04-17-2024, 10:53 AM
(04-17-2024, 01:43 AM)RGP1981 Wrote: I think that putting SGA over Doncic in the MVP ranking this season is somewhat like putting Embiid over Jokic in the MVP ranking last season. Is it because some people don't want to see 2 players of original European descent being the Top 2 players in the NBA?
The talking heads are trying to paint a crazy narrative by saying things like, "SGA has taken a bunch of no-names to the 1st seed". SGA has had a Top 5 in the league type of season... but a bunch of no-names... say what? Chet has been amazing and played in 82 games. Jalen Green has played amazing as well. Then there's Giddey, Dort, Wallace, Isaiah Joe who have all made meaningful contributions.
If we switched SGA and Doncic on their teams this season, I think Luka's Thunder would have a similar record to the Celtics, while SGA's Mavericks would be in the play-in. Especially with Kyrie missing 22 of the first 50 games, having Grant Williams as starting PF, Kleber being out for so long, Dwight Powell still getting burn at Center, etc, lol.
They also point to SGA's 50x 30-point games... well, Luka also had 50x 30-point games... but Luka had 7 more 40-point games, including 2x 50-point games and that 70-pointer against ATL... and did that while averaging almost 4 more assists per game, lol.
Then there's the stats...
PTS/G: Luka 33.9, SGA 30.1
AST/G: Luka 9.8, SGA 6.2
TRB/G: Luka 9.2, SGA 5.5
eFG%: Luka .573, SGA .567
PER: Luka 28.1, SGA 29.3
WS/48: Luka 0.220, SGA 0.275
BPM: Luka 9.9, SGA 9.0
VORP: Luka 8.0, SGA 7.1
It's frustrating to see.
I think if you have an MVP candidate on a one seed and an MVP candidate on a 5 seed, the one seed candidate will usually get the nod. Not saying SGA is more deserving, just saying "it is what it is."
Not very astute ^^^^