Random NBA Observations 2014 - 2015

[Made Myself A Boss]

I really don't see how Steph ain't the front runner for MVP. In the past I've never seen a team running away with a dominant record like the Warriors with a clear #1 in Steph and not have him as the front runner. Even in most of his so called bad games he's ending up with double digit assists. Him and Harden stats wise are very comparable. It just seems of late the big focus was team success and efficiency which Steph is the front runner in both areas. The only area I see Harden leading is the immeasurable area of how good each player's teammates are and how good their teams would be without them.

Its clear to me that he's not.. Why when Klay Thompson goes out its been Harrison Barnes that's stepped up each game..

Imagine last year when Westbrook went down if Serge Ibaka became the leading scorer.. How can you give KD the MVP if Ibaka outscored him


Pay attention over this stretch of games and watch how Curry's numbers go with Klay Thompson out


I predicted this early.

Its different when your wing man goes down and team know "we need to stop this one guy to give us a chance to win" James Harden has that target on his back every night, and all he's done was lead the league in scoring

They might just give the MVP to Curry because of the politics involved (harden was suspended a game) but he's not a better player or means more to his team then Jame Harden means to the Rockets.

Remember where you heard it first

 

[NkrumahWasRight Is Wrong]

Dwight has missed the majority of the year, the Rockets without Harden & Dwight would be trash as well. Ariza as the #1 option

well yeah without both of them. but if harden was out and dwight was in they'd still be decent. terrence jones would probably have 20/8 a game

 

[Made Myself A Boss]

 

[GoddamnyamanProf]

davis has done more with less than harden tbh. the pelicans would fall off completely to a bottom 5 team without him on the roster.

Surprisingly, they've played .500 ball without him this season

 

[NkrumahWasRight Is Wrong]

Surprisingly, they've played .500 ball without him this season

ok but take him out from the beginning of the season all the way through and theyd be trash bags. davis being around has helped craft evans into less of a gunner..if he was out the whole year the whole offense and defense wouldve been tailored differently and would be garbage

 

[GoddamnyamanProf]

ok but take him out from the beginning of the season all the way through and theyd be trash bags. davis being around has helped craft evans into less of a gunner..if he was out the whole year the whole offense and defense wouldve been tailored differently and would be garbage

Ok but thats all just conjecture with no real evidence or causality.

Trust me, as a Suns fan I was just waiting for the Pels to fall off a cliff with Davis out. Instead they won 5 in a row

 

[NkrumahWasRight Is Wrong]

Surprisingly, they've played .500 ball without him this season

http://espn.go.com/nba/player/gamelog/_/id/6583/anthony-davis

they lost a bunch games without him that they wouldve won with him too

against your boys by 2 a few days ago (72-74 final score wtf), pacers and utah at home, knicks, sixers, golden state by 6 earlier in the year (questionable but meh)

 

[NkrumahWasRight Is Wrong]

Ok but thats all just conjecture with no real evidence or causality.

Trust me, as a Suns fan I was just waiting for the Pels to fall off a cliff with Davis out. Instead they won 5 in a row

fair..but so is a lot of this conversation

 

[inndaskKy]

Name a top 5 player that didn't get it when his team had the best record in the league. It can't always go to the best player.

Here's the thing though: a lot of times in the last 25 years or so when the trophy went to someone on one of the two/three best teams in the league, the player on that squad also happened to be the best player in the league. This is true of Jordan and LeBron at least, so that's already like a third of the time. That's why it's misleading to say that historically it goes to the best player on the best team. Historically, a lot of the times it has gone to the best player in the league regardless of storyline. The truth is that a player that's not the actual best player getting it is more exception than rule. There's no good reason to make the 'storyline and best team record' the preferred criteria when the name clearly states most valuable player.

 

[GoddamnyamanProf]

http://espn.go.com/nba/player/gamelog/_/id/6583/anthony-davis

they lost a bunch games without him that they wouldve won with him too

against your boys by 2 a few days ago (72-74 final score wtf), pacers and utah at home, knicks, sixers, golden state by 6 earlier in the year (questionable but meh)

True but I mean they lost to Indy, Boston, Orlando, etc with him. They lost 3 times to Denver and he played in all of em. The one game w/o him they beat Denver. Go fig

Bottom line, he's one of the best young players and obviously they're a worse squad w/o him. Pels are a slightly above average team so there's gonna be games like that. Just wanted to say I was surprised they werent worse w/o him because I was expecting a 10-game losing streak.

 

[NkrumahWasRight Is Wrong]

True but I mean they lost to Indy, Boston, Orlando, etc with him. They lost 3 times to Denver and he played in all of em. The one game w/o him they beat Denver. Go fig

Bottom line, he's one of the best young players and obviously they're a worse squad w/o him. Pels are a slightly above average team so there's gonna be games like that. Just wanted to say I was surprised they werent worse w/o him because I was expecting a 10-game losing streak.

well, hopefully harden will get injured flopping and we will get a better frame of reference

 

[GoddamnyamanProf]

well, hopefully harden will get injured flopping and we will get a better frame of reference

For what its worth, if the Rockets had instead lost Harden all year and Dwight had to carry em, I think there'd be an extra playoff spot available

 

[NkrumahWasRight Is Wrong]

For what its worth, if the Rockets had instead lost Harden all year and Dwight had to carry em, I think there'd be an extra playoff spot available

thats conjecture though

 

[GoddamnyamanProf]

thats conjecture though

 

[threattonature]

Its clear to me that he's not.. Why when Klay Thompson goes out its been Harrison Barnes that's stepped up each game..

Imagine last year when Westbrook went down if Serge Ibaka became the leading scorer.. How can you give KD the MVP if Ibaka outscored him


Pay attention over this stretch of games and watch how Curry's numbers go with Klay Thompson out


I predicted this early.

Its different when your wing man goes down and team know "we need to stop this one guy to give us a chance to win" James Harden has that target on his back every night, and all he's done was lead the league in scoring

They might just give the MVP to Curry because of the politics involved (harden was suspended a game) but he's not a better player or means more to his team then Jame Harden means to the Rockets.

Remember where you heard it first

Part of why his numbers go down is that more and more teams are sending hard doubles his way, hell they was doing that more before Klay went down. And even as Steph's scoring dropped his assists have gone up. He's making the smart basketball play. And watching Warriors game while they are talented as hell the amount of attention the defense plays to the threat of Steph shooting is what makes the offense so lethal. Same effect Korver has for the Hawks except worse since Steph is as dangerous of a threat with the ball in his hands.