OsuCavsfan103 wrote:Birdie wrote:OsuCavsfan103 wrote:Tell me why LeBron isn't the MVP of the league again? lol
C'mon bruh, Westbrook took it/earned it. Even Harden had a quantifiable/his team had a better record AND LBJ had 2 other All-Stars on his team as well. As great as LBJ is, his half-assed, still statistically dominant season still had a few warts on it (i.e. that 538 article of baby ragers not getting back on defense highlighted one such wart as he and Ky were in that Top 15 worst).
Let's not be too homerish or prisoner of the moment. I wish LBJ was more ahole, killer mamba Kobe-ish in his demeanor as a player but I think he wants to be friends with everyone and be liked and all that fun stuff (which is perfectly fine but there is a small part of me that would like to see Game 6 angry but controlled LBJ every single game). Might be exhausting on his part in the end and that's why we don't see it ALL year and being in the playoffs, he knows when he "needs" to turn it on to go all out for 16+ games until the final horn. At this point, I give him the benefit of the doubt as he's earned it.
I don't agree though. Westbrook is great, but he doesn't even let his teammates get involved. I get it, they aren't great, but last night shows part of the reason why to me. In the 4th quarter Westbrook was atrocious, and he refused to let anyone else get a chance. A great player and MVP also knows how to set a teammate up, make them better. When LeBron had a cast that was crappy like Westbrook has, he still took them to the NBA finals... why?... because he made them better. I am just not buying into what Westbrook did as much as others. You don't think guys like Kawhi, LeBron, Harden, Curry, Durant could do what Westbrook does if they refuse to be a team player? All these guys could do what he does, but they are smart enough to know that isn't realistic to win. I know none of them have a cast as poor as WB, but he doesn't even try.
I am not really being a prisoner of the moment though, I would say LeBron has been more valuable player to his team almost his entire career than anyone else since Jordan. You could maybe talk about Kobe for a few years being that valuable but that's it. LeBron gets glossed over bc everyone is so used to it, it's not new and exciting, he is consistently that incredible. Tonight proves it anymore. He took a lineup with very little D, and used it to wallop IND at their house when he was down big. I don't think you can even quantify the worth that LeBron brings to the table for a team honestly.
Honestly, I don't think most anyone in the current NBA (yes, even LBJ) could do what Westbrook just did this season. Closet I could think of is Wall but I don't think Wall could rebound like a banshee the way Westbrook does. Westbrook's motor is just on another level and let's not forget, on a bum knee from a few years ago. Just crazy.
And as for your slight dig at Westbrook in not making his teammates better, I mean, I think that's a bit unfair, he did avg 10.4 ast per game, so you can't really say he's not involving his teammates to a degree. Being frank, I watched a few OKC games on League Pass this year and Russ most likely easily could've been around 12-15ast per game if he had guys not brick some great looks or had the shooters LBJ has. The fact OKC is a terrible 3pt shooting team and really doesn't have another creator outside of "maybe" Dipo, the fact he even got 10ast per game is remarkable in it's own instance.
At some point, you can't ding him for being "selfish" when in the end, he's the entire team because that's what Presti put around him unfortunately. And again, let's put this in perspective:
Russell: 81 games played; 2802 minutes played, 31.6PPG 10.7REB 10.4AST 10.2-24.0FGM/A 42.5FG% 34.3 3PT% 84.5FT%
LeBron: 74 games played; 2795 minutes played, 26.4PPG 8.6REB 8.7AST 9.9-18.2FGM/A 54.8FG% 36.3 3PT% 67.4FT%
CLE = 51 wins; OKC = 46 wins
And again, I'll mention, CLE had 2 other All-Stars on the team plus 9 guys who played, including LBJ, who shot 35% or higher (Korver highest at 48.5%) from 3, 5 of those guys shot > than 40%. Russ had 4 guys who shot better than 35% with Abrines topping out at 38.1% of the guys who played and actually jacked up shots. Dipo, McBuckets, Jerami Grant and Alex Abrines. Those 4 hardly instilling fear in the hearts of other teams.
I mean, if you're gonna look at those number and say, damn, Russ isn't the MVP, I don't know man, ya just gotta give props when it's due. Any other ho hum season, LBJ takes it easily but unfortunately, Russ just had a better season and to a degree, you could say Harden too. Some might say Kawhi too but I'm not quite sold on that one but he easily could finish 3rd with LBJ fatigue when it comes to voting.
I don't know why I'm going to these lengths to defend Westbrook as I could care less but you got me on one, lol. LBJ should've been unanimous MVP that one year where that idiot reporter gave his vote to Melo and possibly, LBJ/Kobe should've been MVP's those Nash years' but at this point, I think LBJ is more than happy taking Finals MVPs' and chips as opposed to a regular season accolade. That's all I'm sayin but I don't disagree with where you're coming from and why you feel the way you do. Perfectly understandable. I think as Cavs fans', we take LBJ for granted as well and when he's gone, we're gonna be right back into suckville where no one is gonna want to come play for us again and the universe will spin on...unless it all goes to hell with what's going on currently in this crazy world but I won't digress into that non-sport talk. In the end, LBJ just affirming his beast mode and we need 13 more wins worth of it so I can have another happy panda summer again.