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#3 Pro: It gives judges time to think about their picks
This one's a bit of a conundrum. While fans could do with having the awards being given out earlier, the judges could certainly do with more time to sleep over their picks. Judges in the past few years been criticized for not being on the ball with their selections.
Some have favored statistics while some have favored team success. There's also the debate over the best player or most valuable player, but that a discussion for a different day. In 2015, Steph Curry was given the MVP award over Harden because his team had a better record; Harden had the better individual stats.
Fast forward to 2017, Russell Westbrook won the award because he had the better individual stats (he averaged a triple-double for the year), Harden lost out despite having the better team record. You gotta feel bad for Harden. The judges made up for their mistakes by giving it to him this year. But then again, there are people who believe LeBron James deserved it more.
It's been a solid 3+ months since Harden closed out the season as the frontrunner for the award. Since then, a whole lot has happened. In those 3 months, LeBron James proved yet again that he is the best player and easily the most valuable player to his team. He willed them all the way to the NBA Finals, a feat that Harden just fell short of in the Western Conference Finals.
And while Harden performed considerably better than last year in the playoffs, he was nowhere close to the output that James put out on a consistent basis. There are those fans and analysts who can't unsee the playoffs when it comes to the award and there are those who believe it is solely a regular season award. Either way, thanks to the new award show format, it is safe to say the judges have had enough time to decide which side of the debate they are on.
