The last couple of days of the regular season are exciting, to say the least. On Wednesday, the final day of the regular season, the Golden State Warriors will face the Memphis Grizzlies at home and attempt to break the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls record of 72 wins. Not far from Oakland, Los Angeles Lakers superstar Kobe Bryant laced up his boots one final time against the Utah Jazz at the Staples Center.
Getting back to the title of the piece, this year’s MVP debate has a lot of worthy names but one player stands way ahead of the pack as the front-runner. Before we go about dropping any names, it’s important to know and understand the criteria based on which the players are ranked:
- Team’s record
- Value to the team
- Number of games played.
- Consistency
Some players deserve a certain degree of attention for the season they have had, even if they didn’t make it to the list for the top 5. Here are some:
Honorable Mentions:
Yes, the Oklahoma City Thunder All-Star Guard Russell Westbrook does not make it to the top 5 candidates. Westbrook averages 23.5 points (9th), 10.4 assists (2nd), 7.8 rebounds (1st in guards) and 2.04 steals (5th) through 80 games played this season.
His PER (Player Efficiency Rating) is 27.62, 5th best in the league, yet he is not in the top five. He has 18 triple doubles this year, the most since the NBA/ABA merger, including one which he registered before halftime.
All those stats are simply mind-boggling. Another year he might be the unanimous MVP but not today. The Thunder have 55 wins but it’s their 25 losses which hurt Westbrook’s case. Fourteen of those losses have come when they enter the fourth quarter with a lead, that’s got to say something about the team’s failure to execute on both ends of the floor in crunch time.
Defensively he’s okay but it’s his turnovers and terrible shot selection in the fourth quarter that has cost OKC a lot of those games.
Given the success their teams have tasted, names like Kyle Lowry, Draymond Green and Damian Lillard deserved to be named. A decent case can also be made for James Harden, given the way he has single handedly carried a struggling Houston Rockets squad all through the season.
#5 Chris Paul – Los Angeles Clippers
Season Averages: 19.6 points, 9.9 assists, 4.2 rebounds and 2.05 steals.
Player Efficiency Rating (PER): 26.35 (5th best)
For the last three to four years, the duo of Chris Paul and Blake Griffin have been keeping the Los Angeles Clippers competitive in the West with regular 50+ win season and Playoff appearances. This season only 30 year old Paul did so, after Griffin missed 45 games due to a hand and quad injuries.
In the games that he missed the Clippers went 31-15 (67.3%) and a lot of those wins were because of the team’s new system.
The team’s new style was to put either DeAndre Jordan or Cole Aldrich on the court as a center and surround them with four shooters, Paul being one of them playing the role of a ball handler. Paul thrived in the new system as it allowed him to penetrate into the teeth of the defense and find open teammates for shots or himself knock down open jumpers after screens by Jordan on one side of the floor.
His play is one side of the coin, the other is his leadership. Paul is among the best leaders in the league and his game not only allows him to ask more of his teammates but also gives them opportunities to prove themselves by finding them open shots to knock down. His on court vision and ability to draw fouls is paralleledd by very few in the league.
#4 Kevin Durant – Oklahoma City Thunder
Season Averages: 28.2 points, 8.2 rebounds, 5 assists and 50.5% FG%
Player Efficiency Rating (PER): 28.23 (2nd best)
With Kevin Durant resting in the team’s final game against the San Antonio Spurs, his streak of scoring 20+ points stands at 64 games for the season, that’s the third longest such streak since the 1976-77 season. That says a lot about the consistency Durant brings for OKC every night.
Despite all the statistics, many would still pick Durant over Westbrook because in lesser minutes, in the role he plays, Durant is a lot more effective than Westbrook has ever been in his career.
Durant might not have as many triple-doubles as Westbrook does but the role he plays for the team is equal if not more important. Scoring comes easy to Durant so that’s what he primarily does for OKC but in his MVP season, when Westbrook missed a chunk of games, he proved he can do a lot more when asked upon and he’s been doing just that this season.
ESPN’s PER ranking puts him at second, just the one spot ahead of Westbrook.
OKC need to deflect to Durant a lot more in the fourth quarter, given the struggles Westbrook has suffered against big name teams and big name teams are what the Thunder are going to face in the Playoffs. Durant seems to be a lot more calm, composed and calculated when he has the ball, something the Thunder needs given their fourth quarter struggles this season.
