MVP Discussion [19/20] [part I] - voting reopened

[LUKE23]

Giannis' current PER would equal the best in NBA history (by Wilt). Considering the Bucks will likely win 60 again (barring health), and his stats, he's gotta be the favorite.

[Dupp]

Isn’t donics per higher? Anyway we always have crazy high all time pers at this stage. They’ll come down a little.

[Perseus1966]

This is hilarious.
I guess under your criteria Hakeem Olajuwon isn't an international product since he trained with Moses Malone when he played at the University of Houston for three years.

we have a serius problem ...
Born in Nigeria 1963 he was a soccer player till 17, in 1981 stars palying basketball in USA 18 years old is Hakkem a product of the great school of Yorumba basketball?

So it seems to me that your argument is basically that a player can only be considered an international product if they come into the NBA at a certain skill-level. Below a certain skill-level then they are "US products" because they were raw when they got here.

Explain to me your dividing line between good enough and bad enough to be an international product.

Spanulis is one of the best players in eurolegue the last decade ,after hit 20 against USa 2006 NT he went to Rockets he failed but he was ready to play ,Giannis wasnt so simple.

[dirkules_41]

3 man game:

Doncic
Anteto
Harden

I'd actually go

1. LeBron James
2. James Harden
3. Giannis Antetokounmpo

as of today. Other guys I'd consider for the top five would include Siakam, Butler, Gobert, and Doncic.

But this is kind of silly, because we're still so early in the season.

I'm having a hard time putting LeBron over those 3 because when you co-star with AD you're playing a different game.

[ken6199]

I am gonna sound crazy and actually bump Harden after these two losses. He had efficient games while being doubled teamed the whole time. We'll see how he responds to his new strategy.

Giannis
[gap]
Harden/Doncic
Lebron

Giannis is leading this quite comfortably. The guy is actually doing more with less compared to last year and it looks like his level of performance is totally sustainable unlike Harden's 40 ppg 8 game streak.

I am sorry, if AD continues to have monster games left and right, there is just no strong reason for LeBron to go that high. Same as Curry/KD back in 2017.

[timO]

Giannis' current PER would equal the best in NBA history (by Wilt). Considering the Bucks will likely win 60 again (barring health), and his stats, he's gotta be the favorite.

1 Luka Doncic, DAL 15 33.9 .632 25.7 11.8 37.8 4.9 26.5 16.0 33.29
2 Giannis Antetokounmpo, MIL 15 33.0 .618 18.5 13.3 36.2 7.6 32.9 20.8 32.05

really?

[Yuri36]

Isn’t donics per higher? Anyway we always have crazy high all time pers at this stage. They’ll come down a little.

Source?
When you make such a big claim, back it with some examples at least.

[zimpy27]

4 players (Giannis, Harden, Doncic, Kawhi) currently have a higher usg% than 35%. Something that has only be done 27 times in the past 40 seasons.

LeBron has never had a usage above 34% and he has "LeBron ball" named after him.

[Yuri36]

Giannis' current PER would equal the best in NBA history (by Wilt). Considering the Bucks will likely win 60 again (barring health), and his stats, he's gotta be the favorite.

1 Luka Doncic, DAL 15 33.9 .632 25.7 11.8 37.8 4.9 26.5 16.0 33.29
2 Giannis Antetokounmpo, MIL 15 33.0 .618 18.5 13.3 36.2 7.6 32.9 20.8 32.05

really?

Let it go, Giannis's Superman defense which helps his team to have one of the worst defense among the top teams makes him wayyyy better than Doncic...

[Homer38]

I am gonna sound crazy and actually bump Harden after these two losses. He had efficient games while being doubled teamed the whole time. We'll see how he responds to his new strategy.

Giannis
[gap]
Harden/Doncic
Lebron

Giannis is leading this quite comfortably. The guy is actually doing more with less compared to last year and it looks like his level of performance is totally sustainable unlike Harden's 40 ppg 8 game streak.

I am sorry, if AD continues to have monster games left and right, there is just no strong reason for LeBron to go that high. Same as Curry/KD back in 2017.

