2013-14 MVP Discussion Thread Pt II

[LBJ-ITALY]

Lebron doesn't deserve it this year, plan and simple and this is coming from his big fan!

[pelican piranha]

Lebron doesn't deserve it this year, plan and simple and this is coming from his big fan!

I agree. I hope he turns it on and captures his fifth, but it doesn't appear he's going to at this point. Durant has been more impressive.

[Colbinii]

It really goes to show you what kind of standards we have for players like Durant and The king.

In the last 10 games, Durant has posted 34/8/5.4 on .49/.35/.88 shooting, with only 2.1 turnovers per game .
Lebron has posted, in his last 10 games, 29/6.2/6,2 on 57/39/67 with 2.4 turnovers per game.

[boobie miles]

It really goes to show you what kind of standards we have for players like Durant and The king.

In the last 10 games, Durant has posted 34/8/5.4 on .49/.35/.88 shooting, with only 2.1 turnovers per game .
Lebron has posted, in his last 10 games, 29/6.2/6,2 on 57/39/67 with 2.4 turnovers per game.

Goes to show why, with the possible exception of Chris Paul, the rest of the so-called candidates are not really even in the race.

[LBJ-ITALY]

It really goes to show you what kind of standards we have for players like Durant and The king.

In the last 10 games, Durant has posted 34/8/5.4 on .49/.35/.88 shooting, with only 2.1 turnovers per game .
Lebron has posted, in his last 10 games, 29/6.2/6,2 on 57/39/67 with 2.4 turnovers per game.

this is embarrassing for James especially when he said that he has worked a lot on his FT shooting this past off season!

[bbms]

What if someday people started to give credit to the offensive player, or blame the defensive player, for FTAs, instead of knocking on the offensive player and giving love to the defensive player? Durant is not a jumpshooter anymore, he attacks the rim a lot and gets fouled a lot (hell of long arms).

He's chucking. But he's not at San Antonio. He's not at Miami. He's not in any well coached team. His star went down. Youngsters are getting more burn than they should. It's urgent for him to step up and he's doing that. The fact that he does that and still keep whole lot above the league average in terms of efficiency is a plus, not a con.

It really goes to show you what kind of standards we have for players like Durant and The king.

In the last 10 games, Durant has posted 34/8/5.4 on .49/.35/.88 shooting, with only 2.1 turnovers per game .
Lebron has posted, in his last 10 games, 29/6.2/6,2 on 57/39/67 with 2.4 turnovers per game.

this is embarrassing for James especially when he said that he has worked a lot on his FT shooting this past off season!

Have to be said, against Utah, Denver and Memphis, Durant combined for 4/24 in 3pts. His three point shoot is totally off. He should be at a ridiculous efficiency without those.

[MisterHibachi]

That's because he's taking bad 3s. Those 3s aren't good shots for anyone other than Stephen Curry.

[bbms]

That's because he's taking bad 3s. Those 3s aren't good shots for anyone other than Stephen Curry.

I won't disagree with you, he is taking more bad threes than usual, but we're talking about KD here. He doesn't get a lot of clean threes a game, yet, he nail 40% of 5 threes a game on a regular basis. He should cut it out, but come on, if you told someone that Durant shot 16% on threes during some stretch, everyone would say is a lie, no matter how bad it is.

[QPR]

It's going to take one of those LeBron runs from here and I don't know if he can be bothered in the regular season this time around.

[Rasho_libre]

Great, superstar game from kd. Shot wasn't falling but did everything he can to help his team win the game. Even defended harden down the stretch. This also reassures me, harden and Dwight are kind of fake super stars. Kd was the only superstar in the building tonight.

[LBJ-ITALY]

Great, superstar game from kd. Shot wasn't falling but the refereesdid everything they can to help his team win the game. Even defended harden down the stretch. This also reassures me, harden and Dwight are kind of fake super stars. Kd was the only superstar in the building tonight.

Fixed!

[Antrim]

Games with 12 FTA or more, 2013-14:

LeBron: 1
Durant: 16

[daschysta]

Pg seems to be out of his slump and should post monster numbers on this west road trip, since he may actually have to play the 4th quarter. 28 ppg on over 50% in 33 mpg the last 2.

He can still win mvp if say Indy wins 66-67 games (they are on pace and have already faced their toughest road games of the year) while Miami and OKC win 58-60. If rose can win it over two better players with a 4 game lead over lbj then imo pg can win it easily if he finishes 6-7 games ahead of lbj and kd. Which given Miami looking like they will perhaps not have the energy and concede 1st to Indy and Westy being injured it's quite possible.

By far leading scorer, and win share holder and elite defender on a team that runs away with best record is a pretty strong mvp case.

[PaulieWal]

^^ Realistically I don't see PG winning it even if Indiana is 6-7 wins ahead of LeBron or KD. For one he doesn't have the stats they do and it is clear that LeBron and KD are a tier above everyone else. Moreover, unlike the Rose year there is a huge appreciation for Hibbert's defense and his value to the team and its success.

All of this isn't to take anything away from PG who has emerged as an elite two way player this season and has a bright future but I just don't see him winning the MVP.

