It got even more clear after 2012 postseason and 2012-13 regular season that Wade's decline was because of his bad knees instead of Wade "letting" LeBron be the number 1 on the team.

I find it funny that a lot of media members say that Kd is the MVP favorite because LeBron won 2 MVPs with Wade while completely forgetting that Wade kept declining after 2010-11 season.

The disrespect for Curry in media's eyes is so clear. I have no idea how Warriors fans don't see it.

I used to think that Durant's move to Warriors would impact his legacy in a bad way but the truth is that Durant's move might only impact Curry's legacy in a bad way.

Curry will get rings but his legacy as a superstar will get impacted in a bad way after people 10 years from now see his numbers in 2016 Finals and then say that he only won because of KD joining the warriors which is false but it will be perceived that way 10 years from now.

That Finals loss/choke in 2016 is probably what lost Curry respect in the eyes of the media. Because before that, wasn't Curry being treated as the second coming of Christ, especially by ESPN?

[KobeBryant24]

Nah.. Warrirors are significantly better with curry on court and a lot worse with him off the court. Durant hardly moves the needle in that regard. Cavs put ALL their attention into curry in the finals. The dude is flat out better.

Howd that work out?

Curry dominated us.

And KD didnt? I dont see this convo heading anywhere

[spicy6]

Its gonna be between kawhi and giannis its pretty easy to see... Depending on if Russ can get the thunder to somewhere in the 55-60 range while averaging something like 28-8-12 unless that happens its between those 2.

[Scizzup]

I think Durant will probably win it but I don't know why he should. The Warriors literally won 15 straight games without Durant last year, 18-3 total when Durant didn't play but the original big 3 did. If Curry and Durant each missed 15 games in separate stretches I'm 100% positive they lose more games in the stretch Curry is out.

also lmao @ Wade

I agree about Durant, the fact he was in the "running" last year is just mind boggling to me. They were on pace to be a worse regular season team than '16-'17 until HE GOT HURT and they went on a huge streak for the rest of the season... like what. No player in the history of the league has gotten MVP considerations while making their team worse than the year before and during the season. I just don't get it.

Not sure if people just have no respect for Curry or what, just doesn't make any sense to me.

He wasn't really in the running as it was mostly Harden/WB but yes he should've been a top 5 candidate if he was healthy. Before he got hurt he was higher than Curry/Kawhi on RPM/BPM. He was still better than Kawhi on all metrics until Kawhi got RPM bumped in playoffs. The on/off numbers still favored Curry (before he got hurt) but not to the extent it did after he missed so many minutes. They also were on pace to beat the best offense ever by almost 1.5 points per 100 while spotting the best defense. The team was never winning 73 games again even if you added LEBRON. A +3 addition SRS to their 15/16 is great.

[inquisitive]

Kawhi

[AdagioPace]

I think Durant will probably win it but I don't know why he should. The Warriors literally won 15 straight games without Durant last year, 18-3 total when Durant didn't play but the original big 3 did. If Curry and Durant each missed 15 games in separate stretches I'm 100% positive they lose more games in the stretch Curry is out.

also lmao @ Wade

I agree about Durant, the fact he was in the "running" last year is just mind boggling to me. They were on pace to be a worse regular season team than '16-'17 until HE GOT HURT and they went on a huge streak for the rest of the season... like what. No player in the history of the league has gotten MVP considerations while making their team worse than the year before and during the season. I just don't get it.

Not sure if people just have no respect for Curry or what, just doesn't make any sense to me.

He wasn't really in the running as it was mostly Harden/WB but yes he should've been a top 5 candidate if he was healthy. Before he got hurt he was higher than Curry/Kawhi on RPM/BPM. He was still better than Kawhi on all metrics until Kawhi got RPM bumped in playoffs. The on/off numbers still favored Curry (before he got hurt) but not to the extent it did after he missed so many minutes. They also were on pace to beat the best offense ever by almost 1.5 points per 100 while spotting the best defense. The team was never winning 73 games again even if you added LEBRON. A +3 addition SRS to their 15/16 is great.

Kawhi's numbers didnt "got bumped" by chance. He had a memorable playoff run. Lebronesque I would say. Using one verb over another is instrumental to convey a different message. "Kawhi bumped his numbers". Also uou are forgetting the jump in efficiency that Durant had from playing in GS. Kawhi was also assisted in less fg. So by many accounts (box score and rpm) Kawhi had a better season.

[Scizzup]

I agree about Durant, the fact he was in the "running" last year is just mind boggling to me. They were on pace to be a worse regular season team than '16-'17 until HE GOT HURT and they went on a huge streak for the rest of the season... like what. No player in the history of the league has gotten MVP considerations while making their team worse than the year before and during the season. I just don't get it.

