Most Valuable Player
Stephen Curry, Golden State Warriors – The “best player on the best team in the NBA” corollary favors Curry, but his candidacy is about much more than that. He is the best shooter on Earth, as evidenced by a 49/42/90 slash line that is doubly impressive when considering a 28.3% usage rate, and Curry also operates as one of the best passers in the league, contributing 7.7 assists per game. The single best evidence of his “value”, though, comes in team success, but not in the pure way of evaluating wins and losses. When Curry is on the court this season, the Warriors are 17.6 (!!!) points per 100 possessions better than he is on the bench, including a 115.5 offensive rating that would be leaps and bounds better than any team in the league. Stephen Curry is the MVP.
James Harden, Houston Rockets – Harden seems to be flying under the radar a bit right now, but his steady play has been huge for Houston. The Rockets are an impressive 21-10 without Dwight Howard in the lineup, a number that links directly to Harden’s greatness, and the versatile shooting guard is averaging 27.1 points, 7.1 assists and 5.8 rebounds per game for the season. Houston’s roster is far inferior to that of Golden State’s when Howard isn’t playing (or even when he is), but Harden has managed to keep the Rockets going with an impressive 43-20 overall mark, and his evolution has been incredible to watch.
Anthony Davis, New Orleans Pelicans – This is going to bother some people. Russell Westbrook is the trendy MVP candidate and with good reason, as he is putting up Jordan-esque numbers while averaging more than a triple-double in the recent past. However, Anthony Davis has the better season-long case for the MVP award, and that is what should be measured instead of knee-jerk evaluations to recent performance. The Pelicans trail the Thunder by only a half-game in the standings, Davis has played more games (52) than Westbrook has (48), and the 21-year-old’s numbers are better, including a higher PER (one of the best in league history) to go along with 24.7 points, 10.4 rebounds and an NBA-leading 2.8 blocks per game. The defensive end is perhaps what separates the two most, as Davis is an impact player on that end, while Westbrook produces highlights but does not dominate on a regular basis. It isn’t trendy or “cool” to suggest that Anthony Davis is an MVP candidate, but he is carrying a Pelicans team with far less talent to work with than Westbrook has, and “the Brow” deserves to be here.