Will the contenders please step into the ring! The 2015 NBA season has seen its share of classic games, astounding individual efforts, and unfortunately injuries. With 2010-11 MVP Derrick Rose and 2013-14 MVP Kevin Durant both missing significant time due to injury, and LeBron James putting up his worst season by Win Shares since his rookie year, the door has been opened to a new group of dynamic guards to take center stage. Let’s meet the three finalists for the 2014-15 MVP award in alphabetical order.
Stephen Curry- Golden State Warriors
Arguments for Curry
Being the best player on the NBA’s best team means a lot to the voters as it should and Curry is undisputedly the best player on Golden State. Curry leads the Warriors in MPG, PPG, APG, SPG, PER, and WS/48. Steve Kerr’s offense is also built around Curry’s deadly combo of shooting, driving, and passing. If you have watched even a half of any Warriors game this season you know Curry pasts the eye test as well, meaning he is fun to watch, don’t think the voters don’t take that into consideration too.
Arguments against Curry
How valuable really is he? It is obvious that Curry is very very good but if you read the headline “Curry out 2 weeks with _____ injury” would you think “well Golden State is screwed”? I know I wouldn’t. In a weird twist it almost feels like Curry is docked because of how good his teammates are. When Derrick Rose or LeBron James (back in the early Cleveland days) were carrying the offensive load every night in their MVP seasons everyone knew that if one bad thing happened to them the show was over for their respective teams.
Another thing going against Curry is the fact that the Warriors have been blowing teams out since October. The Warriors average margin of victory this season is by 10.9 points, which is 4.6 points more than the Spurs who are in second in that category. For this reason Curry really hasn’t had his “MVP moment” because the Warriors haven’t been in enough close games for him to hit game winners and big shots down the stretch.
James Harden- Houston Rockets
Arguments for Harden
Harden has led a team that has not only over performed their preseason expectations; he has done it without Dwight Howard for most of the season. Harden also has the stats that matter, he is second in the league in PPG, first in WS, first in Offensive WS, eighth in Defensive WS, fourth in PER, ninth in APG, basically he is in the top 10 of almost every category a guard can be in. Like Curry he also passes the eye test and also had a trademark Beard and weird stirring the pot celebration that add some flair to his case for MVP.
Harden also was literally created by God to play in Houston’s 3s or layups only system. I can’t think of a player who isn’t an all-time great who fits a system and performs so well in that system than Harden.
Arguments against Harden
The words in the last sentence that probably caught your eye were “isn’t an all-time great”. That’s exactly the case against Harden he puts up all the numbers but is he really “great”. Every person who has won an MVP and retired has gone into the Hall of Fame, are we sure Harden is going to end up THAT good? He’s only 25 and obviously is tremendously talented but just like any “system quarterback” in college I think that question of system or player will hang over his head until he proves himself outside of said system.
The other argument against Harden is does anyone actually take the Rockets seriously? When you hear people talking about who will come out of the West you hear Golden State-Memphis-San Antonio. Is he really MOST VALUABLE if his team is being counted out before the playoffs begin?
Russell Westbrook- Oklahoma City Thunder
Arguments for Westbrook
Westbrook has all the stats. Anytime he does something great (which he has done on many occasions this season) you hear the next day he was the first player since Michael Jordan, Oscar Robertson, Wilt Chamberlain, etc to do whatever crazy thing he did. Also the triple doubles. Westbrook has three times the amount of triple doubles as anyone else in the NBA. He also had seven triple doubles in a nine game stretch meaning he had more than double the total amount of triple doubles anyone else has had THE ENTIRE SEASON in NINE GAMES! Westbrook also leads the NBA in PPG, he is fourth in APG, second in SPG, second in PER, first in Usage Rate, and first in Plus/Minus. He is basically solely responsible for Oklahoma City being in the playoff race.
Arguments against Westbrook
The fact that he could only drag them to at best the 7th or 8th seed is really going to hurt him with the voters. The argument is if he is really the MVP the Thunder wouldn’t be fighting for their playoff lives right now.
Who Wins?
We do have about half a month left for any of these guys to make a final push. As for the person that deserves the award let’s think about what the award is called “Most Valuable Player”. Which player that we just discussed is most valuable to his team? If I had an MVP ballot it would look like this:
- Russell Westbrook
- James Harden
- Steph Curry
But that isn’t the point of the article. For the reasons I listed above on Westbrook and Harden’s teams not being true contenders Steph Curry will be your 2014-2015 MVP. Does he deserve it? Yes Curry is the best player on the best team and an absolute trill to watch. Is he the most valuable? I’ll let you decide your own answer to that question.