MMyhre wrote:MMyhre wrote:slick_watts wrote:shai's probably going to produce a season similar to last year. luka, giannis, jokic are all capable of matching or exceeding that, so it's too early to say. who knows where wemby settles. my guess is that shai will not repeat and one of the other three will win it.
Shai is still shooting a lot worse from three than he did last season, while increasing his percentages elsewhere, like his ridiculous 62 % from 10-16 feet.
I still think he has another leap in him, but it's going to need to come from his three point shooting. He takes a lot of tough stepback threes off the dribble, he makes them in the clutch but nowhere else, lol.
If he has Jalen Williams and Chet rolling, his shots will get easier.
I forgot to mention Shais improved playmaking. I have seen him make more Lukaesque passes off the dribble to shooters on the other side of the court for open threes. Improved vision and passing would be huge.. 12 ast/3 to today and OKC are just rolling.
Yea, i've noticed the improvement in playmaking as well. Part of the subjective nature of "MVP" discussion is the lens you have when comparing how player A generates stats compared to player B, and the actual impact on winning (or if you even consider winning to be the goal of generating stats).
i.e. Is a guard like 2017 MVP Russ (or Luka and Reaves now) grabbing all those extra rebounds (95% being defensive) -while their bigs like Adams (or Ayton) average career lows in rebounds because they're relinquishing them to the guards... is that value adding or just self-serving? This, compared to 2016 MVP Curry (or current Shai) that don't compete with their front-line for that extra 4-5 rpg?
Should 2016 Steph, 2025 Shai, 1996 Mike, be penalized as mvp candidates because they're coaches run structured plays that emphasize ball movement/off ball action, and empower role players to do their role (be it playmaking or rebounding)? Compared to the LeBron, Russ, Luka playstyle where they seemingly can do more but also seemingly need suppressed role players that fit into a box. The latter guys will almost always generate more stats than the first 3 (rebounds, assists specifically) but given some of the caveats that come with it, i wouldn't always say that makes them "more" valuable.
