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While I have some issues with this video (the writer Alex Rubenstein ignores advanced statistics that favor Westbrook) I think I should make clear its focus is on how Russ averaging two more rebounds than Harden was seemingly the main rationale the media used for voting for him over Harden, not that Russ wasn't better at things that don't show up in the box score.

I have Kawhi as the deserving MVP that year.

Did the guy really say - homo sapiens lost me right there.

I think I remember Zach Lowe saying that a bit too at the time. That the triple double thing was driving way too much of the discourse when we're talking about a marginal rebounding advantage that everyone knew was boosted by the Thunder's strategy to let Russ get rebounds to ignite the fast break. Harden averaging 8.1 rebounds that year does make the distinction pretty silly.

I also had Kawhi that year. That was the one year where you could really argue Kawhi as a top 5 offensive and defensive player on a 61-win team. Harden and Russ being total 0s on defense holds a lot of weight for me here against their obvious playmaking advantages.

It just felt a bit ridiculous when the playoffs rolled around and Harden and Russ turned into pumpkins, where Kawhi looked like the terminator until Zaza happened. Russ' style looked particularly wretched, as he continued to pile up massive counting stats while shooting 38% from the field and 26% from 3 while generating 6 turnovers per game. Sure... let one guy take every shot and he can get crazy looking numbers but... why? Harden looked more like himself, but with a significant efficiency drop off.

The 2017 MVP race felt like a gimmick off to a certain extent.

cupcakesnake wrote:I think I remember Zach Lowe saying that a bit too at the time. That the triple double thing was driving way too much of the discourse when we're talking about a marginal rebounding advantage that everyone knew was boosted by the Thunder's strategy to let Russ get rebounds to ignite the fast break. Harden averaging 8.1 rebounds that year does make the distinction pretty silly.

I think this is revisionist. I don't think it actually mattered if russ averaged a triple double once he hit that jumper vs denver and I'm pretty sure by impact statistically westbrook was like 3rd after Lebron and Steph anyway. I also don't think Westbrook's rebounds were necessarily more inflated than Harden's assists that year

It just felt a bit ridiculous when the playoffs rolled around and Harden and Russ turned into pumpkins

Well this never happened. Are you conflating 2018 with 2017? Unless you just ignore playmaking (which was hyper-effecient) Westbrook was still awesome in the playoffs.

Agree Kawhi was better but that shouldn't have any bearing on MVP anyway.