2014 MVP griping

Sam Ray Not

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Jul 19, 2005
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Joakim Noah over Stephen Curry?
 
Can someone give me a decent argument for that beyond “the Bulls have a cool brand and Chicago is a big media market in the East(-ish)"?
 
Curry had a much more positive effect (+14.7 pts per 100 possessions to +7.2) on a significantly better team (by Pythag more than W-L) with a much tougher schedule; and played more minutes.
 
Anecdotally, he also did many more "MVP-ish" things -- i.e. score a ton, make lots of highlight reel ankle-breaking moves, and hit numerous clutch 4th quarter shots, etc. I mean, I guess should be happy the voters are not worshipping at the altar of PPG, but c’mon, 24.0 v. 12.6? Not to mention .610 true shooting v. .531.
 
Just for review: Curry is the only player in NBA history to manage 24.0 pts / 8.0 ast on .610 ts. Lower the points requirement to 23 and the ts to .600 and he's joined by Magic, Jordan, and LeBron (who each did it once).
 
Pretty bogus, imho. Makes me a little embarrassed to be from the East Coast and live on the East Coast.
 
I’ll go with:
 
Durant
James
Curry
Griffin
Dragic or Love
 

Grin&MartyBarret

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Oct 2, 2007
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First, you might want to look into where Chicago is.
 
Second, Noah had a phenomenal year. He carried the Bulls, a team that had lost their leading scorer and traded their second leading scorer away, to a 4 seed. He was the league's best defensive player, and barely finished behind Curry in win shares. From the Deng trade on, he ran their offense and averaged 6.6 apg as a center, which would have ranked in the top 10 overall. He also averaged 11.9 rebounds/game and 13.6 points/game during that stretch. The only players to ever average more than 13 points, 11 reb and 6 ast in a season are Wilt Chamberlain, Oscar Robertson, Kevin Garnett, and Maurice Stokes. So it's not like it's some travesty that Noah got MVP votes or even that he finished ahead of Curry. He had a historically great run and did so as the league's best defensive player. 
 

Euclis20

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Aug 3, 2004
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It isn't much of a surprise. The case for Noah isn't difficult to make :

-he's easily the best player on a playoff team.
-he is arguably the best defensive player in the league.
-he had a career year.
-he isn't a scorer, but his numbers are still pretty ridiculous: 11.5 boards, 5.5 assists, 1.5 steals and 1.5 blocks is a hard combo to pull off.
-his team overachieved. Without rose and Deng they were supposed to be in the lottery, but he dragged them to home court in the first round.

That last point is something that hurt curry... There is a sense the Warriors should have become a title contender this year, and they clearly didn't. It isn't fair, but it exists. Bottom line, any vote not cast for LeBron or Durant is just for show. Who cares who finishes 3rd?
 

CreightonGubanich

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Dec 13, 2006
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Yeah, I have no problem with Noah there, G&MB made the case above pretty well. He's the best defensive player in the league, who also morphed into a point center for a couple months after his team gave away their leading scorer, dragging a team into the playoffs that had no business being there. 
 
Nothing against Curry, who is a fantastic offensive player, but his defense really works against him here. He tries hard, he's just not a very good defender.
 

Kliq

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Mar 31, 2013
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If Noah played with David Lee, Klay Thompson, Iggy, and a fairly deep bench, I'm pretty sure he would have won more than 51 games, even in the West. Curry is a fabulous offensive player, but that doesn't change the fact that he couldn't have guarded Chris Paul unless he was allowed to hand check him with a taser. 
 

jon abbey

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Jul 15, 2005
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Basing awards on regular season play in the NBA has always been silly, which was made clear yet again when Nene repeatedly abused and outplayed the DPOY in the first round. I'm not saying there's a better alternative, but in a league where many of the best players and teams try to save energy for the playoffs, it ends up looking pretty silly pretty quickly sometimes. Luckily Durant and OKC pulled out their first round series, because that one would have looked especially bad given how poorly Durant played for much of that series.
 
Also I don't really buy SSS arguments when it comes to the playoffs. A seven game series against one opponent is often very telling, even if it is sometimes a specific matchup issue. For instance, James Harden just isn't as good if you can play him seven times in a row and get used to it, he is predictable on offense (and way less effective when not getting touch foul calls), and still a sieve on D. 
 

jon abbey

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I mean, is there a single person in the world who would prefer Durant on their team to LeBron going into these playoffs? Maybe Durant's mom, but that's about it.