The NBA season is just a week away, so the team at Crossover Chronicles is gearing up for all the action. We’ll convene a roundtable a day through next Tuesday, when the 2015-2016 NBA campaign begins.
Our first topic in this buffet of basketball talk before the curtain goes up: This season’s MVP. Which three players will stand above the rest over the coming 82 games?
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SEAN WOODLEY
This is so hard. The number of MVP-caliber players in the NBA right now is startling. But first and foremost, LeBron James has to be in the discussion every year. Last year’s finals performance was unbelievably impressive no matter what the outcome was. Even with Iman Shumpert and Kyrie Irving starting the year hurt, I think Cleveland has a chance to win upwards of 60 games based on how this team looked in the back half of last year – and with a monstrous win total should come a bounty of MVP votes as well.
As far as the two runners-up go, I think we’re all ready for Anthony Davis to explode. Working in Alvin Gentry’s offense, Davis has a chance to post some ludicrous numbers. Behind him, I like Blake Griffin to carry over his play from last year’s post-season in which he was arguably the league’s best player not named Lebron.
JARED MINTZ
As much as it pains me to leave LeBron James out of this conversation, especially since he’s finished top-three at worst in MVP voting the last seven seasons, I don’t know how he keeps up with Stephen Curry, Anthony Davis, and a healthy Kevin Durant this season.
For the time being, Curry and the Golden State Warriors are basketball Gods. Luck, shm–… fu–… pluck, the Warriors had an all-time great season in 2014-’15, and I don’t know what anyone else did these past few months to stop them from repeating. I think the Dubs will repeat with the league’s best record, and I think their floor general winds up in the MVP conversation again.
I don’t know how much better the New Orleans Pelicans got this offseason, but I do know that Davis is coming off a season in which he led the league in PER by a relatively wide margin, finishing the season with the 11th highest mark in NBA history. Davis seems to only be getting better, and with offensive guru Alvin Gentry coaching him, we could see the Brow do things we’ve never seen anyone in the history of the league do before.
Before breaking his foot last offseason, it seemed that Durant had taken the torch out of LeBron’s hands as the best player in the league. His 2013-’14 campaign was easily the best non-LeBron season the league had seen out of a wing player since Michael Jordan. If he’s healthy this year, I expect him to be more motivated than ever. Keep in mind Durant is still only 27 years old, and the best may still be yet to come for him and OKC.
BRYAN GIBBERMAN
MVP:
I’m going to go with Oklahoma City forward Kevin Durant. I feel this is a high-variance pick because of the foot injury he’s recently healed from, but health seems to be the only reason this couldn’t be a strong possibility. The Thunder should meet all the team criteria for an MVP-type player being on their roster, and Durant will have the individual numbers. If Billy Donovan is able to institute a ball movement-based offense, it should only help Durant even more. A more efficient version of “KD” is a scary thing.
MVP Second Place:
Golden State Warriors guard Steph Curry comes close to getting the back-to-back MVP award, but can’t get it done. This is more about the potential for the season Durant can have than anything about Curry. I guess that’s self-explanatory since I’m picking him to be second in the MVP race. The Warriors have a real shot win the title for a second straight season, and Curry is the catalyst for it all. We might be watching the greatest shooter to ever play the game, meaning he will be a yearly fixture in the MVP discussion.
MVP Third Place:
This is my outside the box pick — Washington Wizards guard John Wall. If Randy Wittman follows through on his plan to play at a faster pace with more consistent small ball, Wall is the biggest beneficiary. I don’t think there’s all that much difference between Wall and someone like Russell Westbrook; that will become apparent this season as the Wizards play more to his strengths.
JOE MANGANIELLO
While it’s possible Steph Curry has peaked in terms of production — no player in NBA history has made as many threes on as many attempts in a full season — it’s conceivable that we’re only scratching the surface in terms of measuring Curry’s impact for the Warriors when he’s on the floor. Advanced stats and on/off-floor data begin to paint a picture in which Curry is the moon and opposing defenses are the ocean: The constant threat of his jumper from anywhere over the 10-second line sends waves crashing through his opposition. The Warriors were virtually the best offensive team in basketball last season because Curry essentially gives Golden State a 6-on-5 advantage — there’s Curry the player, but there’s also the looming danger behind his every movement.
James Harden nearly stole his MVP award last year by lifting the Houston Rockets to the NBA’s second-best record without teammate Dwight Howard down the stretch. Basketball’s greatest offensive agitator lives at the charity stripe and creates more perimeter offense for his team than any other player. Harden will contend once more for the league scoring title.
However, Harden is No. 2 behind Curry for a reason. The “supporting cast” argument in Harden’s favor was overblown — if you swapped Harden for Curry, the Rockets wouldn’t skip a beat, while the Warriors’ talented crew wouldn’t have nearly as much real estate without the attention Curry demands from opposing defenses. Harden is no scrub, to be sure, but the nuclear threat of Curry’s bombs from deep is the premiere skill from any one player in the league.
Rounding out my list is Anthony Davis because, well, is there anything he can’t do? He posted one of the 11th greatest single-season PERs last season, and if New Orleans can ever get healthy, Davis has more talent surrounding him than ever before — both on the floor and the sideline, where Alvin Gentry and Darren Erman instantly elevate the day-to-day operation in New Orleans. A 30-10-5-3-3 season from Davis is in play, and the historical significance of the first peak-Davis season could be enough to shift the MVP discussion into a realm where one asks, “Isn’t morally reprehensible if we don’t give it to Davis?” It could be a very, very fun season for Davis and the Pellies.
MATT ZEMEK
This might smack of recency bias, but when a player speaks so openly about feeling he deserved the MVP, it’s safe to say that the issue matters to him. James Harden is a prodigiously skilled player — not my personal cup of tea from a stylistic point of view (too much flopping), but undeniably electric with the rock in his hands. He’s going to find his way to the top three again.
I’ll say LeBron James over Kevin Durant, though I think the competition will be close. LeBron is going to save himself for the playoffs, but Durant is adjusting to Billy Donovan’s system, and moreover, we don’t know with 100-percent certainty how durable he’s going to be. I’d say that LeBron is more likely to have a better season; if Durant tops him, I wouldn’t be surprised, but it’s just not the direction in which I’d lean at this point.
As for the winner? The San Antonio Spurs won’t create an MVP-level player because they spread the wealth around and have too much depth for any one guy to make a big run. This leaves Stephen Curry, the best player on the reigning champions. If Curry’s not one of the top three MVP finishers, Ill be shocked. Harden and LeBron not making it would be less shocking, especially if Durant and Anthony Davis replace them.
