NBA Award Watch: James Harden rises to the top
By John Buhler
The 2016-17 NBA regular season is winding down. Let’s take a look at the front-runners for the major six awards in this week’s NBA Award Watch.
The 2016-17 NBA season has about two weeks left worth of games. Most teams have somewhere around eight games left on the regular season slate. Through Tuesday night, nine teams have clinched playoff berths, three of whom have won their division already. There are also four teams mathematically from playoff contention before April.
As the playoff push intensifies, so does the annual awards races. Some of the major six awards have been solidified, while others are still up for grabs. Let’s take a look at the award front-runners in the final week of March in this week’s NBA Award Watch.
Most Valuable Player: James Harden
Navigating the NBA MVP award race is not getting any easier. The four ‘finalists’ for the award all have compelling cases, but how can we dissect them to narrow it down to one? Cleveland Cavaliers small forward LeBron James likely won’t win it because of the national media’s narrative to give it to somebody else. Despite playing more minutes than anybody else, he has been ridiculed for sitting out the occasional game. Superstars just have a different standard.
San Antonio Spurs small forward Kawhi Leonard’s candidacy has been picking up steam since the All-Star Break. He may be the most complete player in the game, but his soft-spoken demeanor and playing for the Spurs machine doesn’t help him out.
So we’re looking at a two-man race between Oklahoma City point guard Russell Westbrook and Houston Rockets shooting guard James Harden. One of these two ex-Thunder teammates will win the award. While Westbrook’s notoriety has been built on averaging a triple-double post-Kevin Durant, Harden has been more impactful to winning than has Westbrook.
Harden has become a more self-aware player for the 2016-17 Rockets. He has taken very well to Mike D’Antoni’s coaching. Harden can get all the points he wants, but likes to see his Rockets teammates succeed. With Houston being a top-three seed in the West, this might be his MVP award to lose.