I looked at NBA.com today, and this is their MVP rankings:
1. Harden
2. Durant
3. Lebron
4. Curry
5. Westbrook
6. Kyrie
7. DeRozen
8. Giannis
9. Butler
10. LaMarcus
11-15: Beal, Davis, Embiid, Jokic, and Lilliard
Oladipo can't even crack the top-15???
I know it sounds crazy, I didn't even think of it myself until today, but hear me out for a second.
Argument #1: This is a team that was supposed to do NOTHING this season. Vegas, ESPN, Sports Illustrated, and CBS Sports all had them at 30 or so wins, 11th or 12th in the East, nowhere near touching the playoffs.
Instead, they already have 31 wins and it's not even All-Star break yet. On pace to go 45-37. They're in a tie for 5th place and only half-a-game back of #4 in the East.
Last year, Westbrook won MVP going away even though OKC only had 47 wins, and he had a more stacked team that was already projected to finish #6 in the West anyway.
On that list up there, you have Lebron, Beal, Giannis, Embiid, Lilliard, Westbrook, and Jokic all from teams with basically the same record or worse than the Pacers.
Argument #2: Indiana is 31-19 in games where Oladipo plays.
That would have been on pace for a 51-win season. It's only because he missed six games due to injury (in which Indiana was 0-6) that they're not in dominant position for 3rd in the East right now.
With Oladipo in the lineup, the Pacers have beat Boston, Toronto, Cleveland three times, San Antonio twice. They would have beaten Boston twice if not for the Bogdanovic blunder, and Oladipo has averaged 37-8-2 and 4 steals in those two games.
Argument #3: Oladipo is averaging 25-5-4 on 49% shooting, 39% from three, 81% from the line this year.
On pure numbers that's almost as good as Lilliard, basically the exact same as Kyrie, better than DeRozan or Beal. And he's creating most of his own shots and playing solid defense on top of that. I'd say he's played better defense on a consistent basis this year than any of those other four (Kyrie started off hot on defense but has taken a step back as the season wears on and his shot attempts have gone up).
How is Oladipo not a top-10 MVP candidate right now, maybe even borderline top-5? If he plays the rest of the season healthy, keeps scoring an efficient 25ppg with strong all-around play, and the Pacers come up a little bit and win 47 to 50, shouldn't there be a thought to putting him in the top-5?
I mean, his #2-#5 scorers right now are Myles Turner, Bojan Bogdanovic, Darren Collison, and Domantus Sabonis.
Give this man some credit.
1. Harden
2. Durant
3. Lebron
4. Curry
5. Westbrook
6. Kyrie
7. DeRozen
8. Giannis
9. Butler
10. LaMarcus
11-15: Beal, Davis, Embiid, Jokic, and Lilliard
Oladipo can't even crack the top-15???
I know it sounds crazy, I didn't even think of it myself until today, but hear me out for a second.
Argument #1: This is a team that was supposed to do NOTHING this season. Vegas, ESPN, Sports Illustrated, and CBS Sports all had them at 30 or so wins, 11th or 12th in the East, nowhere near touching the playoffs.
Instead, they already have 31 wins and it's not even All-Star break yet. On pace to go 45-37. They're in a tie for 5th place and only half-a-game back of #4 in the East.
Last year, Westbrook won MVP going away even though OKC only had 47 wins, and he had a more stacked team that was already projected to finish #6 in the West anyway.
On that list up there, you have Lebron, Beal, Giannis, Embiid, Lilliard, Westbrook, and Jokic all from teams with basically the same record or worse than the Pacers.
Argument #2: Indiana is 31-19 in games where Oladipo plays.
That would have been on pace for a 51-win season. It's only because he missed six games due to injury (in which Indiana was 0-6) that they're not in dominant position for 3rd in the East right now.
With Oladipo in the lineup, the Pacers have beat Boston, Toronto, Cleveland three times, San Antonio twice. They would have beaten Boston twice if not for the Bogdanovic blunder, and Oladipo has averaged 37-8-2 and 4 steals in those two games.
Argument #3: Oladipo is averaging 25-5-4 on 49% shooting, 39% from three, 81% from the line this year.
On pure numbers that's almost as good as Lilliard, basically the exact same as Kyrie, better than DeRozan or Beal. And he's creating most of his own shots and playing solid defense on top of that. I'd say he's played better defense on a consistent basis this year than any of those other four (Kyrie started off hot on defense but has taken a step back as the season wears on and his shot attempts have gone up).
How is Oladipo not a top-10 MVP candidate right now, maybe even borderline top-5? If he plays the rest of the season healthy, keeps scoring an efficient 25ppg with strong all-around play, and the Pacers come up a little bit and win 47 to 50, shouldn't there be a thought to putting him in the top-5?
I mean, his #2-#5 scorers right now are Myles Turner, Bojan Bogdanovic, Darren Collison, and Domantus Sabonis.
Give this man some credit.
at this thread though.
that majority of players that leave their depth chart end up doing well (Reggie Jackson) to good/great (Olapido / Harden) else where
