Gobert = MVP?

[Ancalagon]

I realistically have 2-5 guys ahead of him depending how you want to factor in team success:

Jokic - having the clear best individual season but his team is 16-14. If they finish with 44 wins in an 82 game season, does he win?

Embiid- likely MVP right now

Giannis - team not having enough success

Lillard - deserves a ton of credit this year but his team isn’t quite having enough success

Harden - another true MVP candidate since he got to Brooklyn

Gobert

[slicedbread2]

I realistically have 2-5 guys ahead of him depending how you want to factor in team success:

Jokic - having the clear best individual season but his team is 16-14. If they finish with 44 wins in an 82 game season, does he win?

Embiid- likely MVP right now

Giannis - team not having enough success

Lillard - deserves a ton of credit this year but his team isn’t quite having enough success

Harden - another true MVP candidate since he got to Brooklyn

Gobert

To me it should be between Jokic and Embiid. I got a slight favourite towards Jokic and hope he wins it, but Embiid has taken it to another level. I looked at it like this:

LBJ: He's gonna be coasting and saving his energy for the post season as winning another MVP is meaningless to him compared to winning another title. Plus with AD out, I don't think he's gonna try and push himself knowing Father time can sneak up on him from outta nowhere.

Giannis: The team has been missing Jrue who is the 3rd option and is underrated in doing a lot of the little things very well. It's embarrassing that Giannis still struggles badly at the FT line and teams will let him shoot mid range and 3pt shots knowing he's bad when the paint is blocked. Back to back MVP winner, but I don't see him winning this year.

Harden: Dude is playing because he gives a damn whereas he mailed it in in Houston. To me, he's playing with another top 10 player in Durant which would hurt his case for MVP not to mention he's playing with another top 25 player in Irving. Dude is a beast at the pg spot and an offensive maestro.

Lillard: Love the guy, but agree the team not being successful enough hurts him plus the bias against small markets could hurt him.

Gobert: To me, he's the modern day Mutombo except Mutombo began his career when he was 25. Gobert could do something that Tim Duncan never did: win a DPOY and maybe do it multiple times.

Embiid: Dude has been killing it. Whenever him and Simmons are healthy, they are dangerous and it helps that Simmons can guard 1-5 and make solid passes. Simmons is the ultimate #2 and hopefully Joel can shake off the injury bug b/c it'd be a tragedy to not see his full potential blossom.

Jokic: In spite of the Nuggets taking a step back in getting younger and Murray being inconsistent at times, Jokic has been keeping them in games and outright winning them. I personally feel he should win it even if he's never gonna be a great defender. Above average should be there defensively and he's the best passing centre in the league bar none.

It'll be interesting to see who wins this.

[BallinBug]

Yeah, the best player on the best team in the NBA is just a very good role player.

Sure.

If you're averaging less than 20 points you're a role player. This dude is averaging 14 lol. Like I said all he brings is defense, rebounding and a winning playstyle, but the dude is still a 14 ppg guy. He's no mvp, not even a star.

That's so dumb.

I hope you know that even a player like Tim Duncan averaged under 20 points a lot of times as well. And that's just one example I'm giving you.

Yeah and when Tim Duncan was averaging under 20 points he wasn't a star or MVP anymore, he was a role player. He didnt win his MVPs averaging less than 20 for a reason.

[BallinBug]

Yeah, the best player on the best team in the NBA is just a very good role player.

Sure.

If you're averaging less than 20 points you're a role player. This dude is averaging 14 lol. Like I said all he brings is defense, rebounding and a winning playstyle, but the dude is still a 14 ppg guy. He's no mvp, not even a star.

So Steve Nash was a role player? Bill Russell was a role player?

Bill Russel would be a role player if playing today, he played in a pathetically weak era when guys were smoking court side during breaks, so I have zero respect for his legacy. He'd struggle to make the bench today if you teleported him over and told him to play a game tomorrow.

The Steve Nash MVP's are widely regarded as some of the worst ones ever awarded, so he's not a great example. That said he at least came close to averaging 20 ppg and while averaging over 10 assists, making him an all around fairly dominant offensive player. Being a dominant defender should never warrant MVP consideration, unless you're a dominant offensive player.

[70sFan]

If you're averaging less than 20 points you're a role player. This dude is averaging 14 lol. Like I said all he brings is defense, rebounding and a winning playstyle, but the dude is still a 14 ppg guy. He's no mvp, not even a star.

So Steve Nash was a role player? Bill Russell was a role player?

Bill Russel would be a role player if playing today, he played in a pathetically weak era when guys were smoking court side during breaks, so I have zero respect for his legacy. He'd struggle to make the bench today if you teleported him over and told him to play a game tomorrow.

The Steve Nash MVP's are widely regarded as some of the worst ones ever awarded, so he's not a great example. That said he at least came close to averaging 20 ppg and while averaging over 10 assists, making him an all around fairly dominant offensive player. Being a dominant defender should never warrant MVP consideration, unless you're a dominant offensive player.

This is ban worthy.

[KGtabake]

Bill Russel would be a role player if playing today, he played in a pathetically weak era when guys were smoking court side during breaks, so I have zero respect for his legacy. He'd struggle to make the bench today if you teleported him over and told him to play a game tomorrow

Go to bed man. You're tired.

[SF_Warriors]

If you're averaging less than 20 points you're a role player. This dude is averaging 14 lol. Like I said all he brings is defense, rebounding and a winning playstyle, but the dude is still a 14 ppg guy. He's no mvp, not even a star.

That's so dumb.

I hope you know that even a player like Tim Duncan averaged under 20 points a lot of times as well. And that's just one example I'm giving you.

Yeah and when Tim Duncan was averaging under 20 points he wasn't a star or MVP anymore, he was a role player. He didnt win his MVPs averaging less than 20 for a reason.

Jason kidd? Ben wallace was arguably the most important player on his team and he never even averaged 10 points. Dikembe made 8 all star games and never averaged 20ppg. You can absolutely be a star player as an elite defender. Most likely not mvp caliber, but all star impact on defense is a thing.