Agree to disagree?
It’s the playoffs, a time when you can witness the pinnacle of basketball from fighters on Mother’s Day to survivors who make it to Father’s Day. Sometime between those vital days of valuation, the best of the regular season is chosen as the league’s most valuable player. Yes, Warriors sensation Stephen Curry is now the owner of back-to-back MVP awards, a feat only reached by 11 earlier legends and two other Point Guards. However, Curry is the first to do so in unanimous fashion.
Like every year before this one for the past three decades, the award was decided by a panel of sportswriters and broadcasters; but the honor of value has never been so difficult to define. A day before Curry’s second MVP ceremony, on the eve of his 17-point record-setting performance in OT against the Trail Blazers, Colin Cowherd spoke out against the verdict. He ranted about the discrepancies ignored in the decision on The Herd:
Of course, Cowherd’s arguments are tough to swallow when you’re thinking about your team without its most super of stars. The funny thing about Warriors fans is that they don’t lose sleep over a sidelined Curry, even during a heated playoff series. Golden State’s 5-2 record without Curry raises a valid question about his value aside Cleveland’s 1-5 record without LeBron, per The Herd. Value instead, for some fans, is what the player directly adds to a franchise on court.
Every instinct of any NBA fanatic is to go straight to the box score. Curry did become the first member of the exclusive 50-40-90 club (FG%-3P%-FT%) to also average over 30ppg. He also did it with historical efficiency, accomplishing this mark in the fewest minutes ever (34.2mpg), which is three mpg fewer than Michael Jordan’s career season. He assaulted his own three-point record to the tune of 402 triples, a 116 triple upgrade on his shooting crown from last season. Curry is the most incredible and outstanding player we have today.
Without question, the Warriors’ accomplishments this season will live on without parallels. No team has surrendered less than 10 games or won close to 73 in that fashion. Who cares if they lost to the worst Lakers team in franchise history – the level reached by Golden State is unprecedented and undeniably thanks in large part to its baby-faced assassin. Hence, it is undeniably true that Curry is the deserving MVP candidate for his regular season. Even LeBron acknowledged this criteria, but called into question what value means.
To unanimously deem Steph Curry the most valueable player for his team should only be taken literally. In truth, Curry is the most valued player; but being the most popular player isn’t indicative of value. Curry’s regular season impact on the Warriors didn’t even warrant a unanimous verdict. The Warriors were the better team in the regular season, but there’s no apparent winner in the individual impacts of James and Curry:
2015-16 Stats via NBAwowy.com
These margins with and without their franchise players should be a bit more ambiguous than unanimous. Naturally, the small ball Warriors with Curry are a three-point shooting fleet that doesn’t need a post game. Then again, the Cavs have evolved as a historic three-point shooting team this season. An addendum to coaching changes and Fryed additions to the menu is James’ unstoppable dribble penetration and unlimited weakside kicks. The result has been a new shooting standard with consecutive 10+ triple nights and occasional 20+ record-setting nights, especially when it counts most (We’re talking… PLAYOFFS?). This, along with the 16% improvement in the post should remind Curry fans of the first player to lead both teams in the NBA Finals in points, rebounds, and assists.
The difference with and without these two on defense is also relatively identical for their teams (per NBAwowy.com). All players play better with their leaders. But no one can begin to make a defensive MVP argument for Curry, the league’s current leader in steals (169), over James, who broke the top-25 in all-time steals just weeks ago (as a forward!).
Team impact aside, this vote has disrespectfully undervalued James on a personal level. Recall not too long ago when James joined Oscar Robertson as the only player in NBA history in the top 20 for points and assists. This was right before he passed Robertson and Hakeem Olajuwon for 10th all-time scoring at the age of 31. He was outside of the top-20 in points, assists, and steals at the age of 30. LeBron James’ season was equally, if not exceedingly, relevant compared to Curry.Even with a more efficient season than Jordan’s, Steph’s first steps in the history fall short to the man who has passed MJ in playoff wins and regular season player of the month awards.
@Warriors
The very contrast between James’ playoff mode and regular season performance proves he’s competing for something more valuable than an individual award. For that reason, any pragmatic decision maker will see that zero first place votes for James is insulting. For a paying pragmatic decision maker, like an owner, it’s about the value to your franchise in dollars. Certainly, the face of a knock-off brand from a team in the prosperous Silicon Valley can’t possibly compare in value to Nike’s largest investment in history. Outside of fat contracts, consider the now billion-dollar Cleveland franchise, a net worth that has doubled since James’ return in exchange for a limitless luxury tax.
For a paid pragmatic decision maker, like a General Manager, the choice is clear. During preseason voting, GMs around the league voted on franchise players, pooling the greatest perspectives of value into one ballot. This year, for the first time in several years, GMs finally changed their vote for the best player to build a franchise around from LeBron to young and promising Pelicans F/C Anthony Davis. Their answer for projected MVP, however, did not change.
It’s not because the most valuable player in the World doesn’t just change after one season; it’s because the honor can’t just change, especially when the LeBron James we see taking over in the playoffs is still around. GMs also think about value in terms of “bang for you buck,” where versatile Point Forwards like LeBron and highly improved offensive players with back-to-back DPOY awards like Kawhi Leonard should be priceless. No one would sacrifice their first pick on a Point Guard in this league (even for Steph Curry or Russell Westbrook) before Forwards like James and Leonard or Centers like Anthony Davis and DeMarcus Cousins. It’s part of the reason why we’ve witnessed so many great Point Guards but only had six total facilitating MVPs before Curry (nba.com). Not that Jeff Van Gundy has too much of a say on this, but honestly…
Jeff Van Gundy : “If you traded Damian Lillard to the Warriors for Steph Curry, how much difference do we see?” pic.twitter.com/JKBAZR2blO
— gifdsports (@gifdsports) May 8, 2016
The last MVP to go back-to-back was LeBron James, but even after the stretch of his career with consecutive championships and Finals MVP awards, James fell just one vote short from a unanimous MVP selection in 2013. While Curry has started to lead his Warriors down a similar path en route to becoming favorites to repeat, MVP chants at the end of playoff games mean more than having the best regular season. “In actuality,” as JR Smith has said since last season, “we all know who the real MVP is…”
“if you really wanted to, you could give it to him [LeBron] every year. I mean, the numbers, what he does for teams. You see one year removed from a team like Miami — and they probably won’t even make the playoffs — to a team that hasn’t made the playoffs since he left and then, all of the sudden, we’re a 52-win team. So I don’t think you can do that with anybody else that’s in our league right now.”
In the end, if the Basketball Gods had to claim one individual as their most valuable incarnation, there is still only one clear choice. Even today.
