Why Harden deserves MVP

[Fudge]

No. Harden deserves the award this year. To me, he is clearly more deserving than Curry. If Curry was more dominant, say averaging 28-30ppg and his team still maintains that record, you could make a stronger case. But he's only averaging a couple more points than Klay. And his team is stacked.

Curry would be the worst MVP winner of all-time if this happens. Silver can't let this happen.

[ClipperRevival]

Has a team ever won as many games as the Warriors and not had their best player win MVP? Only team I can think of is 08 Celtics and that's because none of the Big 3 had the stats to distance themselves from their teammates.

1972 Lakers went 69-13. KAJ won MVP. It's not just about team records. It's your impact on said team that matters. You need to be balling to win MVP for the best team. Like Shaq in 2000, the Lakers went 67-15. But he was dominant. Curry is the best player on his team but not by such a huge margin where he distances himself so clearly. Klay, Green, Bogut, Iggy, etc. He's got tremendous help.

[Jailblazers7]

1972 Lakers went 69-13. KAJ won MVP. It's not just about team records. It's your impact on said team that matters. You need to be balling to win MVP for the best team. Like Shaq in 2000, the Lakers went 67-15. But he was dominant. Curry is the best player on his team but not by such a huge margin where he distances himself so clearly. Klay, Green, Bogut, Iggy, etc. He's got tremendous help.

Sure, but it's not like Harden's stats clearly show that he is better than Curry. He has a good narrative with the injuries to his team but I'm not sure that is enough on it's own to win him the award.

[AkronAngel]

Sure, but it's not like Harden's stats clearly show that he is better than Curry. He has a good narrative with the injuries to his team but I'm not sure that is enough on it's own to win him the award.

Yeah, people like the narrative. People also keep on dismissing Curry's case as an MVP because of it "simply being the best player on the best team," but it isn't like their record is only a couple wins ahead, it is a huge lead and Curry is the leader of that team.

[UK2K]

Sure, but it's not like Harden's stats clearly show that he is better than Curry. He has a good narrative with the injuries to his team but I'm not sure that is enough on it's own to win him the award.

Warriors minus Curry.

Rockets minus Harden.

Which team is worse?

If Curry wins, I won't be upset. He's probably the most fun player to watch in the league, and his team is a juggernaut. Plus, he's a likable guy. The warriors are a likable team with a likable coach and a likable star player. Curry probably will win.

But strictly from a basketball stand point, an impact stand point, Harden is the MVP.

[Jailblazers7]

Yeah, I totally get the argument but I've never been a fan of penalizing a guy for playing on a good team.

Side note but it's amusing to me that the argument for Harden is pure eye test reasons after all of the "Harden is the advanced stats god" articles this year. Curry has higher TS%, WS/48, BPM, and a slightly lower VORP. It'd be a nice bit of irony to see Harden win the award when the advanced metrics tell a different story.

[ClipperRevival]

Sure, but it's not like Harden's stats clearly show that he is better than Curry. He has a good narrative with the injuries to his team but I'm not sure that is enough on it's own to win him the award.

No, it's just the fact that Harden's team has the 2nd best record in the West without having another star for most of the season. He passes the eye test, numbers test and team test. He is the mvp and to me, it's not close. And I am trying to be objective.

[Jailblazers7]

No, it's just the fact that Harden's team has the 2nd best record in the West without having another star for most of the season. He passes the eye test, numbers test and team test. He is the mvp and to me, it's not close. And I am trying to be objective.

Which is exactly the narrative we were just discussing.

I'm totally fine with people choosing Harden but I'm not sure it would be enough to swing my vote.