The handles and Dirk type shooting that he possesses at his height still marvels many, even after the nine years he has been in the league. Watch some of his highlights here:
#3 Kawhi Leonard – San Antonio Spurs
Season Averages: 21.1 points, 6.9 rebounds and 2.5 assists
Player Efficiency Rating (PER): 26.12 (6th best)
The Reigning NBA Defensive Player of the Year has taken huge strides in the development of his offensive game, while maintaining the high standard of defense we associate with his name- Kawhi Leonard. On the offensive end, he has grown not just as a shot maker but also as a facilitator as well, looking for his open teammates on his drives and penetrations.
The two-way eliteness has really spring boarded Leonard into some serious MVP talks.
He is reckoning to repeat as NBA Defensive Player of the Year as well yet it’s his offensive development that has made Leonard a serious candidate. Hall of Famer Charles Barkley went one step ahead and called Leonard “the best player in the world right now” and he said his statement was solely dependent on Leonard’s two way dominance.
However, the only thing that hinders Leonard from being a front runner is the same system that made him a great player in the first place.
The Spurs offensively and defensively depend on a system. They run a system on both ends of the floor, a system where everybody touches the ball till somebody has either a layup or a wide open shot. Often times that system has shifted away from Leonard during the season in order to help LaMarcus Aldridge get accustomed to the team faster.
#2 LeBron James – Cleveland Cavaliers
Season Averages: 25.3 points, 7.4 rebounds, 6.8 assists and 52% FG%
Player Efficiency Rating (PER): 27.63 (3rd best)
There’s a league-wide belief that LeBron James’ game is on the decline and has taken a little dip this season. Well even with the dip, things seems to be working out just fine for the Cleveland Cavaliers. You might be surprised why he gets the nod ahead of Kawhi Leonard?
Wel,l the dependence on James to deliver is a lot more than it is on Leonard and even with that kind of pressure the King has deliver night after night. He might even be spoiling the Cavaliers with his superhuman efforts to will them to victory because without him they have won just one game out of five.
So the kind of numbers he puts up while the pressure is on him makes him a lot more valuable to his team than Leonard is to the Spurs. It’s the sheer presence of James, that makes Cleveland potential East representatives for a second time in a row at the 2016 NBA Finals.
In December, a stat showed James to be the player with the worst shooting percentage outside the paint. Since that stat surfaced, James has not only reduced the number of three-pointers he takes but has also started hitting the ones he takes at a higher percentage.
Despite having a couple of All-Stars around him, it’s safe to say the Cavaliers are where they are this season because of James’ dominant play.
#1 MVP Stephen Curry – Golden State Warriors
Season Averages: 29.9 points, 6.7 assists, 5.5 rebounds, 50.2% FG%, 45.2% 3P FG%, and 90.6% FT%
Player Efficiency Rating (PER): 31.26 (league best)
With the kind of season Stephen Curry has had, the MVP voting is more about whether Curry could be the league’s first unanimous MVP or not? Shaquille O’Neal in 1999-00 and LeBron James in 2012-13 came agonizingly close, securing 120 of the 121 possible votes.
Being the league’s first unanimous MVP would be a fitting honor to Curry’s regular season. Halfway through December, many were certain Curry had already run away with the MVP award.
He leads the league scoring with his 29.9 points average. He has 402 three-pointers to his name this season, 104 more than the previous NBA record (his own) of 286. He has a PER of 31.26, seventh best in league history and only behind Wilt Chamberlain (3), Michael Jordan (2) and LeBron James (1).
His shooting percentage puts him in the elite 50-40-90 club for the first time alongside greats like Larry Bird, Mark Price, Steve Nash, Reggie Miller, Dirk Nowitzki and Kevin Durant.
Curry’s leap after an MVP season last year, makes the Warriors hot favorites to win the title. His incredibly improved three point shooting helps the team use it as a decoy to get other players going. His pick and roll action with Draymond Green is almost unstoppable.
Once again, it’s very very safe to say that Curry has got this one in the bag. It’s all about whether he can bag the first place votes from all 121 ballots.
If he does get named MVP, he will be the 11th player to be handed the Maurice Podoloff trophy in back to back seasons. Only Larry Bird, Wilt Chamberlain and Bill Russell have won it three seasons in a row.
Guess the Lakers players!
