3. [OPEN DISCUSSION] Who should win the MVP and why?

[OPEN DISCUSSION] Who should win the MVP and why?

The "historic season" argument is BS. Nobody's averaged a triple double in a season since Oscar? Fine. Great. That's amazing. Seriously. But it doesn't give Westbrook the edge. Wanna talk triple doubles? Okay. Nobody has recorded 7 40 point trip dubs in a season before, ever. Nobody has recorded 5 40 point trip dubs within a single month before, ever. Those include 2 50 point trip dubs, which nobody has done before, ever. Nobody has recorded consecutive 40 point trip dubs on both ends of a back-to-back before, ever. HARDEN DID THAT TWICE. TWO SEPARATE TIMES. Note: Westbrook did have two 40 point trip dubs in a row once this season, but it wasn't a back-to-back. Still crazy though. The fact that Westbrook's MVP case disintegrates if he loses 0.6 rebounds or 0.4 assists means he doesn't have a case to begin with. The difference in TS%, which is really the only stat that truly captures efficiency. The average TS% is somewhere around 0.54. Harden and the other candidates are elite: Harden is 0.62. Lebron is 0.619. Kawhi, 0.613. KD and Curry aren't in the conversation anymore but for the sake of argument KD is 0.651 (holy shit) and Curry is 0.619. Meanwhile Westbrook is as average as you could get, 0.546. He's ranked 171st (tied) of NBA players. The other guys I mentioned are all Top 30, which also includes big men like Gobert and DeAndre and Capela who are expected to have high TS% and crowd the top. The difference between Harden's efficiency (0.62) and Westbrook's efficiency (0.54) is the same as the difference between Westbrook's and Kay Felder's (0.46). Yeah. Westbrook's TS% puts him in the company of guys like Dennis Schroder (0.536) and Austin "Here Comes" Rivers (0.548). RICKY RUBIO has a TS% of 0.546...I mean come on people, jesus. If you take away the label "triple double" and look at their traditional statlines as is, they're pretty much the same thing Thunder fans will resist taking away the "triple double" label and usually bring up that OKC is 28-6 when Westbrook gets a triple double, so the trip dub must be the reason for the win. Which isn't completely false, but is a dumb argument. Basically "when our best player plays well we win." Yeah no shit. Rockets are 15-4 when Harden gets a trip dub. Good play leads to wins. Rockets have more of those. Thunder won't get to 50 wins. They'd have to finish the season 10-2. How can you win MVP when you can't win 50 games. Anthony Davis puts up ridiculous stats. Why isn't he an MVP candidate? Because his team doesn't win. Side note, his team's record is as far behind Westbrook's as Westbrook's is from Harden's. Westbrook can't grow facial hair. You'll also hear "but Westbrook's teammates are shit." LOL. Where was all that talk this summer, when the most repeated joke was about what complete and utter shit the Rockets were with Harden off the court, or when the Gordon and Ryno and MDA signings were laughed off, or when all the players rankings published had Dipo and Adams in the Top 50, and Rockets players almost never even cracked the Top 85. Harden's teammates are having career seasons, yeah. BECAUSE HE MAKES THEM BETTER. Westbrook's teammates aren't having career seasons. BECAUSE HE DOESN'T MAKE THEM BETTER. I could keep going but my blood is boiling completely irrationally right now lol. Edit: Couldn't stay away so I'll add this I think Harden and Kawhi are the only two that legitimately have an MVP case this season. And I guess Lebron because Lebron but that's a cop out. I also think that there can't be more than one or two voters who could put Harden out of their Top 2 on the ballot. Even if he doesn't get the most firsts (I think he will but for the sake of argument) he'll get the most seconds no matter what it is that the voters value more. Wins? Got it, Top 2 (of candidates). Seeding? Got it. Stats? Top 2. History? Top 2. Narrative? Top 2. Charisma? He's the motherfucking Beardo Weirdo badass. All the other candidates have something or other that detracts from their argument, regardless of how many things contribute to their argument. Harden has no detractors. He should win on the backs of 1st and 2nd votes. Edit 2: Harden makes Montrezl Harrell look like a goddamn all star. MONTREZL HARRELL. Switch Trez and Adams and what happens? Lmao Credit to u/kt_texian

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