MVP Should Be Elite on Both Ends: Bolstering the Cases for Curry and LeBron
It has been a long time since the race to be the NBA's Most Valuable Player has been as tightly contested as this season's. Whereas most years see the obvious candidate top the voting, with a couple of outsiders putting up half-decent cases, this year we have two genuine contenders and a handful of other reasonable ones.
Stephen Curry and James Harden are the two most popular picks, and perhaps rightly so. Behind them, though, there are cases for both LeBron James and Russell Westbrook, while Chris Paul has received the occasional mention.
With no definitive winner, we have to ask ourselves: What exactly is it that makes a player valuable?
Is it their numbers? Their team's overall record? Their style and ability to make tough plays?
No doubt, all of those things are looked at. But more than anything else, the MVP should be the player who has the biggest impact on the league in that season—not only who helps their own team the most, but who could be put into any situation on any team and have the biggest overall impact. It is, after all, the NBA's MVP, not the individual team's MVP, we are talking about.
The MVP, as with so many awards in American sports, has become largely statistics-based. Of course, statistics give you a general idea of what has happened. But they should only be used alongside an argument; they should not be the argument themselves. They give the "what," but they do not give you the crucial "why" and "how," which are just as, if not more, important in these types of debates.
While there may be comfort in citing numbers, each individual statistic only has the weighting one person assigns to it. In other words, while the statistic is undeniable, the importance of it is up for debate.
Finally, statistics are heavily weighted toward measuring an offensive display, offering a fairly limited summary of what a player did on defense.
There is a lot to be said for judging players based on your own observations, then using statistics to fill in the gaps, rather than the other way around.
The defensive one is huge in terms of the MVP, as the most influential player in the league should be well-rounded and capable of playing both elite offense and elite defense.
If we use that logic, LeBron James' case becomes far more compelling. We all know the impact he has had on the Cleveland Cavaliers since returning from injury in January. He turned the Cavaliers from an average team to a very good one, catapulting them to second place in the Eastern Conference.
But that impact goes beyond his ability to bully his way to the hoop and find open men on the offensive end. Even more valuable is his versatility on the other end. He is quick and agile enough to guard someone on the perimeter while being big and strong enough to be effective inside. In addition, his ability to read the opposition makes him a constant threat guarding the passing lanes and blocking shots on help.
In either position, he is effective, and rather than just filling a gap, he will change a game with his defense and can win you a game with it. When he is not doing it himself, his versatility allows David Blatt to be flexible with his lineups. When he feels they need another perimeter player, he can use James as a big. When they need more size down low, James will move to the outside.
They can make those changes without creating mismatches on defense and can even create mismatches of their own on offense. Surely that is value, and he has been doing it all year. No other player can claim to be as effective in guarding different positions, making James' value skyrocket no matter what he is doing on the other end.
On the offensive end, his impact goes beyond what the statistics show. He can influence a game simply by being on the court. No player attracts more defensive attention, and his ability to draw that attention away from his teammates opens opportunities up for them.
Of course, he is still capable of taking over. But he knows he does not have to do it every night. Some may argue that the MVP should be his team's standout performer on a night-in, night-out basis. A counterargument to that would be that being able to know when to hold back and let someone else take over when they are playing out of their mind, as James did at times with Kyrie Irving, makes them just as valuable.
Is that enough to push him past Curry or Harden, though?
The key drawback to the James argument is his lack of form early in the season, plus the fact that he had spent two weeks on the sideline, where he was not particularly valuable to anyone.
Curry, meanwhile, has been outstanding from start to finish. Statistically not a whole lot different to last season, Curry's main value has come in his vastly improved defense, along with being the key player on the league's best team.
His classical jump shot, slick ball-handling and pinpoint passing have all made him one of the game's top two offensive players, bringing a three-dimensional scoring game and the ability to get others involved. He has been the integral part of a team, which has executed with destructive accuracy on a consistent basis and holds an impressive record of 65-15.
Along with this, though, Curry has reached the elite in terms of his defense, on the perimeter at least. His fast footwork and improved technique allow him to stay in front of his man, forcing poor shots and turnovers. Admittedly, he is playing on a team that is executing well around him, but his ability to react off his teammates, read plays and force errors is now right up there with the best of them.
Harden, on the other hand, has not yet reached this level. He has obviously worked hard on his perimeter defense, something he deserves credit for, as it was abysmal a year ago.
He does not get flat-footed like he used to, meaning you do not see him getting beaten off the first step anywhere near as much, while he rarely has those lapses when guarding off the ball either. He is making better reads too, contributing to a high number of steals and a handful of blocks. Perhaps, if anything, the lack of defensive blooper videos on YouTube featuring the 2015 edition of Harden is indicative of his improvement.
That is great and good on him for improving, but he is not a match-winner on that end of the floor like James or Curry.
Undoubtedly, his offense is of an MVP level. Far from the stylish player Curry is, Harden slashes aggressively. He draws fouls and splits defenders where there seems to be no gap to split. His jump shot has been effective too, with his ability to shoot over defenders and make tough shots as good as anyone's. Along with that, he goes at 6.9 assists and 5.7 rebounds per game, showing he is no one-trick pony.
He has effectively put his team on his back, and without him, the Rockets would not be in the playoff picture—essentially the same thing Russell Westbrook has done, but he has done it better.
But that is only half of the game. Should an average defensive, yet outstanding offensive player win the MVP? Perhaps that comes down to opinion. Undoubtedly, he will win you a match on offense. But when his offensive game is not going, is he going to turn around and win you the game at the other end? Not on a consistent basis at least.
Everyone has their own criteria for determining what makes someone a valuable player, and everyone has their own way of judging players within that criteria. Harden and James both make good cases for MVP, but when looking at the all-around consistency of the players, it is hard to argue against Curry.
All statistics are correct as of April 13, 2015 and were obtained from basketball-reference.com.
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