[daschysta]

I don't necessarily disagree, but shouldn't the same stigma effect kd, given the tangible evidence of Westbrooks enormous impact? The Thunder are barely above .500 without him

[theokie]

Games with 12 FTA or more, 2013-14:

LeBron: 1
Durant: 16

When LeBron used to shoot as much as KD is right now, he shot just as many free throws. Its really annoying and stupid for people to continue to complain about the free throw disparity, when they don't look at it in context at all.

LeBron's usage rate: 27.7 (lowest since rookie year)
Durant's usage rate: 29.7 (career high)

LeBron's field goal attempts: 16.2 (a career low)
Durant's field goal attempts: 19.5

Durants currently shooting 10.2 free throws per game. But his usage rate is 29.7 and his field goal attempts are at 19.5. This is the just the second time in his career KD has shot at least 19.5 FG attempts per game and had a usage rate of at least 29. LeBron has done that 5 times in his career. Lets look at those years and see how the free throw attempts stack up.

Durant 09-10 - 10.2 FTA
Durant 13-14 - 10.2 FTA

LeBron 05-06 - 10.3 FTA
LeBron 06-07 - 9.0 FTA
LeBron 07-08 - 10.3 FTA
LeBron 08-09 - 9.3 FTA
LeBron 09-10 - 10.2 FTA

So I don't want to hear it anymore. LeBron can shoot 10+ free throw attempts per game if he wanted to. Its a lot easier for Miami and LeBron fans to try to cry for the disparity being a result of referee bias or whatever, but maybe look at the facts instead. LeBron's usage rate has dropped 4.5 points and his FGA attempts have dropped by 3.9 since the last time he averaged the same number of FTA as Durant now.

[Keller61]

Pg seems to be out of his slump and should post monster numbers on this west road trip, since he may actually have to play the 4th quarter. 28 ppg on over 50% in 33 mpg the last 2.

He can still win mvp if say Indy wins 66-67 games (they are on pace and have already faced their toughest road games of the year) while Miami and OKC win 58-60. If rose can win it over two better players with a 4 game lead over lbj then imo pg can win it easily if he finishes 6-7 games ahead of lbj and kd. Which given Miami looking like they will perhaps not have the energy and concede 1st to Indy and Westy being injured it's quite possible.

By far leading scorer, and win share holder and elite defender on a team that runs away with best record is a pretty strong mvp case.

George certainly has the narrative advantage right now, being the clear leader of the team that is destroying the rest of the league, while Durant and LeBron's teams are struggling to win games without their respective sidekicks. I think his numbers are just too far below LeBron and Durant's though, and it seems like even when George has bad games the Pacers usually win anyway.

For example, PG is averaging 19 points on 39% shooting in January (although his overall impact obviously goes beyond that), and the Pacers are 6-2. If KD had a stretch like that I don't know if the Thunder would win a game.

[fallacy]

I don't necessarily disagree, but shouldn't the same stigma effect kd, given the tangible evidence of Westbrooks enormous impact? The Thunder are barely above .500 without him

The heat are .500 without Wade

[makaveli_99]

Games with 12 FTA or more, 2013-14:

LeBron: 1
Durant: 16

When LeBron used to shoot as much as KD is right now, he shot just as many free throws. Its really annoying and stupid for people to continue to complain about the free throw disparity, when they don't look at it in context at all.

LeBron's usage rate: 27.7 (lowest since rookie year)
Durant's usage rate: 29.7 (career high)

LeBron's field goal attempts: 16.2 (a career low)
Durant's field goal attempts: 19.5

Durants currently shooting 10.2 free throws per game. But his usage rate is 29.7 and his field goal attempts are at 19.5. This is the just the second time in his career KD has shot at least 19.5 FG attempts per game and had a usage rate of at least 29. LeBron has done that 5 times in his career. Lets look at those years and see how the free throw attempts stack up.

Durant 09-10 - 10.2 FTA
Durant 13-14 - 10.2 FTA

LeBron 05-06 - 10.3 FTA
LeBron 06-07 - 9.0 FTA
LeBron 07-08 - 10.3 FTA
LeBron 08-09 - 9.3 FTA
LeBron 09-10 - 10.2 FTA

So I don't want to hear it anymore. LeBron can shoot 10+ free throw attempts per game if he wanted to. Its a lot easier to Miami and LeBron fans to try to cry for the disparity being a result of referee bias or whatever, but maybe look at the facts instead. LeBron's usage rate has dropped 4.5 points and his FGA attempts have dropped by 3.9 since the last time he averaged the same number of FTA as Durant now.

great post.

[Rasho_libre]

I don't necessarily disagree, but shouldn't the same stigma effect kd, given the tangible evidence of Westbrooks enormous impact? The Thunder are barely above .500 without him

The heat are .500 without Wade

The heat are in cruise control, we've seen years past that heat can win games without wade. The thunder otoh had been less than impressive in any stretch without Westbrook. At the same time this is a learning process for kd. Yesterday we saw exactly what he needs to do to win games without wb and he did. He took on all the responsibility he needs to that doesn't show up in the stat sheet and in my books these are the moments and things I want to see to give kd my vote. He already had my vote, yesterday it just made it stronger. I could care less about the free throw thing, I don't know why Lebron fans complain about is so much but it's very simple would you rather Lebron worry about drawing free throws or continue concentrating on being the best finisher in league history? I think with Miami, Lebron etc in cruise control with or without wade will give kd his MVP this year. I don't expect Lebron to go on a jan, feb type run from last year to snatch it. All KD has to do is keep performing like yesterday.