We need to look at the rest of the roster too!

Curry and Durant had also Green(defensive player of the year)Klay Thompson and Iggy off the bench...Not a good comparaison.

[Dupp]

Isn’t donics per higher? Anyway we always have crazy high all time pers at this stage. They’ll come down a little.

Source?
When you make such a big claim, back it with some examples at least.

It’s not a big claim at all. It’s a normal thing. Happened to giannis last season and it’s happened to lebron multiple times in his career. Having the goat per for portion of the season but they always drop off somewhat. We are still talking top 20 all time but the likelihood both donic and giannis both stay top 2 all time in per come seasons end is close to 0.

[MisterHibachi]

I am gonna sound crazy and actually bump Harden after these two losses. He had efficient games while being doubled teamed the whole time. We'll see how he responds to his new strategy.

Giannis
[gap]
Harden/Doncic
Lebron

Giannis is leading this quite comfortably. The guy is actually doing more with less compared to last year and it looks like his level of performance is totally sustainable unlike Harden's 40 ppg 8 game streak.

I am sorry, if AD continues to have monster games left and right, there is just no strong reason for LeBron to go that high. Same as Curry/KD back in 2017.

People knew AD was on LeBron's team back in the summer but still mostly predicted the Lakers to be a pretender and nowhere close to the level of play they've shown thus far. Expectations matter a lot in MVP narratives and Lakers are massively outperforming expectations.

[nzahir]

Luka's defense isn't on the level of Lebron and certainly not Giannis'

Wins matter as well and narrative also does

Luka's team likely wont have the wins, its yr 2 (hard for voters to vote for him likely), the poor defense, and we haven't seen him in 1 playoff game yet (sure he will be fine, but its early).

Harden has stung voters too many times with his playoff performances. There is a bias against him now, and poor defense.

Its Lebron vs Giannis.

In one series or playoff game, I take Lebron. In a whole season, likely Giannis. But I feel like voters may realize this is likely the last year Lebron can win an mvp with Luka emerging, Giannis and harden staying strong, Curry and KD coming back, and with possibility of AD becoming one of those guys. This can help Lebron out.

There has been at least 1 year in his career where he deserved the mvp. Just think about how dumb the award can be at times. The guy who is the best player in the world from 2008-2018 has 4 mvps and hasn't won one since 2013.

If its close and the Lakers have top seed in west and Lebron is still leading the league in assists, he should get it

[RB34]

Why do people keep bringing up playoffs? It’s a regular season award.

Has to be Giannis, Harden and Luka at the moment. No other candidate has a MVP/DPOY teammate like LBJ, Davis put up biiig numbers against OKC.

[Archx]

I also don't understand what playoffs have to do with a regular season award? If you chose to slack in a regular season and then cry "yeah but playoffs", that's really not an excuse.

Last season, Giannis won MVP but didn't have that much success later in the playoffs, even though he had a very stacked team. So by that logic, he shouldn't be in consideration for a regular season award until he can carry his team at least to the finals?

[scrabbarista]

3 man game:

Doncic
Anteto
Harden

I'd actually go

1. LeBron James
2. James Harden
3. Giannis Antetokounmpo

as of today. Other guys I'd consider for the top five would include Siakam, Butler, Gobert, and Doncic.

But this is kind of silly, because we're still so early in the season.

I'm having a hard time putting LeBron over those 3 because when you co-star with AD you're playing a different game.

I mean, he's on pace to win 71 games with Danny Green as his third best player. I feel like you might be over-penalizing him for having AD. But as I said, this is silly so early anyway.

[Coach Carter]

Considering the media loves their stories, they'll choose b/n luka and bron, one is too young, the other too old for such an award.

[Cafu]

The narratives of the players are important so we should see until all stars break to see what is going on.
Of course the team record is important too so I think Doncic has no chance in the long run.
Right now it should be Giannis then LBJ/Doncic/Harden.

[Lamak]

Giannis right now but I think LBJ will close in by Christmas

[_Game7_]

This is a close race all around, head to head match-ups might be the tie breaker.