Loose Talk: The Editors’ Take

The 2015 MVP race has been the most intriguing in recent memory, with six players who could reasonably garner a first-place vote. Though the debate has ultimately whittled down to Stephen Curry and James Harden, LeBron James, Anthony Davis, Russell Westbrook and Nick Young have all played at an MVP level (got you, the last candidate is actually Chris Paul, although Nick Young has led the Lakers to an impressive 21-61 record without Kobe Bryant). Curry and Harden have separated themselves, however, as the top two. Talk has arisen of the possiblity of the league’s first co-MVP, but this would never really happen—it would take away the significance of the award for both the players and the fans. There is more than one deserving candidate every year, and what separates the magnitude of the NBA MVP award from its counterparts in more popular sports such as the NFL and MLB is the unending speculation that occurs from year’s start to year’s end about who will win. The Huffington Post says it best: “This year, your choice for NBA MVP isn’t a statistically driven, carefully thought out, objectively reasoned decision. It’s a sign of what kind of person you really are, and if you think anything else, you’re lying to yourself and that’s just sad.” All that we have to go on is what each of us individually decides that the MVP means.

Personally, I think the MVP is the most irreplaceable player in the league, one that his team could not live without, quantitatively measured by the number of wins that player adds to his team, hence the key word “value.” By this metric, LeBron, Harden, Westbrook and Anthony Davis, in that order, might all be vaulted above Steph Curry, which is unthinkable. It is true that (when Kevin Durant is out) Steph Curry has the best team around him, meaning wins subtracted if Steph were taken off the team would be fewer than wins subtracted if the four aforementioned players were taken off their teams.

However, my position means nothing, and Steph Curry will probably win the award. As the proverbial “best player on the best team,” Curry is likely to win the award, as no MVP award winner in the past 30 years has been on a team that finished outside the top 3 in their conference, and 24 of those winners were on the team with the league’s best record. It is safe to say this rules out Anthony Davis, Russell Westbrook and, probably, Chris Paul, as only two of the aforementioned MVP winners were on teams who were three-seeds (and Karl Malone’s 1999 Jazz were tied for the one-seed in record). That leaves us with Steph, Harden and LeBron.

The case for Harden is that he carried a team devoid of anything more than role players other than Dwight Howard, who was out for exactly half the season. Harden put the team on his back in Howard’s absence. The Rockets gnabbing the two-seed on the last day of the season was vital for Harden’s chances to win. Harden has the most impressive stats of the three top candidates, and his defense, despite the flack he continues to get for it, has improved, as Harden averaged just under two steals per game and one block per game. James Harden’s performance this year is comparable to Lebron in his prime, during which he won four of five MVPs. For the first two, LeBron had a similar level of talent around him, but had the advantage of playing in the weak Eastern Conference. Harden was able to carry his team to the two-seed in an outrageously tough West this year.

LeBron’s case to win is the fact that the Heat dropped from a title contender to a lottery team. Yes, the Heat were the league’s most injured team this year, but they still wouldn’t have been that good regardless. The Cavaliers, meanwhile, have gone from a lottery team to the top of the two-seed in one year. And that was with LeBron taking two weeks off in the middle of the season. As the two-seed, the Cavs are still favorites to win the East. This was due much more to LeBron than to Kevin Love. I do not believe Kevin Love would have made the Cavaliers even a playoff team; not to take anything away from him, but he’s not a franchise player. LeBron’s stats have gone down from his usual otherwordly statline, but he is still every bit the player he was in his Miami days.

I firmly believe Steph Curry will win the award, but we all find out this afternoon if I am right. Don’t worry about Westbrook, Davis and Chris Paul, I have awards for them, too. Westbrook wins the Fantasy Basketball MVP, Davis wins “2nd Most Promising Young Player Ever After LeBron” and Chris Paul wins the “I Created The Most Highlight Plays for My Teammates” award.