Via Russ Isabella-USA TODAY Sports
James Harden will be the 2017-2018 NBA MVP. By most MVP checkpoints, James Harden deserves to be the 2017-2018 NBA MVP.
Great team record? Check, the Rockets have the most wins in franchise history and lead the entire league in wins.
Great individual statistics? Check, Harden leads the league in scoring(30.7 ppg), is fourth in assists(8.7 apg), and contrary to popular belief he's one of the NBA's top pick pocketers(1.8 spg).
MVP-defining moment? Check, ask Wesley Johnson.
Via ESPN
Harden checks all the boxes, yet something doesn't feel right. This year's MVP race doesn't feel as one-sided as all the past MVP checkpoints suggests it should be. Why is that?
The least addressed answer is that James Harden won MVP already. No, he didn't actually win; but 2014-2015 was Harden's true MVP season. Harden had the stats, won the games, and had his best statistical season of his career at the time; however that MVP went to golden boy(multiple puns intended) Steph Curry as he and the Warriors took the league by storm. Harden matched or bested Curry in almost every major stat that season, while leading an overloo-
You know what, Harden does a better job of making his case than I could. Take it away 2015 James Harden, "I know I was the MVP. That’s 100 percent given all the things that happened last season…. Credit the Golden State Warriors for an unbelievable year. They had an unbelievable team, coaching staff, everything. But that award means most valuable to your team. We finished second in the West, which nobody thought we were going to do at the beginning of the year even when everybody was healthy. We were near the top in having the most injuries. We won our division in a division where every single team made the playoffs. There’s so many factors. I led the league in total points scored, minutes played. Like I said, I’m not taking anything away from Steph, but I felt I deserved the Most Valuable Player."
A little bitter, but James Harden provided a couple of solid points. The main ones being that an MVP should: be the most valuable to their team, defy odds, overcome adversity, win, and have the stats to back it all up. While making his case for a past MVP, Harden provided the main points as to why this year's MVP feels like anything but a one man race. *roll credits* Harden's points open the door for candidates like Giannis Antetokounmpo, LeBron James, Anthony Davis, Damian Lillard, and the often forgotten DeMar DeRozan.
Via Houston Chronicle
Most valuable? Take James Harden off the Rockets and you have a slighly better Chris Paul-era Clippers team. Take LeBron James, Anthony Davis, or the Greek Freak off their respective teams and you're debating whether you should draft Deandre Ayton or Luka Dončić. Harden loses that round.
Defy odds? Houston was projected to be the West's second or third best team, so finishing with most wins in the entire league is technically a defying of odds. No technicalities are needed for what Damian Lillard and Anthony Davis have done this season. The Trail Blazers and Pelicans weren't even projected to make the playoffs much less be on the verge of 50 wins. Harden also loses this round.
Overcome adversity? James Harden had to deal with his parter-in-crime Chris Paul missing a quarter of the season. Anthony Davis lost his all-star teammate for the entire second half of the season to a torn achilles. Giannis Antetokounmpo had to deal with his head coach getting fired midseason. LeBron James saw his star point guard switch teams, his star big man sidelined for four weeks with a hand injury, his head coach taken off the sideline with illness, and is ending the season with almost an entirely different team than he started with. If LeBron wasn't 6'8", 250 lbs and worth half a billion, you'd probably feel bad for the guy. Harden loses yet another round.
Wins? Both James Harden and DeMar DeRozan have led their teams to the top of their respective conferences. LeBron James and Damian Lillard have their teams sitting in a top-3 position in their conferences. Anthony Davis and Giannis Antetokounmpo have both carried their undermanned teams to the playoffs. Everyone gets a point this round.
Stats? Refer to earlier in the article, James Harden isn't losing this round.
In case you forgot the score that's: Davis-3, James-3, Lillard-2, Harden-2, DeRozan-1.
By James Harden's own accounts of what makes an MVP, he finishes tied for third. Lucky for Harden, MVP isn't logically voted based on a number of checkpoints; instead MVP is voted on by media emotions, and all the emotions are in Harden's favor. From being named MVP runner-up twice in three years, to being the biggest threat to dethrone the Warriors, all the way to the highlight of the year on Wesley Johnson, this year feels like "if not now then when" for James Harden being MVP. Besides LeBron already has four MVPs, AD and the Greek Freak are going to be in the MVP race for the next decade, and Damian Lillard and DeMar DeRozan are used to being overlooked.
With a number of great seasons from multiple superstars this year's MVP race should be the most competitive in years, but the combination of a great season from James Harden and the media trying to make up for past voting mistakes leaves this year's MVP race feeling predetermined.