Steph Curry is the unanimous MVP, when you average 30, 6, 5 on a 73 win team, you're the MVP. Now that we have that squared away, the number 2 spot does not belong to Russell Westbrook, LeBron James, Kevin Durant, or Kawhi Leonard. It belongs to a man that did not even make the all-star game - Big Game Dame. Damian Lillard is averaging 25/7/4. His Blazers are in the playoffs as a 5-seed after losing all but one starter...Dame. The emergence of C.J. McCollum has helped and Terry Stotts is the NBA Coach of the year (in my opinion), but the main factor in the Blazers unforeseen success this year.
To put Dame's numbers in perspective, Derrick Rose averaged 25/8/5 in his 2011 MVP campaign. One may point out that D. Rose led his team to a no. 1 seed and the Blazers are only a no. 5 seed, that is a valid point, however, at the beginning of the year most experts did not have the Blazers anywhere near the playoffs - Dame has led them to a no. 5 seed IN THE WESTERN CONFERENCE.
What about Kawhi? He is averaging 21/7/3/2/1 while being a near 50/40/90 player on a 65+ win team - is that good enough for top 2 MVP consideration? I'd argue no. When you consider the Spurs are 6-2 without Leonard in the line up, it's hard to say he is one of the most valuable. He is the no.3 SF in the league, but not ahead of Dame in the MVP race in my opinion.
Russell Westbrook at 24/10/7 and Kevin Durant at 28/8/5 on a 55 win team should garner a lot of MVP votes, however I believe that they are stealing votes from each other. Russell's value, takes a way from KD's value and vice versa.
To put Dame's numbers in perspective, Derrick Rose averaged 25/8/5 in his 2011 MVP campaign. One may point out that D. Rose led his team to a no. 1 seed and the Blazers are only a no. 5 seed, that is a valid point, however, at the beginning of the year most experts did not have the Blazers anywhere near the playoffs - Dame has led them to a no. 5 seed IN THE WESTERN CONFERENCE.
What about Kawhi? He is averaging 21/7/3/2/1 while being a near 50/40/90 player on a 65+ win team - is that good enough for top 2 MVP consideration? I'd argue no. When you consider the Spurs are 6-2 without Leonard in the line up, it's hard to say he is one of the most valuable. He is the no.3 SF in the league, but not ahead of Dame in the MVP race in my opinion.
Russell Westbrook at 24/10/7 and Kevin Durant at 28/8/5 on a 55 win team should garner a lot of MVP votes, however I believe that they are stealing votes from each other. Russell's value, takes a way from KD's value and vice versa.