Not sure if people just have no respect for Curry or what, just doesn't make any sense to me.

He wasn't really in the running as it was mostly Harden/WB but yes he should've been a top 5 candidate if he was healthy. Before he got hurt he was higher than Curry/Kawhi on RPM/BPM. He was still better than Kawhi on all metrics until Kawhi got RPM bumped in playoffs. The on/off numbers still favored Curry (before he got hurt) but not to the extent it did after he missed so many minutes. They also were on pace to beat the best offense ever by almost 1.5 points per 100 while spotting the best defense. The team was never winning 73 games again even if you added LEBRON. A +3 addition SRS to their 15/16 is great.

Kawhi's numbers didnt "got bumped" by chance. He had a memorable playoff run. Lebronesque I would say. Using one verb over another is instrumental to convey a different message. "Kawhi bumped his numbers". Also uou are forgetting the jump in efficiency that Durant had from playing in GS. Kawhi was also assisted in less fg. So by many accounts (box score and rpm) Kawhi had a better season.

I didn't say Kawhi got bumped by chance, he had a excellent playoffs. I like Kawhi. Also KD went from a 63/64% TS player to 65%. Well KD missed games so Kawhi had the better season for me also that doesn't change how he had better on/off rpm/bpm than Kawhi before he got hurt/playoffs.

[Scizzup]

if Spurs can get a top 3 seed, Kawhi gets it. For Curry/KD to get it they have to win 72+ games which I don't think will happen. Things have to go right and they would have to make it a goal. There is a real there are only 2 70 wins team in history.

[Impuniti]

Its gonna be between kawhi and giannis its pretty easy to see... Depending on if Russ can get the thunder to somewhere in the 55-60 range while averaging something like 28-8-12 unless that happens its between those 2.

I'm going to make sure and bring these topics up to laugh at people towards the end of next season.

[spicy6]

Its gonna be between kawhi and giannis its pretty easy to see... Depending on if Russ can get the thunder to somewhere in the 55-60 range while averaging something like 28-8-12 unless that happens its between those 2.

I'm going to make sure and bring these topics up to laugh at people towards the end of next season.

3-1

[Domejandro]

LeBron is going to have a monster season this year to get MVP, in my opinion.

[HotRocks34]

Curry is better than durant

Correct. At least as the Warriors have been set up until this time. On the Warriors last season, Curry was more valuable/more important than Durant was. That's reflected in most of the stats, I believe.

This reality of Curry being better than Durant is reflected in the Adande companion piece story that was put out along with the MVP prediction piece.

http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/20284610/nba-golden-state-warriors-steph-curry-sagging-mvp-candidacy

Most valuable player is a narrative-driven award, and it's easier to remain the best player than it is to be the best story.

...

Curry appears destined to remain in the "others receiving votes" pile. The storyline spotlight has moved elsewhere, even if he still commands the full attention of defenses.

All of that sounds a lot like:

"The media wants to give Durant the MVP award, even if Curry is more valuable to the Warriors than Durant is."

This is what happens when you have subjective voting or judging. You can get a kind of "voter nullification," where even if one player is more important than another the voters can decide to give it to the player they want rather than the player who deserves it.

It is what it is.

Adande's piece claims that Durant was a necessity and not a luxury for the Warriors last year. That is false. Durant was not necessary, at least not before The Finals. Which is why the Warriors performed so well with Durant out of the lineup.

Durant was rewarded for his importance in the Finals with the Finals MVP trophy. But being the Finals MVP isn't the same as being the regular season MVP. As Tony Parker or Andre Iguodala could tell us.

Additionally, Durant has played an average of about 53 games per year in the last three season. Obviously, that won't be enough for him to be eligible for any regular season award.

.

Steven A. Smith, in the video on the ESPN MVP discussion page, says that Durant could break Kareem's all-time scoring record.

He could. But I'm not sure I'd place a wager on Durant doing so.

Durant has played 10 seasons and accumulated about 30,500 Total Career Minutes. He's about to turn 29 years old. He has scored 19,121 regular season points.

Kareem scored 38,387 regular season points.

Thus, it looks like Durant will need to play at least 20 seasons to challenge Kareem. He'd probably be at least 37 years old when nearing the mark. He'd probably be at around 60,000 Total Career Minutes when nearing the mark.

To this point in time, only two players in NBA history have played more than 58,000 Total Career Minutes. And with Durant's health challenges the last few years, I'm not sure he's likely to get to that career minutes milestone.