2021-22 NBA MVP Discussion (Pt. 1)

[AussieBuck]

MVP tracker update:

Giannis 30.1%
Jokic 19.3%
Durant 10.7%
Gobert 10.1%

Curry 7.7%
Paul 7.1%
Lebron 5%
Harden 4.6%
DeRozan 3%
Morant 2.6%

Giannis and Jokic up, Curry slides. Ja makes his debut, Embiid can't be far away from qualifying and racing up the board.

https://www.basketball-reference.com/friv/mvp.html

Why no Embiid?

Guessing the threshold is 50% of team minutes, if so he's almost there. Lebron only just qualified recently.

[Freighttrain]

For all the talk about the Lakers being terrible in the first half of the season, which is deservingly so, therefore not having LeBron as a serious MVP option, we're only 3 games behind the Bucks in the L column and one game ahead of Denver, both of who have players who are to my knowledge considered either 1 or 2 in the MVP race by most. So it would really just be individual performance, to which I think Lebron is up to par with both this season. Curry has the team record but hasn't been playing well the last month or so. I also think DeMar, KD, or Embiid are more serious candidates than the current poll has them.

[NyKnicks1714]

I find it crazy that LeBron is scoring more efficiently than both Giannis and Curry. LAL would need to finish with close to 50 wins for LeBron to have a real shot though.

[Clocian]

Read on Twitter

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[Big J]

Dubs tied back with the best record in the league and Curry's right back in this thing.

[Dutchball97]

I think Curry's performance dropped enough that I'd take Jokic and Giannis over him at this point. LeBron is also going to become a problem if he keeps up his current form.

[DutchManDanFan]

Interesting race this year. It’s still wide open. Missed games won’t be much of an issue this year because of covid. How many players can win it with a great 2nd half of the season? Maybe 10?

[mediocrityrules]

I think Curry's performance dropped enough that I'd take Jokic and Giannis over him at this point. LeBron is also going to become a problem if he keeps up his current form.

I don't think Lebron gets into the conversation on current form if his team continues to play as it does on its current form. There is zero defense, and Lebron is not helping as much on that end as he used to either, even though offensively he's potent (but the rest of the team is impotent).

[SpreeS]

Curry raw numbers isnt MVP level compared with Jokic/Giannis, but impact on winning is the best

GSW on/off

w/o Curry -2.5

w/o Green +9.2
w/o Wiggs +8.3
w/o Poole +10.3
w/o Looney +10.1
w/o Porter +8.9
w/o Payton +7.2
w/o JTA +9.9
w/o Bjelica +10.2
w/o Lee +9.9
w/o Iggy +6.7
w/o Klay +9.2
w/o Kuminga +9.4

MIL on/off

w/o Holiday -5.6
w/o Giannis -3.2
w/o Hill -3.9

w/o Middleton +2.2

DEN on/off

w/o Jokic -12.7
w/o Gordon -6.8
w/o Morris -9.2
w/o Porter -1.7

w/o Barto +0.8

[Triple7]

I have Curry with the edge right now. With the best record in the west, and his team played way above expectations due to injuries. Giannis, KD, Derozan/Lavine next in that order.

[OriginalRed]

Lebron had a similar MVP run last year when AD went down and the Lakers were holding down the 1st/2nd seed. There was a good chance he could have won it had he not gone down last year but I dont see it this year. The usual criteria for MVP involves stats, seeding, and sometimes narrative. Jokic had the stats and narrative (what with Murray's injury) and still finished as a top 4 seed last year. Lebron has the stats but his team won't have the seeding and he sure as hell doesn't have the narrative as he recruited Westbrook to form another super team in L.A and yet they've been a huge dissapointment.

[SeattleJazzFan]

I find it crazy that LeBron is scoring more efficiently than both Giannis and Curry. LAL would need to finish with close to 50 wins for LeBron to have a real shot though.

he's also more efficient than durant, ftr.

[Ballerhogger]

Leborn is having mvp year offensively but in the end it won’t matter …

[Ballerhogger]

[streamable][/streamable]

Dubs tied back with the best record in the league and Curry's right back in this thing.

Still have Gianni’s ahead of him but yes he in the running like he was before

[Impuniti]

Leborn is having mvp year offensively but in the end it won’t matter …

Lebron has no case to be in the MVP conversation at all, despite his great offensive season so far. He is playing legitimate garbage tier defense, giving almost no effort on that end which is a massive issue for your team. I'd be curious what his defensive rating is for his own team compared to others, my guess is even with his team it's probably not at the top.

On top of that

Read on Twitter

It's not that the record is poor, is that this Lakers team is at the bottom of the NBA when it comes to playing any half decent team.

[jacoby1us]

I will never understand how Lebron is in MVP conversations ahead of Derozan this season. How? The Lakers are barely treading above .500 with five first ballot HOFs on the team.

[SeattleJazzFan]

I will never understand how Lebron is in MVP conversations ahead of Derozan this season. How? The Lakers are barely treading above .500 with five first ballot HOFs on the team.

is derozan even mvp of his own team?

[JN61]

Leborn is having mvp year offensively but in the end it won’t matter …

Lebron has no case to be in the MVP conversation at all, despite his great offensive season so far. He is playing legitimate garbage tier defense, giving almost no effort on that end which is a massive issue for your team. I'd be curious what his defensive rating is for his own team compared to others, my guess is even with his team it's probably not at the top.

On top of that

Read on Twitter

It's not that the record is poor, is that this Lakers team is at the bottom of the NBA when it comes to playing any half decent team.

Well that statistic is also highly misleading. NBA in their efforts to gift Lakers and James easy schedule while they adjust offensively manufactured their entire early schedule be lacking playoff caliber opponents so their total games vs such opponents is very small even if their winning % is bad as well. Can't really judge it till after all-star break where their schedule is more in line with the rest of the league.

[Ballerhogger]

Leborn is having mvp year offensively but in the end it won’t matter …

Lebron has no case to be in the MVP conversation at all, despite his great offensive season so far. He is playing legitimate garbage tier defense, giving almost no effort on that end which is a massive issue for your team. I'd be curious what his defensive rating is for his own team compared to others, my guess is even with his team it's probably not at the top.

On top of that

Read on Twitter

It's not that the record is poor, is that this Lakers team is at the bottom of the NBA when it comes to playing any half decent team.

defensivley yes hes been bad but offensivley hes been carrying the load for the team keeping them in playoff spot. I also said in the end it wont matter... Just mentioning hes having a mvp year offensively.

[JN61]

I will never understand how Lebron is in MVP conversations ahead of Derozan this season. How? The Lakers are barely treading above .500 with five first ballot HOFs on the team.

A lot of media and fans are delusional blind witnesses and unable to comprehend other players having better year than their favourite player. Really simple as that.