Yuri36 wrote:Dupp wrote:I don’t really see any argument for luka over harden and hardens going to continue to get separation in the win column. Think there’s a decent gap separating harden and 3rd place (luka)
Well, let's see:
-much better passer (9 assists per game against 7.6 in almost 5 mins per game less played and with overall weaker teammates)
-far far better rebounder
-better efficient FG shooter and not that far in term of scoring if you consider Harden has played almost 5 more minutes per game than Luka (I understand the tiredness factor but still....and Luka is much younger than Harden, don't forget)
-and last but not the least, similar team success so far with much less help (Houston was tipped for getting one of the best records in west at beginning of this season whereas Dallas was barely making the POs for majority of the experts or members of this forum....ask yourself why)
So you see, just try a little bit and you can easily find a few arguments
James Harden - 46.3 fg% 38.6 3pt% 57 efg% 64.5 ts%
Luka Donic - 47 fg% 32.5 3pt% 54.7 efg% 60.9 ts%
Harden having a mere 1% point difference in raw fg% while taking 4 more 3s per game shows the gap in efficiency with Harden and Luka.
Harden is far more efficient than Luka even when ignoring fta and he's scoring 8 more ppg than Luka.
Anyone who says they aren't impressed with Harden's scoring is not worthy of having an opinion worth listening to.
Your concept of efficiency is severely lacking.
Just stating a number such as "24 shot attempts per game" as a arbitrary too high of a number without context is the part that you have a severe lack of understanding with.
24 shots to get 38 points is VERY EFFICIENT. Please tell me how 20 shots for 29 points is more efficient (Luka).
Efficiency in it's most basic form is (output desired/input required). So just by merely dividing points by shot attempts we can see:
Harden - 38/24 = 1.58 points per shot attempt
Luka - 29/20 = 1.45 points per shot attempt.
Merely saying "more volume" isn't an argument. Harden is scoring more per shot attempt. My simple ratio is a very basic form of calculating efficency. However efg% and ts% are far better metrics especially ts% as it accounts for fta. In either case, Harden is more efficient. He's more efficient scoring than any of the top MVP candidates including Gainnis and Lebron.
If Luka is already scoring on less points per possession than Harden with less minutes and volume what makes you think him ramping up minutes and volume would make him any where close to Harden in scoring and efficiency?
That argument could make some sense if Luka was scoring more efficiently than Harden on less volume and you could see him extend his volume where it can be close.
But in real life, when you increase volume and minutes, you decrease efficiency. So if Luka can't get a higher efficiency with less volume than Harden, how can you expect to match Harden's scoring production and efficiency when he starts jacking up more shots?
Luka has more assists but I would say Harden generates more open looks. If you compare Dallas and Houston's open attemps 3pt %, Dallas has a considerably higher open 3p% which means Luka is the beneficiary of having teammates who make open 3pters at a higher percentage.
If you look at objective advanced analytics, Harden is higher in VORP, Win Shares and Win Shares per 48 than Luka.
And if you look at BBall Ref MVP tracker that uses advanced metrics and other factors such as team wins and has almost always accurately predicted the MVP, Harden has a 35.6% probability and Luka has a 6.8% probability of winning the MVP.
Look, Luka is 20. The mere fact that he's top 5 in a MVP race should make Mavs fans jitter with joy for their long term future. No need to be aggressively greedy here.
